Kilteevan Community Development Group Limited Reflections on 2012/2013
2012 /2013 was a busy and successful year for the company and we want to acknowledge and thank you all for your support during the past year.
Two new members joined our company in 2013, Fiona Coen and Michael Coyle. We are grateful for their work in 2013 and appreciate their becoming Company Directors.
In November 20I2, in co-operation with
Arising from the RTE John Murray show in December, renowned singer Mick Hanly performed an outstanding and intimate concert in the Community Centre. Will we ever forget our moment of darkness before Mick started his show!!! We now have Phase 3 electricity installed in the building. Mick stayed in the community and left a lasting impression.
We also produced the first Kilteevan monthly calendar with images of Kilteevan. This proved to be a big hit at home and with the Kilteevan community abroad.
The decision to apply for funding from Roscommon Leader Partnership Company under the EU Rural Development Programme 2007- 2013 before it drew to a close increased the number of meetings and the workload on all of us.
Despite the short time frame and the challenging application and tendering process our applications were successful. While these projects added considerably to the work output of the company for the past year, it was undoubtedly worthwhile.
Early in 2013, we established Kilteevan Green Fingers Club and there is no doubt the members did great work on the community flower beds.
Will we ever forget the hype in April over Tom Cruise and the media talk of a visit to Kilteevan? There were radio interviews, newspaper articles and other media activity in relation to Tom Cruise and the Kilteevan link. Well done Fiona Coen and Sean Mooney for their handling of the media hype.
In April 2013 we hosted our Wisdom Years party. During the party there was a presentation by Seamus Hayden, former All Ireland winning captain to Andy Hanly. Andy received a specially typed and bound copy of his GAA memories from the 1940’s golden era. Andy’s work was edited by Hazel Ryan.We continue to encourage our senior citizens to write their memoirs and to share them and any old photographs they have with us for future projects.
In June,again with the support of St Joseph's we organised a community night out to The Dogs in Mullingar. This proved to be a great success and some well know punters among us displayed a great knowledge of greyhounds and greyhound form!!!
We will all remember 2013 for The Gathering Ireland. The presence of Owen, John and Tom Brennan added something very special to our celebrations in August. We made national and international news. Approximately 18 people from the
Other highlights of 2013 included
- Launch of Kilteevan Heritage Trail
- Development of Kilteevan Community Website and facebook page,
- Launch of Kilteevan 3yr Strategic Plan
- Development of our new Logo- the spotted orchid.
We participated in National Heritage Week for the first time. Hopefully this will continue to be a feature of our annual events.
In November 2013, we brought the years activity to a close with the publication of Kilteevan native, Sr Kathleen Glennon’s book A Sense of Place; Reflections on the Boglands of Kilteevan. Senator Katherine Zappone and Dr Ann Louise Gilligan launched the book to a packed attendance in the community Centre.
The community spirit that exists in Kilteevan was the talk of the town and county in 2013. People commented widely on our successes. This reflects well on our company and our community and it is something we should be proud of.
We look to 2014 with confidence and hope we can continue to develop community activities for the betterment of our community. We hope that the projects that were brought to fruition in 2013 will benefit the community.
Sincere thanks to everyone who assisted in any way during this hugely successful year and we look forward to your continued support and assistance in the coming year.
