Royal School, Armagh

In October 2010 a past pupil of our school, Charlene Barr, passed away aged 20. She had cystic fibrosis - take a deep breath - this is something she wouldn't have been able to do. Cystic fibrosis is a defect that causes the lungs and pancreas to release thick mucus which, over time, fills the lungs. Each week 5 babies are born with CF. There is no cure. No causes – bad luck some might say.

So what would you do if you had a life expectancy of under 30? Charlene had a plan and this short video sums it up.

Charlene is an inspiration and it was no surprise when it was decided that our school charity for this year would be Charlene's project.

Each class was asked to design a canvas to represent them. For their canvas to be mounted in the display they had to raise £25. The initial aim was to raise £500 and produce display that could be mounted in Charlene's memory.

When we had finished counting we had raise just over £4500, an unbelievable amount. In fact the school running club also raised an extra £500 making the grand total we could pass on to Charlene's project just over £5000.

A Picture of the finished display that is now mounted in the stairway between English and Mathematics.

Charlene's parents made an emotional visit to school to recieve the cheque.

The running club pictured with their contribution to Charlene's project.

As a result of all Charlene's hard work and her inspiration to others she was nominated for and won the Spirit of Northern Ireland award.  The video below shows the presentation for the award and our school display makes a fabulous background.