‘Always something to be doing’ for spirited Noreen
Chairperson of the board of management of her local boys’ school, she also trains more than 50 altar servers, holds storytelling sessions in the local library, does Sunday readings in the community hospital, and, amongst other things, helps clean litter from the streets of Clonakilty.
The retired school principal and mother-of-six was one of almost 100 locals who received the Spirit of Clonakilty 2012 Town Council Recognition Awards.
Her award marked decades spent in service to an array of organisations; from the Tidy Towns to the Duchas Clonakilty campaign which is organising the celebrations around the town’s 400th anniversary this year.
“I was born and reared in the town and to be awarded recognition by your own people is the greatest compliment of all,” she said.
Somehow the octogenarian still finds the time — and the energy — to go Zumba dancing every Friday. “I’m always very busy. I’d have a spare minute or two but I’ve yet to bring home a DVD and sit down to watch it — there’s always something else to be doing.”
About 250 people attended the ceremony during which the awards, inspired by floods which devastated the town last June, were presented by town mayor Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin.
