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Lonergan is guest at Hero awards

February 19th, 2017 6:25 PM

By Southern Star Team

John Lonergan

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The inaugural West Cork Hero Awards gala ceremony will take place in The Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery on Friday afternoon, March 3rd, honouring those who epitomise community spirit. 

The inaugural West Cork Hero Awards gala ceremony will take place in The Celtic Ross Hotel, Rosscarbery on Friday afternoon, March 3rd, honouring those who epitomise community spirit. 

The awards, organised by The Southern Star and The Celtic Ross Hotel, were set up to honour those people in West Cork who go above and beyond the call of duty to help and improve the lives of others. A total of 12 monthly nominees have been selected by a panel of judges, from nominations sent in by readers of The Southern Star over the course of 2016, and the overall West Cork Hero 2016 will be named at the ceremony.

Guest of honour on the day will be John Lonergan, (pictured, below) former governor of Mountjoy Prison. Since his retirement in 2010 Mr Lonergan has published two books – his autobiography, The Governor, and a book entitled, Parenting – Raising your Child in Ireland Today, all royalties from which go to the Barnardos children’s charity.

His philosophy is that change, personal or otherwise, cannot be enforced on people, believing that real and meaningful change only comes about through dialogue, consent and agreement. He is convinced that human beings change from the inside out and suggests that the big challenge for all of us is to find the humanity in others and then to nurture it. 

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