'Helping each other will get us through"

When the recession started to hit home with a vengeance last autumn, many were caught unawares. They were left startled and wide-eyed in the glare of the rapid slowdown. Celine Byrne felt that she had already been there, done that. She had been through her own recession a few years previously when, forced by circumstance, she and her husband Gerry had to go through the 'traumatic' experience of having to sell their house in Ratoath and move to temporary location elsewhere in Meath. Both had been hit by illness and eventually had to give up their jobs, forcing a reshuffle of their resources. After a spell in rented accommodation, Celine and Gerry, along with their two daughters, purchased a smaller dwelling in Dunsany, an old cottage with a big garden they have steadily worked on modernising over the past four years.  And it is from their new home that the Byrnes are making a concerted effort to hit back against the ravages of what has been described as the worst slowdown since the Depression of the 1930s. Last weekend, the Byrnes held a charity fund-raiser in their home. The event included an art exhibition, a book fair and an antique furniture raffle. There was a cake sale and those who showed up had an opportunity to have a bite to eat and a cup of tea in the family"s considerable garden. The aim was to raise funds for the Alzheimer Society in Meath which has been subjected to what Celine Byrne regards as swingeing cutbacks. With her mother-in-law an Alzheimer"s patient, Byrne is fully aware of the role the society plays in helping families. She believes that if local communities can knit together, then people can ameliorate the worst ravages of the recession on the kind of services provided by the Alzheimer Society in Navan. Byrne - who worked as a tutor with the National Coaching & Training Centre (NCTC) at Limerick University - looks upon the recession as something to be confronted head-on. One way of doing just that, she believes, is by the local community coming together. 'If the local communities don"t support each other, the recession is going to take everybody down,' she asserts. 'Everybody has little things in life that shakes them up as they go along. It was the stress of my husband being ill that made me ill. We had to sell our house, that"s why we bought this cottage; we had to move on and buy a smaller place and, over time, we have come back. Our work on restoring the cottage has helped us to heal. As our health has improved, so has our house,' she adds with a smile. She says that having to move from their house at a time when many people were enjoying the full fruits of the Celtic Tiger was not something she or her family found easy. Originally from Dublin, the Byrnes had moved to Meath 10 years ago. They saw it as an opportunity for themselves to get a taste of 'the good life'. Then the dream started to unravel when illness struck. Suddenly, they had to re-appraise their lives and look at another way. 'Everybody has their own little recession going on in their own lives, it"s not just an international recession. I think we can compare it to getting over a bereavement, it"s about moving on and this is what we have to do in this recession, move on and all pull together.' She says her family has benefited first hand by members of the local community helping out and now it"s time to give something back. She recalls the time when her family were moving house and, to save on hiring a removals truck, neighbours came around and loaded pieces of furniture in their cars and brought them to the family"s new, if temporary, home. 'The community spirit in Meath is unbelievable; and that"s why I"m hoping the community will come out and try and support what we are trying to do by raising funds for the Alzheimer Society,' she added. 'All I know we were very isolated, we had only moved out when both of us got ill and eventually had to give up our jobs; the neighbours just came from everywhere and just rallied around.' While Byrne doesn"t want to be portrayed as a Florence Nightingale-type figure, it is difficult to avoid the comparison. By accident more than design, the Byrnes have fallen into the practice of buying pieces of furniture at various sales and house auctions and passing them on to people who have known better times. As part of her job as a tutor with the NCTC, Byrne worked with the Meath Sports Partnership. She also spent two years as a coach to the Ireland u-20 basketball team. She brought the basketball players to schools to highlight the lessons to be learned from sport in taking a hit and bouncing back from adversity. 'We wanted to make everything tangible, the kids could watch the players train and stand beside them. We were trying to tell the tale that whatever you are, whatever you do, you should always try to strive for your goals.' She is concerned, though, about the effects the recession may have on some young people who, inexperienced in the ways of a world and buffeted by the chill economic winds, may find it hard to adapt. For older people who have seen it all before, it will not be so difficult. The important thing to remember, she says, is that the hard times can be worked through. 'Don"t panic" is the message. 'We"re not known as the fighting Irish for nothing,' she adds with a laugh. Readers who wish to make a contribution to the Alzheimer Society of Ireland can contact Celine Byrne on (086) 066 5315.