Johnstown Estate was buzzing on Saturday 25th November as all the very worthy nominees of the Aldi Community Games National Area, Volunteer and Media Awards came together to celebrate their achievements. 

MC Tony O'Donoghue was the perfect host of the event and we were proud to have Meath County Council Cathoirleach Gerry O'Connor, Aldi Marketing Manager Rita Kirwan, the HSE's Ailis Brosnan and Clodagh Armitage, Kia's Gillian Neely, and INM's Arlene Regan as guests on the night. 

The overall winners were Doora/Barefield in Co. Clare and there was rapturous celebrations when Gerry Davenport, President, announced that they had won. 

The Provincial Winners were: 
Connacht: Ballaghaderreen, Co. Roscommon
Leinster: Ballymahon Forgney, Co. Longford
Munster: Doora Barefield,  Co. Clare
Ulster: Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan

The Media Award Winners were: 
 HSE - Photo in Action public facebook contest
Patrick Whelan, Cork

Best Published Photo Winner - Arthur Ellis from Clare Champion
Best Published Article Winner - Michael Brophy from Mayo Community Games
(both sponsored by INM)

Best Website Winner - Clare Community Games -  Rob Stephen, Co. Clare
Best Social Media Winner - Meath Community Games -  Laura O’Donoghue and Eileen Doherty
(both sponsored by Kia)

2 Runner up PRO’s:
1.First Runner Up Michael Crossan Donegal Community Games
2.Second Runner Up Eileen Brennan. Sligo Community Games
 
2 Runner up newspapers:
1.First Runner Up Donegal Democrat, Peter Campbell
2.Second Runner Up Sligo Champion, Emma Gallagher
 
Overall PRO and Newspaper winners:
1.Overall PRO award - Noreen O Dea, Limerick Community Games
2. Overall Newspaper award - Dann O’ Sullivan Limerick Leader 

Digitally, Aldi Ireland have been busy tweeting, retweeting, liking, sharing and posting and have a dedicated section for Community Games on their website

Aldi Ireland have worked tirelessly alongside us all year to activate Aldi Community Games at local, regional and national level.   We were delighted to see them scoop the prize for Best use of Outdoor and Print at the Irish Sponsorship Awards on 22nd November 2017 for the Aldi Community Games campaign.

So just how are we going to top all that in 2018?  The sky's the limit and the possibilities are endless.  #getinthegames

The following people have been nominated for positions on the 2018 Board of Aldi Community Games: 

President
Gerard Davenport
 
 Deputy President
Tony Lee, Gerry McGuinness, Paul Doogue
 
General Vice-President
Joe Fox, Eileen Doherty, Michael Sheahan, Tony Lee
 
Secretary
Jude Feehan, Paul Doogue, Joe Fox
 
 Treasurer
Janice Cooper
  
Activities Director
Michael Sheehan, Ruairi Heaney, Tony Lee, Antoin Fitzsimons, Tanya Kelly, Gary Wilmott
 
PR and Marketing Director
Bernie Brennan
  
Security Director
Clifford Kelly, Lesley Weldon
  
Youth Director
Lisamarie McCooey, Fiona Gilmore
 
 NEAC
Shirley Maloney, Clifford Kelly, Kathleen Cross, Ruairi Heaney, Tony McCarry, Michael Sheahan, Jane Walsh, Seamus Hogan, Fiona Kelly-Shannon, Patricia Keegan, Paul Doogue, Gerry McGuinness, Eileen Doherty, Andy Griffin, Lesley Weldon, Breda Reid, Joe Fox, Joe Oakley, Michelle Power, Anthony Fitzsimons, Pauline Martin O’Rourke, Bernie Brennan, Kieran d’Arcy, Neilus Collins, Tom Sheridan, Anne Keane, Mary Brett Kelly, Gary Wilmott
 

December 11th 2017 has been announced, by the Minister for Children, as the date for the commencement of the remaining articles of the Children First Act 2015. Under this legislation, all organisations working with children and vulnerable adults will have a responsibility to safeguard the children involved in their organisation. As part of this, all National Governing Bodies and its clubs/Areas will have to produce and display a Safeguarding Statement. This will be developed by the National Children’s Officer and will be emailed to all Area and County Children’s Officers in early 2018. Instructions on how to display the statement will also be provided.
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Please note that all your Area Officers and Coaches should attend Safeguarding 1 training, provided through your Local Sports Partnership. Alternatively, if two or more Areas or a County have more than 12 people wishing to attend the training, the National Children’s Officer can deliver this. All Children’s Officers/Designated Liaison Person’s must also attend Safeguarding 2 and 3.

• Safeguarding 1- Child Protection and Basic Awareness Course
• Safeguarding 2- Club Children’s Officer Course
• Safeguarding 3- Club Designated Liaison Person

 
Safeguarding 1 Online Refresher Course (only for those who have attended the face to face Safeguarding 1 course) is available from the Sport Ireland website:  http://elearning.sportireland.ie/login/index.php

In 2017 the town of Ballaghderreen in Co. Roscommon welcomed children and adults, mostly from Syria as they seek to obtain refugee status. The people of Ballaghderreen have been working effortlessly over the past number of months to ensure that the new residents feel included and that they are given every opportunity to integrate into Irish society. With the arrival of the Syrian families to the town, the Committee of Ballaghaderreen Community Games was determined to play their part in helping their newest residents become acquainted with the wide programme of activities that are available.

The Ballaghaderreen Committee organised various Integration events for the Syrian children staying in the Direct Provision centre. These events ranged from "Family Fun/Integration Athletics Day", a "Gymnastics for Beginners" morning, "Art/Paint for beginners" afternoon and Skittles trainings sessions. The Family Fun day included a number of Community Games events as well as a number of novelty/fun events.

These events were organised free of charge and were open to everyone living in the Community. Transport to and from the Direct Provisions Centre was organised and provided without charge by a local bus company. Notice of these events were translated into Arabic by one of the Youth staying at the Direct Provision Centre, who also attended all events to help with translations & running of the events. 
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Additionally, all the children present took part in the creation of a Special Community Games mural of their hand-prints. The Theme circled around “Ballaghaderreen Community Games - Our Children/ Our Future”.