'Now in her 80th year,' dynamic volunteer Jean Nelson steps back in Tipperary

Tipperary Residents Network held their second meeting of the year on Tuesday, May 16.

The gathering was well-attended with representation from 10 local committees, along with Sergeant Shane Thornton, Catriona Crowe (County Council), Paul O’Callaghan (Tipp Tidy Towns) and Teresa Normile (Knockanrawley Resource Centre).

After the meeting, a party was held in honour of outgoing chair Jean Nelson who was stepping down from the role.

Jean is being replaced by Siobhan Landers (West End Residents’ group) while Mary Ryan (Carrowclough Residents Group) has taken over as secretary.

Jean has contributed greatly over the past 25 years and it is only now in her 80th year that she has announced that she will take a step back from her voluntary duties.

Jean was a founding member of the Residents Network back in 2003, leading a community effort against anti-social behaviour and other issues impacting on local residents and the town in general.

Jean says she feels happy to be stepping down after so many years as she now feels the Network is in ‘good shape’.

She became involved in community volunteerism on joining the St. Michael’s Avenue/Marian Terrace Residents Association in 1998.

Under her leadership, the local residents association has advocated for play areas for children, organised numerous events that brought the community together such as carol singing, flower box workshops, installing goal posts, annual fun days and community Masses.

Although she has now retired from the leadership role, Jean will continue to offer support and guidance for new committee members through supporting outreach and shared learning.

Jean spent many years lobbying for a community house in her estate. She highlighted the challenges facing families and children living in St Michael’s Avenue, and in 2008 was allocated funding to run a summer camp for the children. To this day,

Jean continues to highlight the needs of her community.

Most recently she has raised awareness for a targeted drugs initiative for the area due to high levels of drug related deaths amongst young people living in Tipperary Town.

In 2003 when the RAPID project began she was nominated to represent the local residents group on the Area Implementation Team and remained an active and vocal advocate for progress on that interagency group until it disbanded in 2020.

Jean’s great love was her husband Norman who was a great community volunteer in his own right.

For Jean and Norman’s 50th wedding anniversary, the couple asked that those who may want to get them an anniversary gift should instead donate to a fundraiser for the Circle of Friends Cancer Support Centre.

Their generous campaign raised €1,250.

Jean has never been one to be idle and even during the pandemic Jean continued to give of her time and energy and became involved with The Inside Out project under the direction and leadership of Anne Bradshaw.

The project, developed with support from the HSE/South East Disability Service, explored the impact of crime on people with disabilities and on older people in the community.

Her indomitable spirit and unfaltering drive to improve conditions for her community will be sadly missed in both the association and network and by the countless families and communities she has advocated for.