Book Character Dress-up Day
A joint literacy and ‘Men for Others’ initiative saw the staff and students of Clongowes raise in excess of €650 for the Irish Red Cross Ebola Appeal on Book Character Dress-up Day last Wednesday (5th, November). The day was the brain child of College Librarian, Ms Jane O’Loughlin (a.k.a. The Snow Queen) who supplied the following report. As ever, our photographer, Mr David Nelson was on hand to record the event and encourage the boys to strike a few poses…
Book characters roamed through the school as staff and students alike shook off their daily dress and adopted that of a literary favourite. There were many Ross O’Carroll-Kellys throwing shapes while the James Adamses of Muchamore’s Cherub Series loitered coolly in their garb of jeans, orange T-shirts and hoodies. Wally was everywhere. Or was he?
There were at least ten Tintins on a quest for knowledge while mysterious – some might say dubious – characters hid their identities behind a variety of shades and sunglasses or under wigs. Some morphed into animals as hooded ‘onesies’ were zipped on for the day. Anthony Horowitz’s granny appeared, Dracula flew in as did a witch and a wizard. Katniss Everdeen was ‘on fire’ in her golden wings and the Queen of Hearts also made an appearance while The Snow Queen held court in the TV room.
It was on the floor of the TV room that students and staff formed a money spiral out of €2 donations. With each donation the spiral grew; small gestures of generosity symbolically expanding towards a greater good and over €650 was collected in one of the easiest most fun ways possible. The Irish Red Cross will forward this money to help with the prevention and spread of Ebola in Guinea, Sierrra Leone and Liberia.
Many thanks to everyone who got involved to make this such a successful event. The calendar is marked already for Book Character Dress-up Day 2015.
Ms Jane O’Loughlin, College Librarian