April may 2011 newsfour by News Four

APRIL / MAY 2011

NewsFour Free Community Newspaper serving Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend, Docklands, Ballsbridge and Donnybrook Web: www.news4.ie • E-mail: newsfour@gmail.com • Local Newsdesk: Phone 6673317

RETURN OF THE FERRYMAN

THE PAPER YOU NEED TO READ! Joe and Sharon Donnelly have transformed the Anchorage in Ringsend into a welcoming haven. See page 17

Tutankhamun’s tomb and treasures are replicated in a stunning exhibition at the RDS until 23rd July. See listing of events on page 24

By Jason McDonnell

Ringsend Park is looking wonderful as Spring is upon us and daffodils are blooming. Many thanks are due to the gardeners and groundsmen who maintain this amenity.

lot of people have been very interested in knowing what happened to the No.11 Ferry, which used to transport the Dockers across the Liffey before the opening of the Eastlink Bridge. I met up with Richie Saunders and got an update on the 35-foot long ferry. It can now be seen moored on the St Patrick’s Rowing Club pontoons at the East Link Bridge in Ringsend, courtesy of the kind permission of St Patrick’s Rowing Club and the Dublin Port Harbour Master, Captain David T Dignam. Richie luckily saved the ferry to float another day just weeks before she was to be sent to the scrap yard. It took him four years of tough refurbishment work, but he finally re-launched her back in September 2010. He was under a lot of pressure to leave the number 1 dry dock at Alexandra Quay due to the ongoing infill of the dock. Continued on page 2

For a brief period Jack Doyle was a Hollywood favourite. Noel Twamley recalls the story of his decline on page 12

One of Dublin’s oldest and best loved hotels, Mount Herbert Hotel, has recently undergone an extensive refurbishment and redevelopment. The newly rebranded Sandymount Hotel has been given a modern overhaul following an investment of €5m. To celebrate the re-launch, the Loughran family (pictured) threw a glamorous bash for family, friends and customers.

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NewsFour Editor Karen Keegan Staff Gemma Byrne Glenda Cimino Jason McDonnell Sandy Hazel Caomhan Keane Joe McKenna Rupert Heather Contributors Lee Dunne George Humphries Therese O’Toole Anthony Brabazon David Thomas Nolan Sharon Geraghty Dave Fleming James O’Doherty John Hawkins Jimmy Purdy Ann Atkins Kim O’Connell James O’Reilly SC Noel Twamley Jennifer Betts Ann Keating

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

�e Editor’s Corner

elcome to the latest edition of NewsFour. Winter is officially over and the daffs are in full bloom, thankfully the days are getting longer and the leaves are appearing on the trees again. Yes Spring is definitely in the air! Easter is on the way and there’s plenty of fun events coming up too, be sure to check out page 8 for details of the Easter Festival presented by Ringsend Community Forum and page 24 for a listing of events and festivals happening across Dublin. I’d like to say a big thank you to Margaret Dunne for submitting some great information about Larry Skinner which we used in our last issue. We are moving AGAIN! Fortunately just to a bigger room in the Community Centre. We will have our own entrance beside the main door to Ringsend Creche. Our new office will be located straight up the stairs on the left where the City of Dublin Youth Services Board was, they are moving to our present office. We have lots of interesting stories for you inside. Read about your local organic food market on page 6. Joe gives us a humorous account of local nicknames

C ONTINUED

Design, Typesetting, Layout Eugene Carolan

On sale now

E-mail: newsfour@gmail.com Website: www.news4.ie

The Roads to Sandymount, Irishtown, Ringsend A history of the Road and Street Names of our Area Available to buy from the NewsFour Ofﬁce and Books on the Green, Sandymount Can also be posted to anywhere in the world Price: €10.00

NewsFour Newspaper is part of a FÁS Community Employment Programme. Opinions expressed in News Four do not necessarily represent the views of Community Services.

We have a Swimming Session Every Sunday Morning from 11am to 1pm in Sportsco. Price: €40 per 3 Month Session or €5 for one Swim. Children under 3 years are FREE!

This Swimming Session is open to any one who wants to join. It is not just confined to people living in the Sth. Lotts Rd. area.

For further Info just call over any Sunday between 11am & 1pm. Ask for Mary or Billy.

OF THE FERRYMAN

Photography John Cheevers

Telephone: (01)6673317

Swimming in Sportsco

R ETURN

Web Designer Andrew Thorn

Community Services, Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4.

on page 16. There are some very interesting letters in the letterbox on page 9 that you might be able to help with. Sandy returns from Brussels and gives us an account of the Eurozone on page 37. Our new journalist Rupert Heather talks to local hero Kevin O’Brien after his fastest world cup century in defeating England at the Cricket World Cup on page 5. Jason catches up with the Ferryman on pages 1 and 2. Glenda plays with Easter words in Word Magic on page 33. Caomhan entertains us with his theatre and ﬁlm reviews on pages 9 and 18. I’d like to introduce our new regular gardening feature by James O’Doherty on page 15. If you have any gardening questions for James please email us here at newsfour@gmail.com. We would love to hear from you if you have any local stories or photographs that you’d like to contribute to NewsFour. We’re always delighted to receive stories from our local contributors about Ringsend, Irishtown and the Docklands but don’t forget we also cover the whole Dublin 4 area and news from Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook and Merrion is very welcome. Karen

SHELBOURNE PARK RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION LTD

(postage and packing not included)

NewsFour, RICC, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 Tel: 00353 1 6673317

FROM PAGE

The ferry weighed in at 8.2 tonnes and a large crane was required for the launch. After the boat was launched, there was the big test of starting up the engine. Some ﬁne-tuning in all parts of the ferry from engine, steering, electrics to the safety equipment was required. Eventually, all the problems were solved and the ferry was underway, slowly working up to full speed, reaching 8 to 9 knots. Richie also told me all the driving and testing of the ferry was mainly done west of the Eastlink Bridge at full tide. At the moment Richie (right) enjoys taking the ferry up around the Samuel Beckett bridge, Conference Centre, past the MV Cill Airne restaurant ship (which was built in the Liffey dock in the 1950s) and also underneath Ringsend Bridge (where you can see the markings of 1812 when it was erected), and even as far as London Bridge to see the Aviva stadium. I asked Richie what the plans

were for the future of the ferry; “I’m seeking a work boat and passenger licence at present for trips on the Grand and Royal Canals. This would enable travel from Ringsend to the River Shannon via the Royal Canal (recently reopened), taking in sights through Maynooth, Enﬁeld, Kinnegad, Mullingar, Ballymahon, Richmond Harbour and then entering the Shannon at Tormonbarry.

Then, travelling south on the Shannon, passing Athlone and Clonmacnoise and entering the Grand Canal at Shannon Harbour, passing Tullamore and onto Ringsend Basin, all in an-anti clockwise direction with open countryside all the way”. Congratulations, Richie, and thank you, it’s great to see the no.11 ferry back on the water again.

PLEASE NOTE OUR CURRENT ADDRESS: NewsFour, Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 Phone: 6673317 • Email: newsfour@gmail.com Visit our website at: www.news4.ie

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

DCC Notes: Temple Bar Cultural Trust to be reviewed The future of the Temple Bar Cultural Trust will be discussed after the City Manager John Tierney delivers a report on the organisation and its assets in June. Dublin City Council was called on by Cllr Mannix Flynn to conﬁrm DCC’s role with the trust, its assets, annual budget, administration, value for money and productivity. Cllr Flynn, calling for a review of the trust’s remit, said that the organisation had assets of €50 million and that it garners millions in rents from DCC properties, so concerns that the trust sees itself “as a private company” should be looked at. Lord Mayor Gerry Breen agreed that good corporate governance by DCC subsidiaries should be adhered to and that this included DCC putting new people on the board. “In other companies there is a roll-over mechanism for board members and it should be good practice to do that,” said Cllr Breen. City manager Tierney, as the single shareholder of the trust, agreed to report back in June with a review of operations before making any changes. By Sandy Hazel

RINGSEND ACTIVE RETIREMENT GROUP ACTIVITIES FOR BEALTAINE FESTIVAL 2011 Tuesday 24th May, Neighbours Day, C.Y.M.S., 2pm Thursday 26th May, Fun Bingo, C.Y.M.S, 3pm Saturday 28th May, Dawn Chorus Sing-along Riverwall (Jetty Steps) Pigeon House Road, Ringsend 10.30am Tuesday 31st May, Variety Concert, C.Y.M.S., 2.30pm All Week, Arts & Crafts Exhibition, Ringsend Library Phone Olive on 01 660 0962 for more details All are welcome at any activity as a spectator or participant. All activities are free.

