Thirty Years On: The Story Behind the Kinsale Community School Crest

Dennis Collins reminiscing on the design of the Kinsale Community School Crest 30 years ago

(JJ Hurley)

Thirty years after helping to create the Kinsale Community School crest, local man Dennis Collins still takes great pride in seeing a design he worked on as a teenager remain a central part of the school's identity.

Dennis was a fifth-year student, aged 16, when Kinsale Community School held a competition inviting students to submit ideas for a new school crest.

It was a very different era for design, long before digital tools and online graphic design platforms became commonplace.

"There was no Canva or anything like that," Dennis recalled. "We certainly weren't designing things on computers. It was literally pencil and paper."

A keen sketcher at the time, Dennis spent much of his free time drawing band logos, football club crests and various designs, often filling his school books with doodles. When the competition was announced, it was a natural opportunity for him to put his creativity to use.

The outer shape of the design he submitted was inspired by the Liverpool Football Club crest of that period.

He also included the school's establishment date, and these became some of the key elements incorporated into the final crest.

Dennis remembers that another student also contributed ideas that were used in the finished design, and believes there may have been a third student involved, although after three decades he cannot be certain.

The crest ultimately became a combination of elements from several student entries.

He was 16 when he drew the design and 17 when he first wore the finished crest on the Kinsale Community School uniform. His year group would also become the first Leaving Certificate class in the new school.

At the time, Dennis says, neither he nor his classmates considered the long-term significance of what they were helping to create.

"I definitely never imagined that the crest would still be there 30 years later," he said. "At 16, I was just entering a competition and doing something I enjoyed."

Looking back now, however, he views it differently.

Over the past three decades, the crest has been worn by thousands of students and has appeared on school uniforms, posters, trophies and countless school publications.

"To think that something I had a hand in designing as a teenager has been worn by thousands of students over the last 30 years is something I'm very proud of," he said.

Adding a further personal connection, Dennis hopes that his own children will one day wear the same crest when they attend the school.

Among his strongest memories of the competition is the letter that arrived at his family home in the summer of 1997.

The school wrote to commend him on his design and to inform him that elements of it would be used in the new crest.

Dennis remembers his father opening the letter and being immensely proud of the achievement.

"That has always stayed with me," he recalled. "Back then, a letter arriving home from the school wasn't normally something you were particularly excited about, so it was nice to get a good one for a change."

Three decades on, Dennis Collins remains proud that a design he helped create as a teenager has become a lasting part of the history and identity of Kinsale Community School.