County Mayor's Diary Cllr Gillian Coughlan

Easter seems to have come out of nowhere. Do you know that who delivers Easter eggs to your home depends on where you live in the world? It could be a fox, bunny or cuckoo which makes it very egg-citing!

The forecast is to be slightly warmer than usual for this time of the year, so, if you fancy a punt, the Easter Festival is on at the Cork Racecourse Mallow.

As a teacher I am always interested in having children engage with theatre from a young age. The Little Plays in the Park series is back, and this year’s show ‘Cu Chulainn the Brave’ is playing in Carrigaline Town Park on Saturday 16 April at 1pm and 3pm and Mallow Castle Gardens on Easter Monday 18 April. They are free but ticketed shows at 1pm and 3pm and the event is made possible with the support of Cork County Council and others.

The past fortnight has seen me attend a very diverse range of events which showcase the hive of activity that is going on in all sectors in Cork county, truly showcasing the fact that Cork county is the place to live, work, rest and play. I got to take in all that attracts overseas visitors to our county on a recent trip to Castletownbere - the forty shades of green, the landscape, the mountains, the coastline.

I was invited to Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa in Castletownbere to officially open an outdoor classroom named An Coirceog which means beehive and it put me in mind of how busy all the citizens of Cork are with their preparations for the summer season.

While Scoil an Chroí Ró Naofa might be providing food for stomachs from the polytunnels, we also need food for the soul which to me is the collective that makes up the arts.

I had the privilege to launch not one but two publications recently; ‘From the Well’ and ‘Poems from my 5km’, both of which will provide plenty of material for anthropology students in the future examining the Covid-19 era in world history.

I attended the annual LAMA Awards recognising excellence in community and local authority innovation in Dublin and was very proud when the Cork County Council Community Call Library Housebound Service picked up the Gold Award for Best Community Based Initiative, a valuable service they provided to the citizens of Cork county through the lockdowns and the Covid-19 pandemic.

I think by now you may have picked up on the thread, lots of projects being supported by Cork County Council behind the scenes that make our county a great place to live, work, rest and play. So, let’s continue doing what communities do best – take pride in our community, begin or continue the clean-up preparations for all those overseas and domestic visitors coming to cork county this year.