W ORK

IS PLAY FOR

By Sandy Hazel

n American in Dublin 4, professional basketball player James Crowder, pictured right, reflects on his time in Ireland and offers some advice to other young players. James Crowder, age 24, is a long way from home. The political science graduate from Pfeiffer University, North Carolina has just finished up with UCD Marian Basketball and will return to the US in May. Crowder ended his season with UCD Marian with a spectacular win over previous champions Killester. Playing since aged four, Crowder recalls “shooting in a little toddler hoop” and rarely had a basketball out of his hands. “Basketball has pretty much been my life since I can remember,” he says. For NBA you get head-hunted he explains, but to play professionally internationally Crowder got himself an agent. To progress a basketball career Crowder advises: “Try to put a game film together with all your match highlights; be able to show a full game too, so your agent can market you to teams and universities.” Crowder wants to continue playing, training and working out “while

V ERONICA

my body lets me.” Looking at another international post or even the NBA as his next move, he mentions Italy as a place he would like to go to. Advice for young sports people: “Have a goal, put the hard work in– it always pays off,” says Crowder. “I spend nearly three hours a day working out: treadmill, weights, cycling and sprinting plus shooting in the gym.”

J AMES

Coaching will be a viable career progression for Crowder after his playing career. He has worked at summer camps and leagues. “If you have a good group of players who want to learn and listen, then it can make your job easier, of course,” he says. “I won’t go home straight away, I will stay with some team mates and catch Saint Patrick’s Day and see some more of Dublin before I go. I need to buy some gifts too. My aunt wants a scarf from Ireland and my mom’s birthday is coming up so I’ll need to sort that out too.” Crowder is an only child and was much missed by his mother while on his ﬁrst assignment as a professional player in Ireland. “We had Skype and did a lot of texting too,” he says. Highlight of his stay: “I love the city centre, just walking around and seeing people, listening to the outdoor entertainments; Grafton Street is great.” Crowder enjoyed his stay at The Sandymount Hotel, his home from home while here. “I got to go to the beach too, which is good.” “Everyone I have met in Dublin has been nice. I have not had an encounter where I have had to question what’s up with this person.”

SAYS FAREWELL TO

T ESCO

T. M ULLALLY A UTO R EPAIRS ‘rear Kilroy College’

Cambridge Road, Ringsend, Dublin 4 Phone 6600805 Mobile: 087 9749312 Car Servicing and Repairs Pre-NCT checks Classic Car Specialist Car Valeting Service Free Estimates Open five days a week from 9am to 6pm

At approximately 11.30am on Friday 25th February Veronica O’Neill served her ﬁnal customer at Tesco Sandymount. A native of Co. Cavan, Veronica served in the retail business and in her forty two years put possibly millions of customers ‘through’ her till. She worked for H. Williams, Quinnsworth and then Tesco. A spectacular send off was given to her courtesy of the manageress Rachel and our own illustrious ‘bubby’ Brendan Moyhan. Veronica exited Tesco beneath a ‘bridge’ of her friends and colleagues and was taken home by taxi with all her gifts from management, staff, customers and ex-colleagues who came to wish her well. The taxi was of course courtesy of Tesco. Veronica married Fred in 1973 and lives in Tallaght. If you should see somebody walking out in the Dublin West area with a little Jack Russell called ‘Minnie’ this will be Veronica as she is getting a dog to help her settle into retirement. Rath Dé ort agus slán leat Veronica. By Anne Keating

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

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KEVIN O’BRIEN – LOCAL HERO

By Rupert Heather

rish cricket hero and Sandymount native Kevin O’Brien hit the fastest ever World Cup century in defeating England and he hopes his success will encourage local kids to get involved. He says, “The more cricket we can get into schools, the more kids we can get playing at grassroots, then it’s going to grow.” O’Brien comes from a sporting family. His dad was a “brilliant” sportsman who played cricket 52 times for Ireland, played semiprofessional football for Shelbourne, notably in the European Cup against Benﬁca and interprovincial hockey. “That is where all six of us get our sporting ability.” His brother and Ireland teammate Niall is enjoying considerable success on the English county circuit. Sister Ciara won 156 Irish hockey caps. “There are a lot of beneﬁts to playing sport but I think the main one is to try to enjoy it and make as many friends as you can. You’re

outside and playing something you could potentially love.” His team-mates, coaches and fans here have long been aware of O’Brien’s talent. He would be the first to admit though that the World Cup shone a brighter spotlight on him. “The last week has been pretty hectic. I’ve been on the go doing interviews here and there for TV and radio. It’s been good and hopefully that can raise the profile of cricket even more. “It was a fantastic time to play in India, the public there are cricket mad and to achieve what we achieved is fantastic. It’s improved our standard of cricket and the awareness in Ireland. The Indian public loved us and the way we play the game.” O’Brien became a favourite of the Indian fans. It is clear that the experience left its mark on him. As a patron of the charity GOAL he saw first hand the poverty that some people experience. He says, “People are talking about recession here but we have things 150 times better. You hear people giving out about things

here but I never once heard anyone complain about their standard of living. It’s a fantastic thing to see and you wouldn’t believe it until you have. I was fortunate enough to visit a dumpsite where people live, they had a smile on their faces whatever they were doing and I think we could take a lot from that.” Returning home O’Brien says, “There is nothing better than coming back into Sandymount after being away. I know Niall feels the same. It’s great to drive through the village and see the people you know, friendly faces. It’s a fantastic place to live.” Railway Union Youth Cricket Easter Camps take place between Monday 18th and Thursday 28th April. The camps are suitable for boys and girls age 7–12 and no experience is necessary. For more information email RUCCeastercamp@gmail.com “It’s basically for kids in primary school or just starting secondary. I’ll be there coaching along with our overseas professional, as well as Isobel Joyce from the Irish women’s team.”

Cllr Paddy MCCARTAN 12 Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4 Tel: 01 6609202 Email: cllrpatmccartan@gmail.com

Lucinda CREIGHTON

Leinster House, Kildare Street, Dublin 2 Tel: 01 6194399 Email: lucinda.creighton@oireachtas.ie Web: www.lucindacreighton.ie

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

S UPERNATURAL AT S T A NDREW ’ S

By Jason McDonnell

saw a sign for Donegal Fresh Fish and the Natural Food Market trading at St Andrew’s Resource Centre, Pearse Street from 9.30am to 3pm every Saturday. I decided to take a look, as I told myself I’m going to eat a lot more ﬁsh this year. I drove in from Ringsend and found the parking to be easily ac-

cessible on a Saturday morning, as the trafﬁc on Pearse Street is not as bad as on a weekday. I met up with Sean Blaine of Donegal Fresh Fish, who is based outside at the entrance to the centre. He’s a very popular man and it was hard to get a chance to interview him, he was so busy, but I ﬁnally got a minute and he was telling me that he “basically sets off on the road to Dublin at the crack of dawn every Saturday

Sandymount Credit Union Limited 13 Bath Avenue, Sandymount, Dublin 4. Tel: 668 5079 / 073 Fax: 6681807 email: info@sandymountcu.ie Website: www.sandymountcu.ie USUAL OPENING HOURS Monday 10am–12.30pm 2–5pm Tuesday 10am–12.30pm 2–5pm Wednesday 10am–12.30pm 2–5pm Thursday 10am–5pm Friday 2pm–8pm

NOTE: The Credit Union will close on Good Friday 22nd April and Easter Monday 25th April

CU AT YOUR PLACE VARIOUS LOAN TYPES AVAILABLE INCLUDING SPECIAL MOTOR LOAN FOR FURTHER DETAILS AND REPAYMENT OPTIONS CHECK OUT OUR WEBSITE – WWW.SANDYMOUNTCU.IE €1,000 LOAN REPAID OVER 1 YEAR ONLY COSTS €20.12 PER WEEK TOTAL INTEREST ONLY €46.24 (TYPICAL APR 9.4%) SANDYMOUNT CREDIT UNION IS REGULATED BY THE CENTRAL BANK OF IRELAND €100,000 GOVERNMENT SAVINGS GUARANTEE APPLIES

