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Annual Report 2002 The Trust which was founded on the 4th July 1997 is a legally constituted registered charity (CHY12393) dedicated to the improvement of the social, educational, environmental and economic infrastructure of the parish of Churchtown in the Ballyhoura area of north County Cork. Auditors: O'Donovan Stewart Accountants Tel 01 662 4877 The 2002 accounts have not not been
audited as the level Bankers AIB Bank Tel 022 23 165 Legal Advisers Cusack McTiernan Solicitors Tel 01 676 2833 Graphic Designer Keaney Design Tel 01 843 7729 The Churchtown Declaration Churchtown will become an example to rural Europe that small communities can become sustainable by developing "bottom-up" strategies that are implemented locally with regional agreement and financial support. We have resolved to renew our own parish with or without outside support. External support will be gratefully accepted and will allow us to do it faster. The Churchtown Declaration was issued on 26th January 1999 at an information briefing entitled "Facing the Millennium with Confidence" organised by the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust and the Churchtown Development Association in the Community Centre on Kerry Lane. A range of key people representing various regional bodies attended the meeting. VAT While the Trust has charitable status
it is not allowed under current legislation to recover VAT which
means that in most cases between 13.5% and 21% of the Trust's expenditure
goes back to the Exchequer in tax. This unfair situation deserves
to be Declaration of Interest The chairman of the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust, Gerry Murphy, declares his commercial business interests in the Boss Murphy operation, Bruhenny Holdings Ltd and the Bruhenny housing development. These commercial developments are part of the renewal of Churchtown but are outside the scope of the Trust. Thank You The Trust is extremely grateful to a wide range of individual people and organisations, which supported its objectives since 1997. Much of the work of the Trust would have been impossible without this vital support. Registered charity: Reference number CHY 12393 Web site: www.churchtown.net
Churchtown Village Renewal Trust A registered charity reference CHY12393 established in 1997 to support the social, environmental, educational and commercial development of the parish. Full details of the Trust's activities are set out in this report. Previous annual reports are available on-line at www.churchtown.net. Churchtown Development Association (Mallow) Ltd Originally founded in the early 1990s as the Churchtown Development Association it was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in 1999 under reference CHY13202. The Churchtown Development Association (Mallow) Ltd owns, on behalf of the people of Churchtown, the "Old School" which is operated as a Community Hall. Ballyhoura Development Ltd An organisation, based in Kilfinane, that administers a number of EU and State grant programmes and is headed up by Carmel Fox. Ballyhoura Fáilte A Kilfinane-based organisation that supports tourist initiatives in the Ballyhoura area. Blackwater Tourism A Mallow-based organisation that supports tourist initiatives in the Blackwater area. Cork North Enterprise A Mallow-based government sponsored organisation dedicated to developing enterprise and jobs in the North Cork area headed up by chief executive Rochie Holohan. European Urban & Village Renewal Scheme An EU initiative managed by Cork County
Council. This programme has made a huge contribution to the renewal
of the parish with grants in 1998, 1999 and 2001. Churchtown is a Georgian village with great potential. The village was rebuilt between 1832 and 1849 and much of what was created at that time remains intact. The Trust estimates that approximately €8 million has been invested socially and commercially in developing the village of Churchtown between 1997 and 2002 and that a further €24 million will be invested in new housing and other infrastructure in the period 2003 to 2010. This represents an enormous turnaround for our community. The Churchtown Village Renewal Trust
has worked with the community and together with a wide range of
public and private bodies is seeking to create a model for Europe
in village renewal. The key achievements of the community since
1997 include: Tidy Towns mark has improved from 147 in 1997 to 217 in 2002 representing an improvement of 48% and the community received an Endeavour Award as the most improved village in the South West in 1999. A village community centre has been developed in the old school at a cost of €380,000. This community centre initiative was supported with a Leader 2 grant of €57,000 administered by Ballyhoura Development. The EU's Social Fund administered by FÁS supported this development under their Community Youth Training Programme (CYTP) and this support amounted to €175,800. Over 75% of all houses in the village were painted and decorated. This, and other street improvements such as hanging baskets, new signage and footpaths, was supported with grants of €34,543 under the EU's Urban & Village Renewal Scheme programme. The Trust launched and maintains a most comprehensive web site at www.churchtown.net. Churchtown Village Renewal