At Home:
ASH2020 will largely be driven by the energy of our Community Groups, and in this regard our Town is well-placed to succeed. We can claim to have over 70 Community Groups. This is an understatement, out of date as soon as it is written, as the numbers grows by the week.
This is a summary of the Community Groups currently on our database – we know that it is already out of date. It is presented in order by Stream Team:
Stream Team | Groups involved |
History | Ashbourne Historical Society |
Landscape and Environment | Tidy Towns, Playspaces, Broadmeadow River Group, 12+ Residents Associations |
Community | Library, Youth Café, Community Centre, Lion’s Club, Men’s Shed, Parish, First responders, Community Initiative, ICA, Book Clubs, Craft group, Outreach. Senior Citizens, Prosper. |
Next Generations | Seven schools, Playspaces, Children’s Science Museum, Seven Scouts, Guides, Brownies, Ladybirds, Cubs groups |
Sport | 21 Sports Clubs |
Commercial | Ashbourne Chamber of Commerce + Subgroups, Meath Chambers |
Cultural | Trad Ash Group, Church Choir, Library Music Group, Comhaltas Ceolteori, COFT Choir, Meath Co Co Choir, Panto Group, BOACC-Living History, Three Drama Groups, Set Dancing Groups |
The Ashbourne Diaspora:
During the nineties and noughties, a wave of emigration saw many young people leave in search of work and sometimes adventure. Some returned, and some settled abroad, mainly in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Europe, the USA and Canada. In fact, quite a sizable percentage remain abroad. Most of this latter-day diaspora maintains close connections with home and with each other. It is appropriate that they participate in ASH2020, and to this end, we are building a network using Social Media which will allow them to participate as fully as is practical. Possible events which might emerge from this project would be a ‘Gathering’ style ‘Expats Week/Weekend/Day’, where the shape of the celebrations would be determined by the participants themselves. We are in the process of establishing a network of persons raised in Ashbourne, but now living temporarily or permanently abroad,