Wishing everyone in the Community a Happy Easter

morning, bringing with me the freshest fish and shellfish from the Northwest.” So after talking with Sean I went inside to have a look around and have a browse and a chat with some stall owners. Who should I meet only the famous Beibhinn Byrne, journalist and controversial Midday girl on TV3. Beibhinn has been in charge of replacing the old co-op market with The Natural Food Market. Starting by abolishing the paying-in system, the market is now open to everyone free of charge. Beibhinn is passionate about the quality of goods sold at the market and sources only from highly reputable suppliers. Over the next year I hope to cover at least one of the suppliers in each edition of NewsFour. There is so much going on, with so many stalls and everything you need all under one roof that it would be impossible to cover them all in one article. So I’ll start with The Market Bookshop which is operated by Rob Brown, who has worked as a bookseller in Dublin for over ten years. His love of the printed word and experience with readers of all ages and tastes has made him a strong believer in face-to-face bookselling, and he is “always happy to help find the right book for the right person.” Next up was Joe Ponsonby of Melon Gate, an Irish company founded in 2006, specialising in natural cosmetics, personal care and household organic products. I tried some of the organic French soap for men called Santal and found it really good. Joe hopes to “provide people with a

selection of good quality natural products that can be enjoyed at home everyday.” At the stall beside Joe, I met with Carlos Martin from Spain selling Alberto’s Olive Oil which is handpicked, cold pressed, 100% organic, extra virgin olive oil. He also sells clay pots of Spanish honey and traditionally packaged sundried Spanish ﬁgs. All of Carlos’s products are 100% natural with no pesticides or additives ever used and by buying Carlos’s products you are also helping to keep traditional farming methods alive in rural

Spain. So that’s it for this edition but I’ll be talking to Coolanowle Organic Meats about their famous organic rib eye steaks in the next edition and of course Beibhinn Byrne will be updating me on what’s new at the market and why it is better to shop organic not only for your own well-being but also for the well-being of our environment. www.supernatural.ie Clockwise from top left: Beibhinn Byrne, Joe Ponsonby and Sean Blaine (in cap).

S T . P ATRICK ’ S C OMMUNITY S WIMMING C LUB

t. Patrick’s Community Swimming Club is a club held in Sportsco every Thursday afternoon to teach children to swim. The swimming lessons are attended by children from the local area; Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount, Bath Avenue and South Lotts. The club caters for up to 60 children between 5 and 12 years of age. The club was founded by residents from the area and has been running now for over 20 years. Indeed, some of the parents bringing their children attended classes in the club themselves. The club’s main aim is to pro-

vide affordable swimming lessons to children of the community and funding costs are kept to a minimum. We wish to take this opportunity to thank the Aviva Stadium Funds for their funding, support and encouragement. We also wish to thank

Sportsco, who have been very generous. As Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount, Bath Ave and South Lotts are practically surrounded by water; the Liffey, the sea, the Dodder and the Canal, swimming should really be an essential part of life and our club provides this in the best possible way. St. Patrick’s Community Swimming Club enjoys a great reputation and as a result children are placed on a waiting list for a place. The club is very proud of what it is bringing to the community, as it is run by local people for local children. By Kim O’Connell

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

S ILVER

A GE

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SURFERS

IS NO BARRIER TO MASTERING COMPUTERS

By Ann Atkins

e are living in an age of technology where advancements are taking place every day. New words are being added to our daily language. We are no longer asked to telephone places of business. Instead we are invited to ‘visit their web site’ or to email them. These expressions can be very confusing to the many people who do not have or understand computers. If you are in this group do not despair. Communication is still possible by telephone or by letter but it is also possible to live the old

saying ‘if you can’t beat them, join them!’ There are courses available at various locations and times at many centres around the city for new learners. Age is no problem. Children and young people have mastered every aspect of the new technology but there is also a growing group of ‘golden oldies’ of which I am one, anxious to learn how to use a computer. These classes are most popular and are well attended. Taking the first step on the road to computer literacy is the most difficult. Once that first step is taken and you find yourself sitting in front of a computer, a whole new world is about to open up for you. Your teacher will guide you stepby-step through the basic steps of switching on. Once you have mastered that, you will feel at ease. Those new, strange words now be-

come part of your daily language, though there will be a struggle at times in the early stages. Perseverance, seeing the results of your efforts and those of your teacher are so worthwhile. Guided along each step of the way, when you finally send an email you will feel as if you have conquered Mount Everest! Friends of mine and I joined the class in RICC, Thorncastle Street in Ringsend last year. We are ‘Silver Surfers’ and proud to be so. With the patient guidance of our teacher Brendan we are now progressing very well and enjoying our class. We Google, Surf the Web, send emails and I feel as if I have been at a computer forever! We have much to learn yet, but the progress we have made is wonderful. Wherever you live I recommend you find a class in computer technology. Forget your age. Youth is retained by learning new and exciting ways to communicate. Join the increasing numbers of ‘Silver Surfers’ and enjoy surfing the web. It opens up a vast array of all kinds of information through your fingertips and the web. Above: Terry Vaughan (left) and Mary Murphy show how it’s done at the RICC, Ringsend.

Full Body Massage Back due to popular demand! Full Body Massage of your choice only €60. Choose from Hot stone, Deep tissue, Swedish, Balinese. Time: 1 hour. Normally €80. Special Offer €60 Mothers Day Special Mother & Daughter treat this spring with Mothers Day Special, during the month of March & April treat your mum or a loved one to Urban 30 minute facial followed by a Mini Pedicure, this top to toe treatment will leave you walking on air. Two Urban Facials & Two Mini Pedicures. Normally €156. Special Offer €120 for two people

TIME OUT… ON YOUR DOOR STEP!

rban Day Spa is the place to go, located in SPORTSCO Ringsend, just minutes from Dublin city centre. Urban have a very highly qualified team of therapists on the floor, delivering first class premium treatments. One of our most popular treatments at the moment is Image Advanced Skincare. These facial treatments ensure results. Customers can select from a comprehensive selection of head to toe spa and salon treatments. Our goal is to deliver a premium selection of treatments all under one roof. You can have your three-week manicure, a specialised full-body massage or an exfoliating Haman treatment, to name but a few. Ideally located within SPORTSCO you can avail of the leisure suite, with steam, sauna, jacuzzi and heated loungers prior to your treatment. This can make it a great retreat for all, especially if you and a few pals want to escape from the stress of life for a couple of hours. Urban Day Spa is a place where you can truly relax and feel welcome. Become a fan on Urban Day Spa’s Facebook page. Every week we have an amazing Facebook offer. Also, you can book with Urban 24 hours a day with our Book OnLine facility. Just go to www.urbandayspa.ie and click book online (top right side) and you can book your appointments day or night. Urban also do advanced treatments from teeth whitening to IPL hair removal. We have an anti-wrinkle clinic in April, with a specialised Doctor on site to administer both anti-wrinkle injections and fillers. An appointment is necessary for this clinic. Just call us at reception on 01 6143434. Feedback is so important to us, so we can continually improve our service to you. We would love to hear your suggestions and feedback. Email: info@urbandayspa.ie With free customer parking and open to non-members, this is your spa in the city.

Wide Eye Package Draining Eye massage & Eye Mask will smooth, decongest and cool puffy tired eyes. To conclude this treatment open your eyes with an Eyebrow tint Shape & Eye Lash Tint. Patch test is required prior to tinting. Normally €65. Special Offer €45 Image Signature Facial Age Later… Discover our results driven skincare line ‘Image’ with our special offer Signature Treatment. This Brightening & Hydrating facial will leave your skin both fresh & glowing. 50min Normally €85 Special Offer €65

Scrub It Up! Spring into March and let us exfoliate your body with a Brown Sugar Scrub to remove dry unwanted winter skin followed by a Coconut & Lime Essential Oil moisturiser which will leave your skin rejuvenated and restored for Only €25 Top this treatment off by adding a full Body Massage for Only €55 (Total Price €80) URBAN DAY SPA, SPORTSCO, SOUTH LOTTS RD, RINGSEND, DUBLIN 4

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

T HE GOLDEN AGE OF TRAMS

By Jason McDonnell

fter the severe winter we had and the damage it did to the roads, I saw the old tram tracks exposed. It’s the spot just over Ringsend Bridge where the Old Heiton and Buckleys building was, just beside the dog track. So I set about doing a bit of

research on the old tram line that used to cover Dublin, long before the Jerry Lee Luas came to town. The old system of trams in Dublin commenced line laying in 1871 and began service in 1872 after trials in the mid 1860s, with near full electriﬁcation complete from 1901. Heavy usage lasted from the late 19th century into the 1920s.

CITIZENS INFORMATION will be running a morning clinic in Pearse Street Primary Care Centre on the first Thursday of each month from April 2011. The first clinic will be on April 7th from 9.15am – 1.00pm.

