Spirit of volunteering alive at Ploughing Championships
There’s no better example of the active citizenship he has been encouraging lately.
A few hundred people, the majority of them farmers, give voluntarily of their time — up to three weeks each — to organise and run the Championships — which have been Ireland’s largest annual agricultural gathering for many years.
That such a major undertaking can be run so successfully by volunteers — except for four paid people at executive level — is a measure of the spirit and capability of voluntary effort, still very much alive and well in rural Ireland.
There are so many people from around the country who, year after year, man the coal face, singling out any one is difficult. However, no one will take offence if the kingpin of this organisation, Managing Director Anna May McHugh, gets special mention. The contribution which she has made to the event over the past 40 years, during which it has expanded enormously, could never be adequately measured or repaid.
Her detailed knowledge of every aspect of the event, her ability to cope with difficulties as they arise, and her courtesy, have never failed to impress.
Last week’s event greatly impressed international visitors to the Championships, who marvelled that such an event could attract over 150,000 people in less than favourable weather conditions.
World Ploughing Championships in other parts of the world generate only a low level of interest. But there’s a unique Irish affinity to the land, a love for the soil and attachment to land ownership.
As the curtain has fallen on the 75th National Ploughing Championship, God steer the plough as they turn the sod, and long life and health to those who all contribute to making it happen for many years to come.
