‘A mighty, mighty community in Cornafean’

Where there's a will, there's a way, as people in Cornafean have shown by putting their shoulders to the wheel and turning their community into an interesting, fun and inclusive place to live.

From entertainment and classes to day trips, a book club and much, much more, the community has managed to create a vibrant place where people of all ages and abilities can meet up with each other, have fun and socialise.

But it wouldn’t have happened without the brainwork of two local women, Patricia Duignan and Caroline King, and all the co-ordinators who came on board after the pair realised more needed to be done to make Cornafean a social and inclusive place for everyone living there.

“Myself and Caroline King were involved with the Mothers & Others football team; we had 60 people in the group but only 15 or 20 people were showing up at the pitch,” says Patricia before adding that she and Caroline realised that, while people wanted to be involved in the community, they weren’t all interested in playing football.

The ladies subsequently set up a community Whatsapp Group, asked for feedback and everything, it seems, took off from there. “We gathered everyone together and held a meeting in McSeain's in January of this year,” explains Patricia who excitedly points out that 101 people turned up to find out more.

“It was during the meeting that myself and Caroline became more aware of the fact that people in our community wanted to get together, meet up with each other and share common interests. What we wanted was to create something that would have a positive impact on the community; something that was supportive and inclusive, fun and provided opportunities for people to connect with each other.”

They examined the feedback from the meeting and discovered it was “full of brilliant ideas”.

The next step was to register interest and, because the numbers were so big, the ladies initiated an annual membership fee to generate funds for community initiatives in the area.

“When we were putting our plan together, we were advised to keep it simple, keep it local and so that is what we did,” adds Patricia.

“Once the plan was in place we were able to look for funding, which was provided by Cavan Sports Partnership. Everyone in the group is kept up to date on the Whatsapp Group and on the notice board at the football pitch.”

Meanwhile, the sports hall at the pitch has become the designated meeting point and the local GAA club including the coaches, welfare officer and health & wellbeing officer are all involved.

Events so far include: Art, flower arranging, palates, Zumba, first aid, and embroidery with jiving lessons beginning this week.

Most classes are held in the mornings and evenings so that those working or studying can also be part of it all; while caretaker of the sports hall, Annemarie, is always on hand to provide the tea and buns!

‘Men on the Move’ takes place on Monday evenings, while the Bowls group meets on Wednesdays and a card and board games group will host its inaugural event this week.

The pages were turned on the first book for the new Book Club, which started last month and is set to take place on the third Thursday of every month at 9pm in McSeain's.

Members are currently reading The Green Road by Anne Enright in preparation for the next discussion on November 17.

A bus to Bloom was also organised in June and it was packed to capacity as people of all ages from Cornafean and the surrounding areas headed off to the national flower show for what turned out to be “a great day out” together.

The community also held a family fun day in August, attended a play in the Town Hall and set up Star Camp, which catered for children with special needs, and ran right through the summer months.

A pop-up shop was also established to raise funds for the Holy Family School in Cootehill.

Patricia and Caroline also liaised with local retailers and together came up with the idea to offer the 320 members in the Cornafean Whatsapp Group a 10% discount on purchases at selected stores. Businesses that came on board include Cavan Sports Shop, Shira Jewellery, Red Robin, Tillies, and Cavan Therapy Clinic, to mention but a few.

What makes the developments in Cornafean particularly special is “the backing of the whole community”. And that, says Patricia, is why the initiative has been such a success story to date. “It’s a mighty, mighty community,” she adds.

"Communication has been key and everyone in the community supports each other. People are so grateful for what has been achieved - they want to get out and about, they want to meet people and this really has the backing of the whole community."