Meath Garda Youth Awards

Community Safety Award - Ashbourne Community School

The Meath Garda Youth Awards, sponsored by Centra, recognise the very positive contribution young people make in their communities and are about shining a light on their good works.

An Garda Siochana recognise that a lot of good work is being done by young people in every community throughout county Meath, and that we as a society should be very proud of them.

Community Safety Award - #and she cycles, Ashbourne Community School

Winners of the Community Safety Award were Mollie White, Laura Bolster, and Aoife White, who attend Ashbourne Community School.

An Taisce launched the #and she cycles campaign in December 2020, recruiting 27 girls across the country to challenge why only one in every 250 teenage girls cycle to school every day in Ireland.

Laura, Mollie and Aoife are the Meath representatives. Despite being serious athletes and working remotely throughout the last two school years, these young ladies have had an impressive list of achievements to date.

These achievements include initiating a cycling awareness campaign using face to face and virtual means. They also set out cycle to school routes with an emphasis on safety whilst liaising with Meath County Councils Executive engineer. They designed and painted a mural on a wall in the school grounds to empower young girls within the school community. They have also organised and participated in a photoshoot at school for student cyclists, focusing on the health, social, safety and most importantly fun aspects of cycling. They managed to negotiate and obtained bicycle parking facilities and lockers to store safety equipment for those who wish to cycle to school.

Laura, Mollie and Aoife were also invited to speak at the #andshecycles network gathering which took place in April 2021.

Mollie, Aoife and Laura where also interviewed on RTE2’s News2Day in June to discuss their roles as ambassadors for the campaign.

These initiatives have already succeeded in increasing the number of girls who cycle to Ashbourne Community School on a daily basis. Their endeavours have raised awareness around safety, health and social aspects of cycling.

We look forward to seeing the lasting impact these young ladies have had within the school in the years ahead.

It is very evident their personalities, engagement and commitment has initiated a vital role within the community.

Mollie, Aoife and Laura, where nominated by their year head, Pat Moriarty and TY co-ordinator and mentor, Irene Hughes.