GLOWING tributes were paid to a Clonlara resident for her invaluable contribution to her local community during a recent presentation.
The legacy left by Theresa Gleeson (70) was aptly summed up by Clonlara Community Creche deputy manager, Laura Woods when she stated:“What you leave behind is not what is engraved in stone monuments, but what is woven into the lives of others.”
Ms Gleeson was given a photograph includes images of St Senan’s National School, the local church and Clonlara Community Crèche as symbols of the indelible mark she has left on the local community.
The mother-of-two was on the national school board of management for 25 years, she volunteered for the local church for years and has spent 38 years working in childcare. The crèche caters for 74 children that are looked after by 21 staff.
In 2001, Ms Gleeson was named the Clare Person of the Year during this period when she was honoured at a function in the West County Hotel in Ennis in 2001 for her work in the pre-school as well as the service she gave on the school’s board of management.
Back in 2018, the crèche provided childcare for 150, which included after-schoolers.
Ms Gleeson will be retiring at the end of the year after 38 years as manager of Clonlara Community Crèche.
The Croom native moved to Clonlara in 1982 as her husband, Jerry worked in Gillogue.
Her daughter, Sarah, who is now deputy principal of an all Boys’ School in Nun’s Island, Galway, attended a small playschool in Newtown run by Mary Martin in the early eighties.
Her son, Brian, works for the Radisson Hotel in Moscow.
In 1987, Fr. Tom O’Halloran, the Curate of Clonlara/Truagh, together with Geraldine Neylon, Carol Hanly, Fr. Ger Nash, and Ms Gleeson set up Clonlara Community Pre-school in the old parish hall.
With no funding available, a raffle was undertaken for £1 per week for six weeks.
A huge number of raffle tickets were sold, with Siobhan Guinnane signing up “half the parish and half of Shannon”, where she worked.
This helped the committee to buy tables, chairs and toys before locals donated other useful items. Parents were only charged a very modest fee at the time.
It all started from humble beginnings, with 16 children packed into the back room, which is now used as a kitchen. This increased to 56 children by 2000.
Fr Cleary offered the hall rent-free once all associated bills were paid.
Ms Gleeson worked with Carol Hanly and Ann Moloney, while parents also helped on a rota basis.
“Clonlara is a satellite village. A lot of people commute to work in Limerick City. Clonlara was a very rural area in the eighties and nineties until Churchfields was built. Within five years, we had more children coming into the pre-school.
“Children come from Westbury and everywhere in the locality. At the start, we catered for babies from six months up to 12 years. We used to provide an after-school service, but we had to drop it because we couldn’t get staff.
“Parents get to know the staff and a great bond develops between both of us,” she recalled.
When cars were scarce, Ms Gleeson would pick up children in the morning from their houses, bring them to the crèche and drop them home afterwards. This wouldn’t be allowed today due to health and safety regulations.
Infection control procedures are still continuing due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Covid-19 made more work for us. I don’t know how to tackle the increased paperwork, it has grown and grown. We all thought computers would lessen our workload, but it made more work for us.
“The National Childcare Scheme is a bit more complicated than the Early Childhood and Education Scheme. A parent has to go online with a social services card, they have to apply to Pobal and the subsidy depends on what they earned last year. It keeps changing depending on the age of the child.
“Childcare is expensive and is more expensive in Dublin. Until childcare is free across the board, it will not be easy for parents. Our rate is €165 a week per child, which is competitive.
“We have children whose parents attended the crèche. It is lovely to see.”
Once she retires, Ms Gleeson will miss working in the new crèche, which she fitted out and equipped when a purpose-built community childcare facility that was spearhead by the Clonlara Leisure and Sporting Society Limited (CLASS) opened in April 2008.
“It was like a breath of fresh air in the new building when we didn’t have to put away the chairs and toys in the evening like we did in the old hall.
“I have met loads of people down through the years and made huge friends. My deputy manager, Nuala Woods and Antoinette Cunningham who worked in the old hall is still with me.
“We have good staff that are good with children,” she added.
East Clare correspondent, Dan Danaher is a journalism graduate of Rathmines and UL. He has won numerous awards for special investigations on health, justice, environment, and reports on news, agriculture, disability, mental health and community.