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THE AIMS OF THE ASSOCIATION ARE TO GET OUT THERE AND ENJOY OURSELVES”

Advantages

e advantages of belonging to an organisation such as DFB Retired Members Association is that each one of our members automatically belong to much larger institutions such as NFPA and e Alliance of Retired Public Servants, who cater for thousands of retired public service pensioners and are constantly reviewing pensions and ghting on our behalf for parity with the workforce. An example is how our member Mick Du y recently secured an increase for everyone, including non-members. e Association has also provided con dential advice on pensions, entitlements, etc, to partners of deceased members on their deaths.

Events

With the overview out of the way, here’s a sample of some events we’ve enjoyed recently, and while the COVID-19 pandemic may have slowed things down over the past two years, we are gradually starting to enjoy life again.

Irish National Heritage Park

In September 2021, we took a trip to the Irish National Heritage Park on the banks of the Slaney. e short bus tour from our hotel showed us Ireland’s unique and distinctive history, which was an interesting and enjoyable experience, with our tour guide explaining how people in Ireland lived in days gone by. Before us was 9,000 years of Irish history brought to life in a beautiful natural setting. e guided tour was spellbinding, explaining how the rst people to inhabit Ireland lived as nomadic hunter gatherers, living and working together in family groups. We were then informed that the rst farmers arrived in Ireland 6,000 years ago, bringing skills in livestock, crops and pottery. When they settled, they built more permanent structures to live in, and Megalithic Tombs which we see all over the island of Ireland to this day.

We then moved on to hear about some 4,500 years ago, when a new culture of people skilled in metalwork arrived in Ireland, before we were brought around this magni cent site and shown structures, including a life-sized Viking ship, giving us an idea who the latest settlers were! We were told that between the 8th century and the mid-12th century, new groups arrived in Ireland, bringing an age of invasion.

For the rst 100 years, the Vikings were regularly beaten in battle by the Irish Kings, but in time a lot of them settled down and intermarried with the existing Irish population, establishing port towns around the island of Ireland. Many of us may actually be descendants of these guys.

Today, we are witnessing large amounts of people from all over the world arriving in Ireland due to political or nancial turmoil and war, and I wonder is history repeating itself all over again?

Included in the site is a Falconry Centre where you can view amazing birds of prey. It was an interesting visit, and we adjourned to the restaurant to enjoy a delicious lunch. If you visit Wexford with the family, you have to see the National Heritage Park, you won’t regret it!

Waterford

We took a trip to Waterford from 4 to 6 April of 2022, with members staying at the Tower Hotel bed & breakfast, with a full dinner included every evening. ere was music and sing-songs each evening a er dinner. Our quizmaster Tommy Ellis presented a di cult quiz and as usual certain members (no names) cheated. e Committee held a bingo session on another a ernoon and once again some lucky members came away richer. On the nal day, the members, under the guidance of Treasurer Aidan Carroll, took a bus tour to Lismore House, had lunch in Dungarvan, and drove the Gold Coast back to the hotel.

Custom House

e DFB Retired Members Association received a special invitation to a ceremony in the Custom House on the 101st anniversary of the burning of the Custom House on 25 May. We had a memorable a ernoon listening to interesting speeches and dialogue from our Chief Fire O cer Dennis Keeley, Darragh O’Brien TD, and other speakers.

e DFB Pipe Band playing fantastic music did us proud as usual, and when the ceremony ended, we were bought for food, followed by an o cial tour of the “Burning of the Custom House” exhibition. I would recommend that anyone who hasn’t been to this exhibition should bring the family and visit, it’s now open for all to see.

a meeting with the Assistant Chief Fire O cer and the D/O in charge of clothing supply to the Dublin Fire Brigade, DFBRMA will be allowed to purchase our clothing items from this company. e logos and colouring would be similar to that of the operational sta , except that the logo “Dublin Fire Brigade” would be “Dublin Fire Brigade Retired Members Association”. e quality of the clothing is superior to the gear we have at present. Mary Murphy displayed di erent types of wearing apparel and we decided to get samples of the white uniform shirts with both long and short sleeves with standard logos including the DFBRMA patch on the upper sleeve. is may be embroidered into the material instead of a sewn-on patch. We are also getting samples of a white polo summer shirt and a navy eece with a button up front. When these samples arrive, Treasurer Aidan Carroll will be showing them to members for their approval at our meetings.

Lisbon

A group of members travelled to Lisbon on 21 November 2022 to join a cruise, ying to Lisbon and visiting Madeira, the Canary Islands, Gibraltar, and Cadiz before ying home from Malaga. We’ll have an in depth description of the itinerary in the next issue of Firecall.

Christmas

At the start of December, we celebrated our stag members Christmas Dinner at the Ayr eld Community Centre. As usual a great time was had by all, with plenty of food, drink and musical entertainment. We are now looking forward to another post-Christmas celebration with our members and their partners in January 2023 in the Castlecourt Hotel, Westport.

New Ceremonial Clothing

e issuing of our own clothing for ceremonial occasions in September is a good example of how we cater for our members.

Assistant Chairperson, Willie O’Leary, Treasurer Aidan Carroll and myself met Mary Murphy of Tailored Imagine, a clothing supplier who supply uniform clothing to Dublin Fire Brigade. Following

Join Us

is is just a sample of the many events we organise and enjoy throughout the year, and we’d encourage you to join in the good times. Any retired member of Dublin Fire Brigade wishing to join the Dublin Fire Brigade Retired Members Association can contact Treasurer Aidan Carroll at 087 941 5999.