So proud to be invited to salute heroes of Cork’s communities

WELL, I got ‘certified’ on Tuesday evening last in the County Hall out the Straight Road.

I was, for the first time ever, at the Mayor’s Awards for Cork County - it was a memorable event.

The terms ‘grass-roots’ and ‘foot soldiers’ are often used in relation to volunteers and voluntary groups who work in parishes, villages, town and cities all across the country. The countless hours and days and oft-times decades given up to improve life at local level are a testament to the Irish sean-fhocail ‘ Ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine’, which literally means that we live in each other’s shadows.

While Joe Dolan used to sing 'Make Me An Island', the truth is no man or woman is truly an island. No, we all need each other and the Covid pandemic of recent years really brought home to society the importance of ‘company’ and friendship, neighbourliness and lending a helping hand.

I was privileged to be one of the 25 individuals and community groups to receive a Certificate from Mayor of Cork County Danny Collins.

In his opening address, the Mayor said that throughout all sectors of life in Cork, remarkable individuals and groups rose above and beyond the challenges and served as community pillars, providing inspiration and a source of immense pride to us all.

I might be active, in my own peculiar way, in my own community but would never consider myself a community activist. Sixty years ago, I saw my mother getting involved in the local Guild of Muintir na Tire. As a widow with five children and running a farm, you might say ‘how had she time’ for community work, but sure, the busy person always finds and makes time for others.

The County Hall ceremony was the tenth Anniversary of the Mayor’s Community Awards and was really a gala night. Tim Lucey, Chief Executive of Cork County Council, made the point that after the struggles faced during recent years, we have now an even greater appreciation for the places we call home. I thought of the line in one of Daniel O’Donnell’s favourite songs, ‘This is my homeland, the place I was born in. No matter where I go it’s in my soul”. Those sentiments encapsulate what’s best in volunteerism and community work here.

Muintir na Tire run a ‘Pride Of Place’ competition annually - now I know pride is one of the seven deadly sins, but not this kind of pride. Local pride in Tidy Towns, the success of a GAA club or a Drama Group is positive and creates such feelings of joy.

Why, then, in many cases, are the ‘usual suspects’ nearly always involved not in one or two groups but multiple organisations? A good question, but the other side of that equation is why do so many people don’t bother doing any voluntary work at all, at all? That, dear readers, is a conundrum I can’t answer!

Let’s not be negative though because the other night County Hall was buzzing with energy and enthusiasm. 

It wasn’t really about who were ‘the winners’ because, as Cllr. John Paul O’Shea remarked, “everyone here tonight is here because they are winners in their own place’”.

Back in 1959, a new Pipe Band was founded in the town of Fermoy. Named after the executed Castlelyons 1916 leader Thomas Kent, the band has provided stirring musical enjoyment for 64 years.

The founding Chairman was John Fant, and to this very day John still guides the fortunes of the band. Is six decades of Chairmanship a record? Maybe so, but one way or another it shows a dedication and selflessness that’s hard to equal.

John does it not for any reason other than his pride in and love for the band he’s given so much to.

Giving 45 years of service to the Baltimore RNLI - 31 of those as coxswain - is truly a remarkable feat. As a landlubber with a fear of the sea, I am always in awe of the courage and bravery of the men and women who crew our Lifeboats. Kieran Cotter is such a person.

His four and a half decades of literally saving others from drowning is a stunning legacy.

Already bestowed with the Maud Smith bravery award and feted by the Swiss Embassy and United States Congress, it was fitting on Tuesday that Kieran would be honoured by his own people in his own county.

In the last decade, we have seen a huge growth in Active Retirement Clubs and Associations, Men’s Sheds and wellbeing groups. Rural and urban isolation can be an insidious problem in our ‘busy, modern’ world and all these groups are making sure that ageing is full of positivity and a real sense of belonging.

With more than 500 members, the Youghal Active Retirement Association is one of the largest in Cork. We all hope the directives to ‘cocoon’ and ‘isolate’ are terms we’ll never hear again, and down by the Seaside in East Cork the Youghal group provides myriad outlets for its members.

Loneliness can manifest itself in many ways and a chat, a walk, a cuppa or a cinema trip are simple but brilliant antidotes administered in the town where the Greenway will soon be arriving.

Down in Clonakilty, the Community Youth Centre Committee has been providing a safe space for young people for over 20 years. Having its own ‘home’ at Deasy’s Car park has been brilliant for the town. Like all other groups in the South, North and West Divisions of Cork County Council, the Clon’ group relies heavily on volunteers - isn’t it absolutely brilliant that in this hi-tech, hi-spec, AI and social media age we still have hundreds of volunteers in each and every corner of Rebel Cork to ‘keep the show on the road’? Mighty altogether.

Barry Cogan of Carrigaline has been a friend of mine for many years. Like myself a life-long Pioneer, Gaeilgeoir, GAA fanatic, Scor participant and tourism ambassador, Barry told me Tuesday night about his first time in Bartlemy.

It was in the early 1960s when he had his own showband on the road and they played in Bartlemy Parish Hall. His enthusiasm and exuberance in promoting everything Irish is infectious. He has been a great advocate of Carrigaline - a village of about 600 when he was a child, now a town of 20,000. 

Barry’s involvement in so many local voluntary groups is a shining example to all - he takes great pride now in the town’s Men’s Shed project as he continues to work for Carrigaline and all its people.

Set-dancing, Conradh na Gaeilge, story-telling, acting - the Barry Cogan CV (Community Volunteer) is an ever-expanding volume.

There was a huge crowd in County Hall on Tuesday and when Mayor Danny Collins ‘opened the envelope’ to reveal the identity of the 2023 Overall Community Award winner, the attendance was in rapture when Barry Cogan’s name was called out. He got a well-deserved standing ovation. Maith thu Barry and may you enjoy many more years of voluntary work.

I was humbled to be nominated for an award by Cllr William O Leary and felt truly in awe in the presence of so many outstanding community Volunteers.

Long may the great work go on.