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Clarecastle GAA tackles loneliness in the community


CLARECASTLE GAA club is at the forefront of an initiative aimed at tackling social isolation within the community. This Sunday, at the club’s Lá na gClub, will see the first launch in the county of the GAA Social Initiative.
Both Clarecastle GAA and Ennistymon have been chosen to initiate the scheme in Clare, with Clarecastle GAA being the first to do so this weekend.
According to Paschal Russell, co-ordinator of the social initiative in Clarecastle, the idea behind this is to facilitate men who may be experiencing loneliness to get more involved with the community, renew old friendships, make some new ones and to share their wealth of life experience.
The GAA Social Initiative arose as a result of President Mary McAleese and her husband, Martin, noticing an absence of older men in attendance at official functions during their many visits to local communities over the years. She came to the conclusion that many men, because of the changing patterns of life, were falling through cracks in the system and either risking or already experiencing isolation and loneliness.
After setting up a forum to explore this, the President invited the GAA to implement some of these ideas arising from that, resulting in the GAA Social Initiative. To begin with, two clubs in every county have been chosen to test it out, with hopes to extend it.
Mr Russell commented, “There might be men who were involved with the GAA in their younger days but who might have pulled back from it. Also, there are people who are now retired or semi-retired and they may have become withdrawn from society, after all, during your working life 80% of your contacts are through work.Also widowers, who have been predeceased by their wives who they have been with almost all their lives, they can go into their shell. These people might feel less valued in society but they have so much to offer, they have life experience, which is worth everything. They have worked their whole lives and their experience can only benefit the wider community.
“This initiative is about people getting together and enjoying themselves, having a bit of fun but also, it’s about benefiting the community. We can learn a lot from these people who have lived a life and learned from the hard knocks and that knowledge can be passed on to others, who can only benefit.”
He explained that taking part in the initiative costs nothing and that those involved would be free to come up with their own ideas for outings and activities.
“What we are doing is facilitating them to do their own thing, they can come up with their own ideas for what they want to do, getting together a few times a year, whether its just going for walks, or maybe taking a trip to Croke Park. There is a whole host of things that can be done like reunions and attending games. They could get involved with other community groups and share their enormous life experience. And of course, there are other agencies out there that organise events for this age group, such as talks on health and exercise. This is really a win-win situation for everybody. While it’s called the GAA social initiative, this is a real community initiative.”
He said that Clarecastle GAA Club is “100% behind” the initiative, so much so that they will be offering honorary membership to the club to anyone who gets involved.
The social initiative will be launched this Sunday at the club’s Lá na gClub family fun day. “This really will be a day for the whole family with lots of events planned from bouncy castles and face painting, to music, sport and a barbecue. There will also be a match between the 1986 champions and 1997 champions. We are hoping that those involved in getting involved with the social initiative would come along on the day and we can have a bit of music and food, maybe watch a few matches. This is just the start of it,” Mr Russell concluded.

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