Building communities
Independent People - Bernadette O'Shea
Bernadette O'Shea pictured at her office in Athlone.
Bernadette O'Shea hadn't even heard of Athlone until about a decade ago, but the Placement Officer with Westmeath Volunteer Centre who is based in Athlone loves both her job and the town she works from so much she had no intention of changing her lot anytime soon.
"I was born in London of Irish parents," Bernadette explains. With a father from Kerry and a mother from Derry, Bernadette laughs that she and her sisters were typical children of Irish parents living in an Irish community in London and were possibly more Irish than the Irish themselves. "We were wrapped in the Kerry flag as soon as we were born," she laughs, adding that summer holidays every year unsurprisingly brought the family back to Kerry.
Like her sisters, Bernadette became a teacher and up until 2001 taught Business Information Technology to graduate and postgraduate students in the University of Westminster in Central London.
Bernadette's move to Athlone began with her taking a sabbatical from her job back in 2001. One immersion in Irish life later and she just never went back!
After first moving to Fermanagh, she ended up back in the working community without really planning to be.
"I didn't mean to work, but I got a job in Enniskillen in the Clinton Peace Centre in Community Development," she explains. After eighteen months working and living in Northern Ireland she came to a decision: she didn't want to return to London, she wanted to stay in Ireland but she wanted to move away from Northern Ireland.
Fate struck next when Bernadette was on her way to Galway to interview for a position at the university there. "I was driving from Dublin and saw signs for Athenry," she explains. "Don't laugh because it's true: my dad loved the song but I didn't think the place was real!" Coming back from her interview she decided to stop off in Athenry to have a look. "I knew I didn't want to live in a city again," she says. "I thought Athenry was nice, so I got the local paper and saw a job in Community Development." Bernadette successfully argued her case in her interview and got the job. She stayed in Athenry, the town she moved to after seeing its name on a road sign, for two years and after meeting her partner built a house with him in closeby Monivea.
During Bernadette's time in Athenry her Irish parents moved home from London to Ireland, and set up home in Galway, while her sister Maureen also bought a house on Valentia Island. Tragically, her dad fell and died just three months after returning to Ireland, and so Bernadette and her mother moved down to Kerry, where Bernadette got a job with the South Kerry Partnership.
The economy intervened shortly afterwards, when two years later she had to move back to Galway as the family home there hadn't sold. Bernadette says however she was happy to move back, and indeed Kerry's loss turned out to be Athlone's gain.
Living in east Galway, Bernadette looked east for a job thanks to Galway's traffic. Conveniently, the job Bernadette now holds - Placement Officer with Westmeath Volunteer Centre - came up at just the right time. At the time however she debated not going to the interview. "The job for the volunteer centre came up and the interview was in Mullingar," she says.
"I actually wasn't going to go to the interview because I didn't know where Mullingar was!" After good sense made her go to the interview she met the manager of the volunteer centre, got on well with him and the rest, as they say, is history.
Coming from a pensionable and permanent job in London, working in community development with its one year contracts is a big difference for Bernadette.
However having never been out of work since coming to Ireland it's a career move Bernadette has never regretted.
"I'm totally happy," she says. "This quality of life is very different for me. I was working in central London and commuting. I was teaching at a high level.
This life is much more quality."
After four years of hard work, she says Westmeath Volunteer Centre is now well-known and thriving. The organisation, under the umbrella of Westmeath Community Development, promotes active citizenship and is one of 22 similar organisations around the country. Currently, she says they have over 1,300 volunteers on their database, ranging from age twelve at the lower end of the scale to age 82 at the higher end.
"We have all sorts of people from all different backgrounds" she says. "People volunteer for many different reasons. It may be to give something back, it may be for work experience."
Dealing with Athlone and South Westmeath, Bernadette's job is to place suitable volunteers with organisations looking to involve volunteers.
"In essence we're like a recruitment agency. I'm a recruitment consultant," she says.
"I love the job," she adds.
"I love meeting all the different people. It's very rewarding."
The link that matches potential volunteers to the right role in a variety of different organisations, Bernadette says her years of experience are worth their weight in gold.
"I've got so many stories of people who have applied for a particular role and when I've met them we've matched them up to something totally different," she says.
Whatever happens, happy volunteers in happy organisations means a happy Bernadette. "I have a lovely touchy-feely job," she laughs.
In her job Bernadette also offers organisations volunteer management training, something she says is vital. "It's just like running a small business," she says. "They need to know how to manage their volunteers, just like a company."
As for why people should offer their services with no exchange of money, Bernadette says it's a feel good thing particularly during this year, the European Year of Volunteering. "It's a wellbeing thing, particularly in the current climate," she says.
"And it's a great way of networking. I've seen it change people's lives. It really does make a difference."
And what of the people of the town she works in? Well, Bernadette loves them too, but is also happy to live outside it. "There's a community spirit that I never felt in London," she says, adding that the people of Westmeath - and Athlone in particular - have been very good to her.
"It's actually quite nice not coming from Athlone though," she laughs, "because I've got no baggage and I don't know everyone else's baggage!"
Any organisations who would like to involve volunteers or potential volunteers can get in touch with Bernadette on 086 0433985 or log on to www.volunteerwestmeath.ie.
