ONE hundred and forty volunteers and invited guests attended the RDA Ireland national conference on April 9th at the Bloomfield House Hotel in Mullingar, Co Westmeath The event also celebrated 50 years of volunteering, the first groups having started up in early 1969 in Cork and Malahide. Guest speakers on the day were Terri Brosnan of Child Vision in Drumcondra, and William Micklem. The Irish Field editor Leo Powell also attended and reported that he was hugely inspired by the day.

Participants heard stories about “What RDAI means to me” from mother and daughter, Miriam Moore and Ally Bunbury, who volunteer with groups in Monaghan and Carlow; from Josephine O’Reilly who is a carriage driver with the Rathdown Group in Bray, and from Ciaran, James and Christina, three incredible children from the REACH Class in St. Joseph’s School, who ride with the Mullingar Group.