Cities Section: Category One – Urban Neighbourhoods/ Villages with a population under 3000

Winner: Blarney, Cork City

Summary:

Blarney is a small village with a big heart showing its strong community spirit through its many community initiatives such as – Blarney Community First Responders who have trained over 300 local people; Blarney Tidy Towns group (over 30 years in existence); Blarney Community Council which revived the Blarney St. Patrick’s Day Parade; Blarney Men’s Shed who recently created outdoor classrooms for the national schools, and Blarney Meals on Wheels which was a real community effort during Covid 19. One of the best examples of the Blarney community working together was when an American tourist suffered a heart attack at the top of Blarney Castle, he was attended to by Blarney Community First Responders before being airlifted to hospital for life saving treatment. All the while his wife was looked after in the home of a local lady, and on his release the couple were driven on to Adare for the rest of their holiday and then collected and taken to Shannon for their flight home.

Community Contact: Ruth Lynch, [email protected]

Citation:

As regards the winners, the judges quickly realized that this is a very caring community, with fantastic volunteers, where a very impressive list of activities was presented. Notwithstanding a celebrated and established tourist attraction the judges were in no doubt that this is a community with great heart and spirit.