The Oranmore Community Development Association
The Oranmore Community Development Association (OCDA) is a non-profit organisation that was incorporated as a limited company in 1995, following the merger of Muintir na Tíre, Oranmore Community Council, and the Development Association, who all continued their community work through the 60s, 70s and 80s. The sole objective of the OCDA is to promote the development of all areas of our community in an effort to make Oranmore a better place to live. The company is made up of a Board of Directors who together identify areas of Oranmore that are in need of development, specifically in relation to the provision of adequate facilities to cater for the sporting, recreational and cultural needs of the entire community and surrounding areas. The OCDA takes great pride in the development of the sporting facilities in Oranmore, such as the large astroturf pitch, the two 5-aside 3G cages, as well as the two grass football pitches, which our team works on daily to maintain the highest possible standards we can achieve, as well as the running of the local community magazine, the ‘MORE News which we are always looking to develop and improve into the future.
Any member of the community can become involved, either at board level or by helping by supporting community projects and initiatives the OCDA undertakes. If you are interested in getting involved, please get in touch. For those of you who do not know, our office is located in the centre of the town, on the left-hand side of St Mary’s Old Church, which is also the home to our town library. We also invite any member of the community to get in touch if they have any particular issues or recommendations they would like to discuss.
An example of one of the associations’ projects, is the development and upgrade of the existing playground facilities based in the centre of Oranmore village. There were a number of stages to this project.
- The Oranmore playground was in much need of general maintenance of the existing play units. Parts on the existing frames needed to be replaced as a matter of safety for the children who use the playground on a daily basis.
- We wanted to make the playground more inclusive for children of all physical abilities. We were planning on adding a special chair to one of the existing swings as well as the addition of either an inclusive seesaw or roundabout.
- Access to the existing playground was also something we looked to improve by adding a second entrance and replacing the fencing that was currently in place.
- The safety surface in the playground also needed some general maintenance, with some areas of the flooring suffering from general wear and tear as well as distortions caused by weather over the years. We planned to get bright colours introduced to our Oranmore playground facilities.
