Spreading Joy at the Carlow Older Persons Forum Christmas Party

The Woodford Dolmen Hotel was alive with festive cheer on a crisp Tuesday morning, December 10th, as Carlow County Development Partnership (CCDP) and the Carlow Older Persons Forum (COPF) hosted their annual Christmas Party. This cherished event brought together older people from across County Carlow for a heartwarming celebration of community, connection, and Christmas spirit.

Adding to the excitement, KCLR provided a live broadcast from the foyer, sharing the joy of the event with listeners across the region.

Inspiring Words and Heartfelt Music

The morning’s program featured a lineup of distinguished speakers who shared messages of support and celebration:

TD Jennifer Murnane O’Connor highlighted the importance of unity and caring for our older generations.
Cathaoirleach Fergal Browne praised the event’s role in strengthening community ties.
Niamh Murphy from Care and Repair spoke about the vital work being done to support older people in staying safe and independent in their homes.
Chief Superintendent Anthony Farrell emphasised the importance of community safety and partnership.
COPF Chairperson Joe Butler expressed heartfelt gratitude for the contributions of all attendees and supporters.

The atmosphere in the main room was truly magical, thanks to Kevin Byrne, whose musical performance filled the air with holiday joy, and the talented CCDP choir, whose songs uplifted everyone in attendance.

No Christmas celebration would be complete without gifts! Thoughtfully prepared Christmas bags were distributed to all in attendance, adding a touch of holiday magic to the day.

The annual Christmas Party is more than just a festive gathering—it’s a celebration of the invaluable contributions of older people to the Carlow community. This year’s event was a shining example of how shared moments of joy and connection can bring people together.

From the inspiring speeches to the beautiful music and the tangible sense of community, the morning was filled with laughter, smiles, and goodwill. Everyone left with warm memories and a little extra holiday cheer to carry them through the season.

To the organisers, speakers, performers, and attendees: thank you for making the day so special. Here’s to another year of community and connection in Carlow!

January 10, 2025/by Jason Culleton

LEADER

Smart Villages Training

CCDP are now seeking expressions of Interest from community groups who are interested in participating in our SMART VILLAGES training in September

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Carlow County Development Training 2023

SMART Villages – Rural communities that build on their strengths & assets while also developing new opportunities.

Carlow County Development Partnership CLG is pleased to announce a new training programme to assist local communities to develop innovative Smart Villages strategies. This is a central theme of the forthcoming LEADER programme 2023-2027 which will be launched in the autumn.

What are Smart Villages?
Smart Villages are communities in rural areas that use innovative solutions to improve their ability to adapt to change, building on local strengths and opportunities.

This 3min video by the European Network for Rural Development explains the concept: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckB71hb0kx0

Why are Smart Villages important?
Smart Villages work as a collective, implementing innovate projects which improve the quality of living for all. Smart village projects can be realised in areas such as transport, energy, governance, digital connectivity, health, local enterprise, remote working.

How do we know the Smart Village concept works?
A number of pilots have been delivered in villages across the EU. Most recently multiple villages in the Alpine region developed a number of Smart Village projects. Projects ranged from the creation of a local producers’ selling platforms to help shorten supply chains, operating a citizen taxi to address transport issues and one remote village secured a company to bring fibre broadband to their area.

Participating villages have shared their projects, approaches and outcomes here: https://smart-villages.eu/language/en/home/

What is involved:

The training programme has been developed by rural development specialist Ian Dempsey, Prescience. He will guide participants through an enlightening, informative and interactive programme exploring opportunities for social, economic and environmental development linked to key themes. These include the Sustainable Development Goals; Health and well-being; Resilience; Digital Transformation; Decarbonisation, Climate Action; Biodiversity; Community Wealth Building and others. The use of case studies and best practice examples will help develop participants’ knowledge and understanding of themes and concepts such as the background and ethos of the Smart Village concept. The programme will ready groups to access future EU funding for Smart Villages initiatives.

Programme details:

An introductory Seminar took place at Saint Laurence O’Toole’s Athletic Club on May 27^th.This was a free event and was well attended by the community. The slides from the event are available here

This programme will provide the opportunity to employ practical ideas and actions within your own communities and avail of upcoming events and training. The programme will run for 3 Saturdays bi weekly during the month of September.

Date	Time	Location
Saturday September 2^nd 2023	10am – 1:30pm	An Gairdin Beo, Carlow town
Saturday September 16^th 2023	10am –1:30pm	An Gairdin Beo,Carlow town
Saturday September 30^th 2023	10am –1:30pm	An Gairden Beo, Carlow town

This training programme has been supported by Carlow Local Community Development Committee (LCDC) and funded through the Transitional LEADER Rural Development programme 2021 – 2022.