Pride of Place presentation for Tydavnet village 2012

1. Pride of Place 2012

2. Tydavnet
•Parish in North Monaghan
•One of the largest parishes in the
Diocese of Clogher
•Strong community spirit throughout
the parish
•Four villages in Parish
•Over 60 community groups
•For this competition, we felt it was
fairest to define our community as
those whose activities centre in and
around the village of Tydavnet
•Community of around 800 people

3. Tigh Damhnat – the house of
Dympna
 Place of respite for Dympna, an acolyte of
St Brigid, as she fled her insane father, a
chieftain of Oiriall in the 7th Century
 She settled in Geel, Belgium, where she
worked with people with mental illness,
pioneering the ‘care in the community’
approach which is the gold standard
today
 Eventually her father found her and
beheaded her

4. Tydavnet
 Inhabited since the Bronze Age (2000 BC)
 The records of St Dympna mention the village, and
also the local well, which is a national monument
• Gold discs found under a tree in the
village are now the emblem of the
National Museum
• 9th Century Crozier , ‘Bachall
Damhnait’: people travelled from afar to
swear on it to prove their bona fides. Also
in National Museum

5. Our Twinning arrangement with
Geel, Belgium
 Started from a letter from local
Macra Club
 Officially signed a charter in 1992
 Twinning has filtered all the way
down through the community,
and created new friendships and
opportunities for all
 Activities too numerous, so listed
on separate handout.
 22 people are heading out to Geel
next week
Activities are organised
around a 5-year calendar.
Our largest group to go out
to Geel was 54

6. Innovation
 The area is known for family businesses and
entrepreneurship
 We were the first parish in Co. Monaghan to get rural
electrification
 At the forefront of new opportunities as they emerged,
eg poultry, furniture making, mushroom growing
 We carry that same sense of ‘can do’ and ‘let’s give it a
try’ through all our community work

7. ‘Giving of Self’....
 In evidence in many ways:
 Environmentally
 Caringly
 In our Culture
 Monetarily
 Socially
Tidy Towns & local businesses team up
to tackle littering

8. How we protect our Environment
 Tidy Towns
 Marks increased from 174 in 2001 to
254 in 2011
 Parish clean-up twice a year
 18th Century graveyard restored,
with unique mapping project
completed
 Hen Harrier habitat in Sliabh
Beagh
 Gun club is managing the habitat to
increase grouse population, which
will in turn increase harrier
numbers
 Released partridge last year, which
had been extinct in the area
One of the unique mortality
tombstones uncovered in
our graveyard

9. The People of Tydavnet CARE
 We look after our most
vulnerable
 St Dympna’s tradition of caring
for the mental well-being of our
community continues
 Acorn Montessori pre-school and
after-school
 Faith & Light – support to families of
children with learning disabilities.
90 members Faith & Light on pilgrimage to Lourdes

10.  Older people are treasured
members of our community
 Millennium Club meets
every Wednesday
 Run totally by volunteers
 Meals & activities for 80
people, including
 pc classes for older people
 The recent 100th birthday of
Pat Treanor was an all-
community celebration
The three oldest citizens of the Parish
were given the honour of starting the
National Elite Cycling Championships,
which were held in the Parish last
summer

11. Preserving & promoting Culture
 St Dympna’s Well
 Pol an Aifreann (mass rock)
commemoration
 ‘Hidden Heritage’ project
 Restoration of school houses
 Tydavnet village
 Cornagilta
 Both used as community meeting
places today
 Local drama and Comhaltas groups
 Graveyard mapping & conservation
Tydavnet Drama Troupe
preparing for their 2012
production

12. Hidden Heritage Project
•With Monaghan Museum and Library
•Researched and developed by the community,
with training provided in archaeological
excavation, genealogy, creative writing, digital
photography, oral history collecting and
exhibition design
•Reminiscence evenings in Cornagilta school
•Collected & produced in exhibition
•Captured minutiae of everyday life in Tydavnet,
and also what it was like to live in the shadow of
the Border and through the Troubles

