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Update 2021

Due to the Covid19 the Goleen & District Community Social Centre has been closed. Normally, it meets every Monday 11am-4pm Lunch 1pm. Meals should be booked by 11am the previous Saturday. Contact: 086 2725506. The Goleen Community Centre is currently closed except for provision of Meals-on-Wheels with support from the HSE and Cork County Council. 

PLEASE NOTE OUR CHANGE OF ADDRESS: 

To contact the GDCC Newsletter please call 087 992 8581 or send an email to: Newsletter@gdcc.ie

Goleen Lotto

The Community Council Lotto has been in place since August 2002
Most of you will have played at some stage over that time. We are, of course aware that we are not reaching all of you and we are now hoping
to make it easier for everyone to buy their tickets. Along with selling in the local pubs and shops, in future, it will be possible to purchase 4 week/ 13 week/ 26 week or 52 week blocks of tickets

We feel this might be a more suitable option for those who don’t call to the village venues on a regular basis, or don’t want the inconvenience of writing out tickets every week. For more info on options for buying your lotto tickets or to register your interest, contact Bob on: 087-968-5344 or Tom on: 086-356-7771 and we can discuss your options and payment methods

If you’re reading this in the Newsletter online, chances are you may not be living in the Goleen area. Don’t feel left out as we have not forgotten you! There is also a dedicated email address, you can write to us at: goleenlotto@gmail.co

We can organize any combination of ticket sales so please get in touch, we appreciate your support now, or in the future and we’ll be delighted to see you the next time you visit us in Goleen.

Be assured that all proceeds from the Lotto are used locally,
for ongoing projects such as maintenance of the Community Centre
and the pitch, the very popular Meals on Wheels service and the Monday Social Centre, the important job of strimming and the upkeep of our graveyards and the annual cutting of the hedges, an absolute necessity for road safety.

We also provide Christmas trees for the village, and beautiful hanging baskets and flower barrels in the summer months, along with our very popular summer festival. Lotto funds also go towards loan repayments for land that has been recently purchased for future projects.

We would like to thank you for supporting the Lotto all through the years and we wish you luck, but remember – if you’re not in you can’t win!


Meanwhile in The Community Garden……

Something is buzzing down at the Goleen Community Garden and it is not
only the bees. For those of you who haven’t heard, a small plot of land at the community centre is gradually being turned into a new and exciting project
promoting our local environment. The garden received a start up award from Grow It Yourself (GIY) & Energia in January and ever so slowly the garden has begun to take shape. Our 8 local districts were represented at a tree planting ceremony, the display of sunflowers that have bloomed most of the summer were planted by the kids at the Easter Egg Hunt and there are over 40 pots sitting on the fence provided by local businesses, members of our local community as well as pots commemorating the memory of those who have passed, all reminding us of what a supportive community we have around Goleen.
It is almost impossible for me to mention all the support and help that our community are giving to this project and there is always a danger that
someone will be left out but I do have to acknowledge the likes of Diarmuid at Goleen Development who recently delivered a huge pile of top soil, Ritchie at West Cork Engineering who is helping with various projects, coffee grounds from  Sarah Jane at the cafe, our local woodwork wizard Andrew Jepson and of course our own local Community Council. Bob and his tractor, Mary and her donkeys who provided, well you can guess what they provided!
We have had so much advice and encouragement and it is all so welcome. There have been visits by all ages from the play group playing nature Bingo to members of the social centre curious to see where some of their veg comes from.
We recently were asked if the RTE TV Program Grow, Cook, Eat could come
and visit us as they would like to feature the garden in one of their shows
and this has brought even more energy to the garden and a push to get
some of the ongoing projects completed. We are in the process of building
some raised beds for members to grow veg next spring and Claire ran one of her table quizzes that is enabling us to get the specialised recycled plastic wood needed. We have room for 6 beds and have raised enough for 4, the word got out and Mark at Barleycove Hotel and Michael our local TD gave us the rest of what was needed to order all 6. Filming takes place on October 3rd so we will have to get our skates on
We have native trees from Matt at Goleen Harbour, heathers from Noah at Deelish’s to be planted, a couple of raspberries from Neelog to be picked, oh sorry I might have eaten them already, plants from Kor the Coastguard Gardener, Adam and Kloe from 2 Green Shoots are helping with selecting suitable native species, we have horticultural expert Michael from West Cork Campus and oh so much more.
This is truly a wonderful community with so much talent and ability. Mary the new National School Principal is rallying her troops with Judi Ann and her clutch at the playgroup, ideas from Foroige, rumours that those maidens of mayhem might be a yarn bombing again, keep an eye out you just don’t know what’s happening down in the garden or check out our Facebook Page if the weather is bad.
Sod It Blog
I write a personal blog about my life and garden and I recently posted one about the garden and a fellow garden blogger Judy from the US (New England Garden And Thread) just got in touch and made a donation towards a bench for our garden, hands across the ocean it is an amazing world we live in these days!
I know we have probably left some out but it really is difficult to keep on top of it all thank you Goleen. One final mention to one of our regular members and our resident bee lady Mairead, thank you so much for all your help digging lazy beds, picking rocks and your company and laughter in the garden and we wish you every future happiness in your upcoming marriage.
We also have an audia blog along with some photos from the garden on Youtube you can have a listen in to what’s going on in the garden HERE
If you would like to get involved or have any ideas please get in touch either through the FB page or give me a call 0831372013, the garden gate is always open.
Owen Kelly

A Visit from the Neighbours

On last Wednesday evening outside Norma’s Corner House Bar in Goleen the Irish Tricolour and the US Star Spangled Banner hung side by side as inside a  warm welcome was being made for a Delegation from the Government of Maine led by Commissioner for Economics Ms Denise Garland.

Earlier a very important agreement had been signed between Co Cork and the State of Maine at County Hall. Here in Goleen two communities met to celebrate the ancient bond between neighbours an ocean apart. We proudly call ourselves the last Parish before America and on this evening two neighbours Goleen and Maine came together with the hospitality we in West Cork are so proud of.

There is a closeness brought about through our collective histories and Michael Kingston Director of the Irish Cultural Centre in London and Special Advisor on Shipping, a son of this Parish and force behind this coming together  addressed a full house of smiling faces behind the bar of his Aunt’s Pub. There were eloquent stories told from both sides of the water of emigration and the past, ambitions for the future and hopes of closer ties between us all, songs were sung, poems read, toasts held and friends made long into the evening. It was a truly very special night and so generously hosted.

The Goleen Festival Presents Catherine Cunningham

The Goleen Summer Festival is delighted to announce that Singer/Songwriter and Story Teller Catherine Cunningham will open this year’s festival with a special concert at the Barleycove Hotel on Thursday 9th August at 8.30pm. Catherine is originally from Athea in West Limerick, she developed her sound while travelling in North America and finally returned to Ireland and discovered the delights of West Cork where she is now based.

She has been described as being as unpredictable as the roads she has travelled, her songs twist and unravel through the most unexpected of landscapes, to paint pictures and stories full of longing, humour and power. Mischievious and highly irreverent, her performances are intimate affairs, where the audience is regaled with songs and stories of the road.

Catherine will be performing material from her new show and 4th album “Bothering the Dead.”

Tickets will be available on the door or pre-booked from your local Community Councillor (€12)

It does snow in West Cork!

It’s a rare occurance but there was snow today, not enough to build a snowman but enough to get a few young at heart excited

A couple of us braved the weather and collected some manure for the Community Garden from Mary and her donkeys, with the snow not so much laying soft, crisp and even but hitting us horizontally in the face a top the mountain overlooking Crookhaven.