NEWSLETTER

Coffee Morning in Youthreach Mahon
The students in Youthreach Mahon
held a very successful coffee morning in
Ringmahon House recently. It was in aid
of Marymount Hospice and was part of
the national campaign ‘Ireland’s biggest
coffee morning’.
The students worked during the week to
make the house into a warm and welcoming
place and gave classrooms a homely
feel. Flowers were put on tables and the
students happily served teas, coffees,
cakes and scones.
Parents and friends came to the event and
the students were particularly pleased
with local residents who have no connection
to Youthreach coming in for the morning.
The posters advertising the event had
been spotted in the local community centre,
shops and doctor’s surgeries. People
who had never been in the house before
were delighted to tour the building and
hear the history of it. Ringmahon House
was originally built in 1822 by James
Murphy brewing and distilling fame. The
last family to live in the house was that of
Ben Dunne senior of retailing fame. Ben
Dunne junior and his sister Margaret have
both visited the house throughout the
years and spoke of their great memories
of their childhood years surrounded by
acres of green space. In the 1980s most
of their land was bought by the then Cork
Corporation the massive housing scheme
that was built and now forms Mahon.
The house was restored to it’s full glory
and officially opened in September 2008.
Youthreach have been running their
centre of education in these beautiful
surroundings since January 2009.
Marymount Hospice benefitted from the
morning as everybody made a donation.
One young student remarked that it was
‘mostly paper’ going into the collection
boxes. A total of more than €340 was
raised. The students would like to thank
everybody who attended for making it
such a successful event.
Six students from Youthreach Mahon
have recently returned from an international
exchange in Cappanalea Outdoor
Education Centre, Co Kerry. They were
joined by six young people from Scotland
and five from France. The theme
of the week was promoting positive
mental health and building resilience.
The young people linked with the Jigsaw
service in Tralee while exploring the top
ten activities that promote good mental
health. They met with both staff and the
Mind EUr Mental Health
members of the Youth Advisory Panel
and shared ideas on the subject. There
is currently no Jigsaw project in Cork
but hopes loom large that this will soon
change and Youthreach Mahon’s students
will be eager to become involved.
The young people negotiated their
way through the ten areas in life that
promote well-being . As they passed
through each ‘state’ they received visa
stickers in their own positivity passport
which they made themselves with small
artist’s notebook. They all wrote warm
words in each other’s passports on the
last night and brought the good feelings
home with them.
Four of the Irish participants completed
their bronze level Gaisce award as part
of the week’s hiking and three Scottish
young people completed their Duke of
Edinburgh award challenge. These four
will take up the silver challenge now and
work towards that award.
20