Volunteer Group History

Monageer Parish Grotto Group was formed in May 2004 with the first meeting taking place on the grounds of the grotto. Only four people showed up on that first night but this did not deter the group who were determined to tidy up the overgrown areas around the shrine, car park and entrances. It was agreed that they would meet each Monday night for the months of May to September, from 7 to 9.30. Over the following weeks and months the number of volunteers steadily grew.

Having an official name for the group enabled them to register with Wexford County Council and for them to avail of help and grants that were available through their various environmental schemes. In fact, in November 2004 the work completed by the volunteers was rewarded when they won 2^nd prize under the heading ‘Best Community Environment Initiative’ in the ‘Keep Wexford Beautiful Competition’. This relationship which started in 2004 with Wexford County Council has blossomed and continues to this very day.

Throughout the years the grotto group have been actively involved in organizing and facilitating various training days with other organizations. These include: –

• Monageer FÁS Community Scheme teaching their workers about horticulture. In preparing the ground and planting shrubs. The border at the ‘light’ in the car park came from these training days.
• Wexford County Council delivered a training day on master composting for groups from the north Wexford area. The compost bays made from pallets resulted from this.
• Stop Food Waste Ireland introduced ‘tiger worms’ to the grotto when delivering a talk on biodiversity and how food waste can be used in a wormery. As a result of this training a wormery box is now installed on the grotto grounds.
• The National Parks and Wildlife Service (Wicklow) have given a number of talks in the grotto on the different species of bats in Ireland and in particular on the two species that can be seen in the grotto.

With the 50^th Anniversary of the dedication of the grotto looming it was decided that the occasion should be marked in a fitting manner. The grotto committee put a plan in place and drafted in many more local volunteers to help out. A looped pathway through the upper level of the grotto, now known as the William O’Brien Walk and a small woodland play area were made. These were in place when the 50^th Anniversary was celebrated on 31^st May 2015 and both were officially opened by Bishop Denis Brennan.

After the success of this project and spirits of all volunteers lifted greater plans were then put in place to develop a sensory path with work starting in October 2015. It was decided that Monday nights for the summer months weren’t going to be enough. So, Saturday mornings at the grotto became the norm! As the Grotto and the Woodland Walk’s popularity grew, and plans for the sensory path became known, the number of volunteers grew in abundance, and working in the grotto has now become more of a pleasure than a chore for all involved.