The Asdee Community Development AGM took place on Thursday 23rd January 2025.
The numbers in attendance speak volumes to the commitment and dedication and as always, the
committee are truly grateful for the active engagement and support.
John Kennedy expressed his gratitude to all volunteers for their dedication and hard work,
highlighting their invaluable contributions to the group’s success. He commended the group’s
progress, emphasising its achievements, growth, and forward-thinking initiatives. The message
would inspire optimism, reaffirming the shared vision for the future and encouraging everyone to
continue their impactful efforts.
Prior to the reports a minute’s silence was had to honor and remember those from our community
who have passed away. May they rest in peace.
Councillor Allocation:
We want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank our councilor’s Michael Foley, Jimmy Moloney,
Tom Barry, Mike Kennelly and Liam Speedy Nolan for their support for 2025.
Two new sections of footpath were completed last year from The Blessed Well road to the Church
and later in the year Fitz’s to Roddy Foley’s, thank you to our councillors and Kerry County Council on
another fantastic job.
The next and hopefully final phase of the footpath project is from Roddy Foley’s to the bridge and
across the road from Jesse’s to Kissane’s.
Kerry County Council:
We extend our heartfelt thanks to the team in Kerry County Council for their support, advice and
dedication in helping our community.
KWD County Clean Up:
A big thank you to everyone who participated in the county cleanup. Your dedication to keeping our
community clean and beautiful is commendable.
Operation Transformation:
Asdee decided to take part in operation transformation for the first time three years ago. It was
great to see so many attend during the winter months. Thanks to the organisers, those who
attended and the GAA club for allowing us to use the football pitch. The new programme is called
the “Steps Challenge” and details of this year’s event can be found on our social media pages.
Grotto:
A few finishing touches were completed at the Grotto in recent months such as the water pump.
Fr. Hussey celebrated Mass at the Grotto last May where he prayed for all those whose names were
on the remembrance tree in our Live Crib at Christmas.
Blessed Well:
The annual Mass at St. Eoins Well took plae last June and will take place again this June, date TBC.
There is always a great turnout and the children graduating from Asdee National School will also be
present. Well done to the organising committee on a lovely evening for the community.
Funeral Stewarding:
Thank you to everyone who volunteers their time for funeral stewarding in all weather conditions.
Your efforts are deeply appreciated and make a meaningful difference during difficult times. We
have received multiple family donations as a token of appreciation.
Fr. Moore Seat and Littor Beach:
Thank you to Kerry County Council for the bollards for the edge of the seat to protect it. The bottom
of Littor Road whereby pipework and rock armour is required is awaiting funding.
We want to congratulate Dave Griffin on his work on Littor beach being awarded the Green Coast
Award again this year.
Beal Beach Car Park Upgrade:
Well done to Kerry County Council for the excellent upgrade works on Beale Strand car park.
The beach, which is a discovery point on the Wild Atlantic Way, is now more accessible for all
visitors, with a new ramp and pedestrian handrail installed.
Shannon Way Trail:
We want to give a massive thank you to Kerry County Council for their fantastic work on Asdee
section of the Shannon Way Trail over the past couple of months. The work was carried out as the
next phase of renovation for the Trail, following on from the great work carried out by the
community in recent years.
The result of this work now allows everyone to walk our section of the Trail from Tullahinell to Larha
all year round, with further works planned for next year. Kerry County Council will return in the
coming weeks to erect directional and dog fowling signage as well as the install of the kissing gates
and fencing.
Asdee Community Development will organise an official walk in the coming weeks to mark the
completion of the Asdee section. In the meantime, everyone is welcome to avail of the walk.
Just please bear in mind to wear appropriate footwear and to respect the land you are passing
through. We also wish to thank the landowners for their co-operation and support.
Village festival:
Year 2 of the Asdee festival was a roaring success and mark the diary for the June Bank Holiday
weekend this year. We want to sincerely thank all our sponsors of which there are over 200 and
everyone who supported and all those who are involved in organising it to make our festival
weekend such a success.
Asdee Community Centre:
We are awaiting on correspondence form St. Brendan’s trust to make further progress on
developing the Community Centre.
Grant funding has allowed for the purchase a new heater for the kitchen, an under-sink water
heater, as well as energy-saving lights & heating elements. These enhancements will help to make
the Community Centre more comfortable and more cost-effective to run.
We want to say a massive thank you to Anna & Viktor for giving up their free time to do a brilliant
job painting the Community Centre during the year.
We also want to thank the CE Scheme in particular Anna for the super job she has done as caretaker
of the Community Centre this year. It is great to see the Community Centre in use for the last few months with the Winter Club and birthday parties.
River Walk and Recreational area:
We received further grant funding last year to allow us to develop design drawings for pre-planning
submission for the proposed development of our River Walk and Recreation Area.
This project has needed a number of studies and surveys carried out to get us to this point and we
are hoping to make visible progress in 2025, bringing it to fruition. To date 7 studies have been
completed with 3 more remaining to be finalised.
We are currently awaiting drawings for the pre-planning process.
Invasive Species Treatment:
We have received funding whereby studies have been carried out from the river source. There is
proposed works to treat the knotweed and balsam in Spring.
Charity Status:
We are pleased to share that we are very close to achieving charity status. We need to adopt a
motion and submit this to reach the final stage.
Village in Bloom:
The committee are doing a fantastic job in making our village look so well each year. The planting,
weeding, watering and upkeep of flowers and hedges in the village and approach roads takes time
but is much appreciated.
