Aherlow Ladies Football Club was delighted to have been selected to represent Tipperary in Lidl’s #OneGoodClub Initiative, which is organised in collaboration with Jigsaw, the national centre for youth mental health, and the Ladies Gaelic Football Association (LGFA).  

Aherlow Ladies Football Club is a vibrant club, one that enjoys strong support from the local communities of Aherlow in Tipperary and Galbally in Limerick, with the two halves of the one parish uniting to play Ladies Gaelic Football.  

The national OneGoodClub initiative was developed to encourage positive mental health promotion in the community.

The initiative is based on the Five Ways of Wellbeing: Connect, Get Active, Keep Learning, Take Notice and Give.  Every two weeks, each participant club delivers programmes and projects within their local community under each of the five themes. 

As part of the connect module, Aherlow LGFA encouraged members and the wider community to connect with friends, family and the wider community.  

As our relationships with other people are key to our sense of wellbeing and happiness, people were encouraged to reach out to each other at this very difficult time. The club had a number of exciting initiatives for this module.

These included Get Writing - promoting letter-writing between members and relations and friends, especially to those who may be isolated, as there is a strong evidential link between writing letters, receiving letters and our sense of wellbeing.

Another initiative was Reconnecting with the wider Aherlow and Galbally diaspora worldwide, and seeking their views on their connection with their home place.

Community Jigsaw – building a community jigsaw with families and community groups contributing their views on positive mental health.  

Team-ups – pairing our older and younger teams to connect in group activities; connecting with older, more vulnerable and isolated community members to provide practical support such as shopping; and finally Phone a Friend, where people were encouraged to pick up the phone and call someone they may not have spoken to for a while.

Aherlow LGFA is keen to stress the importance of promoting positive mental health.  “At this time, we all need to look out, to reach out and to support each other,” a  club statement says. By encouraging people across society to practice each of the Five Ways of Wellbeing, Aherlow LGFA aims to create a more supportive environment for young people, community members and the wider society.  

For further information, please visit Aherlow Ladies Football on Facebook or aherlow_lgfa on Instagram.