Davitt College

Congo Veteran visits Davitt College Castlebar

The Leaving Certificate pupils studying LCVP at Davitt College Castlebar were delighted to welcome Capt Noel Carey (Retd) to their LCVP class recently. Mr Carey was on a visit to the west of Ireland from Cork where he resides with his wife Angela.
Noel Carey (74 yrs) gave an inspiring talk to the Leaving Certificate pupils. He told them of his life experiences. He served with the Defence Forces Ireland in the 1960’s, which brought him as a young Lieutenant to Katanga in the Congo in 1961 as part of a United Nations Mission. Here, along with the other 120 men in ‘A ‘Company from the Western Command, they fought at the battle of Jadotville and were taken prisoner for a number of weeks. There are many books written about the experiences of these great men at the Siege of Jadotville in Katanga.
Noel retired from the Defence Forces in 1970’s and took up another post with Waterford Crystal managing their sports facility. Upon retirement from Waterford Crystal, Noel became very involved in his community in Blarney Co Cork. He began to work closely with the ‘Go for Life’ Project in Cork City, having weekly meetings with retirement groups, encouraging all participants to get active and become active in their respective communities.

Noel spoke from the heart; he spoke of ageism, where at times the elderly are voiceless and deemed ‘past it’. He encouraged the pupils to respect the elderly who live around them and to help them whenever possible. He spoke of the importance of having grandparents, of respecting and valuing grandparents and seeing them as true contributors to society. Noel spoke about the real problem of loneliness among the elderly and he encouraged pupils to check in on elderly relations and neighbours regularly.
The theme of voluntary work in the local community was also discussed. Noel praised young people for their willingness in today’s economic climate to give of their time in organisations such as St Vincent De Paul, The Samaritans. He encouraged all pupils to get active in their local communities in a voluntary capacity, telling them that each individual has his or her own talents that could be put towards a worthy project
Most recently, Noel has just completed a degree Course in Community Education and Development at the Cork Institute of Technology. He based his thesis on the role of the elderly in Irish Society. He took great interest in particular in the role of the retired man in society and found that it is mostly the retired woman who will get out and about in retirement, joining clubs and giving something back to their communities. Retired Irish males are less likely to get involved in their local communities or join active retirement groups.
Noels speech was an inspiration to all present. What a wonderful privilege to hear the stories of his life journeys. Noel finished his talk telling all pupils that there is a path for us all in life, he encouraged them to work hard and he wished them all a bright future.