Move over, John Lewis: Kerry schoolkids get on their bikes for sweet Christmas advert

This short movie would squeeze tears out of Scrooge

The students and staff wanted a John Lewis vibe

There's a new rival in the John Lewis stakes in Kerry thanks to the budding Steven Spielbergs at a Killarney school.

The festive filmmakers at St Oliver's National School, Ballycasheen released the video this week to launch the school’s Facebook and Instagram pages.  Titled ‘The Old Bike: A Christmas Tale', the short movie would squeeze tears out of Scrooge as it focuses on good old-fashioned kindness.

In the three days since it was uploaded to the school’s social media pages, it has attracted tens of thousands of eyeballs.

“We’re at about 20,000 views already between Facebook and Instagram already,” said the delighted director of the video, teacher Noel O’Sullivan on Tuesday. 

As for the plot? It’s simple but touching. A pupil’s classmates notice he doesn’t have a bicycle to join their trips so they plan to make his Christmas dream come true.

The video was produced by Oisin O’Connor and the storyline came from another staff member, Elaine Price.

“It was an idea by Oisin originally, and after some creative discussions, the lovely storyline came from Elaine,” adds Noel.

The students and staff wanted a John Lewis vibe, agrees Noel. 

“Oisin came to me with the idea of a short John Lewis ad-type video. We played around with a few potential storylines and our colleague Elaine Price came up with the bike story,” he told Irish Examiner. 

We wanted it to have touches of humour and a heart-warming tone.

Businesspeople, sports stars and musicians rallied to the cause, with actors plucked from the ranks of the local Gardaí, publicans and restaurateurs, and from the GAA pitches and stages.

“We had great help from the local community with enjoyable cameo roles played by Kate O’Leary of the Laurels Pub and Restaurant, Niamh Sheahan, manager of Reidy’s Bar (JM Reidy’s), Garda Gillian O’Donoghue, singer Maura Reen and former All-Star Kerry goalkeeper Diarmuid Murphy," says Noel.

“The cast, selected from sixth class, really shone during filming and they had short windows of time to do the various scenes."

The video, which is shot throughout the town, has as its soundtrack an original Christmas song written by Noel, sung by fellow teacher Sinéad Flynn and school principal Colm Ó Súilleabháin.

The song, 'All I ask for this Christmas', is now on Spotify, under teacher Sinéad Flynn's music page.