County Mayor: 'It's Important to stay active as we head into the winter months' 

The turn of autumn into winter means cold mornings, rainy afternoons, and long nights inside trying to stay warm with our families and friends.

Everyone deals with it differently. Some people have specific hobbies for this time of year and others join local community groups in a bid to stay active and social through the darkness.

The important thing is remaining active, and keeping an open mind when it comes to developing new interests by checking out local classes or groups.

As Mayor of the County of Cork I got to experience what is on offer out there when we hosted the inaugural Community Arts Networking Day at County Hall.

We welcomed artists, community leaders, educators, and advocates from across the region for a collective conversation on how to enrich our communities through art.

There were case studies from local and national practitioners, facilitated networking zones to foster new partnerships, and practical resources made available for launching collaborative creative projects.

The idea behind all of this goes back to the Social Practice Toolkit developed by Cork City and Leitrim County Council arts offices, as well as Cork County Council’s Community of Practice programme. We wanted to create a space to support meaningful and sustainable collaboration between artists and communities and out of this came the inaugural Community Arts Networking Day.

I cannot wait to see the projects that emerge, and how they benefit towns and villages across Cork city and county.

Skills for Life

For those of you looking to try something new, Cork County Council has just announced its participation in Skills for Life, a new nationwide initiative designed to help individuals build essential life skills.

The programme is being rolled out across all local authority library services in Ireland and is free to access for everyone, offering support across six areas.

We have schemes designed to help individuals learn digital skills for their phone or computer, improve their money management, develop media literary so they can navigate the online world more safely, and more.

Events include workshops and talks such as ‘Introduction to Using your Smartphone’ in Fermoy Library to ‘Cyber Security Talks on Practical Ways to Stay Safe Online’ in Bandon, Kinsale and Mitchelstown Libraries.

Each programme has been organised to address a specific issue in everyday life with practical support and advice, while giving people confidence through skills.

For further information contact Cork County Library on 021 477 4266 or email corkcountylibrary@corkcoco.ie.

On County, One Book

Another initiative we launched this week was the latest edition of ‘One County, One Book’ in association with Cork County Council’s library and arts service and Creative Ireland.

Now in its fifth year, ‘One County, One Book’ is designed to promote homegrown literature by making books readily available to young people in our communities.

This year we chose Global by authors Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin, which tells the story of climate change and the need to conserve nature and save the planet, and copies are available in all library branches and mobile libraries across the county.

Eoin Colfer is the author of the bestselling Artemis Fowl series, and he was the third Laureate na n-Óg, Ireland’s laureate for children’s literature.

Andrew Donkin is the author of more than 80 books and graphic novels for children and adults. His books have been translated into 30 languages around the world and have sold more than 10 million copies in the last decade.

Copies of Global are now available in all library branches and mobile libraries across the county.

In celebration of this year’s edition of ‘One County, One Book’, secondary school and Youthreach students are invited to meet the authors, Eoin Colfer and Andrew Donkin and discuss the graphic novel on November 25 at Carrigaline Library and November 26 at Clonakilty Library.

Booking is essential and places can be secured by emailing Cork County Council’s library and arts service at schoolslibrary@corkcoco.ie.