It was with great sadness that I learned of the death of Donncha Flynn who lost his life on an electricity pylon near Greenhills, South Douglas Road last weekend. To his parents, family and friends, I offer deepest and sincere sympathies.
Category Archives: Ward Events
Community Litter Pick, Mahon
This morning, I had the pleasure of working with a community environmental group in Mahon in association with Mahon Community Association and the local Mahon Garda Station. Events such as these are great for building community pride and a sense of confidence and sense of place. Keep up the great work!
McCarthy’s ‘Make a Model Boat Project’
Caption:
At the launch of McCarthy’s Make a Model Boat project at the Atlantic Pond;
L-r, Padraig Dineen, Meitheal Mara, Malcolm Muggeridge, Katie Stoker-Phelan, Isabelle Muggeridge, Nigel Muggeridge, Shane Stoker-Phelan & Cllr. Kieran McCarthy (picture: Audrey Furney-Kelly)
Cllr. Kieran McCarthy, following on from his walking tours of the Old Cork Blackrock Rail line, continues with his summer community orientated programme of events under the themes of heritage and education. Cllr. McCarthy invites all Cork young people to participate in McCarthy’s ‘Make a model boat project’. All interested must make a model boat at home from recycled materials and bring it along for judging to the Atlantic Pond on Saturday afternoon, 8 August at 2p.m. The event is being run in association with Meitheal Mara. There are two categories, one for primary and one for secondary students. There are prizes for best models and the event is free to enter.
Cllr. McCarthy, who is heading up the event, noted “this project is a response to constituent’s voices that there is nothing to do for young people in Cork during the summer months. I am encouraging creation, innovation and imagination amongst our young people, which are important traits for all of us to develop in these difficult financial times”. In addition, Cllr. McCarthy emphasised that places like the Atlantic Pond are an important part of Cork’s natural heritage and should be managed as appropriate. Cllr. McCarthy noted: “I will also be liasing with the Park’s Department of Cork City Council so that the recent environmental events that occur on the Lough will not re-appear at the Atlantic Pond”. See www.kieranmccarthy.ie for more community events.
Mid Summer Litter Pick, Mahon
Mahon Community Association
In conjunction with An Garda Siochana and Cork City Council
Are organising a Mid Summer Litter Pick
Venue: Avenue De Rennes, Mahon Drive and Lakelands
Date: 29th July 2009
Time: 11am to 1pm
Materials: Gloves, litter pickers, bags, disposal, supplied by Cork City Council
All Welcome to support this event
Secretary of Mahon Community Association: Finbarr Murphy, 021 4358770; Community Garda, Sinead Moran, 021 4357501; Community Warden, Majella Gould, 086 7948584
Art Competition Results & Exhibition
McCarthy’s Art competition is a community and educational initiative. It about looking and appreciating our local neighbourhoods. We received 120 colourful and creative entries from several schools in my ward. These were all displayed in Blackrock Hurling Club on Sunday Afternoon, 10 May. The competition was judged by Fiona Kearney, Director of the Glucksman Gallery in UCC and facilitated by Norah Porter of Art Sparks, Ardfallen. Well done to all that entered. I am delighted to announce the following were the winners:
Laura Healy, Our Lady of Lourdes N.S.
Irina Riedewald, Our Lady of Lourdes N.S.
Aoife Ni Fhinn, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Jordan, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Clodagh & Abbie, Gaeilscoil Mhachan
Keelin Walsh, Beaumont G.N.S.
Sally Boyle, Eglantine G.N.S
Talent Competition Final, Blackrock Hurling Club, 8 May
McCarthy’s Talent Competition had its final on Friday 8 May in Blackrock Hurling Club. The competition is a community initiative that builds on my manifesto theme of Building Our Community Together. Well done to all, great effort, fantastic work and a very enjoyable evening!
Winner of Senior Section, Tracey Fleming (singer, song writer)youtube.com/XXxxtraceyfxxXX
Winner of Junior Section: Emma Teahan (Ballerina)
My sincere thanks to:
Producer: Yvonne Coughlan, Red Sandstone Varied Productions, Kinsale (www.rsvp.blog.ie)
Final judges: Elaine Canning, Claire Mansfield, Jon Whitty
Sound engineer: Chris Geasley
Stage manager: Hannah Rose Farrington
Stewards: Sarah Hegarty, Aoife Lucey
Production assistant: Francesca Farrington
Special guest: Christopher Prout and Lassie (& Con Prout)
The staff and management of Blackrock Castle and Blackrock Hurling Club
Photographer: John Allen
Moonshine Children’s entertainer: Victor Forja
All the competitors, their parents, family, friends and schools!