GILMORE SOLICITORS 22 BRIDGE STREET, RINGSEND, DUBLIN 4 Tel: 6677170 * Fax:6673809 E-mail: info@gilmoresolicitors.com

House Sales/Purchases Re-mortgages & Commercial Property Family Law Wills/Probate/Estate-Planning Employment Law District Court & Road Traﬃc Oﬀences

A Friendly & Professional Service

The tram concept arrived in Ireland in the early years of railway development. The first related projects concerned attempts to link major city train stations with a light railway. By 1880, with many of the major districts of Dublin being served by three tram companies, William Martin Murphy, a founding shareholder of the Dublin Central Tramways Company, founded the Dublin United Tramways Company (DUTC) in January 1881. He fixed a price and there was not to be a charge of more than 1 penny from the Pillar to any city boundary less than 1.5 miles (2 km) away. By January 1901 the entire city system, which covered about 66 miles (106 km), was electrified while the system had 280 trams, including a special Directors’ tram, which was used by William Martin Murphy among others to inspect the system. By 1911 the system had 330

trams and it was described in 1904 as “one of the most impressive in the world”, so impressive that representatives of other cities from around the world would come to inspect it and its electric operation. In 1913 the Dublin tram system was also central to the Dublin lockout when DUTC members walked off the job over the refusal of then DUTC chairman William Martin Murphy to allow some workers to join the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union. The Hill of Howth Tramway was transferred to CIÉ in 1958 and closed on 31 May 1959. It was the last tram to run in Ireland until the Luas tram system opened in 2004. Left: In Irishtown, the tram passes the shop now owned by the Lawless family. Below: The Dalkey tram passes through the town, close to the still-extant tramyard.

The DUTC (Dublin United Tramway Company) opened its ﬁrst bus route in 1925, progressively replacing the trams until the closure of their last route in the city, the No. 8 to Dalkey on 10 July 1949, which would have run on the tracks that I saw. The then-Minister for Justice Seán Mac Eoin said: “A force of 60 guards, including two superintendents, one inspector, eight sergeants and three motor-cyclists were placed on duty over the route.” But they were unable to protect the last tram from damage by souvenir hunters.

E ASTER F EST Ringsend Community Services Forum Presents EASTER FEST Tuesday 26th April - Saturday 30th April All Events Are Free Of Charge (X FACTOR ADMISSION €10) Contact Teresa Rooney 01 2375401 or email: tr.rcsf@gmail.com

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

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The Letterbox

Dear Editor, I realise that I am asking rather a lot but when I say this is a heartfelt request, I really mean it. I am a 74 year old lady living in England and for years I have been trying to piece together part of my dear father’s life. His name was Albert Briggs, born in Wolstanton, Staffordshire to Florence (nee) Norris who was born in Dublin (Rathdown). After the death of his father in 1911, my grandmother Florence could not afford to keep her three sons; William born 1904, my father Albert born 1908 and Frederick the baby she was expecting. My father was sent to live with an aunt in Dublin where he stayed until he was of working age (15/16) when he stowed away on a boat back to England around 1922/ 1923. I have been desperately searching

for information about the family my father stayed with in Dublin before he returned to England and which school he went to there. Mary Annette Norris (my father’s aunt) married a John Smith Lea in England but returned to Dublin before the 1911 census. In the census she is shown as living at 5 Tritonville Road, Sandymount with her husband and three children Florence, Ethel and John Norris Lea. I have concluded that this is the family my father lived with as a child but I wonder if some of your readers may be able to conﬁrm this and provide any further information. It would be wonderful if I could ﬁnd some living relatives. Many thanks and good wishes, Florence Swinton (Address with NewsFour)

Dear Editor, I have searched for over 20 years for a photo of 1 Thorncastle Street (tall houses adjacent to St. Patrick’s Church, Ringsend) where I believe my family lived around 1935. My father’s name was Eamonn Downey (born 1935) and his older brother was Willie Downey. Both of them worked

‘I A M M Y O WN W IFE ’ By Caomhan Keane

eaturing 44 characters and 44 pages of script, ‘I Am My Own Wife’ would be an audacious production for anybody to take on, let alone the opening salvo for a ﬂedgling theatre company. Transgressing sex, sexuality and nationality, this one man show, starring Donnacha O’Dea and directed by Tracy Martin, is the true story of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a German antiquarian who killed her father when she was a young boy and survived the Nazi and Communist regimes in East Berlin, living as a transvestite. A purported Stasi informant, any production of ‘I Am My Own Wife’

has to play a delicate balancing act between the agendas of Charlotte, writer Doug Wright (Quills) and the forces of history. O’Dea projected the 44 characters from a basic base, a simple black skirt, shirt and kerchief. “There were precise director’s notes,” says O’Dea. “He’s in a skirt but it has to look both masculine and feminine, make transvestism normal, which was the point the writer was trying to make.” Director Tracy Martin had performed as a drag king for years and both she and O’Dea had worked together on the gay and burlesque scene ‘so we had good experience as to what a transvestite was’. It was important to Donnacha, however, to work with a female director to avoid the awkward situation of two men trying to bring the woman out. “I think this is a great way of exposing people to what a transvestite really is. Not in the big, showy sense but in the regular, ‘man dresses as a woman’ sense.” Did he ever ﬁnd it difﬁcult to keep the characters distinct? With 44 of them shouting for attention, surely the wrong one could slip out at any time. “It’s misleading to say I ‘play’ 44 characters,”

says O’Dea. “There are four main characters that carry the whole thing and a lot of the rest only have one line.” The show was staged at the Pearse Centre, 27 Pearse Street (below), a 2-bay, 3-storey Georgian building that opened in 2008. Rather than using the 70-seater theatre, the company decided to stage the show in one of the three exhibition spaces. Under-utilized since it opened, the centre has started to function more as a performance and rehearsal space in recent months with Theatre Club rehearsing many of the shows from their recent Theatre Machine Turns You On festival in the building. ‘It was wonderful to hear the whole place come alive,” says Robyn Abudabi, administrator for the Ireland Institute which runs the building. “To hear it working actively and enabling young people to make their art was such a great thing.” She hopes more people will consider using the premises, which is available for launches, classes, exhibitions and meetings. She invites people to come and talk to her about what they want to do. “I want to make people aware of this space that exists in their immediate community,” she concludes. “I would be available to people to help in whatever way I can, be it publicity or whatever else they require.” If you are interested in using the Pearse Centre for any of your forthcoming productions contact Robyn at phone: 353 (0)1 670 4644 or email: bookings@theirelandinstitute.com

in the Dublin Port and Docks all their lives and Uncle Willie’s son Kevin would love to find these photos too. Number 1 was next door to the church so I thought someone from the area might have some wedding photos with the house in the background. I am hoping that some of your readers may even have photos of the old boat yard (which closed in the 50s to build ORahilly House) which may also show the house in the background. I’m attaching a picture of the boat yard in Ringsend (above). The house would have been behind this and maybe it will jog someone’s memory. It would make my day if there were any photos I could get copies of. With kindest regards, Alan Downey

Hi everyone at NewsFour, I have a question about the article on St. Stephen’s church by George Humphries. This was in the Feb/ Mar 2011 edition. It says that Wolf Tone was married there, is this correct? I think St. Stephen’s was built around 1824 and Wolf Tone was dead by then? Keep up the good work it’s a great paper. Thanks Jimmy Dent And here’s the response from our contributor George Humphries… ‘A purposeful error! Wolfe Tone was married in St. Anne’s Dawson Street, not sure of the year, these two parishes are amalgamated so I got it wrong when listening to Val Jones on Christmas Eve but fair play to Jimmy Dent for spotting it!’

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

S OCCER NEWS

By David Thomas Nolan

W Remembering Paul Walsh Paul Walsh was a central figure in Ballsbridge. He used his professional knowledge wisely. Most of all, the Pembroke Road Association, under his leadership, was instrumental in turning the tide against the ill thought out schemes of property developers. The Association’s observations or planning appeals were well focused and to the point. Living at 108 Pembroke Road gave him a unique empathy with the established architecture of this area into which he was born. The protection now given to these buildings as preserved structures under the Planning Acts reflects a policy he had long advocated. He combined successfully the demanding obligations of his profession as a barrister and a father of a growing family. He lost his beloved wife Valerie while their three children were still young and advancing into teenage years. The value which he placed on education is reflected in their achievements as university graduates making their own way in the world. Paul’s love of life and sense of fun flowed into his friendship with a wide circle of friends. He loved sport of all kinds. Many of his neighbours know to their cost his talents in croquet! His family, his Parish of St. Matthew’s, Irishtown, and his friends have lost a great friend. We mourn the passing of our dear friend, colleague and neighbour. James O’Reilly S C.

