Passage West native and heart of the community, Walty Murphy, is the December winner of the Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Awards. Locals nominated Walty for the award to show their appreciation for all that he brings to the town.

Born and raised in Passage West, Walty delights locals and visitors, young and old alike, with tales of his youthful adventures in the area. He shares his love of shoreline crab-fishing with children during Heritage Week and brings his passion for local heritage to life as he volunteers in the Passage West Maritime Museum where he guides visitors around the exhibits.

Walty is always quick to volunteer for various different projects in Passage West such as the group who have taken on the care and enhancement of the oldest graveyard in Marmullane.

However, it is his work with the Passage West Men’s Shed that has made the biggest impact on the town. Walty organised a team of volunteers to create an outdoor garden with growing beds for vegetables at the local primary school, Star of the Sea. Another team also spent three days transforming the school’s bicycle rack into an outdoor shelter.

Walty is a key organiser of the Men’s Shed Band and is always available to add to the atmosphere of any outdoor market or street festival in the town. He was an integral member of the team involved in bringing a HSE-registered kitchen to the Men’s Shed complex which is open to anyone in the community who wants to bring a novel food product to market.

General Manager of the Cork International Hotel, Eoghan Murphy said, “Walty Murphy is a truly unique character and embodies everything that the Community Spirit Awards represent. He never tires of taking time out to help others in his local area and shares his passion and love for the local heritage with everyone in the town. He doesn’t look for plaudits for the work that he does and faces every project he gets involved in with good humour, co-operation, a positive attitude and a great big smile for which the community are extremely grateful. We are delighted to honour Walty the award for the month of December and we hope he continues bringing joy to the people of Passage West for years to come.”

The Cork International Hotel Community Spirit Awards were established in 2021 to honour volunteers who are making a significant contribution to their community. It sees a group or individual chosen every month with an overall winner selected at the end of the year. The awards are open to community groups and organisations in Cork from first-responders to community centres, victim support services to sports groups and those volunteering in the health and disability sectors.

Nominations are now open for next month's awards here.