'Offaly healthy' event delivers in Mucklagh

Healthy Offaly held its showpiece networking and wellbeing event on Tuesday, June 10, in Mucklagh Community Centre.

The event was organised by Healthy Offaly section based in Offaly County Council in order to showcase their work over the past three years while facilitating some networking opportunities and taking part in physical activity demonstrations for the large attendance of statutory agencies and community groups.

The first part of the event was set aside for attendees to visit the various wellbeing information stands from groups such as the HSE, LOETB, Offaly Local Development Company, the Library Service, Exwell Medical, Bord Na Mona, Kilcormac Development Association, and Mucklagh Community Development.

Healthy snacks were served and the opportunity to chat and form connections over a cup of tea really added to the occasion.

Healthy Offaly was delighted to welcome a selection of Bord Na Mona’s Lough Boora Discovery Park staff who brought along their new Rickshaw Bicycle to advertise the soon to be launched ‘Cycling without Age’ initiative whereby those with mobility issues can be taken out on the parklands trails using rickshaw which can accommodate two passengers and a pilot cyclist. Bord Na Mona will advertise this service in the coming weeks and months, and it's something Healthy Offaly is delighted to be part of.

The second part of the morning commenced with a brief introduction to the morning’s activities by Dermot Egan, Healthy Ireland Coordinator for Offaly County Council.

Cllr Audrey Hennessy Kennedy, the outgoing Cathaoirleach of Offaly County Council then welcomed everyone to the event and gave some information on the Healthy Offaly activities delivered since Round 4 of the fund commenced.

The Cathaoirleach referenced the fact that a total of 12 projects have been delivered since late 2022 and she went on to commend the professionalism, determination and community service mandate of these groups.

To relax the audience, a 'music for wellbeing' performance was delivered by Ruairi O’Shea. Ruairí is an Offaly-born folk musician and songwriter working mainly in the area of Arts and Healthcare and facilitating participatory folk music sessions for wellbeing.

He performed a selection of folk songs, with discussion of the rich meaning and history behind them, and the audience was encouraged to participate by singing along. Ruairi's esmeric singing voice and deep love of history and folklore shone through in his performance.

After the musical interlude, Healthy Offaly’s keynote speaker Dr Diane Cooper delivered a review of Healthy Ireland Fund Round 4 in Offaly which went into further detail on the twelve projects that were delivered in 2023 and 2024 as part of the Healthy Offaly Healthy Ireland Round 4 funding.

Projects were aligned to one of two Healthy Ireland Outcome Indicators; Either (i) increase the percentage of adults and children meeting physical activity guidelines, or (ii) decrease the number of adults who are overweight and obese.

The results showed that all the collected data showed that all of the wellbeing interventions delivered on behalf of Healthy Offaly by their implementing partners, following an evidence-based approach, have worked.

The final presentations were delivered by Dr Diane Cooper and her colleague, nutritionist, Ruth Kavanagh. The ‘S.E.L.F. Care’ workshop covers Sleep hygiene practices for good health, healthy Eating and Exercise in addition to blue and green exercise for mental health and lots more. Looking after yourself. The team from Edufit spoke about wellbeing, stress management, health checkups etc, and Finding time for you. This covered time journaling to create white space to look after your health and fitness.

After the presentations it was the turn of the attendees to get up and active. Exercise demonstrations were led by Mucklagh Community Development & Offaly Sports Partnership Tutors, with Activator Poles and Boccia demonstrations provided, to showcase what initiatives are being provided to increase physical activity in the county and where they are happening.

The feedback from participants at the end of the event was extremely positive and a great morning was had by all. Dermot Egan formally closed proceedings by thanking all those involved, those who assisted in organising of the event and all contributors.