Community Games in doubt

Kilcullen’s Community Games effort, which has seen significant success at regional and national levels in recent years, may fall at the first hurdle for 2010.

That’s because the recent AGM was unable to form a committee for the new year, apparently ‘due to lack of interest’.

Any further Kilcullen involvement now depends on enough parents coming forward to help with the campaign.

“By Community Games rules you need to have a minimum of five people on a committee,” says Ann Quigley, who has been involved for some years. “And to run it at the level we did last year we’d probably need eight or nine people.”

Ann says that ‘nobody came to the AGM at all’. “We have three people who expressed interest but we have actually lost people off last year’s committee, which was too small anyhow and made the effort very difficult.”

If people do not come forward in response to the current situation, there will definitely be no Kilcullen involvement in the Games in the coming year. “We need to have people in place by December at the latest,” Ann says. “And even if we get, say, six people, we still wouldn’t be able to enter nearly as many events as last year.”

Apart from the extensive local Games, involving 200 young people, some 18 competitors from Kilcullen took part in the National Finals in Athlone this year. They brought home a gold and a bronze medal as well as experiencing the thrill of representing their county at national level.

“We did a dozen or more events last year, but without enough people to help it’s just too much, with the paperwork, the PR, training the kids and the fundraising.”

Ann says the youngsters are ‘up for it’ for 2010, but it just isn’t a matter of parents sending their children along, they need to play their own part in the effort. Prior to the AGM, over 600 notices were sent to parents through the local schools, but without a result.

“It’s really disappointing when you go to the bother of sending out notices and nobody turns up.”

If anyone wants to step in and help save the games campaign for 2010 they can contact Ann at 087 7733576.