‘The Scottish Play’ was brought to life this term when Junior Drama Club decided that Shakespeare deserved its attention. With Marcus McLean as a convincing Macbeth and Laura Abernethy’s haunting performance as Lady Macbeth, the plot unfolded for the Year 9 audience in the John Armstrong Hall. The performance in the round gave our young actors the new experience of having audience on three sides and they coped admirably. Emma Jones as Banquo, Calum Telfer as Duncan and Aoife Cameron-Mitchell as Macduff kept us all intrigued from beginning to end, while the three witches, Megan Myer, Constantine Arnscheidt and Kamila Marszalek created a tangible sense of the sinister by infiltrating almost every scene. The Scottish Thanes Jonah Myer, Sam Gault and David Willis along with Lily Meldrum and Rachel Beckett who played Duncan’s sons, Gage McAlister as Fleance and Andreas Karmiotis, the Porter, all told the story of Macbeth’s downfall with energy, pace and obvious enjoyment. Well done to every member of the cast and a big thank you, too, to Thomas Hancock our prompt.

Drama Club is now starting a new programme with a new intake of pupils, so if you are in Years 8-11 come along to B5 at lunchtime on Tuesdays. We look forward to you getting involved in our next performance!

On Thursday 18th November, a team of six Dalriads competed in the annual Soroptimist International Public Speaking competition. It was held in the Tweed Conference Room of the Robinson Hospital in Ballymoney, and was a very enjoyable evening for all who attended. The girls gave their views on a wide range of topics, including Facebook, Beauty and the Welfare State. After a very high standard of speeches were delivered, the judges took time to deliberate while the nervous pupils enjoyed some light refreshments. Congratulations to Annabeth McDowell who placed second overall after speaking about Facebook, Abigail Curry who spoke about Beauty and placed joint third and all the girls that took part. Thank you to Ms Timmins for arranging the evening and practising and perfecting the speeches with the girls.

Abigail, Rebekah and Annabeth, Year 12.

Year 8 Readon 27^th September – 1^st October

Last month all Year 8 pupils took part in Dalriada’s annual sponsored Readon. Pupils were encouraged to read as many books as they could for their own enjoyment and also to raise funds for the Northern Ireland Cancer Fund for children. As part of the Book Week celebrations Year 8 pupils set out in very chatty, long crocodiles to Ballymoney Library where Mrs Tweed, the Librarian, told them how they could access the many services the Library offers and entertained them with stories and poems. There was a Book Fair for all Key Stage 3 pupils in the School Library too. In 2009, Year 8 raised £ 2,070 during Book Week – we are looking forward to hearing the sponsorship total this year!