Angela McGrath is Lions Club Cashel 'Person of the Year'

Angela McGrath of Spafield Crescent, Cashel is Cashel Person of the Year for 2019.

She was selected for the honour by an adjudication panel and presented with her award by Eddie Morrissey, President, Cashel Lions Club at a ceremony in Halla na Feile last Friday evening.

She is the thirty-third person to receive the award since it was inaugurated by the Lions Club in 1987.

The award honours the person in Cashel and District who, in the eyes of the adjudicators, contributed significantly to the life of the community during the previous year in any capacity, and Angela McGrath has been doing that not only during 2018 but for a significant number of years before that.

Reuniting Pets Cashel: She started off over ten years ago with an initiative Reuniting Pets Cashel, which was a kind of bridge between owners of lost pets and the local pound. She worked closely with John O’Neill, the dog warden, whose job is to collect stray dogs, keep them in the pound in Ballyclerihan for five days after which they must be claimed or put down. In many cases owners have found out about their lost pets when it is too late and it can be a heart-broken situation for them.

Angela’s aim was to locate the dog and the owner before it gets to the pound. If the owner contacts her she not only puts a picture of the animal on Facebook but goes looking for the dog. She can sometimes be found in the strangest of places looking for dogs or cats! If she finds a stray dog and if it is microchipped, she will identify it and reunite it with its owner. Of course this involves taking the lost animal to her home and looking after it until it is claimed.

From an early age Angela has had this love of animals. She remembers when she was a young child in McCann Street looking after as many as eight pubs at the one time!

Cashel Feral Cat Project: Angela’s second activity is the Cashel Feral Cat Project. This is an effort to control the increase in the cat population which can get out of hand very quickly. Did you know that cats can produce kittens every three months? A person gets a pet cat and is delighted until he/she realises after six months that the one pet has six or eight or more companions!

The Feral Cat Project aims to have stray cats neutered or spayed to keep the population from increasing and multiplying. And, this isn’t a cheap process since it costs €75 to have a cat spayed or €50 to have one neutered.

Angela is grateful to the local vets for accommodating her needs. Interestingly cats that have been neutered or spayed have their left ear tipped so that finders will know.

Fund-raising: these projects are completely voluntary as is all the work that Anglea, and her very good helper, Michelle O’Dwyer does. There is no public funding for what they do. Cashel Feral Cats Project raises its funds through car boot sales. They have a selection of posters, beautifully designed and produced by Lion Print, and Angela is very grateful to the company, and particularly Chris, for their help.

The posters request people to donate any unwanted items such as toys, clothes, books, household items, etc, that are in good, sellable condition to help raise money for Cashel’s feral cats. Anyone who would like to contribute in any way to Angela’s project can contact her at 087-9964500.

Angela is also involved with the Cashel Pantomine Committee, the Cashel Rocks Festival and the Cashel Arts Fest.