18 January 2023
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
A group of residents who maintain a busy junction on the main Cork to Kinsale road are the latest winners of the Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Award.
Five Mile Bridge Community Group was established by local residents to enhance the area where thousands of cars, trucks and buses travel through each day. The group restored an old water pump, planted flowers and painted kerbs.
The group also engages with local councillors and Cork County Council to make further improvements to benefit the community. They pushed for a footpath to be constructed from rural Ballinabeara to File Mile Bridge which provides vital connectivity between the two areas.
General Manager of the Cork International Hotel, Eoghan Murphy said, “File Mile Bridge Community Group started with a group of volunteers enhancing their local area and at a cost to themselves. They have brightened up a very busy junction and have pioneered a sense of community and vital connectivity by highlighting the need for a footpath to nearby Ballinabeara. That footpath is now in place and the group continues to clean up and maintain the junction by weeding and watering the flowers. This group has succeeded in making their local area safer and more inviting for the people who live there and the thousands of people who pass through this junction every day. I am delighted to see them honoured with a much deserved Community Spirit Award.”
The Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Awards were established in 2021 to honour volunteers who are making a significant contribution to their community. It sees a group or individual chosen every month with an overall winner selected at the end of the year. The awards are open to community groups and organisations in Cork from first-responders to community centres, victim support services to sports groups and those volunteering in the health and disability sectors.
The awards are sponsored by The Carrigdhoun Newspaper and Gerald McCarthy Giftware. The judging panel is made up of a mixture of representatives from the public and private sector within the community.
The judging panel for this award was:
- Carmel Lonergan Group Director of Operations, Trigon Hotels
- Nicola Radley Senior Executive Officer, Municipal District Operations & Rural Development at Cork County Council
- Aisling Killilea Bank of Ireland Manager Carrigaline and Douglas
- Vincent O’Donovan and Jack White, The Carrigdhoun Newspaper
Colman Madden, Volunteer with The Five Mile Bridge Community Group: Winner of the Community Spirit Award November 2022, presented by Peter Loughnane: Sales & Marketing Director, Cork International Hotel & Vincent O’Donovan: Director, The Carrigdhoun Newspaper pictured with members of the Five Mile Bridge Community Group, including Cllr. Ben Dalton O’Sullivan. Photographer: Siobhán Russell
