St Paul's U13 mixed choir, which won the gold medal at the national finals of the Community Games.

Meath came away with two gold medals at the recent Community Games national finals weekend held in Athlone 26th-27th May, both of which were earned by competitors from the Ratoath/Rathbeggan branch.

The under 13 mixed choir from St Paul's National School earned top marks in their section of the all-Ireland final, while Ratoath Senior National School fifth class student Ailbhe Flynn was crowned overall winner of the under 12 art competition.

Last week St Paul's celebrated their big win by holding a concert on Wednesday, 30th May, where the young choir repeated their winning performance. The choir performed three very different songs to clinch the win; 'Viva la Vida' by Coldplay, 'I will follow him' made famous by the movie Sister Act, and 'Bring him home' from the musical Les Misérables.

The choir, which is made up of 20 students from 3rd, 4th and 5th class, was set up last autumn by teachers AnnMarie Hession and Aoife Kieran. The Community Games was their first competitive performance, and they had only performed on stage twice previously.

Ms Kieran says that the children were thrilled and overwhelmed with their gold medal win, and says they are already planning their competition schedule for next year!