2021 Was Certainly Not All Doom And Gloom...
There were a lot of heartwarming Waterford stories that caught our eye throughout the year and we rounded up the best of the bunch here.
Enjoy!
From Woodstown to Wales: Aoife Ní Niocaill’s football winds up on Welsh beach
In January, an interesting discovery was made in Wales. A Gaelic Football washed up on a beach there, and it came all the way from Waterford!
The weekend before, 10-year-old Aoife Ní Niocaill was on Woodstown beach with her family when her ball floated out to sea. In less than a week it had appeared on Llanrhystud beach in Wales, with Aoife's Dad Ruairi coming across a post about it on social media.
Ruairi spoke to Damien Tiernan on Déise Today, you can read and listen back here.
‘Field of Dreams’ for club and county Deise women soon to be a reality
Waterford Ladies Gaelic Football Association got the good news in January that they will become the first ladies county football team to fully own their own grounds outright in Ireland.
The news came after years of fundraising for an 11-acre site beside the Waterford Greenway, on the edge of Dungarvan at Ballinroad. The field will consist of a state-of-the-art pitch with a pitchside spectator stand, changing rooms, coach and car parks and a full six-lane running track around the perimeter of the pitch.
It's expected that the field will be completed by spring 2023.
Waterford's Gilbert O'Sullivan and Gary Barlow shared a virtual sing song
February brought us the collaboration we didn't know we needed.
Waterford legend Gilbert O'Sullivan teamed up with Gary Barlow for a performance of Gilbert's 1972 hit, 'Alone Again (Naturally)'.
The former Take That Singer posted the video on his Instagram with the caption 'Alone Again (Naturally) ft. Gilbert O'Sullivan. What an honour to have @gilbertosull_ on #TheCroonerSessions today! Love this song… Thanks for coming on, and sharing this wonderful music with us! x'
Watch the sing-song back here.
St Martin's Special School celebrate reopening with Jerusalema dance
Just one of the viral TikTok dances to take the world by storm in 2021 was the Jerusalema challenge. There were a lot of Irish efforts but one Waterford effort really made us smile.
In February, St. Martin’s Special School in Waterford city had its 76 pupils and 73 staff return to in-person classes for the first time since December, and they celebrated by joining in on the viral Jerusalema challenge.
You can watch the video here.
Waterford trainer Henry De Bromhead made history at Cheltenham
Cheltenham 2021 was a historic one!
Not only did Rachael Blackmore become the first woman to be crowned top jockey at the festival, but Waterford's own Henry De Bromhead also broke his own records.
The Knockeen trainer claimed the Gold Cup, the Champion Hurdle and the Champion Chase all in the one outing - something that no other trainer has managed in the long history of the jumps festival.
Speaking to WLR's Nigel Kelly on On The Ball, the ever modest trainer said "to do what we did was just unreal and it’s a testament to everyone working here".
You can read more and listen back to that interview here.
Babies born into De La Salle Club given mini-gear as part of a new initiative
Cuteness overload alert!
In June, De La Salle announced its new De La Salle Babies Initiative, which will see babies born into the Wateford City club being welcomed with a mini GAA jersey.
The club says the De La Salle Babies Initiative aims to develop a sense of togetherness between adult players, juvenile players, parents, non-playing members, former players, supporters and the greater DLS, Gracedieu and Cleaboy communities. The initiative will run for all Club babies born after 1/1/21 and Club members will be able to apply to the Community Committee for a Gift Pack from the DLS GAA website.
Read more and listen to more about it here.
Locals in Rathgormack bought their local
As heartwarming Waterford stories go, this one is definitely up there!
During the summer, the village of Rathgormack went viral when 19 locals decided to pool together to buy their local pub.
They decided to join each other after the pub went up for sale as its closure would have left the village, located right at the foot of the Comeraghs, without a watering hole.
Formally known as Maudie's, the pub and now coffee shop reopened as The Village and is flying it by all accounts!
Waterford was named the Best Place to Live in Ireland!
I mean, of course, we already knew it, but now everyone else does!
In September, Waterford city was officially named the best place to live in Ireland, following a competition run by The Irish Times. The city beat four other locations - Clonakilty, Killarney, Galway city and Glaslough in Co Monaghan to win the title.
Conor Goodman, chair of the Irish Times judging panel, said transport, education, jobs, community spirit and a welcome to newcomers, along with public spaces, architecture and even the covid response were considered by the judging panel.
Read more about why Waterford was named the Best Place to Live in Ireland here.
Sure we're sound out boy!
WLR made history at the IMRO Radio Awards
Okay so yes we had to include it!
In October, WLR became the first local radio station in Ireland to be awarded the title of IMRO ‘Local Radio Station of the Year’ for the third consecutive year.
On the night, WLR was nominated in seven categories and won five awards. The news team, headed up by Julie Smyth with Aoife Kearns, Jordan Norris and Eoghan Dalton won Gold for Local /Regional News Programme for News at 1, Damien Tiernan and Jennifer Long won Silver for Best Local / Regional Current Affairs Show with the award-winning Deise Today. Nigel Kelly won Bronze for Best Sports Story for From Carrick the Champs Elysees. Karen Tomkins won Gold for the second consecutive year for best Short Feature with Big Breakfast Little Stories. There was further celebration for Deise Today's Damien Tiernan who was announced as Speech broadcaster of the year (Local / Regional).
Here's to 4 in a row in 2022!
Ferrybank's Finn won hearts on The Late Late Toy Show
One of our faves from the year!
Lego fanatic Finn Ryan from Ferrybank was a huge hit when he appeared on The Late Late Toy Show in November.
The eight-year-old told Ryan Tubridy that he beat cancer earlier this year, and rang a bell on the hospital ward to herald the end of treatment. After Finn talked us through his lego display, he was brought over to ring a bell on set, this time in front of a global audience of millions!
The icing on the cake came when Ryan Tubridy told him he and his family were going to Legoland.
Here's to a happy and healthy new year to all of our listeners and lots more heartwarming Waterford stories in 2022!
