A new Community Garden near the Laois – Tipperary border will open this week.
The Blessing of the Garden in Rathdowney will take place shortly after 2.30pm on Wednesday led by the Catholic and Church of Ireland Bishops of Ossory.
The location of the garden is known locally as The Shrine and is where the original Catholic church was built in the town.
Thurles native Majella O’Donnell, along with her husband Daniel are the special guests on the day, where she will highlight the value of reflective spaces for promoting Mental Wellbeing.
Speaking to Tipp FM Daniel said Majella has always recognised the importance of positive mental health.
“It’s important to have the quiet time too and I know with Majella where she deals very well with her own mental health there are times when I or nobody else can be of any benefit to her.
“You know it’s a very difficult thing to deal with, mental health and Majella obviously on the day will speak a lot better about it than I ever could because I can only understand from the outside. Nobody can quite imagine what it must be like from the inside looking out.”
Daniel also outlined why he and Majella came to be performing the opening.
“We got involved through Fr Martin who we are very friendly with. We had come – Majella and myself – down a while ago to…Edward Hayden did a cookery evening and we were drafted in to help to cook which is not my forte at all but we had a great night and that night raised funds for this eventual opening
It’s nice to be involved in it and I think it’s a lovely idea – anything that’s community based is very important.”
