Scottish Catholic Observer

Fifty years of St Mark’s Primary School in Barrhead were commemorated on Friday September 2 as Bishop Philip Tartaglia of Paisley joined the school community for a day of jubilee celebrations.

The bishop celebrated Mass at Barrhead’s St John’s Church while he also blessed the school and a new statue of their patron, which was gifted to the St Mark’s community by St John’s Church.

Guests and greetings

The Paisley bishop was joined in celebrating the jubilee Mass by Fr Paul Brady, St Mark’s chaplain, Fr Stephen Baillie, former chaplain, Canon James O’Connell, Mgr Thomas Monaghan and Fr Gerry Nealis.

Invited guests at the Mass included; Jim Murphy MP; Lorraine McMillan, chief executive of East Renfrewshire Council; Alan Lafferty, deputy leader of the council and convenor for education; Elaine Green, vice convenor for education and equalities; John Wilson, director of education for East Renfrewshire; members of the directorate and other council officials.

Former headteachers, staff and pupils of St Mark’s ensured a healthy congregation was present at St John’s for the Mass, which also included Patricia Scott, headteacher of St Luke’s High School, Barrhead, St Mark’s associated secondary school, S6 pupils and staff and pupils from St Luke’s music department who ably assisted the St Mark’s choir for the music Liturgy at the Mass.

The headteacher of Barrhead High School, Andrew Sinclair, was also present for the celebrations, and passed on warm greetings to his friends at St Mark’s.

“The church was packed for the Mass and it was great to have so many people there to celebrate with us,” Gerard McLaughlin, St Mark’s headteacher said.

“We were also blessed with good weather as we were able to walk the children from the school round to St John’s.”

Bishop’s message

During his message to pupils, Bishop Tartaglia gave a brief history on the life of St Mark and said that he hoped the children had learned more about their patron saint. The bishop noted that he had, himself, learned more about St Mark from the Powerpoint presentation pupils performed on the day.

Bishop Tartaglia was also the grateful recipient of a gift from St Mark’s, presented to him by Mrs Brooks, who was a pupil in St Mark’s first ever Primary One class in 1961, and her grandson, Derek Brooks, a current primary one pupil at the Barrhead school.

Headteacher’s words

Mr McLaughlin spoke about the new school statue of St Mark, the first of its kind to be placed in the school.

“Fr Paul Brady from St John’s arranged for a statue to be presented to the school, which we thought was a great way to mark the jubilee,” Mr McLaughlin said. “Fr Paul searched high and low for a statue and eventually managed to source one in Holland. We are very lucky and very proud to receive the gift, which is a sign of the parish and school working closely together.”

The headteacher also paid tribute to St Mark’s parent council for making sure the school hall was resplendent for the reception that followed the Mass.

“They really went that extra mile to make sure the place looked great,” Mr McLaughlin said.

PIC: PAUL McSHERRY