The last few weeks have been very busy for the Historical Town of Cloyne in East Cork. They recently organised their Community Elections and also held a very successful AGM where the community was given a comprehensive report on the work of this hard working Muintir na Tire Community Council.The Cloyne District Community Council is made up of 26 elected members (13 areas and 2 members from each area) under the auspices of Muintir Na Tire. The main aim of the Council is the involvement of all the people in Cloyne and it’s environs in the promotion of the educational, cultural and economic and welfare of the whole community. The members will serve for a period of 3 years and full Council meetings are held about once a month I was pleased to be invited to address the AGM and I am delighted to say that the future of Cloyne is in good hands. Well done to the outgoing Officers who have put the operation of the community council on a sound footing and I sincerely hope that you will remain on to guide the new officer board over the next three years.
Below is the report of outgoing Chairman Tommy Hartnett
Chairman’s Address 2015
22nd June 2015
22nd June 2015
I
would personally like to welcome everyone
here tonight to our 2015 AGM. I’d like to welcome to Denis Kelly, from Cork County Federation Muintir Na Tire. I would like to extend a special
welcome to all newly community council members. I would like
to ask Denis to say a few words at the end of meeting. He may again give us
some valuable guidance to the committee members new and old.
Over
the course of 2014 we convened on average one meeting per month and a few more
in between when the need arose
The
CDCC committee is divided into sub-committees that take care of
various activities & tasks that arise throughout the year. The chairs of
these sub committees arranged meetings to deal with any relevant issues that
arose in 2014.
Accountants:
Our
company accounts are looked after by Crowley-
McCarthy accountants in Midleton.
We
are a formal company, limited by guarantee. We are tax compliant and our
accounts are again up to date in 2015. Thanks to Lisa O’Lomasney.
Childrens
Playground:
The
childrens playground was our main focus point in 2013 and the fruits of this
hard work are now available to be used and enjoyed by all in our community and
beyond. Some issues continually arise around vandalism and abuse of playground
equipment and its structures. I would appeal to all who use the playground to
keep a watch on this anti-social behaviour and it should be reported to
committee members and the local gardai.
The
main point though is that we now have a state of the art playground in Cloyne,
to be enjoyed by all for many years to come.
Community
Garden:
The
progress of the community garden is there for everyone to see. Thanks to all
involved and to those who have contributed items to the garden. It is an ever
improving and growing project. A fence was erected around the garden on the
footpath side and this and this makes the garden much safer for kids. The
garden like the playground belongs to the community of Cloyne and is there to
be enjoyed by all. Much more work has been carried out, with more plants and
shrubs in place and also the area beside the boundary wall has been cleared and
covered with shale. A tree is due to be planted by the McCarthy family (Shane
& Ruth) in memory of their son Sean. I must say that the garden is now
coming into its own. More help is required to progress and maintain this
project and if there are any people in the community willing to help out,
please let us know. I would like to thank Henry O’Brien, Michael Greaney and
anyone else who help in this garden project.
Newsletter:
The
Cloyne community newsletter was launched in 2012 and continued throughout 2013
to 2014. This has been a great success and is a fantastic means of
communicating with our community at large. In 2014 we did three issues, but
there is a lot of work involved in putting this together and we may struggle to
keep it going. We hope that we can continue as it is a great means of
communication and also a means of continued fundraising through advertising. The
newsletter was in the past year arranged by Carol Carroll and I and few others
worked on the sponsorship. I would like to thank Carol for coming on board in
our time of need. We are still seeking volunteers to help out in various
aspects of the newsletter. If
interested, please contact any committee member.
I
must thank our generous sponsors that support of the newsletter.
Annual Road
Race:
On
August 6th 2014 the 4th annual road race was held. This again was a very
successful event and occasion, with 600 finishers and great community
involvement from GAA, school parent’s council and many more from our community.
