Fermoy Friendship Week,

The people of Fermoy are looking forward to a host of events which are taking place in the town to mark Fermoy Friendship Week, Locals and in particular local school children are being encouraged to embrace the sentiments of the week by carrying out random acts of kindness. Participating schools have also been provided with Random Acts of Kindness boards and over the course of the week, students, teachers and staff are asked to be more conscious about being kind and nice to others and to write stories of kindness on the board, as a way of spreading the message about the week and raising people's spirits. Please click the following link for the story of how Bishop Murphy Memorial School took up the Random Acts of Kindness Challenge.

Fermoy Friendship week takes place from March 23^rd -27^th   and groups and people in the community are being called on to mark the week in their own way, with small events and little acts of kindness. Organised by Fermoy Community Network, this year the project will have a Launch on the 18^th March, the week before the actual event and this in itself promises to be an attraction.  Guest speaker will be local man, John Sweeney who has risen to prominence with his involvement with the suspended Coffees initiative.  John is the embodiment of being a kind and loving Friend and his actions show us quite explicitly how we can all make a difference to this world by making it a little bit nicer for everyone particularly those excluded and downtrodden.

There's an old tradition in Naples, Italy called 'Caffè Sospeso' where someone who is pretty well off would buy a coffee and an extra cup which was suspended for someone less fortunate.

That great tradition was the inspiration for Cork man John Sweeney's Suspended Coffees Movement, which is now in operation in over 1,800 coffee shops in 20 countries in the world.

John tells how an idea that originated in Fermoy has managed to touch so many people across the globe. "While the idea was about giving someone a coffee it soon became much more. I created a Facebook page that only shares good heart-warming content and people loved it." The project is so important to John because he's been through tough times throughout this project and knows how much of a difference a small gesture can make. "We didn't have a thing, I wasn't able put food on the table, but I stuck at it because I believed in it and the impact it was having,"

The week itself kicks off on Monday 23^rd March with a talk on infant mental health and will be provided by members of a local learning network that has been meeting in Fermoy since 2010 on learning about infant mental health.  The key message is that mental health is something that starts from a young age and there are simple ways that we can encourage and help promote positive infant mental health.

The following evening will have a talk in the Youth centre at 7PM on ADHD and this will be provided by Joe Jeffers who is the co-ordinator of a support group for parents based in the city.

Light entertainment follows on Wednesday and Thursday with a social afternoon in the Youth centre hosted by the Mens’ Club on the Wednesday and on the Thursday by groups located at the community resource centre.

The final day a training session will be provided on Traveller culture and this will be delivered by members of the Traveller Cultural Awareness team in Cork.  Places will be limited for this event.