Volunteers mark Knockmealdown Active's 10 years of success and growth

Caption for picture above: Knockmealdowns Active Chairman Conor O’Brien (centre) made a presentation at the 10th anniversary celebration to four founding members or the organisation from left: Kevin O’Donnell, Mark Rylands, Marian O’Dwyer and Billy Hale.  Pictures John O'Neill. 

More than 100 people gathered in Newcastle’s Muintir na Tíre Community Hall to celebrate a great success story – the 10th anniversary of Knockmealdown Active.

Volunteers of the multi-community initiative that promotes outdoor activity tourism in the Knockmealdown Mountains and its large hinterland in south Tipperary and west Waterford flocked to the community hall on Saturday, October 1 to mark the special occasion.

Kevin O’Donnell, a former chairman of Knockmealdown Active recalled at the celebration how the group was founded as a voluntary organisation to create activities and events on the north side of the Knockmealdown Mountains.

It was established following a series of meetings in Newcastle, Goatenbridge, Ardfinnan, Clogheen and Ballyporeen out of which a steering committee of 8 people was formed.

He recounted the origins of developing Ireland’s own Camino de Santiago pilgrim walk – the St Declan’s Way - from Cashel to Ardmore with 145 people taking part in the first walk on the route in 2013 – the year of The Gathering. Mr O’Donnell hoped St Declan’s Way will attract some of the huge tourism numbers the Camino attracts in the future.

He thanked those who struggled initially to get Knockmealdown Active off the ground and who believed in its potential, and those who came on board in subsequent years to make it the organisation it is today.

Knockmealdowns Active’s current Chairman Conor O’Brien presented gifts to four founding members still involved in the organisation, Mr O’Donnell along with Mark Rylands, Marian O’Dwyer and Billy Hale in tribute to their trojan work.
In his speech, Mr O’Brien quoted the old Irish saying, “Ar scáth na chéile a mhairean na daoine” (People live in each others’ shadows) to highlight how a community was not any one person, it was all of us living together.

He praised the work of volunteers in communities. They kept our society running and he was very proud to be part of that tradition of volunteerism.

Mark Rylands gave a detailed presentation on Knockmealdown Active’s foundation, the wide range of successful ventures it has helped establish and supports and the funding it has been involved in securing for a variety of projects.

He highlighted the involvement of South Tipperary Development Company and SLR Consulting in the organisation’s creation.

And he recalled the fundraising carried out in the early days to enable the group to secure LEADER funding.

Mr Rylands recounted how the early funding Knockmealdown Active secured allowed them to create a website, train mountain guides, make promotional videos, create 8 looped walks and one 32km linear walk, produce maps, promote the area and train people to record headstones in old graveyards as they recognised the importance of genealogy tourism.

Mr Rylands reported that seven of the 14 historical graveyards in their communities have been cleaned up and their headstone details put online by volunteers.

He pointed out how cycling events organised by Knockmealdown Active led to the formation of South Tipperary Cycling Club while canoeing outings it helped organise resulted in the creation of Ardfinnan Canoe Club, which has extended to include Cahir.

Then there was the creation of the Siul Eile network of walking groups by former Knockmealdown Active member Liam Fleming with a number of Knockmealdown Active volunteers stewarding at Siul Eile walks.

Mr Rylands detailed how the group has also assisted with promoting and securing funding for the Rhododendron Walking Festival. It has also provided support to such events as the Winter Wonderland at Kildanogue Duck Ponds, Haunted Halloween at Bay Lough, the development of St Declan’s Way, the creation of Goatenbridge Tidy Towns and fundraisers such as the Walk with Charlie Walk in the Knockmealdowns last April.

He also outlined funding the group has secured for projects ranging from providing maps and upgrading hiking trails to a feasibility study to see if a section of the River Tar can be linked to the Suir Blueway. .

“What we like to think is that we are a little stone thrown into the pond and we have a little ripple effect,” he said. He believed the group should be credited for “creating a favourable environment where activities can flourish” in the area.

Anthony Murphy, meanwhile, reported on the growing success of the Knock Me Down kayaking, cycling and running races. The first event in 2016 attracted 90 participants and the latest event on August 27 attracted almost 550 participants from all over the country.

He said the team of volunteers that help run the races came from communities spanning the full length of the Knockmealdown Mountains,

St Declan’s Way Committee Chairperson Grainne Moynihan praised the “entrepreneurial attitude” of Knockmealdown Active and how tightly connected its steering committee was with the villages and community groups in the Knockmealdowns area.

While they were looking back at the last 10 years, she pointed out they also want to focus on the next 10 years and how the organisation’s growth will be funded publicly and privately.

The 10th anniversary event’s MC was Deirdre Lewis of SLR Consulting, the firm that carried out the feasibility study for developing a recreational strategy for the Knockmealdown Mountains in 2010 and was involved in establishing Knockmealdown Active.

She said she worked with community development programmes through LEADER around the country and she cited Knockmealdown Active to a lot of these groups as a model of how to do it from the “bottom up” .

Bishop of Waterford & Lismore Most Rev Alphonsus Cullinan congratulated the founders and all the volunteers involved in Knockmealdown Active over the past 10 years.

He was hugely impressed by the group’s activities and achievements and paid tribute to how Knockmealdown Active encouraged people to get out in the “marvellous world God has created for us”, which was good for body and soul.

Caption: Joe Byrne, Catherine McCraith and Edwin Fitzgerald enjoying Knockmealdown Active’s 10th anniversary

You can also read this article and view more photos from the Knockmealdown Active's 10th anniversary celebration in this week's edition of The Nationalist now in local shops