New Special Olympics club formed in Delvin

Efforts are underway to establish more Special Olympics clubs in Westmeath, with organisers hoping to establish town and village-based clubs on the same basis as GAA or soccer clubs.This week, the first steps were taken to establish a Special Olympics club in Delvin, with a core committee formed at the inaugural meeting on Thursday evening of last week.Kitty Tiernan, the Special Olympics Ireland development officer for the Connaught region, has a special responsibility for forming clubs and societies and recruiting volunteers in the Mullingar and Athlone areas. Her Leinster counterpart, Aisling Kennedy, looks after the greater Castlepollard, Delvin and Kinnegad areas.'We recently ran a campaign where we sent letters and forms out to schools, raising awareness about our hopes for setting up Special Olympics clubs in towns and villages across the country,' Ms. Tiernan told the Westmeath Examiner.She said that the initial response in Delvin was positive, with over thirty people in attendance, and a number of athletes from the Meath Arch Club in Navan were brought in to speak about their club experiences. Representatives from a few organisations - St Peters Parents and Friends Association in Castlepollard, St Mary"s Parents and Friends Association in Delvin, Badminton Juvenile Club in Delvin, St Mary"s Southill, Westmeath Sports Partnership - also attended.'Our aim is to set up community clubs in towns and villages like Delvin to provide an evening or weekend outlet for people with learning disabilities,' Ms. Tiernan continued. 'Primarily, the clubs would be concerned with sport, but we would also seek to generate social activities for the members.'The Ballinasloe-based officer added that depending on demand, clubs could be established on a village by village basis, or through a catchment system centred on one town or village.Clubs would be run by volunteers, and funded locally following an initial grant by Special Olympics Ireland.