Thomas McCurtains hosted their first ever summer camp at Barley Lane on 3rd—5th August and taking into consideration that the whole thing was put together in a week, it proved a real success.

The first two days of the camp were attended by 15 of our own players. The kids did really well and enjoyed themselves with a full programme of “drills ‘n’ skills”

On the final day of the camp we played host to 15 children and 4 youth workers from the Morningside and Gascoigne Youth Clubs in Hackney. Our visitors made the journey from Hackney and were collected from the station by our volunteers. Within 30 minutes the day was underway, with Vinnie Fahey and Mairtin McGrath taking the kids through their first Hurling experience.

The session proved very fruitful and it was plain to see that we were graced by the presence of some potential new club members. The terms roll lift, jab
lift and pull were soon added to the vocabulary of the visitors.

After lunch we moved on to Gaelic Football and again the kids were very keen to learn a new sport and new skills!

To finish what had been a great few days, we were visited by the Homerton Safer Neighborhoods Team (Met. Police), who were straight into the action and joined in the Gaelic football match, in what proved to be a very hard fought game, with the visiting team running out winners. This was the first time that these young people from Hackney had experienced Gaelic Games and they really enjoyed themselves and it seems that we have created what could be a great community partnership for both groups.

A big thank you to Mairtin McGrath, Vincent Fahey, Dominic Zincraft and Michelle Cooper who all assisted on the day.