The Junior Category:
The senior category:
Talent Show Auditions, 2009
The talent competition got great support last Sunday with 55 acts taking part. Thanks to everyone who took part from auditionees to parents who queued up. We have sixteen finalist acts. They are:
Name (Age)
Primary Category
Grace Daly (10)
Emma O Sullivan (12)
Claudia O Sullivan (11), Leanne Hill (11), Sally Mackesy (11), Abbie O Donavan (12)
Sara Turnbull (11)
Rachel O Donavan (10)
Emma Teahan (11)
Oran O Sullivan (8)
Audrey Kane (11), Caitlin Cunningham (11)
Secondary Category
Emer Lyons (18)
Shauna Pumphrey (16)
Laura Cahill (15)
Andrew De Juan (17)
Carol-Ann Gould (15)
Jody Bermingham (13)
Joanna McCarthy (13)
Tracey Fleming (15)
Warm Up Act
Ada, Iggy & Louis O’Brien
The final is next Friday at 7.30p.m., Blackrock Hurling Club. Admission is free. All welcome.
McCarthy’s Community Talent Show
Have you got a talent?
Cork’s young people are invited to participate in the inaugural ‘McCarthy’s Talent Competition’ on 8 May 2009. The auditions and registration will begin Sunday 26th April at 1pm, in Blackrock Castle. There are no entry fees and all talents are valid for consideration. The final will be held on Friday 8 May, 7.30pm to 10pm in Blackrock Hurling Club. There are two categories, one for primary school children and one for secondary school students. Winners will be awarded a perpetual trophy and prize money of €150 (two by E.150).
The competition is open to all children in south east Cork City (Turners Cross, Ballinlough, Ballintemple, Blackrock, Mahon, Douglas & Tramore). A panel of well known Cork professionals in the Arts will preside over the auditions and judge the final winner.
The project is been organised and funded by Kieran McCarthy in association with Red Sandstone Varied Productions (RSVP). Kieran is running as an Independent local councillor candidate in the local elections in south east Cork City. He noted: “The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills and to embrace their community positively”. Further details can be got from Kieran at 087 6553389 or from the talent show producer (RSVP), Yvonne Coughlan, 085 7335260.
McCarthy’s
Community Talent Show
Have you got a talent?
Are you willing to take that extra step?
Ages:
Junior category – primary schools
Senior category – secondary schools
Prizes:
Perpetual trophies for junior and senior categories,
E.150 for each category & honour & glory
Further details from the organiser: Kieran McCarthy, 087 6553389 or
the competition producer, Yvonne Coughlan, Red Sandstone Varied Productions, 085 7335260
Auditions for all school going students
In South East Cork City
(Turners Cross, Ballinlough, Ballintemple, Blackrock, Mahon, Douglas & Tramore)
Blackrock Castle, 1p.m.-5p.m., Sunday 26 April
Final:
Blackrock Hurling Club, Friday 8 May, 7.30p.m.
Judges:
Elaine Canning (Soprano)
Gerry Kelly (Cork School of Music)
Graham Lynch (Cork Independent Entertainment Correspondent)
Claire Mansfield (Seraphim Group)
Jon Whitty (Cork Director & Actor)
Aaron Wolfe (Playwright)
The talent competition is a community initiative. It encourages all young people to develop their talents and creative skills and to become more part of their community. The project is funded by Kieran McCarthy who is a Cork historian, a youth leader, an author and a columnist with the Cork Independent. He runs the Discover Cork: Schools’ History Project in 90 schools in Cork. He is also running as an Independent local election candidate in your area.
McCarthy’s Art Competition
I have been asked alot at the doors regarding what can I do? Well as you can see from my biography, I’m a historian,geographer and teacher/ educationalist. I have been working with communities for over fifteen years now especially running local history and European studies programmes (lectures, writing, workshops, surveys, publishing). So I carry a professional toolkit to carry out educational and community initiatives.
As part of my pre-election day programme, I have planned a number of community events. The first three I have held
(1) a Parish Ceili in Ballinlough
(2) a pier clean-up in Blackrock
and (3) two community meeetings, one in Blackrock Castle and the other in Blackrock Hurling Club.
They were all aimed to gauge more of the local issues in my ward and also to give local people a forum to talk about their concerns and to discuss, debate and even celebrate community life and all that the south east of the city has to offer.
The next initiative is also a community based one and is aimed at the younger generation in the ward. It is an art competition which encourages all young people to become more creative and to become more involved in the world around us. Information has already been sent into schools in the south east part of the city. The project is being co-ordinated by Ballinlough resident Norah Porter who I met in my canvass travels and who is developing a business in art education for children.
McCarthy’s
ART COMPETITION
Theme:
“My Neighbourhood”
OPEN TO ALL YOUNG PEOPLE IN
SOUTH EAST CORK CITY
CATEGORIES:
National School: 4-6, 7-9, 10-12
Secondary School: All levels
Drawing or painting
on a A4 page,
must be colourful
Each category winner will receive a E.100 worth of art equipment.
AN EXHIBITION OF ALL WORK WILL
TAKE PLACE IN BLACKROCK HURLING
CLUB ON SUNDAY 10 MAY, 2-5p.m.
