I headed off for the heart of Ireland last Friday night. My work has taken me to every county in Ireland and I can recall recording interviews and reporting from all 32 counties. But I had never before heard of a place called Moore in Co Roscommon.

Moore is a small parish nested tightly into that jutting part of the county between Galway and Offaly. It is probably in the dead centre of the country. After Christmas, I received an email from Laura Tully, a nurse in Athlone.

She had this plan to get farmers fit and she was starting by gathering a group of unfit farmers from around Moore, where she grew up. A big ask. Men, let alone rural male farmers, are not the type who Google “pilates” or run marathons. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure there are many farmers who do pilates and run marathons but in the majority, farmers as a group would not be noted for being active and healthy. I remember one survey carried out a couple of years ago made for shocking reading when it came to farmers health.

The details of the Farmers have hearts report published by Margaret Hawkins in this paper revealed that 80% of them who went for health checks in their local mart had problems meriting advice to see their GP.

Five 20kg bags of calf nuts were brought on stage in Moore community hall to illustrate the combined weightloss of the men over the six weeks

It is the sort of statistic which motivated Laura Tully to pilot “Fit Farmers” off her own bat. She sent out the call and ended up with 25 local farmers from around Moore, all men and all willing to give the six week course a go.

Last Friday night, five 20kg bags of calf nuts were brought on stage in Moore community hall to illustrate the combined weightloss of the men over the six weeks.

They underwent a strenuous but reportedly enjoyable, sociable and energetic course of exercise and better diet devised by Laura and her team leaving the 25 men of all ages looking and feeling good. Farming can be a lonely and stressful life and it is fair to assume that farmers by nature worry more about the wellbeing of their animals than they do about themselves.

I’d venture the notion that there are few who pay their GP more than their local vet pro rata in any given year. It is something which bugged Laura Tully to the point of engineering this bespoke Operation Transformation-style course aimed pointedly at male farmers. Could it be something which takes off all over the country?

Alongside the farmers, there were over 100 other locals who are members of Laura’s “Moore Movers” walking group who also celebrated the finale of a fitness course

In these challenging times, particularly for farming and by ripple effect rural Ireland, it was a pleasure to arrive into a rural community hall last Friday night to spend three or four hours in a happy positive environment celebrating a community effort.

Alongside the farmers, there were over 100 other locals who are members of Laura’s “Moore Movers” walking group who also celebrated the finale of a fitness course.

It was a very emotional occasion for many. Getting fit is not just about shedding weight but as much about replenishing the mind which almost all of the women who spoke recounted last Friday.

This was positive community energy in full flow and as I drove back to Dublin under the midnight moon, I too felt the better for being there.

See our article where we first featured Laura’s exercise programme. Or why not try out some of the moves yourself with the home workout videos on the same page?

Nightcrawlers

With all of the road safety campaigns, I don’t think I’ve ever come across one reminding motorists to turn their lights on when driving. It is more common than you’d believe, people still driving cars with no lights or parking lights in bad weather or at dusk.