Operation Keep Well for the new year

Cavan will be buzzing with activity for the next six weeks as a council led initiative aims to get people engaged in a range of activities from Tai Chi to walking, running, badminton and a range of other sports.

Cavan’s ‘Operation Keep Well’ is encouraging people to get active and keep well. This project is part of a Government campaign and will provide activities suitable for all levels with something for everyone.

Cavan Sports Partnership will host a six-week activity programme at 10 locations across the county, commencing from last Monday (January 10).

Sports Development Officer with Cavan County Council, Áine O’Reilly, explained the idea behind the scheme: “It’s a rebranding of the Community Transformation campaign. We’ve been running it for around seven years now, alongside Operation Transformation. It’s to encourage communities to get active. It runs over a six week period, in parallel with the airing of Operation Transformation,” she tells.

Last week it was announced that Cavan County Council, through Healthy Cavan and Cavan Sports Partnership, will partner with Operation Transformation this year. The studio hub will be located in Mullagh, and the Ad Break Challenge with Karl Henry takes place at locations across the county.

“Mullagh is the newest sports activity hub in the county,” Áine explained. “They have great facilities up there. It’s great to have the publicity, and more importantly to have the members of the public in Mullagh who are supporting it.”

Those who sign up for the virtual challenge will receive a wall planner and a weekly email with daily fun challenges and ideas to get active and encourage them to Keep Well and active.

Áine said the plan is to get as many people as possible involved: “This is a fun and inclusive challenge suitable for all ages and abilities, great for the family to take part together. We have also have virtual programmes as well as the 10 communities taking part in physical programmes.”

Those participants are: Belturbet Sports and Activity Hub; Cavan Town Transformation; Denn Running Club; Gowna GAA; Kilnaleck Activity Hub; Lacken GAA; Mullahoran Keep Well; Mullagh Activity Hub; Shercock Regional Sports Centre; and Templeport St Aidan’s GAA.

Subsidised classes

In keeping with the goal of promoting access for everybody to physical and mental health supports is the provision of subsidised exercise classes. For the next six weeks classes in Tai Chi, Body Circuits, Yoga and Pilates will all be available.

“It’s a opportunity to try out things at a very minimal cost,” Áine says of the classes, “It’s good to provide tutors. It’s to target all different age groups and all different abilities. We hope that by running it at the start of the year, it will encourage people to adopt a healthy lifestyle and get into a routine of physical fitness. It is a good kick-start for people.”

Details of all the classes available under the programme are available on the Cavan Sports Partnership website, on the Cavan County Council website and on the Facebook pages of all the community hubs.