We guess that you, like us, are in “lockdown” mode, staying at home as much as possible in order to avoid spreading the virus. These are strange times we live in. We hope and pray that you and your family are coping well.
For some time now we, in Rockbrook International, have been saying to ourselves that we really should keep in contact with as many of our “alumni” as possible, that is, with those students who participated in one of our programmes over the last 35 years. There are now a lot of them, all over the world, going back to about 1985! We dare to hope that you have happy memories of sending your child to Ireland with us, memories that we hope have stayed with them as they advance through life, through their careers, and through their changing personal circumstances. We hope they are doing great and that their experience in Ireland helped them on their way!
We were in the process of compiling our mailing lists when this Covid-19 crisis struck us a few weeks ago. At that time we had groups here from Spain, Argentina, El Salvador, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, France, Hong Kong … When it became clear that things were getting serious, we worked very hard to get over 125 students back to their homes, despite travel restrictions, quarantine regulations, cancelled airline flights, and so on. It was a hectic few days but eventually all those who wanted to get home (that is, almost everyone) did so. Many of the students are continuing to work hard, doing daily online classes with their Irish teachers which has been a great way to keep them involved and focused. We still have a faint hope that we might see some of our full year students again before the end of May.
Because we now have almost no students to look after, we have time to think about other things, like getting in touch with you. Even though we would prefer to be contacting you in better circumstances, when we have more positive news to share, we decided we would use this quieter period to at least open a channel of communication and to see how well it works. For example, we have no idea how many of the e-mails addresses we have are still active so this e-mail is partly just to see if you are there, and if you would like to stay in touch. We had in mind sending out a Newsletter, perhaps once or twice a year, with a mixture of old photos, stories and news updates. But that will be for later, when things are looking up again.
So if this reaches you, and you would like to stay in touch, please feel free to contact us, perhaps updating your information……and letting us know how you are of course!
You might also think of forwarding this e-mail to your son or daughter who spent time in Ireland, in case they would like to renew contact. The best way for them to keep in touch with us would be by ‘liking’ us on social media. We are very active on Instagram and Facebook and can be found by clicking the icons below or searching ‘’Rockbrook International’.
If you have any memories, photos, experiences and comments from your child’s time in Ireland which you would like to share with us, we’d be delighted to receive them and might include them (with your permission) in future communications with all the other past pupils in our network.
Meanwhile we wish you and your family the best. We are particularly conscious of countries and areas most severely hit by Covid-19. We hope and pray that you and your loved ones are coping well, and that this crisis will soon pass.
We look forward to hearing from you soon and have a Happy Easter.
Luis Gonzalez
Manager of Rockbrook International