Who’s Your Local Hero…?

Sponsored by Schnittger Bourne

hen we launched our search five years ago for a local hero who had gone above and beyond for their community, there was an instant reaction.

We had all been through a year of lockdowns, and with our backs up against the wall (indoors, of course), our fighting spirit had come to the fore.

2021’s Local Hero

Whether it was free dinners for frontline workers courtesy of  Chakra and Las Tapas, or those health workers risking everything to save lives, plus the sudden burst of volunteer groups, there were local heroes popping up everywhere.

Because when the going gets tough, the truly hardy people around here roll up their sleeves and do something about it.

Kaci Rock FRI4MAR22

When that second year of lockdowns kicked in though, the clapping for nurses had faded away, as that community spirit began to wither and grate. Isolation will do that to you.

Which is why we felt it was so important to accentuate those positive people trying to make our world a better, happier place.

2023 champs Fiona & Barry

So, we celebrated those who had quietly kept on fighting the good fight, whether it’s health workers such as Mary Finnegan or the ever-ready, evergreen Greystones Cancer Support (who celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2024), Open Door founder Mary Hackett, a Greystones dog’s best friend Bernadette Stokes, the boxing clever Siofra and Tadhg, that gentle giant of an activist Dermod Dwyer, the pioneering Nature’s Gold duo Brod & Caroline, or future leading lights such as the chartbound, gender-busting Ezra, hairless hero Mia agus wunderkind Siena. 

The fact that we’ve lost some of our local heroes over the past five years is all the more reason to honour such people whilst they’re still here.

And new heroes keep popping up each year, including The Cliff Walk Liberation Army (who have been cutting the crap in more ways than one since September), the ever–busy Yvonne O’Neill and the Greystones Town Team, Tiglin founder turned senator, the bould Aubrey McCarthy, and mum-of-three Tracy Holmes, whose brave and brutally honest memoir about her struggles with motherhood is rightly gaining praise far beyond our walls. The Harris lad is doing us proud too…

And we’re blessed to have people such as last year’s champ Gill Gray, double-whammy winners Fiona Roche and Delia Barry, the rockin’ Kaci Rock, and 2021’s winner, Conor Power (who, you know, just saved a life), as well as our Greystones Person Of The Year grandees John McGowan, Pierce Cahill, Ross McParland, the Tidy Towns gang, Joe Sweeney, Edgar Swann and even our longtime nemesis, Alan Rowlette. So, that rules them eleven feckers out for this year’s Local Hero. 

Plainly, there are heroes all around us, and if you feel one of them – or one of the town’s many volunteer groups – deserves a moment in the sun, you can nominate your local hero in the comments below, or you can email right here or text over here.

Sorting out the selfless acts from the selfie acts, let us know just why your favourite Samaritan deserves to be held aloft as they are showered with thanks agus praise.

Speaking of which, special thanks to Stephen, Laura and the very good people at Schnittger Bourne for sponsoring this year’s love-in. We’ll be catching up with the gang shortly.

In the meantime, nominate your own personal hero today, so they can be blessed with the undying love and admiration of 27,000 Greystonians – for anything up to 12 months…