elcome once again to the St Patrick’s CYFC update, in this edition we will reflect on recent results, a special mention for two players wearing the green of Ireland and some news on our upcoming 75th anniversary celebrations. Cup Final Fever once again grips the club with another decider to look forward to after our 1st team beat Bluebell Utd in a tight cup semi-final, best chance of the 90 minutes fell to Gary O’Connor who scuppered a 2nd half penalty earned by the skill and pace of Thomas Dunne. Extra time and penalties ensued with the home team coming out on top 6-5 to send CY into a 3rd consecutive senior final which will take place on Saturday May 14th at the Carlisle Grounds in Bray, KO scheduled for 7pm. In terms of league action the 1st team are still top with 40 pts but very tight, our 2nd team have recently gone top of their league with a good run of results and have also reached the quarter final stage of the Carroll cup. The 3rd team are currently mid-table and finally the 17s have a big cup semi-final to look forward to in Ringsend Park. Congratulations to 1st team player Thomas Dunne who has recently

been called into the Amateur International squad to play in a friendly match against Northern Ireland. A special mention also for Sean Kavanagh, son of former CY player Pato Kavanagh who continues to represent his country at U17 level, most recently in a tournament held in Greece. We would also like to announce the date for our 75th anniversary celebrations, this special event will take place on Friday July 1st in the Berkeley Court Hotel. The festivities will consist of a three course meal, a band and DJ for entertainment, bar extension, guest speakers and much, much more. If you or anyone you know would like to attend, please contact any of the organising committee below. Tickets will cost €50 per person with a €20 deposit required on conﬁrmation of your attendance. We are particularly eager to contact former players, managers or committee members. Contacts are as follows; Patrick Healy 0877675770, Patrick O’Keefe 0868230264, Derek Bowden 0868012845 or David Nolan

0860432927. In other local soccer news; Ringsend Rovers continue their excellent form as they battle it out for the Saturday 1A title, currently they lie two points behind, they have also secured a place in the Carroll cup last eight. Markiewicz Celtic trying to stay in contention for promotion are currently ten points off, their 2nd team are holding a midtable position with no prospect of promotion from Premier Saturday. Vintage Docklands plying their trade in Premier Saturday LSL are also holding a mid-table position and holding their own. Bridge Utd are propping up the table in AUL division 2A Sunday with just one win under their belt all season. Irishtown over 35s defying the ageing process and the laws of gravity, the elder statesmen of our footballing community have in recent times come off second best in some feisty local derbys against Ballsbridge and Pearse. Above: St Patrick’s CY striker Thomas Dunne (No.10) lining out for the Irish amateurs recently.

Gilligan’s Jessbrook new home for horse fair? An emergency motion on Smithﬁeld Horse Fair at last month’s Dublin City Council meeting called on the new Government to remove the legal rights and the suspension of the horse fair at Smithﬁeld in Dublin. Councillors acknowledged the historical integrity of the event; that the square had grown around the fair, but agree it has become an unsuitable location. Other councillors say that moving the location will not necessarily improve the welfare of the animals and the slash hooking and shooting incidents of last month would have occurred regardless of the fair. That other violent incidents and murders in Dublin cause little outcry was noted. A riot at the former Lansdowne Road rugby stadium “which did not require it to shut its doors” was mentioned too. Animal welfare, elements of criminality and overcrowding are the main objections to the horse fair and it was recommended that the new attorney general be asked to deal with the situation as an emergency. An injunction may be sought to stop the fair taking place until new legislation or relocation happens. The fair has been removed from Dublin tourism websites. John Gilligan’s Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, which was seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau, is suggested by Cllr Deirdre Heaney as an alternative venue. “It is currently being maintained by OPW at the public’s expense,” Heaney told the meeting. By Sandy Hazel

The ‘Anna Livia’ statue affectionately known as the ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’ has found a new home on Dublin’s north quays. The 18ft bronze work was designed by architect and sculptor Eamonn O’Doherty and sponsored by the Jefferson Smurﬁt Group as a millennium (1988) gift to the people of Dublin. The statue, originally located in O’Connell Street, of a woman reclining with water ﬂowing around her, representing the river Liffey spent the last ten years in storage in a potting shed in St. Anne’s Park in Raheny. ‘Anna Livia’ was refurbished by the sculptor and staff at the cast bronze foundry in Dublin’s Liberties. Fittingly, her last trip was a voyage by barge from Ringsend along the River Liffey to her new resting place in Croppies’ Acre Memorial Park.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 11

F ANCY

A PINT ?

By Joe McKenna

he severity of the economic downturn signalled the end for many large Irish industries. Foreign investment deserted the country and took with it countless jobs and in turn the personal ﬁnances of employees cut adrift in a near empty job market. As a result, spending power reduced for the masses and one mainstay of Irish employment and commerce took a large hit: the pub. Practically overnight, the pub and restaurant trade noticed a large reduction in takings and the absence of the bustling trade that was enjoyed during the nowtoothless Celtic Tiger. In a country where pub-going is as much a part of culture as craic agus ceol, it came as a shock to many landlords that the good times had disappeared as quickly as they had arrived. But such is the resilience of the Irish, they were not to be defeated and have adapted with the times. Kielys of Donnybrook is one of the biggest and best-known pubs in South Dublin. As one of the most recognisable sports bars in the area, it was a hive of business during the boom times and was the ﬁrst choice for many rugby, soccer, GAA and racing fans in the local vicinity. Despite its large support in the area, Kielys was not immune to the drop in business suffered by nearly all of the service industry. Manager, John O’Brien, was

kind enough to speak to NewsFour about how the shift in the ﬁnancial landscape has affected Kielys and how they have dealt with the uncertainty such loss of business brings. “There’s been a major downturn in business and we’ve been lucky in the last few months with the Six Nations Rugby being on, the Magners League and local schools matches that we’ve done okay. But compared to years ago, I mean, the whole trade has changed. “It happened over a period of time really. People lost jobs, lost money and they had to change their social habits. When you think about it, we had Paddy’s Day recently, Cheltenham and Ireland v England all in the same week and people had to pick their night to go out, when before it was every night. People just don’t have the money.” Like every pub manager, John has had to introduce attractive

offers to generate business. “We do a lot of different things. We do a pint and a dish of the day for €10 in the evening, we did Captain Morgan and Club Orange for €5 and I got Tennants and Bass in and it’s €3.50 a pint. You have to do these things to get people in, and people hear about it and talk about it. But the way things are now you have to ﬁght for business and you have to try new things. For instance, if you want to have a party for one hundred people you’re going to be looking for a deal on food, whereas before you wouldn’t need to make that deal. It’s just a sign of the times.” Even in the midst of widespread monetary uncertainty for all, it would seem that establishments such as Kielys of Donnybrook are going the extra mile to ensure that customers can still enjoy the warmth and comfort of a local pub at a price they can afford. Bottoms up!

A Farewell from the Ringsend and Pembroke Area Office of Dublin City Council

he Ringsend and Pembroke Area Office, which has been based in Portview House, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend closed its doors to the public for the last time on 11th February 2011 and has relocated to the Civic Offices. Please note that the new contact details for the office are: The South East Area Office, Block 2, Floor 4, Civic Offices, Dublin 8. Telephone 222 2243, email: southeastarea@dublincity.ie The Local Information Officer for the Dublin Waste to Energy Project will remain contactable at 1890 707 747 or by email: info@dublinwastetoenergy.ie The staff of the Ringsend and Pembroke Area Office would like to thank all the people of Ringsend, Irishtown, Sandymount and surrounding areas who have made their stay here memorable and enjoyable and who have supported their work here since 2007. Whilst based in Portview House, the office has played a pivotal role in the delivery of a number of local projects including the Whelan House, O’Rahilly House and George Reynolds House Precinct Improvement Projects, the Ringsend Community Allotments scheme, the Sandymount Village Design Statement and the Ringsend Music Festival. We will, of course, continue the delivery of services to the Ringsend and Pembroke areas and will continue to play an important role in projects in the area. However, it will not be from the office with its wondrous view of the river and port but from the less scenic surrounds of the Civic Offices. We will still have reason to travel to the area, where we hope we will meet you, either in the village, the park, along the Dodder or on the Strand. From all the staff in Portview House, Sheila Dunne, Paddy Brennan, Claire Liston, Bobby Neill, Martin Taylor.

