Community Employment awards presented

Scheme participants with Anne Bolger, Christy Sweeney and Theresa Whelan.

Awards were presented this morning to 13 participants in the Kilcullen Area Community Employment Scheme at a breakfast event hosted by St Bridget's Pitch & Putt Club on the Community Centre campus, writes Brian Byrne. The awards included certificates for completion in training programmes under the scheme, in Cardiac First Response, Manual Handling, Four-Stroke Small Engine Maintenance and Establishing Ornamental Flowering.

Those receiving certificates were Wayne Aspell, Ilona Brede, Matthew Dunne, Dayna Mitchell, Alan Ryan, Renate Matejeva, Joe Winder, Damian Kirby, James Brady, John Corrigan, Lidia Ciala, Lisa Stokes and Linda Anderson. Two major awards in Horticulture were presented to John Corrigan and Wayne Aspell.

Recipients of Special Awards in Horticulture John Corrigan and Wayne Aspell.

The scheme's supervisor, Theresa Whelan, said she was very proud of the work put in by the participants. She noted that they are 'in happy workspaces' with a range of sponsoring groups that include Kilcullen Community Centre, the GAA club, Tidy Towns groups in Kilcullen, Brannockstown and Calverstown, Kilcullen Parish, Kilcullen Heritage Centre, Pitch & Putt clubs in Kilcullen, Athgarvan and Newbridge, and Enable Ireland in Naas. 

"What a range that is," she said. "Without the scheme being available, it would be very detrimental to our sponsors and to these areas." She paid special tribute to the scheme's board of management, and to Anne Bolger of the Department of Social Protection and her team. "We are so lucky to be working alongside such professional and helpful individuals." She also thanked Johnny Sweeney and St Bridget's Pitch & Putt for hosting the awards event.

The scheme chairman, Christy Sweeney, thanked Theresa for the 'fabulous' work she does in supervising the scheme, and also congratulated the participants who were receiving their awards.

Anne Bolger said that it is one of the lovely parts of a job that she has been doing for 10 years, to work with schemes which have enthusiastic supervisors and the sponsors who give up their time freely. "It's a huge ask that we put on sponsors, and they do so willingly, and we thank them for their assistance. It's one of my favourite parts of the job to meet with participants on an occasion like this. I can see clearly the hard work that you put in and the benefit to you, and hopefully building on skills that you already have and learning new ones along the way." She also thanked Theresa Whelan for her own dedication to the scheme, adding that she 'maximises the training budget'. "But that's because you're all willing to do the work and put in the effort."

Cllr Tracey O'Dwyer said that the area is very lucky to have the scheme. "I do see the results of the work around the area, and they are phenomenal. Thank you to everyone concerned, and it is important to remember that it is the people who make the scheme, not the other way around. It is only as good as the people involved."

On behalf of Kilcullen Community Action, one of the sponsors, Martin Sheridan said the amount of work carried out around the town by scheme participants is 'amazing'. "It doesn't matter what needs to be done, we just have to ask someone. If one group in the community has a problem, we all work together to figure it out." He highlighted last year's Tidy Towns win of a bronze medal, and this year's silver achievement, as examples of what the scheme does for the area.

Following the award presentations, Nessa Dunlea on behalf of the scheme's board of management presented bouquets to Theresa Whelan and Anne Bolger, saying that the community's interaction with them was 'never about problems, always about solutions'.

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