Festive spirit aplenty at IWA Sale of Work

Christmas is often a time for meeting up with old friends and that's what happened at the IWA Annual Christmas Sale of Work which took place in the Springfield Centre.

On Tuesday morning last week, the place was bustling with people looking to mittens on some handmade Christmas gifts, the majority made by the IWA service users, and IWA service coordinator, Alice McDonnell, said “today is really a celebration".

"You can’t put a price on a smile and some people are seeing each other for the first time in a long time. Some service users are coming back into us after Covid, so it’s fantastic."

There was all sorts of bric-á-brac on offer, from Christmas cakes to wreaths, festive candle holders and signs to scarves, hats and stockings to hang on the mantle piece.

“The energy here today is fantastic," continued Alice. "The annual Christmas Sale of Work helps raise funds for the Irish Wheelchair Association, which provides a service in the community for people with challenges around mobility - not just wheelchair users, but also those with an acquired brain injury, strokes - little accidents that can happen all of us, at any stage and at all ages," she explained.

“We provide a five-day service, we bring people in here and we work with them and do activities - half of the crafts that are here today are made by our clients. They are gifted and very creative," she adds.

“We do social activities or bring them to appointments if they need, it’s really about the individual's needs, we try to meet them halfway and do whatever we can do to help them.

“It also helps the family who are caring for the person to give them a break, but we try to encourage independence as best we can," Alice concludes.

* More in next Tuesday's edition of the Westmeath Examiner.