Get On Board the Talent Train

Hungarian Presidency of the EU declares Saturday 9th April 2011  EU Talent day.

Historically, Ireland has punched well above its weight in terms of talent in so many areas: literature, poetry, drama, music, sport, science. In these difficult times, this is a great opportunity for us to to remind ourselves of the immense talent our young people possess and of the importance of nurturing these talents.

Together with Peter Lydon, we invite everyone to celebrate Irish talent on April 9th. What can you do to mark this occasion? It doesn’t have to be an elaborate affair. Here are some suggestions:

●        Get your family or friends together to play music or read

●        Visit a gallery or museum

●        Go to a play

●        Hold an event for your club or organisation

●        Organise an activity for your school or class

●        Hold a quiz or treasure hunt

A number of national institutions are contributing by organising events for Talent Day and we will post details on our dedicated page as details are finalised. Over time a full list of events will appear on our websites  and on the EU Talent Day website. You might like to participate in one of these.

To compliment Talent Day, we have organised Ireland's first Gifted Education Awareness Day on Friday 8th April. The purpose of this day is to raise awareness of the specific needs of Exceptionally Able children in the classroom. There's a myth that exceptionally able children will perform well in school irrespective of teacher intervention. The result of this is that academic talent often goes unrecognised and undeveloped. International studies have shown that developing teaching methods to take account of children with exceptional ability raises whole school performance.

If you would like any further information or would like your event to be included in our list, please contact us at frazzledanddazzled@gmail.com. Alternatively,  post on the facebook page:

An Post, Katie and the stamp.

While searching for ideas for a "logo" for the National Gifted Education Day/Talent Day on 8th/9th April, we came across a stamp from 2006 which just seemed perfect for the job. It's pretty, has happy children, the Irish and the European flags and for added perfection, it was the winning entry in a children’s art competition. So, we contacted An Post to ask permission to use it. A few days later, I found myself speaking to Anna McHugh, their Head of Corporate Communications. In a world where we often come to expect little, I was bowled over by her enthusiasm and the trouble she had taken to help us out.

Firstly, we would need permission from the child who painted the picture. That was Katie McMillan who was then 12 years old and in 6^th class at Mater Dei Primary School, Basin Lane in Dublin. Anna had contacted the school where they remembered Katie well. In fact, proudly on display, they have a picture of Katie receiving her prize for the drawing back in 2006. Someone there knew her mother and progress was being made in tracking her down.

Meanwhile, the actual artwork was elsewhere, at the printers. Now, printing stamps is a specialized business and An Post generally uses one particular company. In this instance, for some reason, they had used a printer in the UK. Nevertheless, Anna had found out who and where they were, had made contact and the artwork had been located. All that was necessary was Katie’s permission…

We are now highly chuffed to say Katie has been in contact and is delighted that her picture is being revived and used in this way. Now in 5^th year at Loreto College, Crumlin, she still loves art and hopes to study at the National College of Art and Design when she leaves school.

We would like to thank Anna McHugh of An Post for going out of her way to bring this together for us and to thank Katie McMillan for being so generous with her fabulous artwork. We wish her the very best for her future as a talented artist.

What a perfect ending to the story…or start to our celebration of talent!