Athlone Agricultural Show: Social Enterprise of the Year Finalist
PJ Glynn has been working with Athlone Agricultural Show for many years, and he has seen it grow and improve every year.
“I was originally involved in the Equine Section and that was huge there. It’s so big that there are 107 classes in Equine horses alone, and we hope to have seven rings next year,” said PJ.
For the 2024 Athlone Agricultural Show, PJ was the chairman, and in previous years he was head of the Equine section. This year PJ’s daughter Melissa Glynn took over Equine.
“We have 14 Irish Show Association All-Ireland qualifiers, which bring a lot of people into the Equine section, and we have five RDS qualifiers,” said PJ. “The show has grown huge, and was good in Gaffey’s, Moydrum, and now in Donoghue’s in the last few years. It has huge potential to grow and now is one of the biggest shows in the country outside of Tullamore and the RDS.”
PJ does a lot of work as chairman, but he praises the Athlone committee members.
“We’ve a good committee with great unity and good meetings,” he said.
Cllr John Dolan is vice-chairman, Oliver Flanagan is general secretary and Michael Flanagan is their PRO.
“We filled the Bounty and part of the bar for our table quiz and raised a few thousand euro,” said PJ. “Our sponsors are so important and they make a huge difference.”
He praised both the big and small sponsors and said that it costs a lot of money to run the agricultural show.
“We’ve been very lucky with weather for the last few years,” said PJ. “We’ll keep it going and there is something for everyone in the show. The poultry section is getting huge and the sheep section has grown. We probably need to get more activities for kids and families.”
The team’s AGM is coming up soon and, with it, the planning will start for the 2025 Athlone show.
“It’s not just the top table of the committee that I’d like to thank, but everyone involved, and also those that nominated us for this award,” said PJ. “We also have to thank Michael Donoghue, the owner of the farm in Garnafailagh because his site is terrific for the show.”
The other Social Enterprise of the Year finalists are: New Horizon Refugee and Asylum Seeker Support Group and Athlone Community Services Council
The Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 takes place at the Shamrock Lodge Hotel on Thursday.
The Social Enterprise of the Year category at the Westmeath Independent Community & Sports Awards 2024 is sponsored by Westmeath County Council