Annual Report 2011.pdf (size 6 MB) - Offaly County Council

Such has been the success of this programme that it
was adopted in six other counties in 2011 and the first
ever nation inter county event for primary schools was
staged. Schools from Offaly took honours in all four
categories in the national finals (Ballinagar National
School in 3 rd & 4 th class girls, Edenderry Boys National
School in 3 rd & 4 th class boys, St. Philomena‟s National
School, Tullamore in 5 th & 6 th class girls and Scoil
Bhride, Tullamore in 5 th & 6 th class boys).
The Pauline Curley Marathon Relay for secondary
school girls remained a feature of the work
programme of the Sports Partnership with six schools
and 240 girls declaring for the third running of this
event.
The Sports Partnership in conjunction with An Garda
Siochana, a number of Youth Projects in the County,
Golf Clubs and the VEC Youth Officer staged the
inaugural Shane Lowry golf tournament. This project
is a coming together of youth projects and golf clubs
to afford disadvantaged young people who might
never be afforded the opportunity to play golf a
chance to do so.
Meet and Train Groups
A meet and train project was established in Cloghan
for a 10 week training programme. Following the
programme, St. Rynagh‟s GAA staged the first
running of its 10KM road run in which 125 people
participated. The group supported in Portarlington in 2010
in conjunction with our colleagues in Laois, continued to host
a road run with over 300 participants.
Sports Integration Project
With support from the office for the integration of migrant
communities, the Sports Partnership is delivering a unique
project to support immigrant children achieve their sporting
potential. It is anticipated that in the coming two years the
results of this intervention will be noticeable
Supporting the Community Forum to Participate In
Policy Development
Offaly Community Forum has increased its membership to
432 member groups.
The Forum has been active in a range of areas including
networking, information sharing, training, and policy
development. Projects for 2011 that the Forum engaged in
include:
Supporting Offaly Volunteer Centre in conjunction with
Offaly Local Development Company
Establishing a County Tidy Towns Network
Establishing a Community Alert Network
Organisation of Offaly Mental Health Talk Week in
collaboration with the HSE and Design Hub during
which over 1500 people attended 30 events around
the County to endeavour to reduce the taboo in
relation to mental health and suicide and to raise
Offaly Local Authorities Annual Report 2011
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