Another fun filled year for Coachford

2015 was another great year for the village. The two schools prospered and the College once again produced some very fine results in the Junior and Leaving certificate examinations. The Primary school received its fourth Green Flag and its first Health Promotion Flag. The Autumn Festival was a huge success and for many the highlight of the year. The Greenway was no doubt one of the most popular attractions around the area and thousands have availed of the beautiful riverside walk. The group who developed the walk were honoured and thanked by the County Mayor early in the year. The drama group produced four plays and played to packed houses with their production of ‘Separate Beds’ in April. Coachford Foróige established themselves as an excellent outlet for the youth of the area and the youth club has now over 30 members. The Coachford Tidy Towns continued their excellent work and reaped the rewards as they received their highest marks so far in the national competition. The group also held another very successful Electrical appliance recycling day. The Community Council continued their work in securing a commitment from Irish Water to upgrade the sewerage system in Coachford and good news was received earlier this year that the works were earmarked to begin in 2016 with completion in 2017. The local Heritage group commemorated the first World War and gave a wonderful talk on the life and times of Henry Leader. A plaques was unveiled in Leemount to honour the memory of John Foley who was executed there in 1921.

In sport there were successes for many individuals and clubs from the area. Olive Loughnane received the news that her world championship silver medal from Berlin in 2009 would be upgraded to a gold following the disqualification of the Russian Athlete for performance enhancing drug violations. Emma Flanagan brought home a world championship gold medal in June at the open world Taekwon-do Championships in Italy. Locally the Under 16 Aghabullogue Hurlers won the East Region and County A championship titles and Coachford College won their first ever Junior County Camogie title . The National School 5 a side soccer team won the county title and represented the county in the Munster finals.The Broomhill Tractor Builders won the All Ireland title.

The village endured some difficult times in 2015. The closure of Breathnachs Bar and Gala supermarket in September was a terrible blow for the area and although everyone thought it would be reopened quickly it still remains closed. The village also lost some great people and characters throughout the year with some very dear and respected residents of Coachford passing on to their eternal reward.

Despite these blows to the area the village continues to prosper and although we were very sorry to lose our GP Dr. Cormac O’Dubhghaill we were delighted to welcome his replacement Dr. Sarah Kingston when she opened the Coachford Family Practice in November.

The village was alive with activities from all sections of society  throughout 2015. Groups such as Aghinagh Comhaltas, Active Retirement, Cycling Club, GAA, Soccer, drama and many many more grew and prospered in the last 12 months. There wasn’t a weekend that went by without something major happening in the village. From January to December Coachford has seen, Operation Transformation, Festivals, Music, matches, influxes of anglers and other tourists, quizzes, shows, cakes sales, markets, processions, weddings, Christenings, Confirmations and Communions, races, vintage runs, tractor builds, cycle races, triathlons, music in Marquees, new voices discovered, 21^st, 40^th and 50^th birthday parties, wedding anniversaries celebrated and Christmas lights switched on.

We now look forward to 2016 and the hopes that the village will continue to prosper and grow. We wish that the County Council will keep to their promises and repair our roads and footpaths and that Irish Water will honour their commitment to upgrading our sewerage system so more families will be able to set up home here in the near future. We are optimistic for 2016 that Coachford will continue to be a busy, vibrant and welcoming village for everyone.