I would like to take this opportunity to introduce myself as Patricia Berry, Project Officer for BRAND Athy, the Ireland-Wales Programme (Interreg IV)

As the BRAND Project Officer I am based in Athy Community Enterprise Centre, with responsibility for showcasing our great town of Athy.

I am delighted and honoured to be part of this initiative; it gives me a great opportunity to get involved in the various organisations, residents associations and different groups in the town, and to bring the people of Athy together to focus on a clear pathway to achieve our goals.

The biggest impact of the project will be the launch of the visual expression, and it is so important that
the people of Athy start thinking about the place in a new and more modern positive light.

We will be running various workshops to engage with the community and also we will deliver a Storybook which is intended to be a book that interests, engages and inspires while telling the new story of Athy. The project has the specific aim of producing a methodology by which communities can be engaged with re-branding their towns; a successful methodology will be constructed, allowing for the development of a Toolkit to aid in rebranding Athy.

This in turn will secure a fruitful exercise of town re-branding for each of the four partner towns, boosting competition, image and community wellbeing - to improve cultural links between Ireland and Wales, to stimulate economic and community benefit and also develop an Action Plan, with actions deliverable, or capable of being influenced by, the project itself.

A drawing together of local actions to form the method will be enough to have kick started a process of community confidence building, developing a sense of well being and self worth, leading to increased competitiveness. BRAND is about being positive about our place, and celebrating what we have to offer in our amazing Town.