​ Saturday 20th January 2018 was one of those days that will be long remembered by the 5th & 6th class  pupils  from Cloonlyon NS for many reasons. Despite the early rising and departure time  from Bushfield Church, spirits were high as Mc Cann’s bus pulled into Mary Immaculate College, Limerick for the RDS Primary Science Fair. With 40 schools participating there was a rush to get set up and into presentation mode. By 9.30 am the first presentation team was in place and ready to go.
Gradually the curious adults and school pupils arrived at the stand to  ask what exactly ‘Thieves Oil’ was and why was it worthy of a project. Throughout the day the three  five- pupils team  looked after the stand for an hour at a time  Parents and teachers should be  rightly proud of the  manner with which pupils in turn engaged with explained the details of the project to the many visitors. Such was the demand for the Thieves Oil’ recipe that email addresses were taken from those unable to get one the 100 copies of the recipe available on the day.
While each team was busy, the other pupils were freed up to visit the other stands and take in some of the vast array of projects on view. At various times pupils were able to attend workshops on variety of topics from dinosaurs  to marine life.
While the Science Fair itself is non-competitive the judge’s comments are worth reading.
‘ Congratulations on a fascinating and informative project. I have a strong interest in history but had never heard of Thieves Oil’ before. You set about answering your investigations in a very thorough way. You took great care to ensure fair testing. You clearly showed the benefits of this product from an environmental point of view….I really enjoyed chatting to you today. You did a great job presenting your project. Well done to all involved. PS Thanks for the recipe!’
A special word of thanks must go to Dee & Tina who gave up their Saturday to supervise and support the pupils’ participation