A huge amount of work has been completed in the last year, the polytunnel now is in full use.
Other grant funding allowed us to buy a new shed to store equipment, and to be of use for our
Village in Bloom group and to all using our polytunnel.
It is another improvement to the village enabled by Kerry County Council’s support.
Also, a huge thank you to Tom Kennedy for allowing the shed to be installed in an ideal location and
to Fergie O’Connor for putting in the base for the shed.
Boyle’s Cross:
We are delighted to share the new mural on the gable of Boyle’s cottage at the top of Littor Road.
We want to sincerely thank Listowel Credit Union for their sponsorship, following our proposal to
them earlier this year.
A massive thanks to our local painter Sean Stack for the excellent work, with the freshly painted roof
also making a big difference.
We are also hugely grateful to Jack Boyle & his family for their permission in allowing this work to be
done. We are very lucky to have such a supportive community.
The mural is a beautiful addition to our community and an eye-catching feature for anyone visiting
Littor & Beal beaches.
Men’s Shed:
We are thankful to receive funding from the Men’s Shed to allow us do ground works and pipe the
dike near the Steeltech shed. Thanks to Mairead Doyle and Tom Kennedy for allowing us to carry out
work for easier access. Thanks to Fergie O’ Connor for his help and advice during this project.
Climate Action Programme:
We would like to acknowledge and give a huge thank you to Kerry County Council & the Department
of the Environment for the Climate Action Grant funding we received.
We contacted our sports clubs & looked for project suggestions from the community prior to our
submission early last year. Now, this grant has allowed us to carry out a number of projects that will
benefit those groups and our wider community.
Solar panels have been installed at the Asdee GAA pitch and a water butt has been installed at the
Asdee Rovers clubhouse. We have purchased equipment and planters for our community garden.
We have created a connection for a watering system in the polytunnel, along with the ground-works
for safe access & panel fencing for shelter, which will help make this area a lovely hub for the
community.
We have connected our water station in the public space beside the grotto with a foot pump,
allowing passers-by access to drinking water in the village.
We are also in the process of planning for the planting of pollinators and bulbs for the village and on
the approach roads and walking trails, in coordination with our Village in Bloom Group.
The works represent a total investment of €32,000.
Christmas:
It is fair to say the village looked beautiful with the addition of the new Christmas lights, from the
lights on the poles, to the two new trees to the archway on entry to the crib. As a group we are
delighted to be add a little more each year. Sincere thank you to Lenamore Windfarm and Tullahenil
Windfarm for funding the new lights and to all the households who provided the power.
The Christmas fair was well supported, thanks to all involved in organising the event, securing and
taking a table, Santa’s grotto and puppet show, Brew & Banter, the Parents Council and Asdee
National School, the local businesses who support us and to all the community for your support. We
closed the evening with Mary O’ Connor switching on the Christmas lights.
The tree at the Church looked lovely and thanks to all involved in sourcing, cutting, transporting,
erecting and decorating the tree.
The tractor run ran smoothly again this year. It was brilliant to see the effort people had gone to, in
lighting up their tractors and trucks. Thanks to all the stewards on the night to be sure it was a safe
event, also to those who served food and cleaned the hall afterwards – thank you!
Last but certainly not least, the crib, how special again this year! Thanks to the following:
– Mairead Doyle for the use of her shed
– Martin Stack for reroofing crib
– The farmers who provided animals and hay/straw
– Martin Stack and John Kennedy for feeding and cleaning the animals each day
– Those on the rota to check the crib each day and those that closed the crib each night
We are now attracting visitors near and far, which is testament to what this community can achieve.
Also, special word to Eoin Kennedy on the fantastic videos, while including people at home and
abroad, viewership and followers are on the rise across all our social channels with 50,000 view
approx. on the two Christmas videos alone. Eoin also live streamed Christmas Mass so people can
tune in from all over the world to see Christmas Mass from Asdee.
There is a lot of work to make all these events happen at Christmas – Thank you to everyone involved
in making Christmas so special in Asdee.
On 17th January, the volunteers of Asdee Community Development had a social night whereby
everyone met in Jack J’s for some finger food and a few drinks. This is a small token of appreciation
for all the hard work during the year.
Support:
We have been extremely lucky in securing grant funding, it’s not without the hard work of the
committee in particular Eoin Kennedy who put a huge amount of time and effort into all grants.
Thankfully to date between grants, fundraising, sponsorship, donations, allocations etc. it has
allowed us to achieve a lot in the village and surrounding area.
Thank you to the all the government and council organisations who provide funding, North Kerry
Trails, Lenamore Windfarm, Craughdarrig Windfarm, Tullahennel Windfarm, Kerry County Council,
Listowel Credit Union, Men’s Shed, Jack J’s, O’ Keeffe’s Centra Ballylongford, TakeNTaste, John
McHale, Penny O’ Sullivan, to name a few.
There is so much other work that goes on behind the scenes from stewarding for hedge cutting, to
weeding, power washing, laying gravel etc. – special mention to all the volunteers and committee
who put in long hours throughout the year.
Treasurers Report:
Lorraine McElligott gave a detailed breakdown on the income and expenditure since the last AGM.
Election of officers:
There was no change to the committee.
- Chairperson: John Kennedy
- Vice Chairperson: Martin Wilkins
- Secretary: Mary Mulvihill
- Assistant Secretary: Fiona Enright
- Treasurer: Lorraine McElligott
- PRO: Eoin Kennedy