Samaritans launch new free-to-call number for Cork area
THE Samaritans Cork is now operating a new free-tocall number - 116 123 - for those in need of emotional support.
The number will make it possible for people to access the service round the clock, every single day of the year, free of charge.
Cindy O'Shea, Director of the Cork branch said, callers need to feel they can contact Samaritans when they need support.
“Cost should not be a barrier to calling Samaritans and seeking help when its most needed, and this timely initiative ensures our service is accessible at crucial times in peoples lives,” she said.
“Samaritans have been available by phone in Ireland since 1961.
“We know that in the past the cost of a call may have been a barrier to people accessing the service, particularly for people using mobile phones.
“The new free to call number removes this barrier and opens up our service to everyone - even those without credit on their phones.”
More than 200 local people volunteer with the branch which was established in 1972.
Cork Samaritans are confident that the support of the community through volunteering and local fundraising will make it possible to meet the new challenges the free to call number presents.
“Volunteers are the heart of Samaritans, delivering the core support service, running all branches, raising vital funds, and raising awareness of the work we do,” Cindy added.
“Each volunteer spends 15 hours on average each month as a listener and undergoes a rigorous programme of initial and ongoing training.
“Our volunteers are ordinary people who provide a space to talk and we will be looking to expand our volunteer base over the coming year.”
The launch of the new 116 123 number in Cork marks the beginning of a campaign of outreach activities planned by the Cork Outreach team to raise awareness of the new number so that anyone who is struggling to cope can talk to Samaritans at any time, in their own way, about anything that's worrying them.
* Samaritans is available round the clock, every single day of the year. Please call 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org, or visit www.samaritans.org
Cork Samaritans is situated at 7/8 Coach, near the Mercy hospital and is open from 9am to 10pm every day. IT isn't often that a farmer has a host of accolades under his belt. But then again, Frank Murphy is no ordinary farmer.
Besides, being the first beef farmer in the world to have the first automated feeding system at his farm at Glen South, Banteer to tend to his 350 high end cattle, he is also the owner of Monex Financial service group, which is worth close to €100 million, of which he personally owns 85%.
Strolling around Frank's farm, which he took over two years ago from his wife, Teresa McSweeney, he said that he wanted to do something with it and “not let it slip”.
Being the entrepreneur that he is, and as he has a background in farming in his native Wexford, it was a case of joining up the dots, and the rest, as they say, is history.
His holding is now a trial farm for the farming machinery giant Lely, which is based in Holland. They heard rumblings via the business vine of how he had plans to transform the farm in Banteer, and they invited him to Holland to view their automated feeding system.
He had a completely different system in his mind, whereby, the cattle would be fed by augars, which is a pipe system.
After the trip to Holland, it was a case of going back to the drawing board with his engineer and instead designing a project which would be operated via the automated feeding system.
He has now got €150,000 worth of equipment which comprises of the robotic feeder for his cattle along with 3D cameras and a ‘ kitchen.' He operates everything via an iPad which lists everything from the weight of the animals to the weight of the feed to what feed each pen gets and at what time.
Frank picks up the iPad and a grabber dips into the ‘ kitchen.'
The kitchen is the term used for where the silage, maize and beet are kept in neatly stacked separate piles. The grabber lifts the feed and places it into the tub where it is weighed and mixed. When that task is completed, ration comes whistling down the overhead augars and into the tub. It's the only sound coming from his farm.
The kitchen is filled two to three times per day. On his iPad it shows all the concentrates from the roughage to the weight of the maize to the straw, and where each feed is to go.
“This all means that I can focus on the cattle rather than be stuck on time frames. For me, because I travel so much with Monex, being present to feed cattle is not a reality,” he said. Instead, he also has a strong team of workers who are on site 24/7 who oversee everything.
So, with the automatic feeder which has the tub of fodder - it's showtime. It begins to move out of its own holding and, as it's echo-sounding, there is no fear that it will hit off any of the railings.
We follow the automated feeder as it gives out the allocated feed to each pen. The feed is placed neatly outside the pens of the cattle and it is the exact same depth and length. The tub has a max capacity of half a tonne and it takes between “two to three minutes,” to presently feed 330 cattle.
If there is problem with the tub – then it simply phones him. So, a talking tub? He smiles and said that the tub will outline what the problem is. For example, something simple such as a gate is left open to there not being enough feed in the kitchen.
“The tub really is the farmer's eye,” he said.
In the middle of the vast herd, Frank who is at least 6'5”, if not taller, points out some Red Aberdeen Angus which he bought from Ryanair's Michael O'Leary.
The cattle are fed six to seven times per day, which he said leads to better weight gain.
However, not alone is he the first beef farmer in the world to have such a system, he is also the owner of the country's largest slurry pit – a cavernous concrete construction, which has a maximum capacity for 550 cattle.
As we follow the tub and chat, all the cattle are resting on comfort slats. The cattle might be resting, but Frank isn't as he has already forked out €1.5 million on this high end farming project.
In addition to his farm at Glen South, he has also leased land, and at present is the holder of 350 acres.
He also held two open days on his farm to showcase how the automated feeder works and 700 people turned up, which included Michael O'Leary's farm manager and a host of progressive farmers from around the country, who came for a sneak peek of farming in the 21st century.
So, with so many cattle, will he be loading them up and taking them to