Submission date: Friday 1 May 2009
If a young person is interested in entering the competition, an adult may contact the artist facilitator Norah Porter, 086 255 3216 or myself (Kieran) at 087 655 3389. Norah will be collected all artwork from participating schools. Apart from that, those children from schools not participating can send all artwork to McCarthy’s Art Competition, C/o Kieran McCarthy, Richmond Villa, Douglas Road, Cork with name, category, address and contact details on the back of the picture (By 1 May).
Ode to Community
(As published in my heritage column, Our City Our Town, Cork Independent on 12 March 2009)
There is a tree, a blackthorn, I watched for many years. It grew tall embedded in a country stone wall. Its branches took shape splaying into an adjacent field. For many years, this tree bore leaves. Its youth and vibrancy were seen annually. I eventually took the tree for granted and forgot about it. I was too busy to notice it and recently a friend of mine showed me the tree and expressed huge concern for it. Over the years, ivy had grown up the tree embedding itself into the tree’s arteries, stopping the tree from breathing. The ivy had thick branches that hugged and clung strongly. In essence the tree was dying and in past weeks, the tree was cut down; its strangled branches revealing to all present the rotting inner core of the tree.
In the Lee Valley there are multiple trees, some covered with ivy and being strangled, some stretching out and thriving on life. I always think that communities of people are like trees. They can be strong and stretch out with a motivated community of people behind them. However, as noted above, with the ivy and the blackthorn if unattended, a community does not take long to become a wilderness.
People are an important part of my work so they appear alot. I’m interested in people, their identity and how they physically inscribe places with meaning. It is that inscription like some mark on a art canvas that intrigues me. I have an interest in the architecture of life. The lives of people in my head are like rich artworks, constantly being drawn in my head as they relate their story to me. Heritage seems to be passed down the generations through choice. Life affects heritage as heritage affects life. They are both bound up with each other. I’ve also discovered though that heritage is a personal concept and becomes very engaging for the individual and very relevant when family and memories of growing up are told. Heritage becomes real, integral to present and future actions and powerful in developed self esteem, self confidence and self pride. I’ve also discovered that when you bring the individual stories together, heritage can become highly volatile and contested as the community tries to find the middle ground of what to preserve.
The journey down the valley based on the legend of St. Finbarre has brought me to many individuals and communities, all with very relevant talents to survive in the modern age. I always think that Finbarre met similar people with similar talents but in a different age to the 2009 journey. The heritage of the Lee Valley survives in various conditions from complete disappearance to ruins to surviving because it is being used in everyday lives in a personal way. As noted in the last week Inniscarra Community Centre has much nostalgia attached to it. The multiple pictures on the walls and the vast photo collections it possesses of various events. However, its heritage is tied to people and what they have done for the community over the years. Heritage and modern community work in the present. Here heritage is life itself and is bound up with identity and citizenship. Heritage is harnessed to move forward. Heritage is part of the centre’s foundations but also performed with each meeting held to discuss the way forward.
However, whilst on the canvass trail or the long road as an Independent Councillor Candidate in the south east of Cork City I daily continue to gather a number of ideas about community and its relevance to modern society. Daily I come across isolation and people’s choice to disconnect from the world around them. For my own journeys, I can see the value of community of working together. Of course, the nature, depth and value of participation in creating inclusion or bringing people together are significant factors. Through breaking up the respective letters of community, I came up with the following thoughts, which I wish to share..
• The C is for citizen; active citizenship develops a sense of belonging. One is also taking ownership of one’s life direction.
• O is for onus and responsibility. I think that any community organisation in particular has a responsibility to its people and must move forward with a plan as best as possible. I would like to also note here that even local councillors should not only help their constituents but lead a way forward to be pro-active more so than reactive.
• The first M of community is for motivating. A group of people together can be inspiring, encouraging, empowering and enabling.
• The second M is for moving forward. The future is a worrying element for many people. Even though when one reaches it, one is usually wiser and able to deal with it.
• U is for understanding. From my own travels and attending community meetings, every attender has something to bring to a community. As a result, community has various meanings to people. A sense of place infused by a spirit of doing things individually and collectively. Listening and engaging people and mining their talents is important.
• N is for the new generation in the community. Young people bring vibrancy and energy to any work they engage with. Most are also looking for opportunities to develop their talents and to fit in. Community adds to help people develop in personal ways.
• The I is for ideas. Brain storming and a plan on paper is important. People need direction, something to work toward. Otherwise, the heart of the community will become stale and disillusioned.
• T is for being tolerable of the ‘other’. Working together as a team, getting everyone involved is important. People working together can stop the decline of local living places and bring them to renewed states of stability and viability.
• The Y of community is about the yearning to be part of something- to do something purposeful, to hone our personal talents, to create and sustain strong bonds.
The above are just ideas and in fact there is probably a myriad of other ideas that I have not touched upon. If heritage is about life itself, then community must be a core element in developing a sense of identity and a sense of pride. So what are you waiting for, go get stuck into your local community. If anything, you won’t return to the same place from which you started….