Many more locals did the 5k walk. Proceeds of last year’s race went toward the
playground. Over€5,000 was raised. 2014 saw the introduction of “Chip Timing”
which was overseen by Precision Timing. The chip timing allows for more leeway
at the finish and also means we can cater for more finishers. This race
continues to be one of our bigger on-going fundraising events. A date for this
year’s race is already fixed and it will take place on Wednesday August 5th. A
permit has been applied for and some work has already been done regarding the
event. Thanks to Margaret Twohig for
doing most of the organising with this 5K event.
Cloyne 4k
Series:
Last
year a few in the community council got the idea to have a 4k series around the
Commons. A route was decided on and five dates were chosen. The five races took
place on the final Sunday of the months from November to March at 9.30 each
morning. They turned out to be a great success and were co-organised with
Cloyne GAA club. A total of 1,048 runners took part and all who completed four
of the five races received a high tech tee shirt that were kindly sponsored by
TRInRUN, Midleton. The series was won by Sean McGrath and he received a
perpetual trophy and prize, which was sponsored by Eamon Harty &Harty’s Bar
& Restaurant. The women’s series was won by Eileen Leahy, Midleton AC and
she received a perpetual trophy and prize which was sponsored by Brendan Barry
and Discover Travel. Timing was done by John Walshe and Ballycotton Running
Promotions. This series will go ahead later this year. Approx €3,000 was and
was equally divided between CDCC and Cloyne GAA. We done to all involved
Winter
Festival:
The
Winter Festival as it is now known took place and coincided last year with the
lighting of the Christmas tree. It was a great success and was centred around
the playground area and many fun activities were organised to entertain both
kids and adults alike. We also had our annual Festival Queen competition which
was won Taylor Murphy last year by representing Cloyne Pharmacy. Thanks to all
within CDCC and many other people from Cloyne who helped out in all events
associated with the winter festival.
Village
Enhancement Plan (VEP)
This plan sets out a template for future community development, in
Cloyne. It is now complete and hard copies are here tonight to be viewed.
Copies can also be purchased at a cost of €8 per copy. The VEP was developed by
Archaeological
Consultant, Dan Noonan and was part funded by SECAD. Cloyne
Community District Council has commissioned the Cloyne Enhancement Plan to outline the existing situation of
Cloyne, and assess how this can be enhanced in the future, both short and long
term, for the better cultural, social and economic benefit of its community.
Community
Alert Text:
The Cloyne community text
alert was set up in 2014.
At present we have 19
members in text alert system. This is a programme that should probably be run
by an area that also encompasses Churchtown South, Ballycotton and Shanagarry.
Cloyne
Tidy Towns:
Early in 2015, a group under
the umbrella of CDCC got together and formed Cloyne Tidy Towns. A new committee
has been set up and the chairperson is Breda Cahill. They have a very strong
committee and it’s not hard to see the change in Cloyne since its inception. We
now have cleaner streets, and hanging baskets adorning many shop fronts. The
hoarding in car park across from Alley has been painted and now Ger Murphy and
his family are well advanced in creating the beautiful murals that totally
transform the whole area. Well done to Ger and his daughters, one of whom is
presently the Winter Queen, Taylor.
The tidy towns committee
will always welcome new members into their group.
Year Ahead:
Next
Project:
What
do we do next? As with the playground project, we will again consult with
Cloyne community and prioritise the next major project. The VEP covers this on
page 14, so the people of Cloyne should let us know of new ideas in the near
future. All future projects will have to be carefully planned and funded.
Community
Effort:
We
need more input from the community in general. The more help we have, the
lesser the load is on all individuals. We don’t necessarily need people on the committee,
but people can for example volunteer help out on sub-committees or can take
ownership of their own estates as far as Spring Clean and Anti-Litter Challenge
are concerned. As they say, every little helps & more importantly you will
be doing it for yourself, your town and your community.
There
are many people that should be thanked for their work throughout the year. Too
many to mention here tonight. You all know who you are and you are doing it for
the betterment of your own community
Tommy
Hartnett
Chairperson
CDCC