Athy Sing and Sign wins €2,000 credit union prize
Athy Sing and Sign with Majella Moore and Dan Bergin of Laois PPN and Carol Murphy of People's First Credit Unions
ATHY Sing and Sign was announced as one of the runners-up in the People's First Credit Union Community Awards, winning a prize of €2,000 for the club on Wednesday 29 January.
Club chairperson, Maggie Owens, said: “We are absolutely delighted, even just to get the recognition.”
“It’s fantastic, it’s been a really good year for us,” she added.
Athy Sing and Sign Club is a beloved community club that is dedicated to teaching Irish Sign Language (ISL) to children and teens in a “fun and friendly way.” With the prize money, the club hopes to collaborate with different deaf organisations in the future to organise workshops for improving ISL.
Scholarship awards were also given to two local students, Elizabeth Byrne of Athy College and Oisin O'Donohue of Ardscoil na Trionoide.
The club was joined by Aiden McHugh on the night as well as committee members and ISL Leaders: Linda Dobbyn, Breda Moore Flynn, Mary Byrne, Majella Harris, Grainne English and Aine Lawlor.
Athy Sing and Sign were on a roll that week, with 24 members getting word that they passed their QQI Sign Language exams, creating even more reason to celebrate. The club has also received funding from the Spirit of Kildare festival for an IFL resource that will be live on their website for the entire month of February, posting a different IFL sign each day with links to Brigid and the season of spring.
