TAMLAGHT COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION REPORT
Activities in 2024
A Christmas outing for older residents organised in a local hotel for a meal and drinks. A Christmas draw also took place for the prize of a Christmas hamper and other prizes. We also organised a summer outing for the older residents including a meal out.
A new location has been found for the defibrillator and the equipment is now installed in an accessible location and has been advertised on social media.
We continue to act as a local resource for the community offering advice with issues such as anti-social behaviour and acting as an intermediary in any disputes.
Fundraising
We continue with our weekly bonus ball draw. We applied to St Anne’s Cathedral Fund and were successful and several of us attended the ceremony to collect the money in February. We also successfully received funding from the National Lottery Fund.
Meetings attended
Two of our committee members are coordinators of the neighbourhood watch scheme being run locally. They are regularly in touch with the community police team and keep them informed of any issues.
We are still meeting with representatives of statutory bodies including the Council, Road and Water Services and Housing Executive. These meetings take the form of a walk-about in the area that allowed us to raise various infrastructure and road issues of concern to us which need to be addressed.
Benefts to the local community
The various outings and parties help to bolster a sense of community spirit. As a crosscommunity organization, we feel it is essential to create a space for everyone in the community to mix and these events provide a neutral space for people to meet and friendships to be forged. These events also partly address issues of isolation and loneliness.
Attending the community forum meetings and the interactions with other statutory bodies help to ensure that we maintain a quality of life for all residents in the area and by trying to eradicate or lessen levels of crime and antisocial behaviour, allow people to feel safe in the locality. By ensuring that infrastructure issues are dealt with we can go a little way to maintaining a safe and secure place for residents to live in.
Listening and interacting with residents allows them to feel that their concerns are being dealt with which helps underpin a sense of community in the area.