Trust was adjudged a winner in the AIB Better Ireland competition and received an award of €6,350 in 2000. Churchtown GAA Sports Stand is now almost completed with dressing rooms underneath at a total cost exceeding €400,000. A "lottery" grant of €96,000 was received from the Department of Sports. FÁS have also supported this initiative. The Sports Field has been developed by the GAA over the last 15 years. Seven different country lane loop walks have been identified and are marked as "The Churchtown Trails" developed and sponsored by Boss Murphy House. Outdoor metal signs showing the walks have been erected at the Post Office and on the Buttevant approach road to Churchtown. An "Introduction to the Ecology of Churchtown" brochure has been produced by the Trust. Three bronze plaques detailing the history of the parish and costing €1,500 each together with a limestone plaque at the site where the creamery stood have been erected by the Trust. A large red Churchtown marble stone was erected at the Pound Corner in 1999. A covered "Welcome and Information" display costing €4,571 has been constructed on the Burton Road by the Trust. Just over €20,000 was invested in appropriate road and street signage by the Trust. The Trust erected a bronze horse and jockey public sculpture in the village centre at a cost of €9,523. This sculpture is dedicated to Churchtown's substantial racing heritage as outlined on an accompanying bronze plaque. A scheme of three houses at Chapel View developed by Cork County Council in 2001 are now occupied and a further three houses are about to be occupied. When completed the scheme will include 10 houses. The Trust was a "Top 10" finalist from 2,500 projects throughout Ireland in the Annual FÁS Community Enterprise Awards announced October 2001. Gerry Murphy announced as Cork Person of the Year 2001 in January 2002 for his work on the renewal of Churchtown. Summary Income and Expenditure 1997 to 2002 A summary of income and expenditure during the period 1997 to 2002 is included in the following tables. These tables excludes €171,000 in grants negotiated but paid direct to the Churchtown Development Association and Churchtown GAA for the development of the Community Hall and the Sports Stand. Income Received €
Important Visitors 1997 to 2002 Government Minister Micheál Martin TD and Dan Flinter, Chief Executive of Enterprise Ireland both visited the parish in 1999. President Mary McAleese accepted our invitation to visit on 14th July 2000 and a souvenir brochure and video of the occasion was produced by the Trust. Both are available on our web site. Minister for Rural Development, Noel Davern TD attended the Ballyhoura Development annual dinner in December 2000 in Boss Murphy House and on Tuesday 23rd January 2001 Jim McDaid TD, Minister for Tourism, Recreation and Sport turned the sod on our sports field development. The New Ireland Group visited Churchtown for their annual conference at Easter 2002 and was accorded a civic reception at Mallow Town Hall. Trust Strategy Revisited in 2002 In February 2002 it was agreed that the Trust would attempt to focus its attention on the long-term provision of rented housing for the elderly and the development of a childcare facility in Churchtown and would seek to become self sustaining financially. As part of the revised plan the Trust decided it was vital that the existing trustees remain in office for an extended period but equally important that new young blood is introduced in view of the long-term nature of what was planned. With this in mind the trustees met in February 2002 and decided to invite two younger members of our community to become involved as Trustees. The new trustees proposed were Rosemary O'Flaherty, Egmont and Bríd Lyons, 5 Bruhenny. This will bring to seven the number of trustees. It was further agreed that Gerry Murphy should continue as chairman and that Eileen Ahern O'Connor would act as treasurer and Peggy O'Flahery as secretary. A new Trust deed was to be drawn up to reflect and formalise these appointments and to facilitate the Trust changed focus. However following extensive negotiations it was not possible to finance and implement the elderly housing policy and as the childcare facility was an integral part of this project the overall plan was abandoned. Therefore the Trust did not formalise the new appointees. With much attention being devoted to the elderly housing project the Trust's resources were limited in other areas and 2002 was by far the least active year since the Trust was established in 1997. Gross income amounting to only €1,250 and expenditure amounted to €8,115 leaving the Trust overdrawn by €6,728 at 31.12.2002. In 2003 the Trust will again review its roll in the continued development of Churchtown. It is likely that 2003 will be dominated by the following activities: - Supporting Churchtown GAA in negotiations with FAS so as to ensure the Sports Stand is finished and landscaped. Funds do not exist to put a roof on the spectator stand and remedying this situation is a priority for the Trust though it is unlikely to be achieved in the short term. - Continued support for the Sculpture trail with the erection of the obelisk, great bull of Bruhenny and the GAA sculpture. - Support the O'Sullivan Beare weekend planned for 9th August 2003. - Support completion of a book