Four Limerick groups nominated for this year’s Pride of Place 2022

Pride of Place 2022 animated groups pictured above – St. Munchin’s Community Centre, West End Youth Centre, Glenroe/ Ballyorgan Community Council and Adare Women’s 2020 Club. Pictures: Keith Wiseman.

St. Munchin’s Community Centre, West End Youth Centre, Glenroe/ Ballyorgan Community Council and Adare Women’s 2020 Club chosen to represent Limerick

Limerick City and County Council has announced that four local projects have been entered in the Pride of Place 2022 competition.

St. Munchin’s Community Centre, West End Youth Centre, Glenroe/ Ballyorgan Community Council and Adare Women’s 2020 Club have been chosen to represent Limerick in the following categories:

·        Community Resilience: St. Munchin’s Community Centre

·        Community Youth Led Initiative: The West End Youth Centre

·        Community Population 300 – 1,000: Glenroe/ Ballyorgan Community Council CLG

·        Community Wellbeing Initiative: Adare Women’s 2020 Club

The Irish Public Bodies (IPB) Pride of Place 2022 awards are presented in association with Co-operation Ireland.

This year marks the 20^th anniversary of the competition which is an all-island competition run in conjunction with local authorities North and South.

It aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that communities make to society along with generating awareness, respect and inclusion for every facet of society.

The purpose of the competition is to acknowledge the work being done every day by communities all over the island of Ireland, recognising endeavours of local people to create civic pride and make their communities great places to live.

The Pride of Place 2022 competition focus is about people coming together to change and improve the daily lives of people in their communities.

For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, the judges were able to meet with nominated groups. Each group demonstrated the work of the group, their accomplishments and its impact on their community to the visiting judging panel last month.

Congratulating the four Limerick groups, Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Francis Foley said, “Well done to the four groups involved for being nominated for the finals. Each one of them embodies the community spirit and ‘can-do’ attitude synonymous with communities across the city and county in creating civic pride and making their communities great places to live. These four Limerick projects demonstrate how people can come together to shape, change and improve the daily lives of people in their communities. They also demonstrate real partnership with the Council and show that all sections of the community can be included.”

Eileen Humphreys, Urban and Rural Community Development, Limerick City and County Council said, “Pride of Place connects the efforts and actions of communities, their representatives and the local authority to honour the unique partnership and community spirit which is evident throughout Limerick.”

“Each of the nominated projects showed tremendous community spirit, offering support to people in their communities, bringing together different sections of the community including young and older people and delivering innovative projects to respond to community needs.”

“Nominated groups demonstrated the work being done every day by communities in Limerick. There is no doubt that the four groups nominated to Pride of Place this year will make Limerick proud and I wish them the very best of luck.”

Limerick has an impressive track record in the competition with The Children’s Grief Centre, Lough Gur Development Co-operative Society, Draw Out, Rathkeale Pre-Social Cohesion Project, Limerick Civic Trust and Kilmeedy among the groups/ projects honoured.

The Pride of Place 2022 winners will be announced at a ceremony in January 2023.

More information HERE 

The four groups representing Limerick are:

• St. Munchin’s Community Centre was established in 2005. Located in Killeely Thomondgate, it serves a wide population on the northside of the city, manages community enterprises, employment schemes and community services with over 2,000 service users every week. St. Munchin’s employs people from the National Learning Network and has a number of placements of people on early release from prison and people on probation every year. St. Munchin’s Centre developed successful community services such as meals on wheels, community café, hair and beauty salon, school lunches, flower shop, photographic studio, chiropody, adult learning programmes, training courses including QQI certified courses, information on welfare rights, environmental projects including a community garden / allotment area.  St. Munchin’s is an Age Friendly Centre offering a friendly call service to older people, senior clubs, bingo, dancing and gardening to support physical and mental health. This group strives to enhance their services including senior services so that older people stay active and are able to stay at home longer. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the volunteers worked relentlessly to deliver an increased volume of meals on wheels required throughout the city, to deliver medicine and shopping where needed.  St. Munchin’s became an evacuation centre during the flooding in St. Mary’s Park and now is responding to the Ukraine refugee crisis by turning the St. Leila’s school building into a refugee rest centre. St. Munchin’s resilience, diversity and adaptation to the community’s needs is very impressive.

