The winners of the 2019 Monaghan Volunteer Awards were announced at an event in the Shirley Arms Hotel, Carrickmacross on the evening of Thursday 3rd October. The event was attended by close to 200 people, including the winners and their guests and also members of the public who attended to hear the guest speaker. As always, the event demonstrated the incredible work done by volunteers across County Monaghan. Of course, the winners are only a small sample of the amazing volunteers we have in Monaghan. The judges had a difficult time selecting just one winner in each category and there are hundreds more who richly deserve an award but haven't been nominated yet. 

Volunteer of the Year

Our 2019 Volunteer of the Year is Derek Duffy of Cú Chulainn Blood Bikes.  Derek was involved with the foundation of Cu Chulainn Blood Bikes in 2016 and continues to be heavily involved. The charity provides a volunteer motorcycle transport service for blood samples, patient file, x-rays and other medical items between hospitals. Derek’s role includes volunteer recruitment, fund raising, developing relationships with hospitals and other blood bike groups as well as serving as chairman and as a volunteer biker completing deliveries between hospitals on a regular basis.  Without Derek, there may be no Cu Chulainn Blood Bikes. 

Volunteer Group of the Year

Our Volunteer Group of the Year is Monaghan Arch Club.  It was founded over 30 years ago by a group of parents and friends of young people with intellectual disabilities, to provide a meeting place and social life for those young people. It currently has 133 members ranging from 17 to 70 years of age.  Likewise, the volunteers range from teenagers to the original parents who founded the club all those years ago. They come from all over County Monaghan and their commitment and hard work provide a social outlet for the members and also some time out for their families.  The club runs a variety of activities and social events and none of that would be possible without the volunteers. 

Lifetime Achievement Award 

Our Lifetime Achievement Award is to recognise someone who’s volunteering spans many years. This year it goes to Mindszenty Finnegan. You may have heard of Mindszenty Park in Castleblayney and wondered how it got its name. That story starts way back in the 1970’s when Mindszenty started to improve a piece of waste land behind his house, beside Gas Lake, Lough Muckno.  After his day’s work as a postman he would get to work filling in holes, tidying up the area and even advertising for topsoil. Over the years the area was transformed and is now a popular recreation area, used by the community for soccer, picnics and fishing. It is named in honour of Mindszenty.  He continues his volunteering with the local Tidy Towns group, which he has been involved with for over 20 years.  He also helps maintain the beautiful walkways around Lough Muckno and Black Island. He was described by the person who nominate his as “going about his business in a very ordinary, quiet way without any fuss.” We think he deserve a bit of a fuss and a great big trophy! 

Guest Speaker

Our guest speaker at the Monaghan Volunteer Awards on Thursday night was David Coleman, child psychologist, author and broadcaster. David got a great response and plenty of questions from the large crowd. He spoke on the topic of "building resilience in children", including how volunteering can help build confidence for teenagers. David is pictured here between Monaghan Integrated Development CEO Gabriel O'Connell and MID's Francis McCarron. 

It was great to meet so many people at the event and hopefully some of them will be inspired to volunteer! To find out more about how to get started please contact Sinéad Keenan or Grace Sherry at 047 72191 or  

Monaghan Volunteer Centre staff are available to meet anyone interested in volunteering at Carrickmacross Library from 11.00 am to 1.00 pm on the second Monday of each month. Drop in to find out more about volunteering and what volunteer roles are available near you. If you like, you can even register with us while you're there.