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home > history HistoryThose were the days !Founding Member, Molly Bowers reflects on the establishment of the service for Longford in 1981 In spring 1980 at the Annual General Meeting of the Social Services, the speaker was Noel O'Sullivan who was then senior information officer with the N.S.S.B. He was invited by John Barry and Padraig Gearty who had together formed the idea that Longford needed some form of information service. It was an open meeting and there was a large attendance. Noel was an interesting and down to earth speaker. At the end of the meeting, he asked for a show of hands and the response was great. Names and addresses of would be volunteers were taken. Altogether 30 people volunteered. The following October a course of lectures was given at the Oliver Plunket School courtesy of John Barry. The lectures were given by Noel, one a week for ten weeks. When the lectures were finished we had to negotiate a place were we could operate from, and eventually we got a room at St Vincent-De-Paul headquarters. We got a grant from N.S.S.B., which was small, N.S.S.B. ran on a shoestring in those days, and we had to be subsidised by our own efforts. Therefore, we formed a committee,
It was decided that John Barry, and Michael Walsh, would go to the industrial firms, banks, etc. for sponsorship. They met with a good response the firms etc were generous so we were solvent and ready to go. We got our certificate from Senator Catherine McGuinness (now a Judge). A timetable was established and we started duties in February 1981. Because we had so many volunteers, we were only on duty once a fortnight. However as time went by, our numbers got less; owing to people moving, and job transfers etc, and by June 1984 we were down to 15 volunteers, and since then we have gained and lost. We continued to put posters in factories Doctors Dental surgeries, hotels etc. In November 1987, a problem arose. The government of the day decided to abolish information centres. By this time, I was organiser, and Detta Cassells (R.I.P.) my deputy, so off I went to Dublin, to the "Impact Union" meetings each week for about four weeks. We had some very important speakers;
They advised us to lobby T.D.'s write letters etc. So, I wrote to Albert Reynolds, Mary O'Rourke, and Pat Cooney (now retired) Eventually it was settled and we were back on duty. That was the only set back we had. Organisers over the years
N.S.S.B. RulingVolunteers should not take an active part in politics. Deceased Volunteers (R.I,P.)
"I have enjoyed my time as a volunteer with the CIS and am pleased
that all the years dedication of all its members has not been in vain".
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County Longford Citizens Information Services Ltd |
