St. Patricks GAA Club

Members of the Drangan & Cloneen Heartsafe group and St. Patrick's Gaa Club with Tommy and Jamie Strappe before the start of the Cycle around Slievenamon.

Drangan and Cloneen Heartsafe Group in conjunction with the St. Patrick's Gaa Club held a Charity Cycle around Slievenamon on Saturday 13th of September to raise funds to purchase an additional AED for the GAA Club. The event was initiated by Tommy Strappe who offered to organise the cycle as part of his fiftieth birthday celebration. Tommy in his occupation as an ambulance driver has first hand experience of how effective an AED unit can be in saving a person's life.  Over the years we have all heard of people collapsing at Gaa matches and unfortunately in some cases people have died. An AED unit can save many of these people if it's got to them in time. In recent years local communities have been installing these machines and here in our parish there is already an AED unit in both Drangan and Cloneen.  These machines are useless unless there are people trained to use them . Some years ago a Heartsafe group was set up in Drangan and Cloneen and this group organised the training of people in first aid and in the use of AED machines. They also look after the AED units in the Parish and keep them maintained . The unit which will be purchased for the Gaa Club will be a mobile unit which can be brought to matches anywhere.  It's hoped that all team mentors and coaches will get trained into how to use an AED. We are very fortunate that there are two first aid instructors in our parish  Eamon Lacey and Betty Egan who are qualified to train people in the use of these machines. Saturday morning was an ideal day for the cycle as the weather was beautiful. We thank all who took part in the cycle which took the scenic route around slievenamon going from Cloneen to Killusty down to Kiltinan, on to Ballypatrick, Grangemockler, Ninemilehouse and back to Cloneen. . A special thanks to all who helped with catering, stewarding and the provision of First Aid, Motorbike Outriders and Rescue vehicles. We thank Glenpatrick and The Value Centre who provided refreshments for the cyclists.

The day was a great success and we sincerely thank Tommy strappe and the Drangan & Cloneen heartsafe group for organising the event.