Limerick Award Winners in 2014 Pride of Place Awards

Limerick communities received two awards at the 2014 Pride of Place competition held in Ennis Co Clare over the weekend.

The Community Wellness Empowerment Leadership & Life Skills Project, King’s Island, Limerick scooped one of the Special Awards in the Cities Competition at the annual IPB Co-operation Ireland Pride of Place Awards in Treacy’s West County Hotel, Ennis, Co Clare.

Speaking of Community Wellness Empowerment Leadership & Life Skills  (CWELL), the judges in their citation said: “This is a unique project, designed by the residents of Kings Island in consultation with the University of Limerick, with the overall objective of improving the well-being of a disadvantaged area and promoting healthier lifestyles for the residents of the community. It will empower people to lead and sustain positive change in their daily lives. It is early days of the project and the judges concur that it will be interesting to see the evaluation results when the project is completed in December 2015”.

The aim of the CWELL project is to deliver a programme in well-being and life style education in St Mary’s Community.  This unique project brings together community partners, University of Limerick staff and students through practice-based, educational activities to work collaboratively and build capacity in well-being and lifestyle education within the local community, commencing in St. Mary’s with the objective of future rollout in other disadvantaged areas.

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“The programme focuses on maximising the practice of good mental and physical health and empowering people to lead and sustain positive change in their community,” explained Bernie Quillinan, CWELL Project, University of Limerick. “Its approach to learning facilitates empowerment of participants to effect positive change in their well-being and life-styles within their own community. It builds leadership capacity within the community and strengthens local communities by enabling and supporting engagement with the community and promoting social inclusion through developing local projects in the area of health and well-being.”

Radharc na Cille Housing Estate in Kilmallock, Co Limerick also picked up a prestigious runner up prize in the Housing Estates Category. Although the Residents’ Committee has only been formed in recent years, its achievements, nevertheless, have been very impressive, with tremendous gains accruing for all residents, in terms of community spirit, quality of life, and physical appearance of the estate. The group works very closely with the Estate Management Unit of Limerick City & County Council and has received great support from Ballyhoura Development Ltd.

Congratulating the winners, Cathaoirleach of Limerick City and County Council, Cllr Kevin Sheahan, said: “Well done to Radharc na Cille in Kilmallock and C-Well in King’s Island for their tremendous success in this year’s Pride of Place Awards. There is great spirit in both communities and the work that was delivered by a group of committed individuals has been nothing short of an inspiration. Limerick is fortunate to have a wealth of community-focused groups and projects that provide services in keeping with the aims and objectives of Pride of Place and we’re very proud of their contributions.”

More than 800 people attended the gala ceremony to hear the announcement of the winners and runners up in the 12th Annual IPB Pride of Place Awards in association with Co-operation Ireland.

The annual all-island competition, which is run by Co-operation Ireland in conjunction with local authorities north and south of the border, aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that communities make to society.

50 groups nominated by local authorities all over the island of Ireland took part in the competition.

Read more about Pride of Place here!
Or visit the Pride of Place website www.prideofplace.ie