A TIME-CAPSULE has been buried in the grounds of Fivemiletown Round Lake Playpark as part of the Clogher Diocesan celebrations to mark the 1500th Anniverary of St Macartan, patron saint of the diocese.

The last event in the series of celebrations took place at the Fivemiletown beauty spot, with 80 P1-P4 children attending from the three local primary schools – Fivemiletown PS, Clogher Valley Integrated PS and St Mary's PS.

Also present at the ceremony were Church of Ireland Bishop Michael Jackson plus local clergy, Rev Kyle Hanlon and Fr Terence Dolan.

The children were delighted to relinquish their artwork and personal items into the Time Capsule and promised to return 25 years from now in 2032 to unearth the capsule.

Items contributed included children's artwork, personal profiles detailing aspirations for the future and descriptions of their favourite pets/cartoons. Schools provided class photographs and information on forthcoming events.

Clogher Diocese, which co-ordinated the event, contributed Macartan 1500 memorabilia as well as a variety of local and regional newspapers published that day.

A copy of the publication 'Clergy of Clogher' was also placed into the capsule, this substantial book published as one of the outputs of the Macartan 1500 project that sequentially details the contribution of clergy in the diocese for many hundreds of years.

Kellie Beacom, project co-ordinator for the Macartan 1500 Project commented, "Young children who attend schools in Fivemiletown now share something significant together and hopefully in years to come they will remember the day they all gathered at the Round Lake to contribute a snapshot of 2007 for future generations to appreciate."

The Macartan 1500 Project celebrates 1,500 years since the death of St Macartan. It is part financed by the European Union through the EU Programme for Peace and Reconciliation and managed for the Special EU Programmes Body by the Northern Ireland Rural Development Council (RDC).