on the traditional music history of Churchtown. - Maintenance of the hanging basket programme as the Trust's contribution to the overall Tidy Towns competition. - Development of a walk around Bruhenny Graveyard. - Collection of outstanding grants - Fundraising to reduce the Trust's bank debt. The Trust would like to see a printed history of the parish published in book form but in the absence of funding and manpower resources to finish the work all material gathered to date is now available on the Trust's web site. EU Support It will be very clear to readers of this our fifth report that Churchtown has received much support for its renewal plans from a wide range of State bodies many of which are funded with European Union support. If people want evidence of the relevance of the European Union in the lives of ordinary citizens it is all within these pages. Promoting Churchtown The Churchtown Village Renewal Trust is very conscious of the need to give Churchtown a high national profile and has invested considerable time and financial resources in promoting the parish to key decision makers at national, regional and county level. Up to now this, in essence, is the difference between the Trust and a typical local parish association. The Trust is also conscious of its role as a national advocate for rural renewal. A key part of the communications strategy has been to produce high quality printed and other promotional material and this served to heighten awareness of Churchtown among key decision makers. Enormous contribution of FÁS Total financial support from FAS for the Community Hall and the Sports Stand from 1997 to April 2003 amounted to €525,000. FÁS's contribution has been enormous in providing the human resources essential to make things happen quickly in Churchtown. Without the support of FÁS we could not have developed a parish community centre in the old national school. Likewise, without the support of FÁS we would not now be seeing our new Sports Stand and dressing rooms nearing completion at our Sports Grounds. The EU's Social Fund administered by FÁS supported these developments under the Community Youth Training Programme. The figure of €525,000 excludes FÁS's support under the Community Employment Scheme in Churchtown which is estimated to amount to a further €150,000 between 1997 and 2002. The County Council supported the renewal of our village with an EU Urban & Village Renewal Grant of €12,700 in 2001 bringing the total support between 1997 and 2002 to just over €47,000. A special discretionary grant of €19,000 was approved by the Council in 1997 and paid in 1998 and 1999 directly to the Churchtown Development Association. The Trust is grateful for the support of the County Council and is convinced that we have invested wisely the funds we have been granted. The County Council acquired a site capable of taking up to 10 houses across from the Church a number of years ago and after some time built a block of two houses. Two further houses were added in 1998 and the Council has now completed six further single-storey houses. The Trust welcomes this significant contribution by the County Council. Education - Support for Primary School The Trust is committed to supporting
the children of the parish with appropriate educational equipment
and will continue to work with the headmaster and the school's board
of management in this regard. Ballyhoura Development has added very valuable support to the work of the Churchtown Development Association and the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust. The Trust would like to thank chief executive, Carmel Fox, and her colleagues for their wonderful work over the years. GAA Sports Field Facilities Churchtown Sports Field was purchased
in 1987 by the GAA club with huge support from the local community
and almost €130,000 has been invested in creating a The Trust prepared a Lottery grant application in 1998 and in 1999 for the Trustees of the Parish Sports Field and presented this to the Department of Tourism, Sports and Recreation. These applications were unsuccessful but our application in June 2000 was successful and we were approved a "lottery" grant of €101,600 towards our Sports Stand development. Construction of the Sports Stand began in early 2001 and is now nearing completion.The Trust congratulates Churchtown GAA on their wonderful work for the community over the years. Tidy Towns Competition Churchtown has improved its score from 147 in 1997 to 217 in 2002 or 48%. The area under which we are seriously
under performing remains the Wildlife and Natural Amenities heading
where our score is only 50% and, therefore our priority should be
