This event has been postponed due to weather conditions.

Tickets are available from College Reception - £15 adult, £5 pupil. Refreshments available in the College Library post concert.

Class of '93 first year photos, 1986

Class of '68 first year photos, 1961

On Friday 5th January 2018, the College was pleased to welcome old boy Kevin McMahon from the Class of ‘81.  

Kevin left the College to go to Edinburgh University to study Chemistry, then Canada for graduate studies, then the US to do research. He is now settled in the US for the past 26 years and holds the post of Professor of Chemistry at Carroll University, Wisconsin. While on his visit Kevin met with a number of A Level pupils to discuss and provide insight on various aspects of his work.

Although his main subject area is in Science, Kevin is keen to strike up a cultural exchange programme with his students and those from his alma mater. We are looking forward to working with Kevin in the future and creating stronger links with Carroll University.

This was the first time Kevin visited and toured the College since leaving all those years ago, and he still has his tie.

The College is delighted to commence works on the next phase of it’s school enhancement programme. Funding of £2.4m was secured from the Department of Education to build an extension to C Block and refurbish the ground floor to create state of the art Technology and Design, Art and Moving Image Art facilities. Works will also include a renewal of the drainage system and complete resurfacing of the College site. These works, which started on Monday 20th November 2017, will run for a period of up to 14 months.

The first phase will see the creation of temporary art rooms on the first floor of the listed building, bringing into use former priests’ accommodation. This area will be ready for Art to decant to by mid February 2018.

Former priests' accommodation on first floor of the listed building

Site compound set up at the front of the College

The College is always delighted to reconnect with our past pupils, and along with Queens University Belfast we were honoured to welcome back our alumnus Des Clarke back to the College. Des who is also an alumnus of Engineering at Queens, has generously supported the work of several projects in Queens over the years, and “last year his gift enabled the School of Electronics, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science to develop an activity pack for local school pupils which helped demonstrate the basics of electricity”. We were extremely excited to have the DeLorean make an appearance at the College-the electric car was the perfect example to show the workings and applications of electricity. Des, an avid car-enthusiast, presented the activity pack to our pupils.

Des said: “I am inspired to see how my gift is helping to bring together my old school and my alma matter. The pupils here will benefit from learning about the real-life application of engineering and electricity, and hopefully be inspired to consider an education and a career in this area.”

If any of our Alumni are currently based in or near London, get in touch with the Alumni Office! There is a possibility of an upcoming reunion of Malachians in London within the next few months. If you are interested, please email alumni@stmalachyscollege.org and we will be in touch. Please share and pass the word to any of our Old Boys who you know live in the area!

Wednesday 21st June saw the latest lecture in our annual O’Laverty Library Outreach Programme. The Diaries of an 18th century student at Trinity College Dublin were the subject of an historical talk in the College Library. Author and historian, Mr Hugh O’Neill informed a large audience about the discovery of two diaries of Charles G. Cosslett in the College Archives. Hugh, a former student at St. Malachy’s and a retired university lecturer, described how he pieced together what he knew of Cosslett’s background. His father was a judge in North Carolina who owned slaves but also land in the townland of Annadorn near Loughinisland, Co. Down. In one of the ‘St. Malachy’s’ diaries Cosslett Junior tells the story of a leisurely trip round Ireland from Derry to Dublin via the Giant’s Causeway during which he stops off at this family estate. It was a great evening to reconnect with familiar faces and create new friendships.

Award winning television journalist Bill Neely popped in to visit his old school with his youngest daughter Emma on Thursday. The NBC foreign correspondent took a well -earned break from assignments in some of the world’s most troubled countries to visit Belfast and talk to some 6th Form History and English students.

 Looking fresh after competing in the London marathon, Bill was happy to acknowledge his influential teachers at St. Malachy’s particularly Geraldine Pettigrew, Gerry McKeown and the late Bill Lowry. College Principal Mr McBride reminded him that his early musical debut as the drummer in a punk rock band perhaps indicated an alternative career path.

He shared his experiences of interviewing Bill Clinton and Syrian President Bashar al Assad among others, talked of visits to North Korea and Afghanistan and of coming under fire in the Balkan conflict. Asked by students for his outstanding memory he had no hesitation in choosing the sight of the Berlin Wall being hacked down – he has his own piece of it!  

Bill emphasised the importance of a thorough knowledge of History and good accurate use of the English language as a ‘sine qua non’ not only for his profession but for anyone who aspires to a career in public life.

There was much discussion of Donald Trump and his attitude to the media – it was Bill Neely who first underlined to disbelieving NBC viewers within a few minutes the recent appalling mistake of Trump’s Press Secretary when he opined that Hitler had not used lethal gas. Any Year 8 History student in this College making such a blunder would find himself in detention!

The front quad was a busy place on Friday morning when a large group of ‘old boys’, current and former staff, academics and politicians witnessed the unveiling of the blue plaque to Eoin MacNéill by his grandson, former Tánaiste Senator Michael McDowell.  A speech from Principal Mr Paul McBride underlined the pride which the College takes in having educated such an influential Irish statesman and scholar.  President of Ulster History Circle Mr Chris Spurr explained the work of the organisation and acknowledged the place of MacNéill in Ireland’s cultural history. Senator McDowell said that he was delighted to visit the College for such splendid and timely commemoration of the 150th anniversary of his grandfather’s birth.

This brief ceremony was followed by a lecture to visitors and 6th form students from St. Malachy’s and other local schools. Senator McDowell gave a detailed and balanced talk on the ‘Legacy of Eoin MacNéill’ to an appreciative audience. College archivist Gerry McNamee thanked him and all who had helped out in the memorable commemoration.

On March 13th, former pupil, Dr James Beirne, returned to the College to speak to Year 13 and 14 students who are interested in pursuing a career in Medicine. Dr Beirne works in Gynaecological Oncology, and has recently been awarded a PhD for research into Ovarian Cancer. He gave our current students a fascinating insight into the work he does, including using robots to carry out surgery on cancer patients, as well as ground-breaking research at the Centre for Cancer Research & Cell Biology, Queen’s University, where he is an Academic Clinical Lecturer.

It was the first time that Dr Beirne had returned to the College since he left in 2001, and we are very grateful that he took time out of his busy schedule to give excellent career advice to our students.