Humble beginnings at the kitchen table

It was always great craic around the kitchen table with Meg and Derrick Gordon, and we have carried on the tradition at St Tola. When our premises were built in 1999, we brought the kitchen table over from the original farmhouse. Every day at 10.30 and 1.30 our staff sit down and eat together; it is a great bonding time for the team. Covid restrictions paused it for a while, but it resumed in gusto at the end of 2022.

This picture was taken in 1999. Meg and Derrick are the older couple in the centre, with John Harrington in the white shirt next to Meg, and Siobhán's sister Úna, her husband John McDonald, and various neighbours and students around the table.