Offaly man feted for his many years of work as a volunteer

AN afternoon Tea Party was held in St Mary’s Hall, Cloghan on Easter Monday in honour of a local man who has given a long number of years as a volunteer to his village.

Cloghan Community Development Association Limited and Tidy Towns, hosted the tea party to honour and thank James Christie in appreciation for all the time and effort that he has contributed to Cloghan and surrounding amenities over the past long number of years.

At a recent AGM of the group, James stepped aside as the chairman, a position he held for 28 years. The new chairman Pat Meaney in welcoming everyone was clearly delighted with the reception that the event drew as he mentioned how the special guest had given a lifetime to the community and now the people had gathered to say thanks to him.

He also acknowledged Fr Michael Scanlon, former PP, who was present, for all his work in the parish. Pat mentioned all who were unable to attend due to other commitments and how so many had sent their good wishes to the former chairman, and then he asked the attendance to “take a moment and think about all those who cannot be here with us today”.

James Christie was born and raised in Cloghan and his love for all things that happened in progressing his home village was mentioned as he became immersed in developing projects for the betterment of not just every resident, but also for the visitor. He wasn’t just content to chair meetings, but he also went out and sought funding, often attending different meetings up and down the county in his quest to secure the necessary information needed to tap in on the funding that was required for whatever project that was on hand. This was often difficult, long drawn out and involved mountains of paperwork to be ploughed through before submitting an application. Indeed, it was said that no one knew where he got his energy from as he also held down a job as an electrician and then set into his voluntary work during evenings, long nights and weekends.

Such people are very rare and getting scarcer with time, so it was right and fitting that the community that James Christie loves so much, and continues to do so much for, would turn out in such fine numbers to this evening of celebration. He never waited to be asked to do something but just carried on with whatever needed to be done.
The new Chairman Pat Meaney, went through a list of all the new projects that the Development Association has been involved with over the years. Detailing how the village of Cloghan had changed over the years, Pat Meaney said “Cloghan is a very different place to what it was in the 1950’s. The ESB and Bord na Mona have come and gone but they both provided great employment in the locality and encouraged lots of families to stay and settle in the area”.

Pat mentioned that one of the “parting gifts” to the area was Loch Clochán which is situated 2km east of the village on the R357 road. “The lake,” said Pat, was to be developed by the local community. Paying tribute to and thanking the gun club, the fishing club, volunteers and workers who he said were “tireless in their work to develop this facility down through the years into what we have today”, Pat said that James Christie was at the heart of this work. “The planning, securing leases, planning permission, funding, getting quotations, securing contractors to carry out the work, while he also offered physical volunteering labour himself,” he said.

The chairman said he would like to thank Offaly Local Development Company for funding for most of the projects undertaken. One of the projects mentioned was the fly fishing, walking trails, information boards, pheasant display area, bird hatching, planting sunflowers and heathers to attract wild life, fishing stands, toilets, picnic area, to name just some. The big announcement was that work is presently taking place on a new grass 10k walk which will allow runners and walkers plenty of access to this area.

Pat praised all who worked on the village park which was completed in 1999 and is situated on the site of the Protestant church and graveyard in the village. Again, he detailed all the “long and painstaking work that had to be completed” before work on the park could commence, and here again he said that “James Christie was at the heart of all that work”. He went on to thank all who are involved in keeping the amenity in great condition which he said is used by locals and visitors alike.
Another project that Cloghan Development was involved in was the GAA club facilities. Pat said that money was accessed through West Offaly and Offaly Local Development to complete the dressing rooms and the “facilities are a credit to everyone that was involved including James who was one of the people driving that project forward,” he said.
He went on to mention the walk way around the GAA pitch which is used by so many, he thanked the community hall workers, before thanking all the members of the Development committee who supplied baking and worked to make the evening a lovely occasion.
He paid special credit to James Christie for the Christmas lighting, his work with providing music and sound equipment, his work in the church, the New Year’s Eve parade, the graveyard committee and all the work done there, before finishing with saying “thank you James and thank you to all the people who have worked on all these projects down through the years.” About thirty volunteers turned out for the Easter Egg hunt and they weren’t forgotten as the chairman encouraged more people to come out and get involved with the Development committee.
In response James Christie thanked everyone for their attendance which including members of his own family. “We were a long time at it but I couldn’t have got anything done without the help of the team I had with me,” he said. “I had some great people working with me such as Carmel (Finneran) who was our Secretary for close on twenty years, Alo (Flynn) was always there night or day, Christy (Slevin) did collections with ‘some sort of a trailer’ whenever I needed him while Pat (Troy) did all the heavy lifting and I couldn’t have done the work without people like that,” he said.
James was quick to point out that he was not retiring and that he was still on the committee. “I’m retiring from all the paperwork only,” he quipped. James recalled how the group started small and how they worked at becoming a limited company, to getting a scheme in the village. The first project they tackled was a derelict site which eventually turned out to be the Millennium Park in the village.

“People came on the committee and stayed a few years and then drifted and sadly some passed on, but on the whole most of the group are there since the beginning,” he said. He also recalled how they started the now very appealing Loch Clochán back in 1997 and which was opened to the public in May 1999.

“This has been a fabulous success and it really went great and it’s even getting better. It’s as if people have suddenly discovered it with so many coming over there. It was Covid that actually brought people there, you nearly needed to book a walk with all that was there,” he said.

Elaborating on what Loch Clochán has to offer including biodiversity, wildlife and the new walking track which is now under construction, it’s obvious talking to James Christie that this man of vision and progression has no intentions of hanging up his boots just yet.