Congratulations to the 1st XI girls hockey team who won the Ulster Senior Plate on Wednesday 13 March 2019 beating Lurgan College 4-1 at Stormont. Goals – Rebecca Haley (3) and Hannah Boyd.

Congratulations to the 1st XV who are through to the Subsidiary Shield Final after defeating Royal School Dungannon 33-13. They will now face Bangor Grammar on Wednesday 20 March 2019 at the Arena Pitch, Queens Sport, Kick off 2.30 pm. All support is welcome and Parents/Supporters can purchase tickets by accessing the link via our Twitter Page @Sullivan_Rugby.

Congratulations to the 3rd XV who have retained the 3rd XV Plate. They will share it with Rainey after a thrilling 12-12 finish.

The 2019 Belfast Open Fencing Tournament was held last weekend Sat 9th and Sun 10 March 2019 in the Sullivan Sports Hall and incorporated Round 5 of the NI Junior Foil Series. Seventeen SU fencers took part in the junior event, 9 of whom won medals: an SUFC record medal total of 2 gold, 3 silver and 4 bronze. U12 Girls Year 8s Alexandra Ong and Sophia Cahill, both with previous round wins, met in the final of this category, Alexandra taking the gold with a 10-8 win over Sophia. U14 Girls Year 10 Alex Atkinson and year 8 Charlie Beimers represented Sullivan in this age group. Charlie showed how much her fencing has improved this year by making the semi-finals for the first time, taking a bronze medal. Alex won the other semi, then came away with the silver medal from the final. U14 Boys In the poule round Alexander Penny won all his bouts, including a notable victory over the U14 series points leader, to come out top seed. Then in the knock-out stage he made it to the semi-finals, but lost to the eventual winner to take third place and a bronze medal. Arnav Arava, Adam Caldwell and Finn Neely all made the quarter-finals, while Kier Murray, Cameron Kitchen, Lewis Currie and Edward Lilley all finished in the last 16. U16 Girls Victoria Morris returned to competition, after missing Round 4 with a wrist injury, with a blistering performance to win gold without losing a single bout. SU fencers won all 4 medals in this age group: Izzy Evans taking the silver, while the 2 beaten semi-finallists, Rachel McKillen and Angharad King took the bronze medals. U16 Boys Cormac Kitchen, again our only male SU U16 representative, finished just outside the medals in 5th place. Round 6, the final competition of the series, takes place on Sunday 7 April 2019, venue to be arranged. Belfast Open NIJFS Round 5 formed only one competition on the Belfast Open Tournament programme, there being 6 others: senior men’s and women’s events in foil, epee and sabre. Three of SUFC’s fencers took part in the senior competitions, Izzy Evans and Alex Atkinson in the Women’s Foil and Arnav Arava in the Men’s Foil. Alex and Izzy both made the quarter-finals, finishing 5th and 7th, while Arnav finished 15th.

Sullivan faced Methody in a repeat of the McCullough Cup semi-final, to try to achieve a successive fourth appearance in the Burney Cup final. Methody started brightly but Sullivan started to control the game. Methody were defending well until Issac Hart converted a low cross from Tom McClintock. Halftime Sullivan 1 v Methody 0 Sullivan started the second half well with a goal two minutes in Matthew Willis was first to the ball after the Methody keeper save a penalty corner. Methody forced a few successive penalty corners but the Sullivan defence and keeper Frazer Todd successfully defended these. Sullivan followed these up with a successful penalty corner of their own, Matthew Morris deflecting a shot from Paddy Crookshanks. Sullivan scored a fourth when Harry Yarr netted a cross from Patrick Rose. Sullivan were unlucky not to get a couple more goals from great play. Methody threw all they could at Sullivan and won a penalty stroke, but Frazer Todd saved this and then another good shot from open play. Final Score: Sullivan 4 (Hart, Willis, M Morris & H Yarr) v Methody 0 Team: P Crookshanks (C), F Todd (GK), S Anderson, C Matthews, H Yarr, P Rose, M Trimble, M Willis, M Morris, D Girvin, D Erskine, C Smith, T McClintock, I Hart, N Keown, J McNeill & H Dunlop (GK) The Burney Cup Final will take place at Stormont Pavillion on Thursday the 28 March 2019 with pass back at 7:30pm – let’s hope the school can have a BIG crowd there to support this fantastic achievement of 4 consecutive finals. This is against Wallace High School and repeat of the McCullough Cup Final. https://www.facebook.com/BelfastTelegraphSport/videos/2084591061596395/

Congratulations to the 1st XI team who won their semi-final against Methody yesterday, 13 March 2019. Semi final results of the John Minis Burney Cup: Sullivan Upper School defeated Methodist College 4-0 (Scorers: Issac Hart, Matthew Willis, Matthew Morris and Harry Yarr). Sullivan will play Wallace High School in the JMEA Burney Cup Final which will take place at Stormont on 28 March 2019 at 7.30p m Don’t miss it and get there early as there will be a big crowd!

