Bridin Twist:BRIDÍN TWIST was a former national president of the Irish Countrywomen's Association (ICA). A member of the Gortlamain guild, Barefield, Co Clare, she was elected president in 1994 and held the office for three years.
One of her primary concerns was to dispel the notion that the ICA was “all about sedate ladies doing their knitting and sipping tea”. It was, she insisted, a broad national organisation with branches in Ballyfermot and Tallaght and with a record of tackling a range of social issues.
Among the issues she addressed during her presidency were sentencing policy in relation to sex crimes, rural regeneration and support for women in business. She also was active in promoting breast cancer awareness.
She served on the Commission on the Family, and also was a member of the EU Economic and Social Committee.
Born in Ennis, Co Clare in 1948, she was one of seven children of James and Nora O’Loughlin. Educated at the local Convent of Mercy and later at Coláiste Mhuire, she had mixed feelings about school. “I always had a rebellious nature and I was quite disruptive in class. I know I gave the teachers a fairly hard time.”
She joined the Civil Service but did not find it to her liking. Moving to England, she trained as a radiographer at Clatterbridge Hospital in Cheshire and for 10 years worked in hospitals in the UK and Ireland. Back in Clare she next turned to dress designing, which was something she always wanted to do.
She specialised in designing and making wedding dresses and ball gowns. One of her designs, a Clones lace wedding dress, was modelled at Expo 90 in Osaka.
An active member of the ICA, in 1993 she was appointed a member of the Clare County Enterprise Board.
In 1995 she noted that the rising rate of suicide among young people was highest among rural dwellers. “Rural Ireland is no longer – if it ever was – the idyllic hideaway that sheltered its inhabitants from the pressures of modern society,” she recognised.
She was one of three “official” Irish NGO delegates to the UN World Conference on Women in Beijing, where she spoke in the Great Hall of the People. She also established links between the ICA and the All-China Women’s Association.
In 1996 she joined the Labour Party. She was attracted to it, she said, because it focused on the issues which most concerned her, such as refuges for battered wives and the provision of family mediation services. She stood unsuccessfully in the 1997 general election.
Shortly after stepping down as ICA president, she experienced a major personal crisis. The endless meetings and constant travel associated with a high-profile position had taken their toll. “The loneliness, the lack of support that women have when they reach this sort of position in society has never been seriously acknowledged,” she said.
Such was the pressure that she found herself on the road to self-destruction. “When you finally hit rock bottom, as I did, there is a part of you that wonders what point there is in living any more. All I had worked for seemed meaningless. The birth of my first grandson was the turning point for me. I realised that I wanted to see him growing up.”
She sought treatment and got her life back on track.
Her experience of the healing process led her to establish the Burren Holistic Centre, which she made available to groups running their own courses while providing treatments ranging from integrated energy therapy, Reiki healing, body talk and massage to stress-management and personal growth.
Diagnosed with breast cancer several years ago, she nevertheless joined friends and colleagues at the ICA centenary celebrations in Bree last May.
She is survived by her beloved Rob and daughters Sheena and Siobhán.
Bridín Twist: born February 20th, 1948; died August 11th, 2010
