All change for Hospice Nenagh Branch
The recent Annual General Meeting of the Nenagh Branch of North Tipperary Hospice brought about a complete change of officers. Due to the adoption of new rules of governance which limits the time an individual can hold office the outgoing officers were ineligible for re-election. This meant that Chairperson, Kay O’Donoghue, Secretary, Anna O’Brien and Treasurer Geri Cantwell were obliged to step down to make way for the respective replacements.
Elected in their place were existing committee members, Paddy Heffernan as Chairperson, Orla Noonan as Secretary and Joannes Berkery who assumes the role of Treasurer. Three new members were also elected to the Committee – Seamus Costello from Cloughjordan, Burgess man Pat Delaney and Albert Purcell, son of Florrie, one of the founding members of the North Tipperary Hospice In-Home Care Movement.
On assuming his new role Chairman Paddy thanked the outgoing officers for their many years of fantastic service to the organisation and expressed his delight that, although they had to vacate the positions in which they had served so well for so long, they were all remaining on as valuable members of the committee. They had made a major contribution to the ongoing provision and development of the many services provided by the organisation since its foundation over 30 years ago. He also welcomed the three new members and looked forward to working with them in the years ahead. He also thanked Paudie Grace, who had stepped down from the committee, for his contribution over the years.
“The difficulties brought about over the past year have made life very difficult for our hospice movement as the restrictions imposed to cope with the Covid pandemic meant that individual and group services could not be provided in our Cancer Support Centres in Nenagh and Thurles, with telephone support only available. The demand for our In-Home care services continues and thankfully this very valuable service has continued to be available throughout. The need for finance to fund the delivery of these services therefore continues which has become increasingly difficult due to cancellation of our Sunflower Days and Coffee Mornings for two years. In addition the same restrictions meant that our ever willing supporters could no longer organise many of the traditional fundraising activities that had raised so much money down through the years.
“We look forward to the resumption a more normal life in the not too distant future and are confident that the great people of North Tipperary will rally round to help us raise the finances we need to continue to provide and perhaps even further develop the very valuable services that have supported so many individuals and families over the past 30 years.”