REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON A VISIT TO ST. JOHN’S CARING CENTRE, HACKETSTOWN, CO CARLOW
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT McALEESE ON A VISIT TO ST. JOHN’S CARING CENTRE, HACKETSTOWN, CO CARLOW WEDNESDAY, 25 OCTOBER 2000
Is mór an pléisiúir dom bheith anseo i bhur measc inniu. Go raibh míle maith agaibh as ucht bhur bhfáilte chaoin.
A few months ago I received a lovely letter from Mrs. Violet Pollard, assuring me of a warm welcome if I was to drop in to St John’s Caring centre to meet the staff and members of the centre. It was an invitation I simply couldn’t refuse, so I am delighted to join you today to meet all of you and I would like to thank Mrs. Pollard and Fr. James McCormack, Chairman of the Management Committee for the kind invitation.
Over the past two years I have had the privilege of meeting many of our older citizens from every part of the country. I meet them in all sorts of situations and places. Some come to visit Áras an Uachtaráin as members of community organisations or active retired groups. I met some of your members on one such occasion during the summer. Others I meet at community events or visits to hospitals or day care centres such as this. And each individual has a formidable story to tell, a unique set of memories and experiences, a lot given and a lot still to share. Some enjoy great health and energy. They are never off their feet, involved in all sorts of activity. Others have grown frail or know the weakening of illness and they have had to adapt and cope as best they can. Still others have drifted into aloneness and lonliness as friends and family have died or moved away.
A centre like this is a Godsend to older members of the community, because it provides a point of contact for you to meet old friends, make new friends, tell yarns, provoke old memories, swap gossip, greet someone with a smile which helps them through the day, or receive a warm hello which makes the day worthwhile and memorable. The older we get the more important it is that we find new ways of growing in social confidence, new ways to enjoy life.
Eleven years ago, the vision and generosity of one man, Fr. Carbury started the centre. He saw the need to provide a place where older people of the community could meet sometimes just for a cup of tea and a chat, sometimes for practical assistance. In his kitchen he provided a place of welcome for the elderly people in the area.
It is a great tribute to him that eleven years later the Centre is still in operation in a much bigger premises in St. John’s Hall. The location may have changed, but what hasn’t changed is the warm welcome afforded to the older members of the community by the dedicated staff who run the centre. I would like to warmly congratulate everyone of you. Great thanks is due to the management team under the able stewardship of Fr. McCormack, to the staff and to the volunteers who help out at the Centre. I understand that some of the Transition Year students from Colaiste Eoin also help out and I would like to say a special word of thanks to them. All of you have made a difference to the lives of the older members of your community and your care and kindness is, I know, very much appreciated by those who use the centre.
I am most impressed by the range of important services available here which includes providing regular hot meals and a nursing and chiropody service, all these services allow our senior citizens to remain happy and healthy in their own homes, among their families and friends in the community while receiving vital help and support when they need it.
Of course the centre draws members like a magnet to partake in all the social element of the centre, the socials, raffles, the days out and the annual holidays. It is wonderful to have this facility where you can share many happy memories of times spent together.
I have had a wonderful time here today and the warm welcome I was promised is very much appreciated by this visitor.
Guím rath Dé oraibh go léir. Go raibh maith agaibh