Cope to mark 30-years in its Mallow centre

THE Cope Foundation’s day service in Mallow is this year celebrating three-decades of supporting young local people with intellectual disability and/or autism.

To mark this most significant milestone staff and people supported by the centre have organised a celebratory night out at the Springfort Hall Hotel on Friday, November 29.

Members of the public are welcome to attend the event, which will kick off at 7pm with prosecco/mulled wine reception followed by a three-course meal. There will also be a raffle and live music on the night.

Tickets for the celebration, priced at €30 are available from Anna or Ger at the Mallow centre on 022 20145.

The Quartertown centre was opened by the then Minister for Health, Dr Rory O’Hanlon, on May 25th, 1989.

The centre, one of the first major developments by the Cope Foundation outside of the greater Cork City area, fulfilled an ambition by the then CEO, the late John Bermingham, to bring the service to people’s own locality.

This was a vitally important as people had previously faced an up to 80-mile round trip each day to access Cope’s services in the city. Greater accessibility to a local service meant that people were allowed to spend more quality time at home and within their own community.

The centre is one of almost 70 Cope facilities dotted around the city and county, including Fermoy, Mitchelstown, Kanturk and Macroom, which support more than 2,500 children and adults of every ability to ‘Live Life, Your Way’.

For more information about Cope and its services visit www.cope-foundation.ie.