Brian Kelly of Rathmore Community Council reflects on 2016…

ON behalf of the Community Council, I would like to thank everyone who helped out in any way they could throughout the year. With the assistance of Community Support Funding, we’re very pleased to have installed exercise equipment in Rathmore, as well as this year’s Christmas lighting – and we very much hope people will be encouraged to avail of the exercise equipment after Christmas to help shake off those extra festive pounds!

Also, we want to thank the council for the 1916 commemoration garden, which is a great addition. I would also like to thank the people who took part in the litter clean-up recently and we’ll need to keep this going into the future.

It’s very difficult to bring people together as they are busy and it’s understandable. But even if many people can do a little bit, a lot gets done. In the New Year the council will be looking to do some fundraising as we have spent a lot of money on different projects in the area, so some fundraising activities are in the pipeline. In fact, something we had planned to do recently, but it didn’t materialise, was the ‘Waste Metal’ collection and we’re hoping to get that going soon. Hopefully in 2017 we will also continue to enhance the walkway area with some shrubs and flowers.

Finally, on behalf of Rathmore Community Council I’d like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and prosperous 2017. We take great pride in our community and without the effort and input of volunteers in the council and wider community, much of what we have achieved, as a community, just would not have been possible.

Declan O’Reilly, National Accounts Manager Kerry Foods presenting James McIlroy, Fresh Food Manager, Hickey’s Centra Rathmore with the Shelflife National Award for Best Fresh & Chilled Department 2016.