all a

What are we

bout?

Forige is many things for many different people; it is a place to get together with friends and to make new ones, it is a
place to learn new skills and to build self-confidence, it is a place
where you can follow your interests and become inspired to make
positive changes in your local area. Most importantly Forige clubs
are the members club, run by the young people with the help of
adult leaders they offer an opportunity for teenagers to kick-aside
stereotypes and to become active members of their local communities. As a member of a Forige club you are part of one large family, with over 56,000 members and 610 clubs spanning 26 counties,
Forige is Irelands leading youth organisation.
Since its foundation in 2011, Ballineen Forige Club and its members have become an extremely valuable asset to the
local community. Aiming to make a positive contribution within the local area, in the past the club have undertaken a
number of community projects as part of the Forige Citizenship Challenge; including organising a Healthy Heart Campaign, a Community Awards Night, as well as the highly successful La Chile Fest. This year the club aimed to continue
this proud tradition of encouraging positive change
within the community through undertaking a new ambitious project, but first it had to come up with a list of
improvements that members and leaders felt could be
made in the local area. While this was not an easy process the club eventually decided to carry out the highly
ambitious project of transforming the exterior of the
community centre.

The project

The BEDA hall is one of the main

focuses of the Ballineen and Enniskeane area, with

the community centre boasting a beautiful new playground and all-weather courts, as well as a fantastically well-kept pitch & putt course and community playing field. While
each of these amenities continue to attract more and more people into the
area, in recent times the community hall has become somewhat of an eye
sore. It was upon this realisation that the members and leaders alike recognised an immediate need for change. However, while the club had agreed
that this was an extremely worthwhile project they were now met with a
whole new set of challenges, that of carrying out the works. At this point that
the club accepted that they would need the support and expertise of other
community groups, organisations and individuals who could provide the financial aid and technical expertise required to ensure the project was a
success. During this time the idea of encouraging the revitalisation of the
age old tradition of Meitheal was born. Meitheal was seen as paramount,
not only to completing the project, but also to revitalising community spirit
within the local area as it would involve members of the wider area coming
together to complete the project as a community.
The first challenge members had to overcome was to raise awareness of
the clubs citizenship project. In order to do this the club set about creating a

promotional video to raise awareness for the clubs newly named Meitheal Nua Challenge Weekend. The video itself was split into two diverse yet interrelated parts, a
mixture of the old and the new. Firstly the video highlighted the concept of meitheal
as it was in 1920s Ireland with members and leaders dressing in costume to demonstrate this once thriving tradition. Next the video
reverted back to modern day, focusing on how
meitheal was key to achieving the clubs plan for
the rejuvenation of the community centre.
Members next sought to acquire the expertise
of local businesses and companies in support of
the project. The sheer scale and cost of the project meant that it was not feasible
for the club to undertake the challenge on its own, and so a special thanks goes out
to our main sponsors Carbery Group, as well as to Bandon Co-Op, OK Tool Hire
and the Tidy Towns group without whom the project would not have been possible.
Once all of the background work was completed, next came the challenge of completing the painting and decoration of the exterior of the community centre. While
the plan was to complete the project over the
weekend of August 15th-16th, in reality the
sheer scale of the project meant that work on the cleaning and preparation of the
exterior would have to begin well in advance of this date. It is at this point that the
club extends its gratitude to two pivotal members of the local community, Ted
ONeill and Denis ODriscoll, who were instrumental to the success of the project
and to whom the club are eternally grateful for their help.
Moreover, it was always intended
that the project would be a family
event, and so the club organised a
number of workshops for the day of
the painting of the hall. It was at this
point that the Tidy Towns committee
came out to support the event through showing children and parents who
came on the day how to plant flowers. These planted flowers were then
used to decorate the area surrounding the hall, while members also
painted the picnic tables that were also outside the hall. At the end of the
day the centre had a fresh new look and was no longer the eye sore it had once been.
To cap off an extremely challenging, yet rewarding project the club organised a barbeque Street Feast for everyone in
the community to enjoy. The event marked a celebration of what the community had achieved and was a extremely fun
occasion, while activities on the day included bouncing castles, an obstacle courses, as well as a
rodeo bull, face-painting and music
from Fusion. Keeping in line with
the theme of old Ireland, a local
trad group were also on show to
entertain those in attendance, while
food was provided by the clubs
members and was deliciously prepared by Sheila ONeill. And so ended another challenging
although ultimately rewarding Forige citizenship project.
Colm OSullivan