Last week local organisations and businesses in the town and surrounding areas welcomed a small delegation from Caudete a municipality in the southeast of Spain in the province Albacete, Castilla-La Mancha. who spent three days in the town on a fact-finding mission centred on adult learning programmes. The visit was part of an Erasmus Job Shadowing Programme.

The visit was coordinated by the Board and Staff Castleblayney Community Enterprise and was a follow up to a visit in 2022 by the Mayor of Caudete Moises Lopez Martinez.

The delegation included Maria Elia Lacárcel Megías, who is the Director of European Exchange Programmes, María Sánchez López, Director of Casa de Cultura and María José Moreno Director of Ana María Matute Local Public Library.

Of particular interest to the visitors were operations and programmes relating libraries, theatres, informal learning and the work of local organisations in the areas of performing arts and adult learning.

The three day programme was supported by a number of agencies and organisations in the County who facilitated presentations and walking tours these included, Monaghan County Council Library Service, Iontas Theatre and Centre, Castleblayney Social Services, Castleblayney Drama Festival, Laragh Tin Church Development Group and the Patrick Kavanagh Centre Inniskeen. In addition the group also met with Colm Markey MEP which was facilitated by Cllr Aidan Campbell.

As a follow up to the trip it is hoped that opportunities will be created for reciprocal visits to Caudete in Spain these are to be explored through collaborations between the parties involved and Castleblayney Community Enterprise.