I got the most amazing email from the Teresian School a few weeks ago asking if I would like a student award for art named after me! I cannot say how honoured I feel.

I went to the school from 1965, when it first opened, and left in 1978. In fact I never went to any other school. It was, and I’m sure still is, a very unusual place. For starters we called most of the teachers by their first name, and when I was a student there was no uniform. There was an ethos of kindness, perhaps what is now called “mindfulness” within the school. It was certainly very different from any other school in Ireland in the 1960’s. I must say I was very happy there, regarding the teachers as friends and over the years, many of them came along to my exhibitions to support me. I suppose this is the benefit of attending a small school, but it is fantastic to be remembered by them with this award after forty years, and even better that I’m not dead!

As a footnote, when I told this news to Jackie Stanley, my tutor in N.C.A.D, and since friend, she remarked “small school then?” That put me back in my box.
I wouldn’t want to lose the run of myself and get notions!