Ringsend Active Retirement Association Retired with time on your hands? Why not visit us at the CM&WSI in Ringsend any Tuesday to Friday from 2.30 pm New members (men and women) always welcome

ACE PROPERTY MAINTENANCE DCC Notes: Quay Wall Since the collapse of the quay wall at the bridge in Ringsend, Dublin City Council is on record as saying that “Due to the urgency in getting the wall reconstructed Roughan O’Donovan has now been engaged to design, procure and supervise the reconstruction”. NewsFour asked DCC to let our readers know when this reconstruction will take place and at what stage is the reconstruction, as the site remains the same three months on and there are concerns that the temporary

railings are not safe enough. A spokesperson has told us that a site survey has been completed “to ascertain the extent of works required” and that “a tendering process to choose a company to carry out the works required is currently underway. It is anticipated that reconstruction works will commence in June or July 2011.” The spokesperson assures bridge users that “the bank and temporary fencing are continually monitored by Dublin City Council engineers. They are satisﬁed that there is no present danger to the public.” By Sandy Hazel

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

JACK DOYLE, THE ‘GORGEOUS GAEL’

By Noel Twamley

ack Doyle, also known as ‘The Gorgeous Gael’ was born in 1913 in Cobh, Co Cork. Ireland at that time was a very poor country and at the age of 16 Jack went to England and joined the Irish Guards. Even at this very young age he was 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighed 14 stone. Within a year, Jack was heavyweight champion of the British Army. Jack Doyle turned professional in 1932. He went on to win his first 10 fights, mostly in the first round and by knockout. By the mid 1930s he was the golden boy. Women adored him; his good looks, his power and glory and let’s not forget the two to three thousand pounds per fight and his magnificent voice. He recorded some 12 recordings for the Decca Label. Jack famously said to the adoring media “I sing like John McCormack and box like Jack Demp-

sey.” This was to haunt him years later in New York when World Champion Dempsey told the press, “I believe Jack Doyle sings like me and boxes like John McCormack.” In America in 1935 Jack won his first three fights, however, in his fourth fight he was hammered by Buddy Baer. Around this time, he met Delphine Dodge, heiress to the Dodge Car Empire. Delphine said it was love at first sight and followed her handsome lover everywhere. When her mother, Anna Dodge was made aware of this, she sent a team of lawyers and gangsters to force Jack to walk away. Jack was made an offer of $10,000 and 35 acres in San Fernando Valley– a most unusual offer. Jack set up home in Hollywood, where his fame went before him. His companions were Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Bing Crosby and many more ‘stars’. M.G.M. were very interested in Jack Doyle. He had the look, the height, a great singing voice and all women adored him, but he had one flaw– he could not act. Around this period of his life Jack met Movita Castaneda (pictured left in Mutiny on the Bounty), who was a starlet in the Howard Hughes studio. Movita was to become the only true love of his life and followed Jack back to England when the U.S. Revenue Department deported the now-bankrupt Doyle for non-payment of tax. Back in England, Jack also owed the U.K. Revenue back

tax. His boxing days over, Doyle took up wrestling and singing with Movita around music halls. In the mid 1940s they came to Dublin and were earning a very handsome £600 per week. Jack married Movita that year in Westland Row church. Around this time, my mother was buying me a new school uniform in Gorevan’s Department Store in Camden Street. I thought I looked great in my new slacks, purple blazer and cap with yellow piping until we saw Jack Doyle and Movita exiting the DeLuxe cinema. A huge crowd followed them up Camden Street until they made a hasty retreat into Caulﬁeld’s pub which was across from the Camden cinema. My memories are vague, it was so long ago. All I remember was the colour they brought to a drab, dull 1940s Dublin. It was all downhill for Jack from then on. Drinking heavily and with no money, he turned bitter and nasty and actually started beating Movita. This all ended in The Premier, Lucan when four Guards had to draw batons on Jack as he was choking Movita. My wife Nora, who sang and danced with her sisters The Galligan Sisters for many years in their home town of Lucan, tells me it was the talk of Lucan for years. Movita left Jack after this and returned to Hollywood, where she resumed her ﬁlm career and later married Marlon Brando.

For Jack it was the opposite– ignored, shunned, unwanted, it was downhill all the way. When Movita left, Jack drank heavily. He even spent two weeks in Mountjoy for assaulting police in a pub in Tempelogue. Drinking cheap wine and cider, homeless, even sleeping in cars– sometimes he had no shoes or socks Jack Doyle had a truly horriﬁc fall. Could he have been champion? I don’t think so. Jack was too fond of La Dolce Vita. He loved the glitz and glamour of being a celebrity before that word was coined. Jack Doyle was a celebrity so full of life he

was a star. Jack died in London in 1978. His body lay unclaimed in Paddington Hospital. Word of this was heard by the good people of Cobh who at once collected a large sum of money and brought Jack home for a magniﬁcent and digniﬁed funeral.

B ALLSBRIDGE ICA RAISES €2,300 FOR S IMON

ince Ballsbridge ICA guild was formed in 2006 they have held an Auction of Unwanted Christmas Gifts and other items. The charities in previous years were Fr. Peter McVerry, The Kidney Association and Focus Ireland. This January they had their most successful auction to date in aid of Dublin Simon. A member of the guild, Miriam Greene, conducted the auction in a very humorous and efﬁcient manner and managed to raise €1,100 to which a further €1,200 was contributed by anonymous donors. On 28th February, Sam McGuinness of Dublin Simon, attended our meeting for the presentation of a cheque for €2,300. He gave us a most interesting and informative talk on the work of Simon. Pictured left are members of Ballsbridge ICA with Sam McGuinness of Dublin Simon.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 13

GRAND STORIES FROM THE GRAND CANAL

By Joe McKenna

he Grand Canal was once an integral part of Irish commerce, which served as the sole link for goods and services between the east and west of the country. It has bred many tales since its creation in the 1700s. NewsFour would like to take you back to the opening of the Grand Canal Basin and its life to the present day. On the 23rd April 1796, St Georges Day, a young Robert Emmet watched alongside his father, Dr Christopher Emmet, as the Earl of Camden; the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, led the opening fete of the Grand Canal. Over 20 vessels, barges and pleasure boats entered the docks that day. 1,000 people were treated to a special festival breakfast. The canals had been built with the purpose of transporting travellers and cargo to parts of Ireland not then accessible by horse and cart. 60,000 people are said to have attended what was reported to be a furiously festive atmosphere.

A twenty-one gun salute boomed from the Vice-Royal yacht Dorset, commanded by Sir Alexander Scombergh, who went on to captain the HMS Diana at the taking of Fortress Louisbourg from the French in Nova Scotia. Lord and Lady Camden travelled the locks and graving docks in their elegant barge before bestowing a knighthood on the chairman of the Grand Canal Company, John Macartney, an eminent attorney of Dublin. In 1787 the Irish Ballast Board was reformed as the Corporation for the Preservation and Improvement of the Port of Dublin, making it responsible for merchant shipping. The inland waterway of the Grand Canal, which joined the ports of Dublin, Limerick and Waterford, was extended from Portobello harbour to join the River Liffey at Ringsend in 1791. This expanse of water is known as the Grand Canal Basin. A portion of land at South Lotts was excavated for Ringsend Basins. The cost of the basins ran to £100,000, of which £45,000 was granted by the Irish Parliament. The basins covered an area of

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35 acres, 26 of which was submerged under 16 feet of water. Along with the basins, there were three sea locks, three graving docks with wharfs from seventy to eighty-four feet wide. The great basin was 4,000 feet long, with an average breadth of 330 feet and was constructed to accommodate 400 sailing vessels. The upper basin was 1,000 feet long. The Ringsend Basins were equal in size to the entire Liverpool dockland and Dublin was tipped to become the second port of the British Isles. The docks are entered by three locks. The largest, Camden Lock, was named after the Earl of Camden for his performing at the opening ceremony; the middle one was named Buckingham Lock, after the Marquis of Buckingham, who was Lord Lieutenant when the locks were designed. The smaller barge lock was called the Westmoreland Lock after the Earl of Westmoreland, who encouraged the project. Despite its size and superior facilities many seamen refused to enter, fearing it to be too dangerous. Between 1797 and 1893 up to 124 ships were sunk or damaged off the bay. Portions of shipwrecks would frequently wash up on the seashore. Unknown to the Grand Canal Company– of which Dr Christopher Emmet was a large share holder– the arrival of railway was to deem their hard work

void. Trains moved faster, carried more cargo and passengers and so the Grand Canal was of little use a mere forty years after its opening. Some say that the cost of building the canals was so high that it pushed up the price of passenger fares and cargo tolls to the point that they could never be a commercial success. The invention of rail travel certainly made that a reality, although the Grand Canal was still used commercially until the 1960s. The Grand Canal at Ringsend is credited with keeping Ireland supplied with food and coal during the First World War. The locks were of sufﬁcient size that four boats– the Glencullen, Glengree, Glenbride and Glenageary– could deliver coal to the Gas Company. The coal would be transported using large cranes and delivered into a large hopper. In 1968 the Gas Company switched over to oil and all four ships were made redundant and later sold. Four large coal yards sat off the Grand Canal Basin– Wallace’s, Carroll’s, Milligan & Mulligan and Heaton’s. Many local men found work digging coal boats for the yards. Unlike the Gas Company’s practice of using the hopper and cranes, these boats had to be dug out by hand. Men would be handed an old

‘number seven’ shovel that was shaped like a heart and go about the back-breaking work before retiring to the local public house covered in black dust. Over the course of time, nearly all major industry has died away from the Grand Canal. The Docklands redevelopment has all but covered what was left of the heritage. Many locals who could still recall such days have passed on, taking with them stories of hardship, survival and many fine memories of fishing and swimming, that summer time in Ringsend had given them. Should you have any tales relating to the Grand Canal Basin or memories you would like to share, please contact NewsFour at our offices. We would love to pay tribute to the unique past that Ringsend has had in its proximity to such a historical stretch of water. The Dublin Rally will be taking place from 30th April – 28th May 2011 so expect to see lots of boats making use of the local waterways. For more details see www.dublin.iwai.ie Above: This picture, by William Ashford (1746–1824) in the National Gallery of Ireland records the opening of the Ringsend Docks on 23 April 1796 by the Lord Lieutenant, Earl of Camden.

