Castlemagner community activist stalworth Kathleen Moylan has this week been honoured with an award at the annual Cork County Council County Mayor’s Awards 2014.
Nominated by North Cork Independent Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea (Ind), Kathleen received top prize in this year’s Individual Awards for the North Cork region. Kathleen has been involved in Castlemagner Community Centre since the 1980’s and has held the position of secretary for the past 22 years and has been the driving force behind almost all initiatives to keep the community centre up and running as a hub of activity for the local community.
Kathleen’s vision to bring people together led her to founding the Castlemagner Sinsir Club in 2010. This, based on Kathleen’s view of the importance of the social needs of the senior citizen, is a group of people who now meet every Thursday and who partake in a wide range of different activities. Food and tea is served, and people connect with each other in a social context. It includes everything from education on a range of diverse topics, yoga, talks by experts, music, the arts, hobbies, and a range of diverse interests to meet the needs of the senior citizen. This venture has been hugely successful and has fostered and developed a great sense of unity and community among the senior citizens of the Parish.
One of the more recent projects which Kathleen spearheaded was the production of Castlemagner Pictorial Memories, a compilation of a book of pictures spanning over many decades, kindly donated to Castlemagner Sinsir Club by parishioners, friends and members of the wider community surrounding Castlemagner. This community based project brought to the fore the value of our history as a community, as it is an album of faces, events and landmarks of our parish. It evokes fond memories of the sense of community which existed in the parish in the past.
Cllr. O’ Shea, who nominated Kathleen for the award said “Kathleen has and is a tremendous asset to the community of Castlemagner over the years. Kathleen is always encouraging, friendly and warm – hearted and she is deeply appreciative of any help she is offered. She is humble, and reluctant to receive any limelight for the voluntary work she does so this award is an acknowledgement for her hard work in the background in a way that the public never sees. Kathleen’s skills lie in dealing with people and she places the importance of community spirit in very high value. She strongly believes in reaching out to people and supporting each other in a community which is a sign of a born leader. I want to congratulate her for her dedication and commitment to community life in Castlemagner over the years”.
Kathleen Moylan with Cllr. John Paul O’ Shea following receipt of her award from Cork County Council as part of the annual Community Mayor’s Award.
Kathleen Moylan from Castlemagner celebrating her award from Cork County Council’s Community Mayor’s Awards with her children Neil Moylan, Elaine White, Noeleen Buckley and Fiona Healy.
