During last weekend in September, the Cork Diocesan Youth Council took a group of young people to Muckross Youth Venture Centre in Killarney. Diocesan Youth Officer Hilda Connolly writes:

Normally around this time of year, CDYC boards the ferry off Baltimore for a weekend on Cape Clear. As accommodation is no longer available for the size of the group on the island, it was back to the drawing board for the youth council. Instead of boarding a boat, young people from Carrigaline, Cork, Carrigrohane, Fanlobbus, Kilgarriffe, Abbeystrewry, Crosshaven and Bandon boarded a bus bound for County Kerry instead and headed to the Muckross Youth Venture Centre for the weekend.

On Saturday, the group made their way along parts of the Gap of Dunloe as far as Lord Brandon’s cottage and then had a boat trip to Muckross Gardens, where the café made a fortune, and the gardens got a good run around. After running off a good bit of energy, the group made their way back to the hostel to meet the Rev. Terry Mitchell for the first time. They had the opportunity to chat with him and they had dinner together before he headed back to Schull.

An evening of quizzes and games, especially the good old reliable card games, took over with plenty of noise and laughter. On Sunday morning, the group went to St. Mary’s Church in Killarney where the Ven. Lumby was expecting them. The congregation and Ven. Lumby made everyone feel very welcome and even put on a spread of tea and cake for the group before they had to hop on the bus once more to get back home, sugared up and ready for their mums!