St Mary’s connect with village as part of ‘One Good Club’
As part of the One Good Club, ‘Connect’ theme, St Mary’s Rochfortbridge arranged for second class children from St Mary’s GAA and Scoil Chroí Naofa, Rochfortbridge to visit the Men’s Shed in Rochfortbridge. There, the members showed the children around their workshops and demonstrated some of the tasks they carry out – and the children made cards on the One Good Club theme and presented them to the Men’s Shed.
St Mary’s is the Westmeath representative in the Lidl One Good Club initiative, run in association with the LGFA and Jigsaw, a youth mental health charity. It involves a five-step awareness programme to improve understanding of mental health and encourages clubs to work with their communities.
A number of events are taking place in Rochfortbridge as a result, including a photography competition for older children; a village litter-pick; pitch and putt; a movie night; a colour run; a nursing home visit; and an Active Age Sunday – all free and all community inclusive.
Greg Balfe, chairperson of the ladies section at St Mary’s, says that in recent years the club have put huge emphasis on growing their youth and underage membership.
“We applied for the One Good Club initiative, and were delighted to be picked to represent the county. In our application, we made note of what we had already done locally, such as organising the Darkness Into Light walk in Rochfortbridge, as well as Operation Transformation walks around the pitch on the Tuesday and Thursday nights. And I have to say we were thrilled to be picked to represent Westmeath,” Greg told the Westmeath Examiner.
“Really, the key initiative is to promote positive mental health awareness among our members, schools and the wider community. Jigsaw have this thing called ‘Five a Day for Mental Health’, and the five themes are Get Active, Take Notice, Connect, Give, and Keep Learning. It’s run over 10 weeks and each of the themes takes two weeks.
“The activities demonstrate the positive effects simple daily activities can have. And, while youth mental health is a serious subject, this initiative allows you to broach the conversation in a fun and light-hearted way, by focusing on simple things that we can do every day that have a positive impact.”
Greg says that for both the club and the wider community, it is great to have the support of the LGFA, Lidl and Jigsaw.
“There’s a lot of material online that we can engage with and we also have sessions with Jigsaw every couple of weeks as we move forward to the next activity. We also interact with other counties, discussing what they’re doing and what’s working for them. It’s very much a collaborative approach.”
Greg said the first theme, Get Active Week, started with a family climb of Croghan Hill.
“That was a great morning where children, parents and grandchildren came together. It worked really well and everyone enjoyed it. In the Take Notice stage, our senior ladies were engaging with photography, so if they spotted something in nature when they were out and about, they took photos and sent them to the group. It’s all about being aware, and taking a moment to be conscious of where you’re at that day, because oftentimes we’re running around – life has become so busy.”
Another simple idea Greg says is working wonders is the introduction of Gratitude Jars for teens at training.
“When they come in for their training, they make note of what they’re grateful for that week, and at the end of training they read out what’s on the list. We also had a Mindfulness Workshop for the mentors – Celine Brennan (from Celine Brennan Wellness) came in and taught us some simple strategies around breathwork.”
The club are continuing with the other themes, Connect, Give and Keep Learning, and hoping to raise further awareness of the initiative, which runs until mid-May, by getting the entire community involved.