This article is from page 102 of the 2008-07-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 102 JPG
“LIGHTS, camera, action” and “roll- ing’ are words that will be heard around Lough Graney shortly thanks to the support of the local communi- ty which has netted a €10,000 prize for the youth club.
The club, along with the Clarecare community childcare initiative, both were winners of a €10,000 prize in the AIB Better Ireland Awards.
The youth club and will be using the cash to buy film-making equipment. Groups appealed to members of the public to vote for them in a text-vote and the Tuamgraney group and the Killaloe childcare group heard last
week that they had garnered the most votes of organisations nominated by the Gort and Killaloe branches.
Delighted club leader, Kathleen McNamara, said that the members and leaders “are just thrilled. The members worked terribly hard on the campaign. We can’t thank people enough – everyone got involved, par- ents, members, leaders, local people and they got their families, friends and work colleagues involved. There was a lot of hard work and massive support for us.”
The money will be used to buy cameras, editing and other film-mak- ing equipment so that club members can capture local issues, events and
people on film.
“We want to get them involved in making short documentary type films about the local community – it’s a way of helping young people to integrate and develop an interest in their community”, said Kathleen.
The club operates out of the Lough Graney Kids Corner créche in Flag- mount every second week and has 35 members, with the support of 13 leaders.
Sinéad Corbett, childcare co-ordi- nator with the Clarecare project said the money will be extremely useful for the many services which are on offer in the Molua centre, not least the summer camps which will cater
for 200 plus children this summer.
The Childcare project offers sup- port and services for children aged O to 18 with issues arising from school, the home and relationships such as loss, separation, adjusting to new surroundings and grief. It also offers programmes in anti-bullying, parent- ing and _ personal development as well as parent and toddler groups.
“All of these services are vital in a community setting and are very much alive here at the Molua cen- tre. We can’t thank people who sup- ported us enough, both in Killaloe, Scariff and further afield. We need funding to continue this work and to expand,” said Sinéad.