Cities Section: Category Two – Urban Neighbourhoods with a population over 3,000
Winner: Gracedieu, Waterford City
Summary:
The area of Graceduie/ Carrickphierish is a continually developing area of the North West Suburbs of Waterford City. Local residents concerns that new housing estates and suburbs too often develop ahead of community needs and identity prompted the establishment of The Graceduie Combined Residents Council. The group consists of representatives from many of the housing estates in the suburb and this structure enables all estates to have an effective strong voice in advocating for the community needs. The focal community point is the new library, community rooms and sports hall, that is used for meetings and community events such as the Get to Know Your Neighbour Festival, with the sports hall facilitating The Come and Try sports and Zumba dancing. Throughout Covid the group continued working on plans to develop a local community market and allotments, with plans well advanced for the establishment of a new juvenile GAA and soccer clubs, the group also engaged with the councils Keep Well Campaign and the Community Garda.
Community Contact: Kevin Moynihan
Citation:
The maxim of this group is self-sufficiency and the timely addressing of community needs. The judges were immediately impressed by a very strong voice of advocacy and a spirit of inclusivity – their “Get to Know Your Neighbour Festival” says it all.
