Older People & Vulnerable Group Stadium Visits Kingspan Breffni Cavan

Description

This initiative was introduced post covid to address loneliness, facilitate social reconnections, mental wellbeing, intergenerational engagement and encourage people to move out of their homes, reengage with the GAA, meet friends and fellow club members and be part of the community.
Cavan GAA covers all costs associated with the experience including transport, hospitality, a visit to the Cavan home dressing room, pitch experience, the outdoor photographic exhibition capturing events and memories of the past concluding with a visit to the Breffni Gallery Museum.
We provide a designated seating area for the older people to enjoy the match.
Experienced older volunteer members facilitate the tours – George Cartwright, Retired Primary School Principal/renowned GAA Historian and Savina Donohoe, Retired Curator, Cavan County Museum whoare enthusiastic and skilled at listening to the stories shared and the conversations that arise acknowledging past glories and encouraging lively chat and fun.
The Wellbeing program offers worthwhile and meaningful opportunities for older and vulnerable people from the wider community throughout the county. The Breffni Gallery is mood-enhancing, providing prompts for people to meet and socialise. This space is part of the ongoing commitment to improving facilities, enhancing inclusivity, and ensuring game enjoyment for all members, especially those with differing needs.
Improved infrastructure includes the upgrading of the accessibility space, ramps, chair lift, dedicated parking spaces, accessible toilets and an award-winning Sensory Room. These improvements support our core value of inclusion.
The Gallery celebrates the heritage and historical achievements of Cavan through the GAA. The GAA is at the heart of every parish in the County, it is the core of our Community, a place ‘Where We All Belong’.
The GAA encompasses so much of what is good in life, teamwork, leadership, mentoring, coaching, and healthy living, It’s much more than sporting events – it builds confidence for people of all ages and provides an outlet for intergenerational connection.
Sharing stories, mementos and imagery is a great way to encourage older people to be fully involved in the cultural life of the county. Following on from this initiative we are now working with partners in Cavan Heritage Office and award-winning film and documentary maker Alan Bradley to create a series of podcasts interviewing older people. We offer training to older people in our community in podcast making skills to capture more voices of older people.
As part of the Memory Café Programme Cavan Dementia Group visited with their members. During their visit a GAA related memory box was compiled. Currently working with Cavan Branch of Alzheimer’s to become first Dementia Friendly Stadium in Ireland
We are represented on the Cavan Age Friendly Alliance and are committed to the values of promoting diversity among older people and ensuring their inclusion in our planning and work.
We work with the Local Authority Social Inclusion and Cultural Sectors, Education and Community Representatives and award-winning businesses to co-design programmes in line with the ambition of the WHO framework for the Eight Domains of Liveability to improve quality of life as we age.

Aim of Initiative

Primarily to address isolation and loneliness post Covid by bringing older people together and enabling them to mingle with peers and meet new friends through facilitated tours of the ground facilities. We offer refreshments as part of our Health and Wellbeing tour to help overcome shyness and provide a welcoming atmosphere.
We aim to acknowledge past GAA members, volunteers and officials who contributed so much to their clubs and county over the years and promote the values and objectives of the GAA ‘Where We All Belong’.
We aim to give voice to and unearth new stories from our county enhancing our cultural wealth and add to our galleries and experience at Kingspan Breiffni. We aim to enhance the skill set of older volunteers to capture what might otherwise be lost.
We communicate openly and request feedback to improve our offer. To have a fun and meaningful experience where participants feel heard and their lived experience is valued. We listen to and respond to suggestions and are constantly learning how we can adapt to improve the visitor experience for all members of our society.
We work collaboratively with partners valuing the different skill sets available to us. We work with local and national businesses to build our networks and support excellence in our delivery.

Who is it aimed at

Older and vulnerable people, the wider community.

