Dundalk Group Players performing 'Joseph' in the Dundalk Shopping Centre.

Dundalk Group Players, under the direction of Tommy Clarke, performed Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat over 40 times in the Town Hall and around the area in 1977.  They also travelled to Ostrava Poruba in Czechoslovakia.  One of the performances in Dundalk took place in the mall of the Dundalk Shopping Centre.

Click here to see the pictures and hear the songs.

Over 250 older people from Louth, Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, Donegal , Armagh, Tyrone and Down have attended a Cross Border Networking Conference in Dundalk, aimed at developing a cross border forum and discussing issues arising out of the peace process, now in its second decade.

The conference, organised by the Louth Older People’s Forum, allowed the various associated groupings share their experience of developing projects and studies for the older community which has played a huge part in Co Louth being include in the World Health Organisation’s ‘age friendly’ cities.

Supported by the European Union’s PEACE III Programme as awarded by the County Louth Peace & Reconciliation Partnership, speakers included Dr Maureen Gaffney, Chair of Louth Age Friendly Alliance; Ms Ann Gill from Cooperation and Working Together (CAWT), Tracy Dunne, Element Design and Ms Mary Deery, Louth County Council

The Conference was chaired by Mr Jim Cousins, Chairperson of the Louth Older Peoples Forum who said he was very impressed by the number of people who attended the event.

“It was great to see so many people taking an interest in Older Peoples groups on both sides of the border. With over 250 attending it was certainly a success beyond what we had originally anticipated.”

He added that the Cross Border Conference had provided a great opportunity to explore the strong possibility of forming a Cross Border Forum.

“There was a very strong representation at the conference from numerous groupings, from Meath to Donegal, and it provided the ideal opportunity to explore plans to form a cross border network.”

Dr Gaffney, who is also Adjunct Professor of Psychology and Society UCD gave a presentation with the very positive title of Aging and development in late adulthood: the best is yet to come?

She explained “Our mission now is to change the debate about aging: to stop seeing it as a problem, a burden, and to start seeing it as an untapped potential in Irish society – and here in the border counties.”

Dr Gaffney added “We need a bold vision, a fresh model of what we mean by healthy aging; and new language about ageing that will inspire that bold vision and will energize what we are attempting. We need nothing less than a new social contract for older people that offers continued income, identity, social connection, and the promise of purpose and meaning in the second half of life.”

In speaking of the work taken on by the Older People’s Forums both North and South of the border, Dr Gaffney highlighted the many achievements and future plans for the Ageing Well Network in Co Louth including its part in a World Health Organisation Conference to be held in Ireland next year. She also paid tribute to the Louth Older People’s Forum, adding “The structure and working of the Forum was agreed by older people themselves and they have set an ambitious agenda of action.”