Hospitality and outreach focus of Church of Ireland stand at Ploughing in Offaly

HOSPITALITY and outreach are the key focus points of the Church of Ireland Diocese of Meath and Kildare's stand at the National Ploughing Championships in Screggan this week.

The stand is located in a central area of the site near the headquarters of the National Ploughing Association at Row 9, Block 3, Stand 200.

Tullamore's Rev. Yvonne Hutchinson, (pictured below) speaking on Wednesday morning, said they hosted visitors from throughout the country on Tuesday and were looking forward to a busy final two days of the Ploughing.

Local man, Richard Dudley, is showing his domestic side at the stand, where is serving refreshments helped by Vanda Fryday and Michael High.

Tullamore's Mieke Scholte is also deeply involved and is fronting a section where people are invited to place a butterfly or a dove on a place on a map of the world where they would like to see peace.

"Naturally places such as Ukraine and Gaza feature prominently but so do China, Mongolia and other states," revealed Mieke.

Beside the "Prayer for our World" exhibit is a prayer tree (pictured below) where people can place a leaf to signify their intentions.

Mullingar's Luke Hawkins, (pictured below) who is head of the church's Youth Department in the Republic, fronts the children and youth area of the stand and is handing out pink Stetson hats which are proving extremely popular with punters.

"We had 1,000 people here yesterday," said Luke who added that this reflects the wider trend of young people returning to church, religion and spirituality.

"Look at all the pressure young people are under with identity and other issues. Christianity has always provided the answers to those questions."

He recently hosted a seminar at Gurteen Agricultural College in Tipperary and was amazed at the mature and insightful questions young people asked of him.

To get the message across to young people, the exhibits features a virtual reality game "Beat Sabre" – a Christian reflection.

Luke co-ordinates with 20 chaplains throughout the State and also has a network of 200 volunteers to assist him in his work.

He revealed the church's annual youth festival, "Summer Madness", attracted a record 3,000 people in Antrim this year and it is planned to expand it in 2026.

Luke's area also features a play zone (pictured below with Simon Campbell and Nicole Houlihan)where children can relax and play with farm machinery toys and lego or lounge on comfortable seats if their batteries need recharging.

Mieke Scholte said the stand had been visited by people of all religious backgrounds and none on Tuesday.

"People were really open and were willing to talk," revealed Mieke.

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