3 Steps critical to success

1. Listen to and identify the needs in our community in a post-Covid world and how we might best address this through our unique role in Irish Society. We learned of the devastation and isolation caused by the anxiety of the virus, enforced cocooning and how we as an organization have a valuable role to play through encouraging connection with GAA members and others in our community.
   Develop The Breffni Gallery to tell the story of GAA in Cavan and as a meeting point for those interested in this aspect of our culture and history.
2. Plan and develop the stadium tours and increase the accessibility of our grounds to maximise the number of older people and those with additional needs who can enjoy the fun and drama of match day, chat and make new friends or renew old acquaintances.
3. Acknowledging that what works for our members can be of great benefit to other groups in our community particularly older people who suffer isolation. Being aware of diversity, health and wellbeing has opened our minds to working with – social services groups, men’s and hen’s sheds, All Star Programme, Cavan Dementia Group and Cavan Autism Parents and others.
   Working in partnership and learning from Cavan Age Friendly Alliance and other collaborators we have co-designed our offer to improve the quality of experience we can offer and increase the number of older people who can benefit from our work. We remain open to learning and improving our skill sets and those of our wider community by valuing the skills and ability of our members and volunteers and developing them to help a great number of people.

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Finding the ongoing resources necessary to make the ongoing physical and accessible developments to the stadium.
   Funding streams such as LEADER were utilised to enable access to The Breffni Galley by people with mobility issues by the provision of a stair lift.
   Sponsorship was sought and local businesses have been extremely financially supportive of this overall initiative.
   Other funding streams were accessed successfully.
2. Learning new skills to better listen and respond to needs in our community and supporting our volunteers to identify isolation, manage anxiety and the evolving challenges our older and vulnerable communities face. It became apparent that people have ways of interacting and engaging with the tours and the tours guides are now aware of need to adapt the delivery based on the people in the room. e.g. a video with the spoken voice is played for some in the groups who may not be as interested in reading the information panels
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tPFLQvSocY
3. Being open to doing our work differently. e.g. As part of the Cavan Calling Celebrations 2023 a group from Cavan Older’s People Council were treated to an afternoon visit including the museum tour a talk on the history of Kingspan Breffni, music and song from Castlemanor Choir (Older People’s Choir)
   Ongoing awareness to better manage and deliver our service to meet the changing needs of our older community

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. Enhanced facilities for accessibility including the Accessible Space and Sensory Room as well as our outdoor galleries, wall murals and facilities to improve attendance, parking and comfort better for all. The Sensory Room and Accessibility Space has won numerous awards including The Community Project Category at the 2024 Stadium Business Design and Development Award in Old Trafford. https://www.independent.ie/sport/gaelic-games/cavan-gaa-scoops-stadium-award-at-old-trafford/a730335610.html
   The Taoiseach Micheal Martin attended the Cavan/Cork league game earlier this year and met the older people’s group from Munterconnaught who were the invited guests that day. He was very impressed with the initiative and the facilities at Kingspan Breffni so much so that he has spoke since to Jarlath Burns the GAA president on it and there is now a sensory room being developed in Croke Park.
2. A greater numbers and diversity of people enjoying Kingspan Breffni and the drama of match day.
   For example, one group from a rural GAA Club included a lady in her eighties from the Church of Ireland Community who had never been at a GAA match before – having thoroughly enjoy the visit she is now a keen follower of her local club, is more connected to her neighbours and she has a new interest.
   Interest has been shown by other counties in the initiative and a group from Ulster GAA came down to see the stadium, do a tour and learn about the project in late 2024 with the hope of the project being extended to other county GAA grounds.
3. Forging new friendships, through listening and recognising the wealth of experience and expertise in our wider community giving confidence to a great number of people be part of the GAA and our sporting history. Ensuring many of the wonderful stories of the past are recorded and enjoyed. The Tour Guides continue to increase their knowledge of unique history of the GAA in Cavan from listening to stories shared during the older people’s visits. What makes the visits are the anecdotes and the little yarns here and there, which add a great dash of colour and bring bygone events to life.