to develop Bruhenny Graveyard as proposed in this plan. The parish web site originally launched in 1997 has been updated in 1999 and again in 2002. The web site carries lots of information about the work of the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust, and other parish related plans. Considerable work was contracted out to web designer David Cochrane in 2002 to upgrade the web site. Software was also purchased to run the web site and enable the chairperson to update the site as required. This software was sponsored by Boss Murphy's Ltd. Community Radio Initiative / Ballyhoura Community Radio Considerable effort went into making a submission to the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland to obtain a community radio license for Ballyhoura Community Radio to be based in Churchtown. Ballyhoura Development offered grant support amounting to €7,500. Unfortunately our application was unsuccessful on this occasion. Trust Christmas Card The Trust sponsored the production of a Christmas Card in 2001 and costs associated with this initiative are also included under Print & Design. The sale proceeds did not match the costs and the Trust did not produce a card for 2002. Hanging Baskets & Flowers The Trust invested €1,100 in the village hanging basket programme in 2002. Bruhenny Village Graveyard The Trust offered to support improvements to the historic Village Graveyard by way of a grant for all material costs and in this connection the ruined church and graveyard (Ref SMR CO016-056) was assessed by consultant archaeologist Jacinta Kiely. Work on this project has been delayed but is again scheduled for attention in 2003. Recognising People's Contribution A special medal of honour was designed and minted by the Trust to recognise those people who have made a significant contribution to Churchtown. Four medals were presented in April 1998 to: Oliver Byrne, (then) Chairman of the
Churchtown Development Association On 23rd September 1998 at an Institute of Directors lunch in Dublin the Trust presented a medal to Northern Ireland Secretary of State Mo Mowlam MP to recognise her role in bringing peace to Ireland. It is the Trust's intention to recognise other national and international figures at appropriate times. On 26th January 1999 at our "Facing the Millennium with Confidence" information briefing three further medals were presented to: Greg Collins, Architect, Cork County
Council Two further medals were presented on the occasion of President Mary McAleese's visit in July 2000. These medals were presented to recognise contribution to the parish over the years. The recipients were: Patrick Irwin and Noel Linehan Carmel Fox of Ballyhoura Development presented the medals in the presence of President McAleese. In 2001 a further medal was presented to Dublin-based volunteer worker Gerry Corbett who administered the house lottery and other Trust projects from 1997 to 2001. Parish History The Trust is continuing to work on the development of our parish history which will be entitled "A Proud History". It is difficult to provide a print date at this stage. However almost all information collated is now available on the Trust's web site. Parish Newsletters / Vale Star The Trust is very conscious that communications is one of the cornerstones of successful parish renewal and regularly supplies material on Churchtown to the Vale Star. Decision making In the period 1997 to 2002 the trustees have vested considerable discretion to the chairman in terms of day-to-day decision making on the understanding that all expenditure fell within the terms of the comprehensive Trust deed and it is properly vouched and audited. Churchtown Village Renewal Trust The accounts of the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust for 2002 are presented here in summary form. All account since 1997 have been filed with the Charities Section of the Revenue Commissioners in Nenagh, Co Tipperary. Income € Note 1: Donations €
Gerry Murphy, Chairperson Eileen Ahern-O'Connor, Treasurer Signed at Market House, Churchtown on 9th June 2003
2002 Trustee Details The Churchtown Village Renewal Trust was founded in 1997 by Gerry Murphy, who was born and raised in the parish of Churchtown in North Cork. The Trust is a legally constituted registered charity under Revenue Commissioner rules and is dedicated to the improvement of the social, educational, environmental and economic infrastructure of the parish. The trustees in 2002 were: Margaret O'Brien. As well as contributing to the local community as a Trustee of the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust Margaret is also District Commissioner for the Duhallow Pony Club. Margaret and her husband farm at Clashganiff House in Churchtown. Eileen Ahern O'Connor Eileen is an artist who returned to her native Churchtown in 1997 having lived and worked in the USA and Australia where she was actively involved in supporting the Aborigine community in Newman, NW Australia as a voluntary worker with the local Shire (county). She will act as honorary treasurer of the Trust from mid 2002. Noel Linehan Interested in all aspects of the environment and local history Noel completed a video record of a large number of local senior citizens with the help of Pat Irwin in 1999. He has given many years of service to the community. Noel farms at Ballygrace, Churchtown. Peggy O'Flaherty Peggy served as secretary of the Churchtown Development Association for many years up to 2001 and now acts as secretary of the Churchtown Village Renewal Trust. Gerry Murphy Gerry founded the Trust in 1997 and is its chairman. He is Dublin based and his voluntary work has included acting as chairman of Guaranteed Irish, the national body promoting Irish goods and services, acting as chairman of Thermie, a pan European project aimed at reducing the emission of CO2 and serving as a council member of the Institute of Bankers in Ireland and the Association of Advertisers in Ireland.
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