LOCAL woman Carmel Peacock has been awarded a long service medal having put down 40 years in the local Order of Malta branch.
Speaking to the Clare Champion Carmel said that she hadn’t expected to receive the award at the time that she did.
“We had 19 new officers being commissioned on Sunday and the awards were given out on the back of that. I was included in those.”
While she has been involved in the organisation since she was a national school child, last week was one of the busiest in all that time, before it was capped with the award.
“We had a very, very long week, to be fair. There was a Cadet camp on the previous weekend, the cadets participated in that on Saturday and Sunday. There were cadets from all over Ireland and that was on up in Co Fermanagh, I drove the cadets up there on the mini bus.
“Then we were straight into the JP McManus Pro Am on the Monday morning, we were organising and co-ordinating the two days there at Adare Manor.
“We had something on Thursday evening, a volunteer party on the Friday evening, a duty on Saturday with the Ei Family Fun Day and then Dublin on Sunday. It was probably the busiest week I’ve ever had other than being in Lourdes or the Holy Land!”
Asked how she got into the organisation, Carmel says, “I joined because my sister was joining basically! I was underage, she was joining, she was of age, and I said I’m coming along too.
“They didn’t say no, they let me in, you’re supposed to be ten to join, but I was nine. I went in and joined and here I am 40 years later.”
She has taken on numerous roles since those early days in the 1980s.
“We used to go up to St Senan’s school on the winter evenings back in the day, there was a whole gang of us. You stay in Cadets from 10 to 16 years, after that I progressed into the senior unit.
“My next step up was training to be a Cadet leader. I did all my training courses, leadership courses, and I was over Cadets then for a number of years.
“I progressed then to become an instructor with the organisation, I would have been a duty officer as well and the next step is Officer in Charge. I was Officer in Charge for about eight years, then I took a step back when my kids came along, I just did little bits and kept my training up to date. I came back then when my kids were a little bit older.
“Then I went onto my current role which is Assistant Regional Director for the South West region. That’s what I’m currently at, and Regional Operations Officer, it’s kind of a dual role at the moment. I’m kind of organising major duties and then assisting the regional director with his role.”
Carmel says she really enjoys the community care work involved, particularly with the elderly, while she has gone to Lourdes numerous times through the Order of Malta, and has also been to the Holy Land.
To have stayed in the organisation for 40 years she would need to be enjoying what she’s doing and she does.
“It’s fantastic. The friendships you make, you’re never alone in the Order of Malta. We have so many get-togethers, you meet so many people.
“If I had to travel to the North tomorrow, if I had to go to Armagh, I know I could pick up the phone to someone in the Armagh unit and say I need somewhere to stay or somebody to help me out.
“There’s always somebody there, we have a whole network throughout Ireland and it’s probably one of the things that has kept me in it, the friends you make along the way.
“There’s the social aspect and the chance for personal development of yourself and your own skills. You’re giving back to our community and to other people. It’s nice to give something back.”
Owen Ryan has been a journalist with the Clare Champion since 2007, having previously worked with a number of other publications in Limerick, Cork and Galway. His first book will be published in December 2024.