Cobh

<h3><span style="color: rgb(184,49,47);"><strong>The reason why I was unable to update the news on Xplore Cobh App since last Sunday evening. Hopefully I will get a chance to catch up over this weekend.</strong></span></h3>
<h2><span style="color: rgb(41,105,176);"><strong>Difficult days </strong></span></h2>
<h3>After three difficult days on Monday, Tuesday Wednesday, Thursday was a day of appreciation. On Monday I attended Seán Naughton's funeral mass In Nenagh, on Tuesday I got word that my sister Margaret in England  had been called to her eternal reward and on Wednesday,  I found out from an ordination classmate in Atlanta,  that another class mate had died in Georgia.  After mass on Thursday morning, having dismantled my Hydroponic Tower garden the evening before and had  loaded it up in my car, I headed for Blarney to meet up with another hero of mine,  Dave O'Brien who like me has been part of the Juice Plus wholefood nutrition team for nearly 25 years. I had come across the Tower Garden in the USA more than 10 years ago and always wanted to get one since. In December last year I finally got one and before Christmas with the help of a couple, Oisin and Sandra  who were living in Cobh. Sandra was  a doctor from Norway attached to the Mercy. The day I officiated at their wedding in Cobh, my Tower Garden arrived and the day after the wedding they set it up for me in my kitchen. We planted the seedlings and 3 weeks later after coming back from a few days in Donoughmore for Christmas,  transferred them to the Tower garden. Then before the end of January I had my first harvest, lettuce, basel, mangold etc,  beautiful fresh green leaves, grown Indoor without soil, no weeds, no bugs. For the next 6 months I had a plentiful supply of greens, much too much for my needs, so I shared them out with many people. Having recently  booked my annual trip to USA in January for the Carlow College re-union,  having missed out last January. I made a commitment to donate my Tower Garden to  Dave Doyle, the brain child  and manager of the Liskinnet equine therapy centre at Granagh  near Croom. I visited the centre just a few weeks ago on my way back from the launch of Ronnie Long a former President  of Irish athletics  book "The Long Road"</h3>
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<h3>I was fascinated by what I saw at Liskinnet. Dave  was instrumental in purchasing 80 acres of land and creating a centre  for adults with special needs some with severe needs and others less needful but needing  at least 2 full time assistant minders. The Saturday I called was a hive of activity, when during my 3 hour visit  various young people mostly with special needs,  mainly autism,  arrived to the equestrian centre for a session  of horse riding helped by volunteers, mounted the horses  and went for a spin.  About  30 horses are part of the centre, in fact one a retired Olympic show jumper from Mexico was sold for over one million dollars, when retired was donated to the centre  and at 18 and still looks a picture. See attached pictures. I promised I would donate my Tower Garden to the centre I was so blown away by what I saw. It took Dave O'Brien and myself nearly 4 hours to reassemble the Tower Garden, a  brand  new one can be installed in 30 minutes. But we cleaned it  up to make it look like new. Before we left we inserted the seedlings already mature enough, for planting and that was so uplifting  especially after the trauma of the 3 precious days.  I took Dave on a tour of the entire complex, all the paddocks are magnificently laid out, with creatures and animals of nature given the naming rights for each paddock. David Doyle told me 4.5 million€ has been spent to date on this magnificent complex an offshoot of St Joseph's Charleville,  when Dave was the right hand man of the now retired CEO Conor Counihan.  Over 1.5 million was contributed by JP McManus&nbsp;</h3>
<h3><span style="color: rgb(184,49,47);">Over 40 years </span></h3>
<h3>I have know Dave for over 4O years and officiated at his marriage to Maura Doyle and  the marriage of their daughter Jennifer. Another daughter Caroline the apple of their eye, was born with severe disability,  now resides at the centre and helping her has I think, been the motivating  factor in Dave's dedication to achieving everything that this wonderful facility  stands for.&nbsp;</h3>
<h3>We all met when we met when  I left Tullylease for Dromina. We founded North Cork AC, Dave was the Chairman, Maura the treasurer and her sister Sheila the secretary and I was the coach, Shelia won the Cork Marathon and her daughter Aisling Thompson a brilliant all Ireland winning camogie player. Maura  as well finished 2nd in the Adidas Cork Marathon. Dave and myself never came close to matching those achievements. But we did win a gold medal, in the first ever special Olympics Munster track championships, held at  St Joseph's in Charleville. There was a special relay for consisting 2  of the pupils and 2 of the helpers I teamed up with Dave to win the relay, with 2 of the pupils. Let me say I was training the pupils for athletics, a few times a week and I confess now 40 years on, that we really picked the cream of the crop. That was the start of the huge drive to establish the special Olympics and it was recognition that sports and recreation plays a huge role in the development and  advancement of the individual,  to help those with special needs . That principle has been brought to a new level by Dave, who always has had a huge love of horses and that provided the motivating factor in establishing the complex  of 16 residences at Liskinnet and the equine therapy  centre. He told us today that other similar centres are in the pipline and recently he addressed an Oireachtas  committee meeting in Dublin and made a very telling contribution, outlining what he sees as the pathway forward.&nbsp;</h3>
<h3>May I conclude,  during my recent visit I met an enlightening German expert on autism, Rupert,  invited by Dave, he  spoke to the parents while their children were out on the horses and I was fascinated by the presentation he made and the knowledge he passed on to the parents, to help them cope with the difficult task they had, in doing the best  they can  for their beautiful children. He mentioned a website, that is well  worth paying a visit to namely 'kids must move.com'. He also zoned in on the importance of good  whole food nutrition of fruits and vegetables and I told him about the Tower Garden and he gave it the thumbs up, that made me happy and the setting up of it today with Dave O'Brien, eased the pain of the bereavements I had struggled to cope with during the previous 3 days. Despite the ups and downs of life, it's still a beautiful world, made better by the wonderful people we happen to meet and be part of our lives, the people I met today shed  a ray of light into my life and I am  so grateful for that.</h3>
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<p>Dave O"Brien and David Doyle with the Tower Garden after it was set up</p>
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<p>Happy to see the first plant  inserted by Davis in the  Tower Garden</p>
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<p><span style="color: rgb(184,49,47);"><strong>Beautiful Accomadation Units</strong></span></p>
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<h3><span style="color: rgb(61,142,185);"><strong>David, Rupert from Germany and William Casey an old  friend and Photographer who works as a volunteer at Liskinnet</strong></span></h3>


Liskinnet Equine Therapy centre

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