{"id":578309,"date":"2026-08-01T04:32:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:32:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578309\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T04:32:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T04:32:22","slug":"my-weekend-i-love-heading-back-to-my-family-home-in-whitegate-when-i-need-a-break","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/578309\/","title":{"rendered":"My Weekend: &#8216;I love heading back to my family home in Whitegate when I need a break&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"\">\n            Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work:\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">I am Darran Coyle Garde, and I\u2019m originally from Whitegate in East Cork and come from a big, supportive family that always encouraged community spirit. My career in the charity sector began in 2016, when I volunteered in Belarus with families affected by the Chernobyl disaster. It opened my eyes and had a huge impact on me. Ever since, I\u2019ve been committed to working in roles that support people and make a real difference. In my current role as Fundraising Coordinator for the Crann Centre, I focus on fundraising and building connections that help sustain the services our organisation provides to families across Cork.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            What is your ideal way to spend a Friday night?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">My ideal way to spend a Friday night is normally at home with my feet up after a busy week at work and going to the gym. I do however enjoy the odd night out catching up with friends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Lie ins or up with the lark.. which is it for you?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Given the choice, I\u2019m all for a lie-in! But with how hectic things can be, it doesn\u2019t happen very often &#8211; so when it does, I treasure every minute.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Does work creep into your weekend at all?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Yes, quite a lot. Not every weekend, but often enough. Many of our fundraising and social events with the Crann Centre\u2019s services take place over the weekend, so work does tend to spill into those days.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            If money was no object, where would you head to on a weekend city break? And who would you bring with you?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Mexico City is somewhere I\u2019ve always wanted to go &#8211; I\u2019ve never been over that side of the world and it really interests me. The other place I would like to go is Reykjavik. It is high on the list. I\u2019ve always been fascinated by the Northern Lights and would love to see them in person. I recently learned my mother always wanted to see the Northern lights, so I would bring her with me.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Even though I\u2019m living in Cork city now, I love heading back to my family home in Whitegate when I need a break. During the summer, I spend time on the beaches and get into the water, it always helps me reset.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Do you like to catch up with family\/friends at the weekend?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Absolutely! Catching up with family and friends is really important to me, and it\u2019s genuinely one of my favourite ways to spend a weekend. I particularly cherish any time I get with my niece and nephew.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts. I\u2019ve had a run of injuries, so I haven\u2019t trained for almost a year. At the moment, I\u2019m sticking to the gym and working on getting healthy enough to return to the sport I really enjoy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Entertain or be entertained? If it\u2019s the latter, do you have a signature dish?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">Entertained. My job with Crann requires me to do a lot of the entertaining, which I love. But I will say it\u2019s nice to be entertained when I can be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            We have so many places to eat out in Cork &#8211; where are your go to spots for coffee\/ lunch\/ special meal?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">I\u2019m a big Soma Coffee fan and go there a lot, especially since they\u2019re a Cork company. And when I\u2019m grabbing food, I usually go for a good burger. Son of a Bun or Bunsen are always great options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            Sunday night comes around too fast. How do you normally spend it?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">By Sunday night, I\u2019m ready to switch off. After spending the day at the gym or catching up with family, I like to chill out with my friends and put on a good film or series. It\u2019s the perfect way to ease into the week.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\n            What time does your alarm clock go off on Monday morning?\n        <\/p>\n<p class=\"contextmenu Body Body\">7.30am. I live close enough to the Crann Centre, so it allows me to get that vital 30 mins extra in bed!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tell us a little bit about yourself and your work: I am Darran Coyle Garde, and I\u2019m originally&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578310,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[72,61,60,85940],"class_list":["post-578309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-my-weekend"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}