Published: Wednesday, 21st October, 2009 5:00pm

People of the world unite in Cavan town

Over 100 children from various parts of the world enjoyed the second annual Family Fun Day in the Con Smith Memorial Park on Cathedral Road, Cavan town recently. Organised by the Cavan Multicultural Network it is a novel way for people from different cultures to get to know one and other as well as integrate into the community.

This Family Fun Day is a follow on from the Ice Cream Day, which was held in the same venue last year. Unfortunately, they did not have such a sponsor on this occasion but rather than disappoint everyone members of the network and the local Community Policing Group came together to ensure the show went on.

Garda David Conlon from the Cavan Community Policing Group was one of the organisers of the event and he was delighted with the response. "We had people from many parts of Africa, Poland, Lithuania and Latvia as well as Cavan there on the day," he remarked.

It was held in the children's playground on the Cathedral Road and this proved a real hit for the children.

While the parents were able to mingled and get to know one and other, the children were able to entertain themselves in the playground, he said. Gda Conlon paid tribute to a number of traders in the town for sponsorship including Dunnes Stores, Lidl, SuperValu, and Tommy's Wonderworld. He added that crisps and minerals were provided for children by the Farnham Arms Hotel, the Black Horse Inn and Slieve Rossa.

Gda Conlon was joined by fellow community officers Sergeant Shane Devlin, gardai Declan Moran, Meabh Loughlin, and the leader of the community police Inspector John Dollard. They were also joined by the chairman of the Multicultural Society John McCabe, who is the driving force behind the event, who was also happy with the day.

Mr. McCabe hopes it will become an annual event and that more people will get involved. "There was a large increase in the number of people attending this year, which was good to see." He hopes to stage the event in August or September each year.

"Essentially it is geared towards children and help them get to known one and other a bit better as well as their cultures," he explained.

John got in touch with Gda Conlon a few months ago and they set the wheels in motion. They managed to get a number of people on board and between them organised everything.

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