Reality TV star Matthew visits ex-primary school

Reality TV star Matthew visits ex-primary school

30 March 2022

FRESH from Dancing With The Stars Ireland, TV star Matthew MacNabb and his new girlfriend took the chance to visit his former primary school last week.

Matthew and his professional dance partner, Laura Nolan, visited St Patrick’s Primary School, Legamaddy, after making it to the semi-final of the top RTE show.

The visit to the school, which the Downpatrick’s man’s brother and sisters also attended, coincided with the school celebrating news of receiving a sizeable grant.

It has been awarded £9,524 which will go towards creating a pollinator garden in the school grounds.

Pupils were delighted to show Matthew and Laura around the school, particularly its new outdoor learning hub which allows to have an outdoor classroom for eco projects. 

The school’s Eco teacher, Mrs Bronagh Reid, said the school was delighted to welcome Matthew back.

“He was very friendly to all the pupils, who found him very inspiring,” said Mrs Reid. “It was good that he called with us on a day off and it was down to his mother Margaret, who sits on our board of governors.

“We were all hoping that Matthew would make into the final but very impressed that he cog to the semi-final.”

The school’s cash injection is part of the Rural Community Pollinator Grants Scheme, which is financed by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) and managed by the civic-pride campaign, Live Here Love Here.

It is designed to allow community groups and schools across rural Northern Ireland to benefit from funding between £3,000 to £12,000 to establish, enhance or develop a local community pollinator garden.

A pollinator garden is a shared space with pollinating plants, habitats, wildflowers, flowers, shrubs and trees, and the grants support new initiatives aimed at protecting and providing for pollinators.

Mrs Sarah McDowell, principal, said: “We plan to use the money to create an outdoor learning space which will enhance our school grounds and the local community.

“We will build an outdoor classroom and plant fruit trees to attract more wildlife to our school grounds.

`”We are delighted to receive the support of Live Here Love Here to help us create this space which will benefit the children in our school and will help to improve biodiversity in the area.”

She added: “We look forward to starting to create this area after Christmas and have it ready for the spring term.”

The pilot scheme, which made £1.5 million available for 2021/22, aims to cover 95% of costs to community groups and schools wishing to embark on the community environmental project.

Successful grant applicants were required to illustrate their plans to maximise pollinator-friendly land-management techniques to increase the biodiversity value of an area by planting for pollinators, and to transform unused spaces into valued community spaces, adding habitats and greening-up formerly grey areas.