The individual winner of the seventeenth annual Margaret Wilson awards was hotelier and community activist Joe Mahon.

Over 150 people came together on Friday night in Mahon’s Hotel to celebrate the awards which recognise the spirit of volunteering in the Irvinestown area.
The group award was given to the young summer scheme volunteers whose hard work and dedication ensured that the ARC Healthy Living Centre’s summer scheme was possible last summer.

Irvinestown Community Partnership annually celebrates the spirit of volunteering locally and the award is a living tribute to the late Margaret Wilson, the visionary behind the concept of the community partnership. 
Nine voluntary groups and seven individuals were nominated this year, all of whom have been described as “unsung heroes.”

“It’s nice to get it and it’s nice to be recognised,” Mr. Mahon told The Impartial Reporter this week. The judges presented Mr. Mahon with the Margaret Wilson Perpetual Award for outstanding voluntary endeavour because of his 30-year involvement in the annual Lady of the Lake Festival, the biggest cross community festival held in Northern Ireland. They also noted how he has raised over £600,000 for Marie Curie Charity through the Irvinestown Truck Run, and mentioned his involvement in Children in Need and The Special Olympics. Mr. Mahon’s daily interactions with the elderly, adults with special needs and people who are lonely were also praised.

Mr. Mahon was nominated by the Drama Group, who were hugely impressed by his “incredible work ethic” and described him as a “dynamo.”
“You do your best for the town to keep it on the map,” said Mr. Mahon. “I was a bit shocked when I heard my name called out. I was lost for words and I forgot to thank the festival committee. The committee are all volunteers and I am collecting this award on behalf of them all.”

His father Vincent set up the Lady of the Lake Festival in 1976. When Vincent died in 1979, Mrs. Mahon took it over, before Joe took charge in the eighties.
“It’s becoming harder to get funding. The Council don’t seem to recognise that there’s life outside Enniskillen, but we will struggle on,” said Mr. Mahon. “The main thing is to get people to come to the town and that will help all the other businesses.

“Mahon’s has been in Irvinestown for 133 years. I was born and brought up in the hotel. People say it’s hard work but, for me, Mahon’s is a way of life.”

Jenny Irvine, Chief Executive of the ARC Healthy Living Centre which runs the Margaret Wilson awards, said: “Joe is best known for his long association with the Lady of the Lake Festival Committee, where he diligently serves as a committee member, Chairperson and currently Vice Chairperson. The Festival is a celebration of community cohesion. Northern Ireland was a place of conflict and division 37 years ago but local people like Joe realised that unless the community came together to promote collective celebrations, it was at risk of being torn apart by differences, perceived or actual. It took brave and dedicated people to have the courage and vision to plan for a shared future. 
“We in Irvinestown are very blessed to have had such people. Irvinestown is heralded as an exemplar of positive community relations. We owe the festival committee and Joe a huge debt of gratitude for that.”

For the past 30 years, during the Lady of the Lake Festival, “Joe has served both with energy, enthusiasm, and follow-through [and] can be found out front promoting the town, or behind the scene, driving a forklift moving a portaloo for an event; no job is beyond him and no job is beneath him,” added Ms. Irvine.
“Joe has well and truly put Irvinestown on the map. His ability to generate publicity for the town is unparalleled, be it sheep dung spitting or turkey throwing, no idea is too bizarre and whilst many may laugh it undoubtedly portrays Irvinestown as a welcome, inclusive, good humoured town, and it draws people in,” she said.

Ms. Irvine concluded by describing Mr. Mahon as “an excellent ambassador for Irvinestown, Fermanagh and indeed Northern Ireland.”

Commending the young summer scheme volunteers who contributed 2,140 voluntary hours over the six weeks of summer 2016, Ms. Irvine said: “Eighty per cent of our young volunteers had actually been children on the summer scheme themselves and they are now giving freely of their time to deliver happy childhood memories for the next generation. It is very impressive. Engaged and active young people are the life blood of any community. These young volunteers are vital in ensuring that the ARC summer scheme continues apace and continues to help shape the young people who will take our town forward in the coming years.”

The local community partnership also made presentations to Patsy and Carmel of Irvinestown Post office and Raymond and Iris McBrien who ran the Nisa shops on their recent retirements.
A group of very special individuals also received recognition during the awards ceremony.

The parents of Tilly Walker and Finn Gillen – young children from Irvinestown who lost their lives to cancer in the past year – were praised for their fund-raising efforts for local charities. 

Ms. Irvine explained: “It was a chance for the community to acknowledge their suffering and say: ‘We are here for you’.”