The tightly knit community of Dromore West and Templeboy and the wider area of West Sligo is this week mourning the death of Dessie Harte who was the driving force behind many community and sporting initiatives in the area.
Aged 55 years, Mr Harte passed away on Sunday after a brave battle against illness.

An unsparing servant to the local community, he had a lifelong interest in community and sporting affairs and was well known and highly regarded throughout the entire county for his unstinting voluntary work.
Mr Harte was manager of the St Farnan's Intermediate team which won Division Two of the County League earlier this year and which is still in contention in the race for Intermediate Championship honours. He took an active role in the preparation of the team right up to last week.

As mark of respect, St Farnan's key championship game with Drumcliffe/Rosses Point, w hich was due to take place on Sunday, was postponed.
A trojan worker on behalf of the GAA at club and county level, Mr Harte took a particular interest in the promotion of under-age football and was manager of the St. Farnan's minor team which reached the 2010 County 'A' final. It was the first time in 30 years that a minor team from the club reached an 'A' championship final. He was also on the management of the county U16 team which won the Manning Cup in 2008.

He was also a forceful advocat of the need to provide community facilities and was involved in efforts to establish a community centre in Dromore West/Templeboy and he took great pride in the development of the centre in the mid-1980s.
He quickly took on an important role in the provision of activities at the centre, setting up a youth club in the area and becoming involved in the coaching of badminton and Gaelic football.

Employed as a superviser with FAS, he devoted much of his spare time to ensuring that there were recretional and sporting outlets for the youth of the area and was involved in coaching young children at Dromore West national school.
His job meant that he was a key figure in the provision of many projects throughout West Sligo and he was the driving force behind the re-development of the Dromore West Community Centre in the early 2000s when a major scheme involving the renovation of dressing rooms and the playing pitches was undertaken.

A native of Croagh, Dromore West, he is survived by his wife, Teresa, son, Padraig, daughter, Elaine, and brother, Seamus.

- Courtesy of Sligo Champion, August 24th 2011 Tweet

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