All About Cork: Community honour memory of ‘powerhouse of a woman’

Mayfield East Community Association held an event in memory of community activist and “powerhouse of a woman” Brid Houlihan and unveiled a bench in her honour recently.

Eddie Carey, chairman Mayfield Community Centre East, told The Echo: “She was our chairperson and secretary of many years, and was hugely involved in the area before she passed away in June 2021.”

He explained that Ms Houlihan was involved in setting up Soccer Street Leagues, the local Neighbourhood Watch, the ladies club, ran the weekly GAA lotto as well as being involved in Foróige, Mayfield Youth Café, Cork Age Friendly Forum, Mayfield Boxing Club, and Mayfield Indoor Bowls.

Ms Houlihan lobbied on local issues such as green space, and was involved in the work of Our Lady’s Crowned Church, raising finance for its renovations

“She was a very busy woman who dedicated her life to our community, and she put her heart and soul into every project, spearheading initiatives. It’s an honour for us to continue the work she so passionately championed,” said Mr Carey.

Fine Gael TD for Cork North Central Colm Burke, who attended the unveiling, told The Echo: “Brid worked tirelessly for her local community in Mayfield. She demonstrated that by people working together better services could be provided. 

She was involved with many different groups providing leadership and support. In particular she was very proactive in getting things done at a time when the financial supports were not available. It is important therefore that we give recognition to the very valuable contribution she made to the community in Mayfield over a long number of years.”

The bench itself was built by Mayfield Men’s Shed, with the group’s secretary Joe Meade telling The Echo: “I worked as a caretaker at Kerrigan Tyrrell Community Centre for four years and it was there where I met Brid, who was always very helpful. 

I have nothing but praise for all the work she did both for Our Lady Crowned Church and the community in Mayfield. It was a privilege for Mayfield Men’s Shed members to do the craft work on the seat and donate it to Mayfield East Community Association in her memory.”

Inspiration at Book Festival

October was Children’s Book Festival month, with visiting writers and illustrators to Mayfield Library over the course of the month including Olivia Hope, Eibhlís Carcione and Fabiola Lobo.

The library’s junior book club, The Pageturners, rounded off the literary month on October 25 discussing Dick King-Smith’s classic, The Sheep Pig, on which the 1995 film Babe is based.

While Inn NS make regular visits to the library on foot, author ER Murray went out to them on October 16 as it was very wet.

The pupils and staff enjoyed her visit, with teachers emailing afterwards to say: “We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks for arranging for author ER Murray to visit our school, especially given the change in weather.

"Her talk, ‘The Magical World of Books and Storytelling’, was absolutely wonderful. The children were captivated and truly benefited from her inspiring words and insights. We are so grateful for the opportunity to have her share her passion for reading and storytelling with our students. A memorable experience we’re sure will stay with them for a long time.”

Hotel backs tidy community

The Montenotte Hotel is helping to keep the local area tidy for two years, through their giving back to the community programme.

Raymond Kelleher, director of Business Development at The Montenotte, told The Echo: “We looked at ways we could engage with the area as part of our corporate social responsibility, one of our strategic pillars was giving back to the community.

“I reached out to councillor Joe Kavanagh, I’ve known him for years through business and involvement in the local area, about the Mayfield St Luke’s Tidy Towns group he set up. I asked could we get involved, so every second Sunday when the group meets, two or three of our senior team join the group for litter picking, planting, painting, sweeping and general cleaning. We’ve got a rota in place so everyone knows well in advance when it will be their turn and it’s all our heads of departments — senior managers, the head of rooms, our financial controller and myself, it’s all on a rotational basis so we each go out two or three times a year.”

Mr Kelleher added: “We’re thrilled to be a part of it and everyone is fully behind it. We’re located in a residential area with houses all around us so it’s a nice way to give back, and we’re very proud of it.”

New courses at Mayfield CDP

Three new free courses will be held in the Mayfield CDP Community Resource Centre at 328 Old Youghal Road, thanks to Cork ETB funding. An easy cooking short course will start on Friday, November 22, for four sessions, from 10.30am to 12.30pm, teaching participants to make simple dishes, some with a festive twist.

A Christmas craft short course will start on Monday, November 25, for three sessions, again from 10.30am to 12.30pm and Christmas flower arranging workshops will run on Monday, December 2 and 9, from 10.30am to 1pm — places are limited.

To book a place on any of these courses, contact Mayfield Community Adult Learning Project, CALP, on (021) 450 8562 or email mayfieldcalp1@outlook.com.

Have Mayfield news to share? Contact amy.campbell@theecho.ie