| Desmond Tutu high fives with Lurgan girls | | Print | |
| Tuesday, 12 August 2008 01:00 | |||
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the evening ended with the Lurgan girls, the waiters and kitchen staff in a sing song and a quote from one of the restaurant team – ‘those girls rock!
Top South African coach Craig Sieben coaches the Lurgan Girls
A two and half hour session then followed with the Lurgan girls then assuming their coaching role and the Cape Town girls responding – but more of that tomorrow. We were also delighted to hear that the piece shot for TV yesterday was broadcast this morning and some of the Cape Town girls had seen it. It was good to welcome our sponsor Ray Acheson of Euroconstruction, who came to see us at the training ground today. Ray was accompanied by three of his business colleagues , including Wilson Briggs from Lurgan, and all were impressed by what they saw including a lunchtime sing song with Ireland’s Call and the SA national anthem. Today’s big story was the visit to meet Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I don’t think we knew what to expect but we were delighted by the welcome. The Archbishop greeted us with a double high five for each tourist and this with the half hour he then spent with us elevated him to ‘dude’ status. That such a figure in world history was so down to earth to welcome us like that, to spend half an hour, to thank us, to tell us about his visits to Belfast and finally to insist on sitting on the floor among the girls for a photo was just an incredible experience. He clearly enjoyed, probably the best rendition of World’s Greatest to date and even called for more. The Archbishop who answers to ‘Arch’ posed for photos and a Lurgan Ladies pennant and a piece of Ballydougan Pottery. He came out of the office to wave goodbye – what a day!
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