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Banteer
Youth Club started up in February 2001 with 35 members between the ages of
12 - 15, and 13 Youth Leaders. The Club comes under the umbrella of
The Cloyne Diocesean Youth Federation. A start up Grant was
received from IRD Duhallow which allowed the club to purchase the
equipment necessary to get started. The Club has grown since its
beginning and now has 42 members and increasing all the time and is made
up of young people from the Banteer, Lyre, Kilcorney, Nadd, Gortmore and
Lombardstown areas. A total of 18 Youth Leaders have now been trained
by Cloyne Youth Federation
For all
12-15 year olds, it is the place to be on a Friday night for 2 hours of
games and fun.
Since
startup, the members have undertaken quite a lot of activities and
challenges.
Along
with the usual Friday night games, which include volleyball, soccer,
unihoc, basketball and table tennis, members have completed a Sign
Language Course, which was facilitated by Pauline McSweeney of
Charlesfield. This Course, will be of great benefit to those taking
part in the years to come and it was a spectacle to see the members sign
the hymn “Silent Night” at the lighting of the Christmas tree in December
2001 at Banteer Park.
A
competition was held amongst the club members to come up with a novel
design for a Christmas card, which was then sold locally with profits
going towards a hamper for the Senior Citizens party.
The
members also organised a Santa Party at the Glen Theatre on 9th
December last to entertain the younger members of our Community Santa
arrived by Horse & Cart and was joined by Mr. & Mrs. Clown and all 3
provided entertainment and fun for everybody old and young on the day.
Pat & Suzanne Hynes provided disco music on the day and a wonderful day
was enjoyed by all. The Youth Club put a huge effort into organising
this party and making it successful and a total of 80 local families
visited Santa’s Grotto on the day. Following on the Santa Party,
people travelled to the Pond Field in Banteer to light the Christmas tree
and sing a few Christmas Carols.
In the
run up to Christmas, an Arts & Crafts night was held facilitated by local
woman Anne Marie McCarthy giving some novel tips on floral displays etc.
A night
of Beauty was also held earlier in the year facilitated by local
Beautician Marie Buckley.
Since
Christmas last, the Youth Club visited Leisureplex Bowling in Cork for a
nights entertainment, and a visit to the Cinema in Mallow.
More
recently, a day trip was organised to the Glen Eagle Hotel in Killarney.
42 members and 6 Youth Leaders travelled by Train from Banteer to
Killarney. A bus was provided by the Hotel to ferry everybody to the
Hotel. The young people took part in Swimming, Pitch & Putt, Soccer,
Tennis and Uni-Hoc on the day, returning by bus again to the Station and
travelling onto Banteer.
A Summer
Youth Development outing is also planned to Kinsale Outdoor Education
Centre when the summer exams are complete. A number of activities
will be included in this among them canoeing, orienteering, swimming,
kayaking, archery, team building skills etc.
In the
last number of weeks the club ran a Pottery course and 10 members took
part in this, giving them the opportunity to check out their creative
talents.
An Gardai
Siochana have also delivered a comprehensive lecture to the club on Drugs
and drugs awareness. This was facilitated by Detective Sean Healy of the
Bandon Drugs squad assisted by Sergeant Tony Sugrue
Starting
in September 2002, it is intended to run a First Aid Course and all
members will be taking part in this. Kanturk Civil Defence has
agreed to facilitate this for us.
A
comprehensive programme of other activities is also being put together at
present for the forthcoming season and will be designed to provide fun and
a challenge to all members. |
