A very special centre has been providing support services to the people of Bandon and beyond for more than half a century. It is embarking on a €450,000 fundraising drive to expand its vital services, aided by a prize draw for a new car, writes CONOR POWER
IN the heart of Bandon, St Michael’s Centre occupies a prime position, its clean painted front setting a smart standard that the many shops and offices along Bandon’s main street do their best to emulate.
The centre has been a part of life in this part of West Cork for over half a century.
The community-based centre first opened its doors in 1969 as a residential unit for older people and it was then that it also began supplying a meals-on-wheels service to the locality.
Corresponding to a clear social need in the area, St Michael’s moved into Avenue House and by the 1980s, it was accommodating 24 residents and continuing to supply the meals-on-wheels service to Bandon and surrounding areas, with the assistance of funding from the Health Service Executive (HSE).
In 2014, a significant expansion took place, with the addition of further services, with funding from the Community Work Department of the HSE.
A refurbishment of St Michael’s was funded by the Department of the Environment and Cork County Council and along with the upgrade came a new range of services for the benefit of the local community. This included the provision of meeting rooms to let at low rates for local organisations and groups.
Inspecting progress at the work at the St Michael's Centre work at Weir Street in Bandon last month were Cllr Gillian Coughlan, Cllr Marie O'Sullivan, St Michael's board member Jerry Mehigan, Minister of State at the Dept of Housing Kieran O'Donnell, Senator Tim Lombard, Rupert Atkins of BPH Construction, and Roger Pearson, St Michael's board of management. (Photo: Denis Boyle)
Even more pointedly (and, in particular, considering the societal changes of the last couple of decades), St Michael’s became a social hub for older people; a place where people would always be made welcome to drop in for a chat and some light refreshment, explains Roger Pearson, chairman of St Michael’s.
‘We provide various activities including music sessions during the day, for example. Friday is our music day, so we’d have musicians come in on Friday morning and also on Friday afternoon.’
Barry Moloney plays the piano while Willie Lawlor plays guitar at one of St Michael’s much-loved music sessions.
Among the extra services that have grown from St Michael’s since 2014 are the Care Ring, a visiting service, and a ‘care & repair’ service. A Digital Eye Computer Club was set up to help older people get more familiar with the use of laptops, computers and mobile phones – tools that have become more and more essential to daily life.
Added to this was The Bandon Family Carers group; a group offering support and assistance for those caring for loved ones.
Siobhán Reen is someone who sees the benefits of St Michael’s up close in the form of the Meals-on-Wheels service that brings food to her mother Noreen. ‘My mother suffered a stroke 16 years ago,’ says Siobhán, ‘I work full-time so it’s just perfect that the dinners are delivered here to her… It’s also the fact that it’s someone visiting. I have to say that over the years, we met some lovely people delivering the dinners.’
The combination of the security of knowing that someone is calling, bringing herfood and paying a social visit is of great reassurance to people like Siobhán and her mother.
‘For Mam, at least, I think that it’s the social aspect that she likes the best,’ says Siobhán, especially, as she acknowledges, in times like these when people call on one another less frequently than they used to.
Siobhán’s mother Noreen knows all about the community spirit of St Michael’s as someone who was once a volunteer with St Michael’s and who is now benefitting from the service.
In 2018, another major milestone was reached when St Michael’s completed nine independent living homes in Bandon – located at Avenue Grove, Ballymoden Place – with support from the County Council and the Dept of the Environment. Ten residents moved in here in May 2018.
‘We are both a registered charity and a housing association,’ says Roger, who adds that as well as current housing projects, it is an important goal of St Michael’s to increase their housing remit for a meet the growing needs of the community.
‘We’re trying to get back to where the charity originally came from because it originally started in 1969 when there was a bad fire in the town and a number of people died in bad conditions. It was then decided by people in the town that this sort of thing shouldn’t be happening. So they started up the accommodation centre in St Michael’s and the centre used to have a number of bedsits and at any given time, could have accommodated up to 20 residents.’
Nowadays, the accommodation being offered is of the highest and safest standards and St Michael’s essentially targets the older members (over-55s) of those that are on the social housing list. ‘We would allot the accommodation to people who are normally living in difficult or dire circumstances,’ says Roger.
‘There are, unfortunately quite a lot of older people in Bandon and the greater West Cork area who are living in pretty terrible conditions still, in this day and age.’
The list in the catchment area of over-55s in urgent need of accommodation goes past 200 people, he says. There are other organisations playing a similar role in housing provision, such as Clúid and St Vincent De Paul, but St Michael’s role in this regard is expected to increase in the coming years.
Far from resting on its laurels, St Michael’s is continuing to set its sights on the improvement of life in general in Bandon and of life for the over-55s in particular.
They are currently on a fund-raising drive to raise €450,000 over the next 18 months. This is to open a new community hall for older people on Weir Street, close to the Riverview Shopping Centre, as well as a major upgrade of St Michael’s Centre itself.
‘We raise money in different ways,’ says Roger, ‘and we felt that if we did something like a car raffle, it can include the community without it being something massively expensive and they feel like there’s a chance they’ll get something back. The draw is happening on St Patrick’s day so it will add to the atmosphere on the National Holiday.’
St Michael’s continues to have a strong and popular profile in and around Bandon and its initiatives continue to be well supported locally.
It is part of Bandon’s beating heart and, with the continuing support of the community it serves, it will continue to play this central role.
