She'll crease you up!

Carol, I have been told that you once played cricket for Ireland for women. Yes, many years ago. What team were you with? Clooney ladies. Right. How did you get into cricket? Was it in the family? Very much so. When I was born I was taken to the cricket field out in Brigade Cricket Club. Right. Was that by your dad? My mother made the teas for the Club for the cricketers and we were all taken out. There were six of us: my four brothers and my sister and me always went to Brigade Cricket Club every Saturday. What age did you first lift a bat? Oh...I must have played from I was 12. Really? Yes, 12 years of age for the ladies team. Clooney ladies. What was your highest score or proudest moment? My proudest moment was playing for the North West in Brigade, I think I got up in the 80s with a girl called Evelyn Finlay. There was quite a lot of ladies teams on as well at that time, you know? Can you remember what was your score? It was in the 80s. Up in the 80s? Right! I know your friends tell me you are still a big fan of cricket and that you went to Dubai? Yes, my brother is the manager of the Irish Cricket Team. Right...what's his name. Roy Torrens. He had been out for five weeks and Ireland were doing well in the competition they were in, and he came up one day and he said to me and he said 'Joan's coming out for a week' and I said I'd love to go and he said 'Why don't you?' So within a couple of hours I was booked to go to Dubai for the week and Ireland got through to the last eight in the World Cup Series. When was this? In February. And we had a fantastic week! Five days of cricket out of the seven... I suppose it was wall-to-wall sunshine too, was it? It was! But you couldn't sit in it. Really? Too hot? Yes. Now, I know you are very heavily involved in community and not just in cricket. You are the project development officer for the North South Cross-Community Project. Yes. What do they do? I am employed by the Westgate Foundation in Ballincollig, Co Cork, and I'm employed to build relations between Catholics and Protestants all over the north and I would have what you would call leaders in various areas within that and in Derry/Londonderry, and I have two co-ordinators working under me. Mildred Garfield would be the co-ordinator for the Derry/Londonderry North West and Betty Rice would be the co-ordinator in Belfast. Now, we bring people down to Cork and Mornington on exchanges. Catholics and Protestants travel together and go down for a week's holiday and hopefully, when they come back, they come back as friends. OK. It is amazing how many people meet each other for the first time in years. They have worked together in the factories and then they were separated when some came to the Waterside to live, and others came from the Cityside, and they have met on the trips and their friendship has been rekindled. So they have lived in the same City but haven't spoken in years? Yes, that's it. So it is all very worthwhile. Amazing. I know you are also the vice-chairwoman of Caw Nelson Drive Action Group... Yes. Obviously then you value community and community work? Very much so. I think it was 14 years ago that I worked for the Churches Trust and they brought me out to Nelson Drive 14 years ago and started up a community house; it was known as the Caw 2000 Community House. I worked there for about 10 years and then I left and thought I had retired from community development in Nelson Drive, but then I got involved in the Caw/Nelson Drive Action Group and I'm working with them now and I am loving every minute of it. What do you see is the value of the work you do in communities like Caw and Nelson Drive? It is in trying to get communities together and trying to get them involved in trying to improve their daily lives. There was one lady I remember when I came here at the start and she never came out of the house. She sat in the house all the time and we opened the community house and had about 14 senior citizens come to the Senior Citizen's Club and they went over and knocked at her door and said 'Come over til ye see what's happening.' She came over and from that day to this she never sits down. She's 101 now, so she was in her 90s and she had gone on all our bus runs, she plays bowls, everything. Basically, she has a new life... She has a whole new life, yes. What do you feel about the provision or lack of it for older and retired people - what would you like to see? Well, there is quite a lot for older people, it is just getting them motivated. Do you think home folk give up when they retire? Yep, some of them do, some of them do and it is sad to see it. There are lunches in Nelson Drive and you'll get 24 people in an estate this size going for their lunch. It is not only their lunch, they are getting to meet people. Right enough. You are connecting people. We are getting them out and enjoying life. Do you work with young people? I don't. I would be an over 50s community worker. I hear you cut a dash on the dance floor...is that true? Oh, I love my line dancing! What group are you a member of? I'm not actually a member of a group, but I would go down to Tullyally and do line dancing down there, but I run holidays for senior citizens to Mornington, this is thorough my work, and to Cork . Now this year we have over two weeks in Mornington and 125 people,and I am taking 67 people to Cork for a week. There is 52 going on a bus from here and the rest are going by train from Belfast. Fabulous. They are picked up then in Cork and we have a week down in Cork. Cork's not safe! No! We are having entertainment, trips to Killarney, Kinsale and the people down there are fabulous... What's the value of taking people away? It gives people a greater freedom, but years ago it was to give them peace of mind too, when they were away out of the Trubles. But now we don't have that, so it is for laughter and friendship and the crack. You look like a person who really enjoys what they do... I really, really enjoy my work. I really do.