Stamullen stage school finds new home

Fair City actor George McMahon says there's no hard feelings for the priest for banning this stage school from using the local parish hall.

Last month, the RTE star slammed the decision of Fr Brendan Ferris for not allowing the Glitz Stage School that he runs along with his wife Rachel Smyth McMahon from returning to the venue they had been operating from for the past six years.

George was told the new parish priest has other plans for the hall and he would have to find an alternative location for his 70 strong cohort of students.

The Bettystown-based actor vowed to fight the decision and launched an online petition pleading with the church not to dash the dreams of local children who were looking forward to returning to class after 18 months of Covid restrictions.

“Please Open The Parish Hall Back to the Community” received more than 600 signatures from outraged local parents who are up in the arms about the move.

However, George who lives in Bettystown with Rachel and their two children says he wants to move on after the generosity of kind hearted parents ensured that most of his students could follow them to their new home in Julianstown Community Centre. He said:

“We had our first week last Friday, we were nervous trying to figure out who was going to make the trip with us to Julianstown about a ten-minute drive away from the Stamullen parish hall but with the goodwill of parents who offered to do some carpooling to help get people over we were able to welcome most of the kids back.

“We are still sad to lose a few kids due to the trip but that’s just the nature of what happened.”

George who plays the character Mondo in the long running Irish soap says he wants to “forgive and forget” and get on with giving local children an outlet for their passion. He added:

“Any of the positive things that have happened is down to the goodwill of the community and we are blessed that we have such a lovely community in Julianstown and Stamullen.

“We love the parents and students with all of our hearts.

“We had a tough lockdown, we started doing zoom classes but like everyone else I think we started having zoom fatigue and there is nothing like the real thing being able to see our students and we were delighted to meet some new students.”