Enhancing our Community through Education by Working Together
A group of ten BTEI (Back To Education Initiative) participants recently completed a part time Mosaic course in the Rosslare Harbour Memorial Park and celebrated with an official unveiling on Friday 21st July as part of the Rosslare Harbour Community weekend. This module is part of an overall project called “Enhancing Our Community through Education” which is being delivered by the BTEI (Back To Education Initiative) Wexford Group.
As part of the module, the learners created individual pieces that were exhibited over the weekend and for their group piece, they designed and covered two seats in mosaic in a nautical and local theme in the Memorial Park in Rosslare Harbour. These seats were built by the Local Community Employment Tus Scheme on behalf of, and in association with, volunteers of the Rosslare Harbour/Kilrane Environment Group. The seats make up a “Circle of Friends” memorial which has been created in remembrance of volunteers of the environment group who have passed away and is in keeping with the overall significance of the Memorial Park.
The Material for the mosaic is called ‘Chainie’ or ‘Chaney’ and is a term that refers to broken pieces or ‘shards’ of pottery and glass that are found on beaches. Over the years these have been smoothed, rounded and mainly unglazed by the grinding movement of waves and sand. The local ones are found mainly on ‘Moran’s Bay’ - at Rosslare Harbour. To this day, they still come in on the tide. It is understood that they were part of the cargo of pottery that was lost from a sunken ship – presumably bound from Liverpool for the Americas in and around 1854 - 1856.
The Kilrane Rosslare Harbour Tops group were very kind to suggest that the group unveiled their masterpiece at the end of their village parade for their community weekend when a lot of the locals would be around. Michael Delaney (Environment Group), Jean Rawson (WWETB) & Aileen Ironside (Learner) all gave speeches and Jean read out a beautiful poem about the sunken ship by written one of the learners Marc Kelly.
Going forward, the BTEI Programme ”Enhancing Our Community through Education” Project plans to work with the local primary school, Kilrane National School, to build raised planting beds and to grow plants and veg, while gaining QQI Horticulture and Teamworking modules.