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

Dublin Writers Festival Ireland’s global literary reputation is celebrated during the Dublin Writers Festival which also marks the award of UNESCO City of Literature. Links with Dublin’s sister cities of literature Edinburgh, Iowa City and Melbourne are a feature of the event, which takes place from 23rd – 24th May. Full details were not available at the time of writing but the festival promises to showcase the best of Irish and International authors. If last year is anything to go by, patrons can expect a diverse and exciting range of events. The festival which last year included Ian McEwan, Joseph O’Connor, Anne Enright and Hanif Kureishi, promises to be even better this year. It has been announced that comedian, actor, writer and television presenter Michael Palin (above) will be in conversation about his life and career at this year’s festival. Palin’s career began with the legendary Monty Python and has spanned several decades in which he has regularly appeared in films and on TV. He writes mainly about travel but also has children’s books, fiction, diaries and a play to his name. In 2002 he won the British Comedy Award for lifetime achievement and in 2009 the BAFTA special award for outstanding contribution to film and television. A regular visitor to these shores, he came on honeymoon here in the mid-60s and recently said, “I like the Irish attitude to life, lots of jokes, and I always get into conversation with someone.” Join Palin at the National Concert Hall on Wednesday May 25th for what will be a fascinating and no doubt humorous evening. Tickets are €20 and €15 concessions. For more information visit www.dublinwritersfestival.com By Rupert Heather

Irishtown Hit and Run The Gardaí at Irishtown are seeking the public’s assistance in trying to trace the driver of a black Jeep that was involved in a collision on the 5th of March 2011. The incident happened at approximately 8.45pm on Irishtown Road, Dublin 4, outside the public library. A pedestrian, a boy aged 13 years, was struck by this vehicle, which left the scene of the crash. The boy was taken to Crumlin Children’s Hospital and has since been released. He suffered a broken ankle in the crash. Any person with information can contact the Gardai at Irishtown on 01 6669600.

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F INDING PEACE AT T OBERTYNAN W OODS By George Humphries

nyone who knows me would say that I’d find any out of the way place, especially if it is off the beaten track! It was on the October bank holiday Monday in 2006, when my late Da rang me to say that he wanted to go out for a spin. I was meant to go away that weekend but lucky for me I stayed around. I had just been for a lovely swim at the Forty Foot when he called. My Da was confined to a wheelchair and he just wanted to go for a drive. I collected him at around two o’clock; I wanted to get some honey so we went out to County Meath. We headed out towards Longwood to a town called Rathcore. We eventually went on out as far as Clonard then back to Moyvalley, where I went into Furey’s bar to have a bite to eat. My Da stayed out in the car as he did not want to bring his wheelchair in. I brought him out a mug of tea and a chocolate bar and he listened to the radio. I enjoyed a meal and a good yarn with a couple, who happened to be friends with a cousin of mine and her husband. We had a fair bit of banter as they knew my cousin’s husband well. The guy and Johnnie, my cousin’s husband, came from the same village, Kilmeesan in the royal county. When I finished, I then drove my Da back to the Hospice. He really enjoyed himself. Looking back, in hindsight, I

was delighted that I was around to be able or honoured to bring him out, as that same year he was not too well. There were several weeks when he wasn’t able to go out at all. He finally passed away on Christmas morning and I was left with lots of very happy memories of him. I was still mourning the following June. It was a wet, dull day so I decided to do the same run I’d done with my Da the previous October. All was going well until I turned off for the road to Longwood. This time I went straight ahead when I was going through the town of Rathcore. I noticed a lot of flags draped over a hedge and saw the word shrine, so I decided to go and have a look. Blessed Charles of Mount Argus had just been canonized, hence all the flags. The shrine was well signposted but you had to walk through a field and I was wearing sandals! It was not easy going through the long grass, I can tell you, but I felt that I was being guided there. It took a good fifteen minutes to get to the shrine, the tree in the woods. The family who owned the mansion Tobertynan House

had dedicated it to the Blessed Virgin back in the 1800s. Blessed Charles said a mass there many years ago. I sat on a pew in the lashing rain without getting wet! I certainly felt much better when I left. I’ve been back on a couple of occasions since. The last time was midsummer’s day, June 21st and the sun was splitting the trees. Again, I felt really good in this place. I was with some of my family and a good friend who also felt the same sense of peace. My friend was grieving the loss of her husband. There was a great therapeutic feeling there and it really helped with my grief. Above: George and his friend Mary Nalty.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 15

THE PUREST OF PLEASURES

By James OʼDoherty

n the beginning God created a garden and called it Eden. So the love of gardening is as old as the world itself. As I write this article, Spring is with us and shortly nature will be seen in all her glory. It will be difﬁcult to keep up with Spring’s triumphant procession, so fast will be growth. Days, though longer, will come and go with alarming rapidity. So it is a great time to come outside into this great world of nature and into the garden. Gardening is good for your mental and physical health; it gets you out and is immensely satisfying. In

this short article, in a simple way, I propose to explore container, ornamental and vegetable gardening and provide a few tips and ideas as we prepare for Summer. And remember nature is our best teacher in all things gardening. SUMMER FLOWERS It is time to plant and plan for Summer. For cut flowers you can now sow hardy annuals seed. For a good display outdoors select sweet pea, California poppy, larkspur, cornflower, pot marigold, clarkia elegans, Virginia stock, sunflowers, nasturtiums. You can of course plant out the usual Summer bedding such as geraniums, petunias, pansies, begon-

T RACING Dave Fleming studied Genealogy and Family History at UCD and has undertaken research for many genealogy projects. He is also a musician and poet. For more information visit www.genealogy. bassline.ie

n Part 1, I gave you a gentle introduction to the world of Genealogy and talked about what you can do to get started in your quest. All of this centered around the collective family knowledge and talking to relatives about their memories. Now we need to look at some of the techniques for breaking down the walls of history. The first will involve the search of birth, marriage & death (BMD) indices and certificates. It’s all about linking several known facts to establish that you have the correct certificate and

ias, bizzie lizzies. We can do this now that the threat of frost is over. HANGING BASKETS AND CONTAINERS The range of containers is enormous, so it is really each one’s choice. For all seasons there is a great selection, including petunias, geraniums, begonias, bizzie lizzies and nasturtiums. You can also plant many shrubs, climbers, grasses, ferns and heathers. For hanging baskets use the beautiful trailing petunia and the lovely lobelia and a selection of the Summer plants mentioned earlier. When planting containers and hanging baskets, use multi-purpose compost and remember watering

and feeding is essential. Use a tomato feed every seven days during the growing season and always dead-head on a regular basis. LAWNS When it is neat and tidy a lawn can impact hugely on a garden’s appearance. It enhances the overall appearance of the house. April and September are the best months for sowing a lawn. You can, of course, lay turf at all times. Lawns need regular mowing, at least once a week and regular feeding. There is food available for each season. To control the weeds, use a selective weed-killer between April and September. To keep the lawn looking green at all times, every time you cut the grass give it an application of After Cut. This can be used in all conditions, even drought. No watering is needed and it is available in garden centres and hardware stores. Keep your hedges trimmed, two or three times a year should sufﬁce and enjoy gardening. Make it a pleasure, not a chore. THE VEGETABLE GARDEN The key here is at all times to sow a small number of seeds, plant out in small batches (twenty or so) and make successional sowings. Remember to only grow things you will enjoy eating. You will then enjoy the work you put into this. Before planting or sowing, a light dressing of general fertiliser will help plants and seeds to establish themselves. Outdoor tomatoes can be planted

YOUR FAMILY HISTORY

then deriving unknown information from what else is on the cert. Let’s start with your own civil birth cert. You know your own name, date of birth and maybe you are not sure of the exact region where you were born. If you know your mother’s maiden name you can match that on the index (this information was not always shown). You should have enough information to select the correct cert. This will give your father and mother’s full name, father’s occupation and your address. The church cert will also show the church of baptism and the two sponsors or witnesses (godparents/relatives in most cases). With this information you can now look up the index for your parent’s marriage, knowing both their names, an approximate time frame and possible location. Here’s

–

A FEW OTHER IDEAS If you have a shady spot, ferns thrive in these conditions. They are available in many textures and forms and remember these are woodland plants and love rich soil. House plants should be put into the garden in late June and July and fed on a regular basis and brought back inside in August. At all times in the house avoid placing plants too close to windows, keep them away from ﬁre-places and radiators. Most plants like humidity so you should mist their leaves regularly. An easy plant to grow is the rubber plant (ﬁcus robusta), bred for its toughness. It likes semi-sun to semi-shade and it also removes toxins from the indoor environment. So as Spring transforms our environment and we begin to look forward to Summer, I have shared just a few tips on what to do to ensure you get the best out of your garden. Enjoy it. Happy gardening!