• The West End Youth Centre (WEYC) is located in the heart of the community of Ballinacurra Weston in Limerick City in one of the most marginalised communities in the country. The West End Youth Centre was opened in January 2010 and provides support to young people to develop socially, personally, educationally and recreationally in a safe space. The West End Youth Centre has served as a focal point of activity and purpose for all young people, catering for youth aged 10-24 from the local community since opening. The Centre offers after school clubs to those in primary school, drop in clubs for those in secondary school or attending alternative education. The West End Youth Centre is open five days a week and four week nights and has from 80 to 100 young people coming through the door on a weekly basis. The WEYC is safe place where young people can engage in semi-educational programmes such as cooking, healthy eating, art, woodwork, beauty, personal development, LGBTQI+ inclusion, sexual health education and drug and alcohol education. The West End provides young people with the opportunity to participate in arts and crafts, games, sports, cooking/baking and offer guidance services to unemployed youth. During the holiday season a wide variety of summer programmes and camps are offered. The West End Youth Centre’s vision is to empower the young community.

• Glenroe Ballyorgan Association was established in 2015 and has evolved to a CLG in 2021. Glenroe Ballyorgan is situated in a picturesque rural County Limerick close to the Cork border. Ballyorgan National School was closed in 2010 and was followed by the closure of Glenroe National School in 2015. The school closures were the catalyst for community action. The group’s persistence and determination to revitalise this community in rural Limerick resulted in the Glenroe Community National School, under the patronage of the Limerick and Clare ETB and Coolfree Preschool reopening in August 2020. A community walk was developed at Glenroe GAA Complex with voluntary labour and an astroturf project is currently underway.  Glenroe Ballyorgan Community Council aims to address community needs by participative planning, listening and working in collaboration to achieve the results. They have created a Community Alert group to support the elderly and an Active Retirement group was set up for the retired members of the community to provide various activities. Examples of impressive projects delivered by Glenroe Ballyorgan Community Council include: educational projects including eco awareness camps for children, sport and art workshops, “Parish Habitat and biodiversity” EIP Project to enhance farmer and community biodiversity, a memorial stone 1916/War of Independence, Kilfynn Church restoration, interpretive panels of the natural heritage of the Keale River Walk and an earth sculpture of Oisín and Sadhbh, to mention a few. All community members participate in projects and provide mutual support to each other. Glenroe Ballyorgan is an example of a community that was on its knees with no school, no priest and no facilities which grew into a vibrant community through civic engagement, social cohesion and community safety. By working together, taking advantage of the skills and experience of people in the community, they have created a better place to live with a vibrant, strong and inclusive community that strives to address local needs and collaborate on developing solutions. 

• Adare Women’s 2020 Club: was established in 2020 to support women of all ages in Adare and its environs. The need arose during the Covid-19 pandemic when the isolation was evident. Adare Women’s 2020 Club was an answer to address social isolation, physical and mental health. They supported each other via social media and telephone chats initially and then it grew to a club of 50 members. Now regular meetings are conducted in a dedicated friendly and safe space. Adare Women’s 2020 Club utilise their craft skills in various projects such as card making from recycled material, craft lessons, knitting, embroidering. The group created a Pop Up Shop at Adare Market where new/donated items, recycled goods on sale and mosaic art exhibitions are currently displayed at Adare Library.  Members of the club have organised a coffee morning in aid of the charity “Limerick Suicide Watch”, the knitting and crocheting group donated 200 baby bonnets to Limerick Maternity Hospital for the premature babies and contributed to making the “Life Hope and Solidary” 10,000 stars which were displayed at the Hunt Museum for “Women Against Violence”. Adare Women’s 2020 Club is dedicated to keep members mentally, physically and socially active. They value friendships and comradeship, share their skills and learn from each other.

For more stories on Pride of Place go HERE 

For more Community stories go HERE