Picture: Peter O’Toole
More used to doing the heavy lifting on the field with the Kerry footballers, the all-action Paudie Clifford was putting his shoulder to the wheel for another great team this week when he volunteered his services to the Killarney Mountain Meitheal crew.
The outgoing Kerry captain and All-Star nominee swapped his football boots for protective footwear when he lined out with the dedicated volunteers to help clear some of the invasive rhododendron that is threatening large sections of Killarney National Park.
Paudie, who works with Red Chair Recruitment, joined 15 of his company colleagues for what turned out to be a pretty demanding team building exercise but they received great support from more regular volunteers and expert guidance from Meitheal organisers Johnny McGuire, Michael Gleeson and Peter O’Toole.
Johnny McGuire said the Red Chair volunteers made a wonderful contribution and they helped clear the dreaded rhododendron from a large area in the Abbey Wood.
“Our work there is a really numbers game and the more volunteers we have they more work we can get done. They were actually tremendous,” he remarked.
Neil Buckley of Red Chair Recruitment, based in New Street in Killarney, said it was a very rewarding day out and while it was tough going, everybody enjoyed it.
“We didn’t know what to expect but when we heard the work the volunteers were doing there every week, we decided we would lend a hand and we’re glad we did,” he said.
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