County Mayor's Diary Councillor Christopher O'Sullivan

By the Mayor of Cork Cllr Christopher O'Sullivan

Last week, I was in Jiangsu on the east of China to promote economic development, trade, tourism, arts and cultural exchange. Cork County Council and the Cork Education and Training Board (Cork ETB) jointly launched the MéihuÄ Cup Chinese Learning Competition.

The competition is open to students of Cork’s ETB schools and challenges students to engage with, and interpret, selected Chinese poems. Two winning groups of three students will be invited to Nanjing, which uses the Méihu flower as an emblem, for a study tour.

This will be a fantastic learning opportunity for Cork students to expand their knowledge of Chinese language and culture, and this is a great example of Cork County Council promoting our county both at home and abroad.

Last week also saw the Cork County Business and Tourism Awards gala evenings for North Cork, and East Cork. West Cork is taking place this Friday.

The awards, hosted by Cork County Council, received an incredible 325 entries this year from 240 different businesses and organisations throughout the county.

The panel of six judges in each region certainly had a tough task due to the exceptionally high standard of entries.

I can’t list all the winners here, but I must mention the Outstanding Business Ambassador in each region. That title in North Cork was awarded to philanthropist Dr Tom Cavanagh. In East Cork, it was restaurateur and chef Kevin Aherne of Sage Restaurant, Midleton. While in West Cork, this Friday the title will be awarded to John Field, of Fields of Skibbereen SuperValu.

It’s so important to recognise and celebrate success. Every town and village in Cork county has ‘do-ers’; people who create employment, volunteer on committees, and so on. These activities bolster that sense of vibrancy and community that Cork is known for.

This week, I launched the Think Cork County campaign, which promotes shopping locally in the run up to Christmas. 2019 marks the fourth year of the initiative. Cork County Council are offering free and reduced parking rates at several council-owned car parks in the month of December in areas such as Bandon, Cobh, Fermoy, Kinsale, Macroom, Mallow and Youghal. More details are on www.CorkCoCo.ie.

Cork’s towns and villages are fortunate to have a diverse range of small indigenous businesses, which offer unique, high quality, locally sourced, sustainable, gift ideas for the festive season. Purchasing locally safeguards our communities into the future.

Every purchase makes a positive contribution, so I urge Cork shoppers to soak up the festive atmosphere in their locality. Make your Christmas in Cork, a Cork Christmas!