St Fechin's GAA Club participated in the Healthy Club Programme for 2020 - 2021 and achieved Healthy Club Status in 2021.
We went further in 2022 and achieved Foundation level and in September 2023 awarded Sliver acreditation
Under the guidance of our Health and Wellbeing officer, Michelle and the Healthy club team the club developed a number of initiatives over the past year. Healthy club committee goal is to encourage participation in both sport and social activities for the club members and wider community which benefits both their physical and mental health.
If you have any suggestions or ideas or would like to get involved please email pro.stfechins.louth@gaa.ie
Ireland Lights Up
Our year started early in January with The Ireland Lights up – turning on our walkway lights, on Mondays & Thursdays 7pm to 8.30pm for weeks and encouraging people to take part in the Irish life steps challenge. This event is always well received and was well supported. We also participated in the Nationwide Operation Transformation walk on the 16th January. We were also delighted to be the winners of the O'Neills Voucher for €2,500.
SAFETALK
In May five members of the Healthy club Committee attended the SAFETALK course run by the HSE.
This was very informative and useful course and its something we may bring directly to the club in the near future.
LMETB
This year we applied for classes from Louth Meath Education Training Board – In received an 8 week Aromatherapy class with Lisa Heaney - which all our participants enjoyed.
Class tutors are fully funded by LMETB with the club providing the facilities, they are a great success and we hope to continue next year.
G4M&O
Gaelic 4M & O returned after Easter and is going from strength again under the new Coaches Brendan & Pauline. We have on average 20 training each week. The team participated in the Leinster Blitz in Dublin in June, played the Newtown Blues charity Blitz in July and took part in the National G4M&O blitz along with 137 other teams in St Sylvesters. We hope to continue on till November - weather permitting!
Camán N' Chats
Our Camogie coaches intend to return for another 6 week programme of social camogie –in October - lets hope the weather is kinder this year.
Fechin Walkers & Talkers
Since we began our walking group in April 2022 it has gone from strength to strength with new members joining in all the time. There are over 20 members who meet weekly and also even went out for Christmas Lunch last year. The group run 48 weeks of the year and if its too wet to walk still meet for tea and chat. Many thanks to Lorraine, Geraldine & Jo for heading up this group.
GAA for All – St Fechlin's ALL STARS
Our All Stars returned in April until End of June and will run September until end of October. We had a team of 10 adult coaches and 5 TY students available and we now have 12 participants attending.
This year we also ran a Cúl Eile two day camp in August - thankfully the sun came out for the two days and the children and coaches had a great time. Many thanks to Phoenix Boutique for doing lovely colourful T-shirts for the participants and to Louth GAA who provided the Cul Camp bags. Special thank you to all our volunteers who rearranged work etc in order to attend.
Funding for all our equipment comes from Louth Sports Partnership "All Star" grant. We are always looking for more coaches if anyone is interested. Also a special mention to our TY volunteers for giving up their Saturday morning lie-in's!.
Gaelic 4 Dad's & Lads
Dads & Lads is a bit of a slow starter this year - and it has been a struggle to retain the number with a lot of the participants involved in juvenile coaching (or injured!) However we attended a Blitz hosted by Clann na Banna in Co Down, and played St Brides in Knockbridge in August. For a few week when numbers were low we were welcomed into the G4M&O training sessions which was great fun. In September we attended the national blitz in Abbotstown where 50 Hurling and Football teams took part. We hope to continue until rain stops play!
Match V St Brides
PAL's - GO FOR LIFE
At the end of 2022 and into January we faciliated training for leaders over 55, for nine weeks Go for Life training. This was funded by Louth Sports Partnership and Age & Opportunity. Following on from this the group formed an Active Retirement Group - Fechins Go for life! They now have 20+ members. This group is run by the members themselves aging from 55 to 82.. They ran 6 weeks in June including a week of boules and new game "Scooch". They took a break for the summer and returned in September for 4 weeks - of exercise with more plans afoot... This group also received a grant from the Coke Employee Community Fund and with it were able to purchase their own Scooch equipment
MEN ON THE MOVE LLSP also ran a 12 week "Men on the Move" programme in January to March in our grounds with 18 men signing up with Ladies team Captain - Hayley McDonnell running the programme - it ran twice a week and was free to participants. It was a hugh success and very benificial to everyone who completed the course. They are looking to get it going again in December/January.
LITTLE FECHIN LIBRARY
Our club was recently nominated to take part in the Green Club programme and in conjunction with them we have set up our "Little Fechins Library" - where children can take, borrow or sway from the many donated books. This has proven to be very popular with the many siblings who attend Páirc Naomh Feichín .
KEEP US SAFE SIGNS
In a continuing effort to keep our grounds "A Safe Place" we have updated the signage around our grounds this includes updating our No Smoking sign to include no Vaping also in line with our clubs policy
Many thanks to the Club for backing and facilitating all our initiatives and we look forward to more in 2024
Healthy club Team:
Michelle Mooney - Healthy Club officer, Ralph Jordan, Anne Kerrisk, Geraldine Lennon, Lorraine Leech, Irene Rafferty, Lorraine Rock, Máire Devine.
Below is just some of the Healthy Club signage which you will find around our grounds displayed by Michelle, Irene & Ralph who are on the Healthy Club Committee.
