WATCH: Offaly village showcased in amazing video for Pride of Place competition

THE community of Mucklagh is showcased in a specially produced video for the Pride of Place competition.

Through a series of interviews with local people and with recordings of places of interest in and around the village, the video brings Mucklagh to life in a way never seen before.

It was produced by Tom O'Hanlon Media and shown at the Pride of Place judging day in Mucklagh recently.

Caroline Bryant, manager of Mucklagh Community Centre, and Maureen Lawless, chair, Mucklagh Community Development, are the first to feature in the production.

Standing outside the Community Centre, Caroline said: “Today Mucklagh Community Centre will be the hub of Mucklagh. Everyone meets here at the centre.”

The centre manager added: “We also provide services here to the community in Mucklagh, services such as Meals on Wheels which is delivered to us by the KDA from Kilcormac and they're delivered to people in Mucklagh.”

Maureen explained: “Mucklagh is a community just about five kilometres from Tullamore. There's about 300 houses in the community.”

Many local clubs and organisations contribute to the video. In her remarks, Margaret Guinan, Mucklagh Active Age said: “I'm here to just stress to you how important the Community Centre is to Mucklagh Active Retirement Group. We meet here once a week on a Tuesday.”

“We play games like boccia, bowling, cards and other activities but without this facility we would be able to do none of that.”
Two priests are also included with Fr Michael Whittaker saying: “I'm only new to the parish here, I'm only here about five, six weeks or so, so just getting to know people a little bit and settling in.”

Fr Frank Guinan stated: “I know the parish fairly well, glad to see it growing and coming along and the community centre has been a great asset to the parish.”

WATCH: https://www.facebook.com/mucklaghcommunitycentre/videos/758540898596264

Information about the future plans for development at the Community Centre is given by John Cotter: “The next major plan for the development is in developing the car park space, but not just as a car park space. We hope to develop it to include safe pedestrian access, have it wheelchair accessible, including e-charging points, and the development of the grounds to include a sensory space, play area and hopefully encourage biodiversity and sustainability.”

Kay Joyce, principal, St Colman's National School, Mucklagh speaks about the school: “We have an autism unit and we have 19 SNAs. So it is a huge part of the community.”

She added: “But we are very lucky in St Colman's because we work very closely with the MDA, we work so closely with the church, it's up the road from us, and all of our ceremonies and so on take place there.”

Philip Barron, founding member, Mucklagh Community Development, looked back on how the Community Centre was first planned: “The Community Centre has a strong association with Charleville Estate because the land was donated here by the Hutton-Bury family. The late David Hutton-Bury turned the first sod here in 2013 and we had the honour of him opening the facilities then in 2019.”

Willie O'Grady from Mucklagh Community Development spoke of the importance of volunteers. “We are all very dependent on volunteers, and not only people in their own organisations such as the community centre and other organisations but people who get involved in other events such as Tidy Towns and any other projects that are being done,” he said.

In a further contribution, Stephanie Hill expanded on what Mucklagh Community Centre has to offer: “The Community Centre has excellent facilities. We've a large sports hall which is fully equipped for a variety of sports, including basketball, indoor soccer and walking soccer for both men and women. Mucklagh Community Centre also has three large meeting rooms, three offices, a spacious kitchen and a kitchenette.”

Mucklagh Tidy Towns is one local organisation included in the video. Said Freda Spain: “I'm a volunteer with Mucklagh Tidy Towns. Mucklagh Tidy Towns was paused for a number of years but resumed back in 2011.”

“Over the past number of years we have done extensive work throughout the village, painting, planting, litter picking, generally trying to enhance the village for everybody.”

The National Ploughing Championships were held near Mucklagh in 2016, 2017 and 2018 and Sam McMorris was recorded at the site of the tractors which are mounted in the air at the site.

“I live in the area and where we're standing here at the moment, this is the general area where the Ploughing was held for three years on the trot. Up behind me, over my shoulder, you'll see the tractors on the pedestals that represent the tractor in its time, ploughing, and also, we have the horse to represent the horse ploughing behind me here as well. It's beautiful to look at.”

A simple personal comment about Mucklagh village was made by Darrell O'Dwyer: “Mucklagh means an awful lot to me. Great teams, great community spirit around here, and a lot of people out doing a good bit for the village.”

Representatives of a soccer team which caters for wheelchair users explained how important the Community Centre is to them.

Mike Donogher, Midlands United Wheelchair soccer manager, said: “The Community Centre is a great release for us. It's probably the only place that we could be training and the only outlet for these to get out and the only facility that suits them really.

One of the players, Sean Cuddy commented: “We're here today at a training session in Mucklagh hall. It's brilliant because it's level, it's accessible, [it has] wheelchair toilets, so it's brilliant.”

Four local sports clubs contributed to the video. Brendan Galvin, chair, Mucklagh Soccer Club, was recorded at the site where a new ground will be developed.

He said: “We finally got planning permission to put three pitches and our dressing rooms on it and hopefully a walking track around it as well for the local people.”

Amid footage of numerous children enjoying Gaelic games, Ollie Bryant, chair, Shamrocks GAA explained: “Shamrocks cater for 28 teams in total, between adults, men, ladies football, camogie, underage, Go Games, and this year we formed a nursery in which we've about 70 to 75, both boys and girls.”

Damien Cassidy, Mucklagh Camogie said: “I'm involved with the club for the last couple of years. Last year we actually kicked off camogie in Shamrocks GAA Club for the first time in over 40 years.”

Finally, Lisa Flaherty, chair, Shamrocks Ladies Football said: “We have started our coaching at Mini Rocks, which is three, four, five and six-year-olds. The target is to keep the girls from the Mini Rocks the whole way up and represent the club at adult level in years to come.”

Pride of Place is an all-island competition that recognises improvements made by local communities to create civic pride in their area. The competition focus is about people coming together to shape, change and enjoy all that is good about their area.  Pullough and Geashill are also in this year's competition.