Galway Communities in Action

What to Expect

COPE Galway runs Galway Communities in Action at St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church on Saturday 5 September 2026, from 11am to 1pm. It is a free, drop-in showcase of the county’s community and voluntary sector, timed to coincide with the International Day of Charity. No registration is needed and there is nothing to book: you walk in off Lombard Street and work your way around the stands.

The point of it is breadth. Organisations taking part cover early years services, youth support, disability services, health and social care, arts, climate action and supports for older people, so it functions as a two hour map of who does what in Galway. That is genuinely useful for anyone trying to find help, anyone looking for a volunteering slot, and anyone who works in one part of the sector and has never met the rest of it. COPE Galway itself works across homelessness, domestic abuse and older people’s services in the city and county, and hosts the event rather than dominating it.

Good to Know

• Date: Saturday 5 September 2026, 11am to 1pm.
• Venue: St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church, Lombard Street, Galway, H91 PY20.
• Admission is free and no registration is required.
• Held on the International Day of Charity.
• Organiser: COPE Galway. Details at copegalway.ie/events.
• Sectors represented include early years, youth, disability, health and social care, arts, climate action and older people’s services.
• COPE Galway’s other fundraising dates for 2026 include the Business Sleep Out, Christmas Jumper Day and the Christmas Swim in December.

Getting There

St Nicholas’ Collegiate Church is on Lombard Street, just off Shop Street in the pedestrianised medieval centre of Galway, five minutes’ walk from Eyre Square and a couple of minutes from the Spanish Arch. There is no parking at the church, and Saturday mornings are the busiest window of the week in the city centre because the Galway Market runs along the church wall, so park in one of the multi-storey car parks on the ring of the centre and walk in. Ceannt Station and the Eyre Square bus stops are both close by. Drivers reach the city on the M6 and N6 from Dublin, the N17 from Tuam, the N18 from Ennis and the N59 from Clifden.