AS her year as Clonakilty mayor draws to a close, Eileen Sheppard said the most memorable part of the last 12 months was the opportunity to share so many precious moments with the people of Clonakilty.
Speaking to The Southern Star, Eileen, who works in the Inchydoney Lodge & Spa, said she had an amazing mayoral year and wants to thank everyone for their help.
Clonakilty has the unique distinction of electing its own town mayor since 2014, and last year voting took place to elect the next five Clonakilty mayors, each of whom will serve for one year each.
‘I would like to thank our local public representatives; I was lucky enough to attend numerous functions and events with them and they always gave me encouragement and made my journey even more precious,’ she said.
One of the highlights of her year was presenting 37 Mayoral Awards, where Mayor Sheppard testified to the commitment of these volunteers and community members.
‘A lot of them work in the background, never looking for praise or acknowledgement. These are both groups or businesses doing incredible things for the town, and it was fantastic to present Sinéad Crowley with the Hall of Fame award, who is an inspiring woman in Clonakilty.’
Eileen added that it was joy too to welcome so many people to Clonakilty, which she said she is lucky enough to call home.
‘It was fantastic to meet so many individuals and groups who went above and beyond to raise money for numerous charities and pushing themselves to the limit in their quests to do good. I met teams as well as world and European champions, all amazing, humble people doing incredible things and all so inspiring.’
Eileen wished the new incoming mayor, Conan O’Donovan and deputy mayor Yousuf Junabali, all the best for the year ahead.
‘Special thanks must also go to Tomás Tuipéar, Jerome JC O’Sullivan and Traolach Ó Donnabháin who continue to ensure that Mayoral Council tradition continues. I also want to thank photographer Martin Walsh, as well as Des O’Dowd and my colleagues at Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa, without whose support I could not have carried out so many duties’.
The Clonakilty Mayoral changeover took place on Thursday June 12th in O’Donovan’s Hotel at 7.30pm where Eileen handed over the mayoral chain to Conan O’Donovan.