13. Cornagilta Clean-up
•Put a call out around the
Parish for helpers
•Over 20 people turned up
one wet Saturday
•Brought own equipment
and skills
•Finished with a BBQ and
bit of craic
•Came back again the
following week to finish
the job

14. Fundraising
 We raise funds for hundreds of causes, from the
international to the local
 Over €600,000 has been raised by the community
in the last five years alone, for charities and causes
all over the world
 ‘The Ned Run’ last weekend, honours two local
stalwarts of the community, raising funds for:
 Irish Heart Foundation
 Monaghan Hospice Homecare

15. Generous
• Tydavnet people are famous for their generosity
• Local people have volunteered with:
• Habitat for Humanity, Madagascar
• Niall Mellon Township Trust, South Africa
• We have put 1 local business and 2 local families back on their
feet following fires
• Local people go out each year to orphanages in Bulgaria to
carry out repairs etc
• Paid for a special diet for Theodora Strinski since she was 4 in
1992– born with genetic condition PKU, which means her body
can’t break down phenylalanine, leading to nerve & brain
damage

16. Our Location
 Along the Border – road closures cut us off from our
neighbours
 Cross-community
 A real pride in our people and our place
 Shown through:
 The range of activities which run in the area
 The range of ages who participate in those – all feel they
belong
 The leadership and selflessness of our people, and how
this is being continued by our children

17. Showing Leadership
 Peacebuilding: Tydavnet Show has been building
relationships across the community and across the
border since 1950
 Culture: Eamonn O Muirí, co-founder of Comhaltas
Ceoiltoiri Eireann in 1951
 Sport: Past president of the GAA & current Ard-
Stiúrtheoir
 Local Development:
 Parish Plan in 1940’s
 First Group Water Scheme, model for the country

18. Practical Approach
 Converted old school house into community centre, using 100% voluntary
labour and fundraising to cover materials
 Response to loss of emergency services in Monaghan General Hospital
 Defibrillator scheme
 Allotments: response to demand for ‘grow it yourself’ facilities from
residents in Monaghan town
 Unfinished housing in village – negotiating with developer to buy for
community

19. Group Water Scheme
 Set up in 1984
 Serves 1000 homes
 Pipe-laying facilitated by local
landowners, free of charge
 Local man went on to be policy co-
ordinator of the National Federation
of Group Water Schemes
 Model of best practice
 Uses latest technology to locate
leaks
 Telemetry system records daily usage
on each road

20. Parish Plan
 One of two parishes in the whole of Ireland
to embark on a ground-breaking approach
to area development in 1940’s
 Parish Plan set out the needs of the parish & how these
were to be met
 Was the instigator for many initiatives which are still
going today
 Followed up with a second plan in the 1990’s

21. Our Parish Show
 “The Best Wee Show in Ireland”
 60 years in 2011
 Twinned with Armagh Show – we help them out on
show day, and they come down to us
 Over 100 people involved in running the show
 Huge community support
 Draws people from North & South, doing peacebuilding
work throughout the Troubles
 Won Rehab Monaghan People of the Year overall award
& Rural Development category of Monaghan Integrated
Development’s Community Achievement Awards in 2011

23. Riding for the Disabled class
The craic’s never too far away...

24. Excellence
 In sport….
 Killylough Tug O War team – 3 World Championships &
2 European titles, spanning 20 years of competition at
the top of the sport
 Numerous national titles in Special Olympics
 Hosted the National Elite Cycling Championships in
2011

25.  In culture….
 Macra – All-Ireland title for best novelty act
 In enterprise….
 Young Farmer of the Year
 National award for poultry production
 National award for mushroom production
 And in people
 Volunteering spirit very strong
 Everyone belongs, and.......

26. We pull together!
Killylough Tug of War team –
World Champions 3 times & 2 European titles

27. We are www.Tydavnet.com
At the launch of our website, which acts as a hub for community
news. Over 20 groups are involved in keeping it up to date