Sullivan have been drawn against Methodist College in the semi final of the Burney Cup, this is a replay of the McCullough Cup semi final that Sullivan won 3-2. The match is at 1:30 pm next Wednesday 13 March 2019 at Lisnagarvey Hockey Club, Comber Road, Hillsborough. Let’s get as much support there as we can.

Sullivan progressed to the semi-finals of the Burney Cup with a resounding win over local rivals Campbell College. Sullivan started the game with a fast pace, quickly taking the lead and this was the sign of things to come. Sullivan managed to score 6 goals in the first half. Halftime Sullivan 6 – Campbell College 0 The second half was more of the same, the only difference was Campbell College lost some discipline and suffered a series of Green and Yellow Cards. This meant that their players tired quickly and a further 7 goals were scored by Sullivan Final Score Sullivan 13 (M Willis 5, I Hart 2, D Erskine, P Crookshanks, M Trimble, T McClintock, C Matthews & D Girvin) Campbell College 0 The semi-final is to be held on Wednesday 13 March 2019, watch out for the match time. Lets get a big support for the boys so we can bring more sporting success to Sullivan.

Congratulations to Conor Matthews (Yr11), Patrick Rose (Yr11) and Tom McClintock (Yr12) who represented Ireland in the U16s Hockey team against England last week.

U12 Girls Year 8 Sophia Cahill made her return to competition in Round 4, after missing the 3rd round because of a broken wrist. She also returned to winning, taking gold in a repeat of her Round 2 win. U12 Boys Oliver Playfair also made a return to competition after missing Round 3, finishing 7th. U14 Girls Two SU fencers competed this age group, year 10 Alex Atkinson and year 8 Charlie Beimers. Charlie finished 6th, while Alex stepped up her fencing and improved on her previous two 3rd places with a silver medal finish. U14 Boys Arnav Arava, Alexander Penny, Cameron Kitchen and Keir Murray all made the quarter-finals in the U14s, with Finn Neely just outside the last 8 in 9th place. U16 Girls With the winner of the first 3 rounds, SU’s Victoria Morris, out with a wrist injury, it was left to Izzy Evans, Ruzi Statham and Rachel McKillen to represent Sullivan in this age group. Ruzi met Izzy in the final, Ruzi taking gold and Izzy silver, while Rachel took bronze in 3rd place. U16 Boys Cormac Kitchen was again the lone SU fencer in this category, this time finishing 6th. Round 5 takes place on Saturday 9 March 2019 in the Sullivan Upper Sports Hall.

Sullivan 1st XV will take on Campbell College 1st XV at Sullivan on Saturday 9 February 2019 in the 4th Round of the Schools Cup. Come along and support the players and the school. Kick Off 10.30 am.

Eva Clarke – Holocaust Survivor On Wednesday 30 January 2019, Eva Clarke, whose mother is a Holocaust survivor, came to Sullivan Upper and talked about her mother’s experience during World War II. Ms. Clarke’s presentation was particularly relevant as Holocaust Memorial Day, on the 27th of January, marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi death camp. We remember the 6 million Jews who died during World War II. The speech was presented to the Year 10s, who found it very powerful and shocking hearing the events that took place. Parents were welcomed to come as well to listen to Eva’s speech. Eva Clarke comes annually to Sullivan to tell her story and to educate young minds about what the Second World War was really like for the Jews. Eva Clarke talked about what life was like for Jews just before, during and after the Holocaust. She started off talking about when Adolf Hitler first came to power in Germany, Jews were advised to leave Germany. Her father moved to the Czech Republic, where he met his future wife. The Germans took control of Czech Republic which made life harder for Jews by putting restrictions on them. These rules were called the Nuremberg Laws and meant that Jews immediately lost most of their rights in society. The first concentration camp that her parents went to was called Theresienstadt or “Terezin.” This camp was located at the outskirts of Prague in the Czech Republic. If you were ill, pregnant or a child below the age of 12, you were sent to a death camp like Auschwitz. Eva’s parents spent 3 years in Terezin, but her father was sent to Auschwitz and Eva’s mother remarkably volunteered to go with him. In all the time she was in Auschwitz the Nazis did not know the Eva’s mother was pregnant. At the end of the War, Eva’s mother was sent to Mauthausen. By this time, she was nine months pregnant and she was described by Eva as being a living skeleton; she weighed roughly seventy pounds. On arrival at Mauthausen it is believed that the shock of arriving there due to its notorious reputation brought on Eva’s mother labour. She gave birth to Eva on a coal cart on the train. The baby was three pounds. However, they were not killed by the Nazis as the Nazis had ran out of gas in the Mauthausen camp and the U.S. Army liberated the camp four days after Eva’s birth which meant that her and her mother could receive medical treatment. After Eva’s talk, she allowed the Year 10 pupils and the parents to ask questions. One of the questions that was asked was, “Would you ever forgive the Nazis for what they did?” Eva said it was a very hard question to answer, but she might with some thought, but she said that she will never forget what they did. Eva’s talk was truly inspiring and all of Year 10 found it a memorable experience. Dylan Smyth 10S Eva Clarke with pupils from Year 10 and Year 13 and Mr T Stevenson around the tree planted in memory of her family outside the Sullivan Upper school library.