Every little helps to make Arva better place

A lot of “little projects that lead into something big” are going on in Arva currently.

Speaking to The Anglo-Celt, secretary of the Arva Development Association, Joanne Cullen, outlined recent initiatives and others upcoming.

A lot of the work concerns the upkeep of local amenities and improving the look of the town between power washing, planting flower beds, painting and their monthly litter picking.

The community group is also embarking on a project to renovate the swimming pool and facilities at the playground in the town.

A “big walkers’ area” a more touching project they worked on was the naming of Hannon’s Way, a name picked by the sixth class pupils of St Mary’s National School. After much debate, they named the walk after Fr Hannon, who has clearly touched the pupils’ lives. The walkway links the school to the new pitch at St Patrick’s Park.

“The senior students thought of it purely because of Fr Hannon and his giving back so much into the community.

“We got a naming plaque done on both entrances to it,” said Joanne, adding that this was done with the help of local retired businessman Barney Cully.

The Arva barber described that the group do a walk around the town and area every three to six months. They noticed that signage around the town was in need of a wash. “There’s a lot of washing going on, even the road signs. “We had been on to Cavan County Council but their money is tied up with doing the roads and stuff so we took it on ourselves,” she explained.

They cleaned “anything” from walk signage to speed limit signs to place name signage.

“As we get money in, we put it aside and do something else.”

Both churches in the town, the school and the footpaths in the town were also cleaned.

Volunteers also washed stone walls and bridges around and leading into the town “to make it a nicer feature area”.

The next project the committee will tackle is the renovation of swimming facilities in the town. They have received a grant just shy of €18,000 to link in with Cavan Sport Partnership and Swim Ireland to carry out the work. “We have changing rooms and toilets down there but they haven’t in the past got a huge pile of use so, going forward, we’re trying to build on that,” outlined Joanne.

They hope to install non-slip mats and safety tiles and flooring, secure doors, new toilets and upgrade the windows. They are also getting a defibrillator for the facility and other safety features such as walkie talkies, life jackets and spinal boards.

In the past few weeks Cavan Sports Partnership ran swimming classes at the pool.

“It’s a beautiful facility that needs work,” Joanne said, adding that they would like to see it used “not just used for two weeks” but all year round.

She hopes the project, which will benefit many people in the community, will begin before Christmas time.

“It’s about all the other little bits of events and activities that may go on in the area,” she concluded.