17 June 2020
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
News from Carrigaline – County Cork’s largest town – compiled by well-known personality Barry Cogan
Project ACT – Carrigaline
A further meeting of the Carrigaline Municipal District Committee with the Carrigaline Business Association, Community Association and representatives of My Town My Plan group was held in the County Hall Council Chamber last Friday June 12th. A number of proposals to further the attraction of Carrigaline as a place to do business were discussed.
Only short-term car parking will be allowed on Main Street or in the front section of the Owenabue car park. Spaces will be reserved for Age Friendly parking and 35 new car spaces will be provided at the eastern end of the Owenabue car park. Changes are to be made at the front of the car park, the toilet and the Tidy Towns Head Quarters are to be moved, replaced by a new seating area, there will also be seating by the mall for outdoor dining. There will be left turning exit only onto the Main Street. Provision of cycle parking racks will be in the Owenabue car park, the Library and the Community Park.
GAA Challenge
Carrigaline GAA club held a super event last weekend from June 12th-14th. They laid down a 3 day challenge to their friends in Moy GAA Club in Co. Tyrone. They were joined in the challenge by their sister sections of Carrigaline Camogie and Carrigaline Ladies Football.The challenge was the idea of club man, John Dineen. At the end of a recently successful skills programme which was run for juvenile players across the 3 sections of the club, John and others were trying to think of an idea to keep members engaged in the club during this period of inactivity. After spotting a tweet on The Moy’s account of a picture reminiscing about the old friendships between the clubs, John reached out to The Moy with the challenge. The challenge was to see which of the 2 clubs could cover the most distance running or walking over the course of 3 days, Carrigaline v The Moy, Cork v Tyrone. What followed was a fabulous community event which caught the imaginations of hundreds of people in both communities. An organising group of John, Harry O Sullivan, Declan Fitzgerald, Brendan O Driscoll and Richard O Farrell co-ordinated the event.
By the weekend of the event 911 people associated with Carrigaline GAA, Camogie and Ladies Football clubs had signed up to walk or run. “We had all ages from u5 to members in their 80s taking part. The village and surrounds were flooded with Carrigaline jerseys and tops in a manner never seen before. People went to extraordinary lengths in the distances covered and it was brilliant to see everyone coming together to support the event” John Dineen said .
In the end members from both Carrigaline and The Moy had covered a combined distance of over 31,500km, a total that would have seen them get to Australia and back over the course of the weekend! When the figures were counted Moy GAA came out the winners having covered a distance of 1.2km more per person than Carrigaline. The result was irrelevant though as this was a community event that brought everyone closer. It has re-ignited Carrigaline’s ties to The Moy which go back over 30 years and for that alone it was worthwhile.
Pieta House says Thanks
Carrigaline GAA received a letter of thanks from Pieta House for their 72 Hour Run an initiative of the Club members to run throughout the weekend instead of the Darkness into Light annual fundraiser in aid of Pieta House. The idea to do the run instead of the Darkness Into Light fundraiser came from club member Stephen Dwane. The idea caught on and was taken up by GAA Clubs all over Ireland. Carrigaline GAA raised over €29,000 and the total raised by the combined GAA clubs has come to €828,351.
Community Masks
Community masks group is a Carrigaline based voluntary group providing fabric masks free to anyone who requires one. It’s the brain child of Eileen Murphy and Sally O’Leary who have managed to source various sponsorships from businesses to purchase the material for making the masks. There is a team of cutters and sewers who help get the masks made.
If any individual or group needs masks just join the Facebook group Community Masks Cork and request there.
Virtual Dancing
The Céilí tutorial which has been free online courtesy of Fionán Cogan will continue to be available until the end of June i.e. Tuesday next 30th. Fionán, who has been teaching Céilí Dancing for over 20 years, has produced a video ‘Learn to Dance at Home’ with 11 two hand dances. The video has received a very positive response. It is available on www.theceiliexperience.com. Enquiries Fionán 087 818 5111.
Tidy Towns
Carrigaline is looking bright and clean thanks to the Tidy Towns volunteers who are doing a wonderful job. The group meets every Wednesday evening at 7.00pm and Saturday mornings at 9.30am. The floral displays throughout the town are at their best. The committee are pleased to receive news from Cork County Council that they have been awarded a community grant of €18,000 towards completion of the Waterpark project. They have also been awarded €1,800 amenity grant. Volunteers are always welcome.
Men’s Shed
The Carrigaline Men’s Shed are meeting during the week to make plans for the reopening after the lockdown. The Shed has received communications from Head Quarters outlining all the rules and regulations they must follow when they open. The Men’s Shed were delighted to receive news from the Carrigaline Municipal Committee that they have been awarded a €3,000 amenity grant to cover part of their building programme.
Pipe Band
Members of the Carrigaline Pipe Band are looking forward to meeting up socially on Thursday July 2nd. This is their first get together since early March and they will probably meet in the open air where they can socially distance.
Cruinniú na nÓg
Comhaltas na Dúglaise took part virtually last Saturday in the national event Cruinniú na nÓg. Members played and sang on Facebook during the course of the day which was a great day of traditional Irish music, singing and a bit of dancing from the branch. Some members sent in their performance to Creative Ireland, Cork’s Virtual Trad Recital which went out on the Cruinniú na nÓg Website from 2.00.pm on Saturday.
Cruinniú na nÓg is usually a large community event where young people sing or play music or do many other creative activities in parks or large venues. This year because of Covid-19 it had to be held online. It is a day of free creativity for children and young people taking place mostly last Saturday June 13th. There were 40 pages of activities available on the website.