Limerick village rocks on in lockdown: Heartwarming project gives lift to local community
AS all of us know, lockdown has been tough with our movements restricted and people being unable to embrace loved ones as we fought Covid-19.
But one county community came up with a perfect – and socially distanced – way to ensure people didn’t feel alone during the darkest days of the level five measures.
Adare Community Council, Adare Tidy Towns and West Limerick Resources teamed up for the Paint a Rock initiative.
It saw rocks placed on the steps of the village hall where they could be collected and designed by people at home.
Once they were painted, they were returned to the steps of the village hall where Adare Tidy Town volunteers gave them a coat of varnish and distributed them around the window ledges and steps of the houses and businesses locally.
It was a great source of joy locally, and the results were amazing, with designs ranging from ladybirds to the Tricolour flag to poignant tributes from those who have lost loved ones during the Covid-19 pandemic.
And the community’s efforts were put in the spotlight last month, when some of the rocks were placed in the window of Adare garda station – visible on television during the memorial to mark the 25th anniversary of the passing of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe last month.
“It was an easy way of getting people together without physically being together,” explained Cllr Bridie Collins who lives in the village and helps with the project.
She added: “The sentiment was the message of togetherness. Of everyone being in it together. The message of hope, the message of thanks to the front-line workers, all that good sentiment which was overwhelming at the time. The gardai took them in and they placed them on the timbers of the window which was fabulous.”
Community Trust Secretary Meriel Clarke said: “I hope people take something positive from this during a very difficult time. We asked for bright colours, we got bright colours. It’s a little bit of brightness in the middle of darkness.”
She praised the young children who committed their handprints to a rock.
“It was so positive. It was something we could do within the two kilometres. When you go to the seaside, you bring home rocks, but they normally just sit in the garden and are eventually thrown out. This is a nice way of using them,” said Meriel.
Garda Sergeant Cathal O'Neill said he is delighted to be able to display the rocks proudly in the local station.
“I think some of the designs are very nice. Some of them are personal, and it was nice when we had the Jerry McCabe memorial that some of the children recognised the stones they’d painted from the television coverage. After the year we had, it is something nice and something positive,” he said.
Cllr Collins said the rocks were “a great source of joy to all who viewed them, and many were decorated as a thank you to our front-line workers.”