PART

will now ﬁnd out your grandfathers’ names, occupation and residence as well as witnesses to the marriage. Death certs will give cause of death, age at death, profession of deceased and witness who reported the death.

the tricky bit; the husband’s index record doesn’t show the wife’s name or details, only the page and volume of the main book. You will have to look up both names and ﬁnd a matching date, page and volume number. When you are successful you

out at the end of May. Sow directly where plants will grow and mature. You can sow broad beans, French beans, beetroot, carrots, lettuce, white Lisbon onions, radishes, turnips, main crop potatoes, cabbage for harvesting in late Summer and Autumn and Summer maturing cauliﬂower. Use the hoe regularly to keep the weeds at bay. You can plant all varieties of herbs. You can grow a large selection of vegetables, including tomatoes in grow bags. You can grow tomatoes (trailing) in hanging baskets too. You can also grow dwarf fruit trees in containers.

Guessing the dates I usually work back through families on the basis of the father being about 30 years when having children and mother being 25 years old. Marriage can be estimated to be one year earlier than eldest known child’s birth. There can be wild exceptions to these rules of thumb but they work for me. Watch out for two children coming up with the same name within a few years of one another. This usually signiﬁes the eldest child died in infancy and the name is

passed on to the next born child of that sex. Your parents’ certs will then move you back another generation and soon you will have the basis for a four or five generation pedigree. You can search online at the Family Search site which is free (www. FamilySearch.org) or go into the Office of the Registrar-General (GRO) Third Floor, Block 7, Irish Life Centre, Lower Abbey Street, Dublin 1. Here, there is a search fee and a charge for a certificate, if you find the correct details.You can also apply by post to General Register Office, Government Offices, Convent Road, Roscommon for a photocopy of the details costing €4 (€10 for a full cert). Just send details of name, date, region, volume and page number. There is lots more detail on my website.

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WHAT’S

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

IN A NICKNAME ?

By Joe McKenna

ick any landmark in Dublin and you’re sure to ﬁnd that its actual name differs somewhat from the name it is known by. For instance, the Dublin Spire on O’Connell Street is known as the ‘Stiletto in the Ghetto’ or the ‘Nail in the Pale’. The Anna Livia statue is better known as the ‘Floozie in the Jacuzzi’. The art of the Dublin nickname is something that has been around longer than all of us. I think it’s safe to say that once you have acquired a nickname in Dublin your own name is retired for good. One of Ringsend’s living legends, Mick O’Neill, was kind enough to sit down with me and list some of the nicknames he encountered when growing up.

“I can go back to 1932. I knew loads of lads with nicknames. We had a fella called Scunnions Whelan. He had a brother called the Rat. There was a fella called

Hoppy Reilly and he got that because he had one leg shorter than the other. I knew a girl called Kitty Cold Cabbage, but I’m not sure why she was called

that. “My father was known as Over The Wall. My father, God rest him, many years back he was connected with a football team. On the Northside, there was a place called Church Forest, just over there by the East Wall. I found out that during a match there, a row started and my father jumped over the wall and away. So from then he was christened Over The Wall. But didn’t he go through a small house and bumped into a fella, your man nearly cut his throat for him. Brilliant! “There was that many it’s hard to remember all of them. You had Smell the Butt White. He smoked Woodbines and it would be the smell of his coat. He had a son called Elbow, then you had Bawler Lawless, Chunks Reid, Bendy Go Murphy, Kick the Stones, Genet Breslon– that was an animal, Diada Quinlan, Ribs Redmond, Gulliver Conway, Lumps Byrne and Bass Byrne “Then there was Molly Slops.

She used to rear pigs behind the library in Ringsend and you would go round on a Sunday and collect slops. I used to get ﬁve shillings off her and twenty Woodbine– I was a king! “You didn’t go by your own name; you went by your nickname down here. It wasn’t Paddy or Mick, it was the nickname you earned. That’s just how it was.” The Dublin nickname is an art-form in itself and the stories behind the older ones are the stuff of local folklore. In my research I have come across many nicknames but few stories that can accompany them. Names like the Trout, the Badger, the Hobbles (my father-in-law from greater Dublin whose own father was a cobbler) the Nightmare and so on. If you or anyone in your family has an interesting nickname and story, please contact NewsFour. We love a good story. Picture: Son of Bang Bang perhaps?

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 17

T HE A NCHORAGE P ROJECT “I USED TO VANDALISE THIS PLACE WHEN I WAS A TEENAGER”

By Sandy Hazel

n a bleak stretch of road overlooking the truckers’ toll bridge sits a small yellow mission hall. Inside the blue gates, past the anchor leaning casually on the wall you will find an actual oasis. A real life garden in the mid-

dle of the city; small trees climb the inner courtyards and birds sing from a mini aviary. Children’s voices also lift the spirit and soon there will be the sprinkle of a water feature. Aromas of decent coffee and chatter from the (state of the art) computer classes prove that this is no ordinary community centre.

The Anchorage Project, a site that was bequeathed by the Bewley family to the community, is undergoing major landscaping and building work to grow on its already glowing reputation. Plans for a garden centre, terraced café and gardens are well underway. Local man and former altar boy Joe Donnelly is a trustee of the centre and

Pictured above is The Irish Red Cross Sandymount Branch Presentation of First Aid Certiﬁcates to students of St Andrew’s College, Blackrock, which took place in the Iris Clarke Centre (Old Folks Centre) on Thursday 20th January 2011 From left are: Area Chief Medical Ofﬁcer Ms Jane F. Rothwell FRCSI, Jenny Scargill, Grace Rothwell Kelly, Kiera Mortimer, Instructor Capt. Eithne Scully, Jennifer Rowe and Haneen Jameel. Not in the photo are Jane Ritchie and Caroline Gowan

project manager on the work. “I used to vandalise this place when I was a teenager,” admits Joe. Having changed his ways, Joe went on to work in construction and has completed a Master’s degree in Humanities. He is tireless in the project’s promotion of hope in the community. A more practical evangelist you will not meet. Raising its own finance, with the help of the East Link company and Dublin City Council, the Anchorage also fundraises enough to send to other third world projects. Flags from countries which are supported are draped from the café ceiling. Ireland benefits too, but cash is only part of this process. “We cultivate the volunteer spirit, I have a shameless dependence on volunteers,” says Joe. He engages with employer-supported volunteering with Business in the Community and Volunteer Centre Ireland. “They link us up with companies in the area which are hungry for volunteering opportunities. They typically send down 20 or 40 volunteers, who are really into getting stuck in.” Joe manages these volunteers into groups with a clear plan. “I will only take as many bodies as are needed; I will calculate numbers depending on the job. The last thing I want is ten people standing around doing nothing,” explains Joe. Generally, employees love to get out of the office for the day and the Anchorage uses them to prep, dig, sand, skip fill, paint and scrub. Typically, jobs are divvied up depending on the volunteers’ preferences. Diageo, Yahoo, KPMG, Deloitte and BT have all helped to turn this centre into the oasis it is today. Over the years, the Anchorage has involved a town planner to help with planning permission applications, a HR manager to help develop policy documentation and best practice for staff. They have also involved fundraisers, gardeners, administrators and a solicitor to advise on legal matters. Recently, ar-

chitects and interior designers have helped plan and design the layout of the new extension and café. “This is a great way for groups to survive through a recession,” says Joe. “Volunteers are a valuable resource.” The project is keen to hear from anyone who can volunteer with the landscaping and gardening. “We need a kitchen garden too,” says Joe. The café could also use some commercial catering equipment that might be going free. The café will be warm and inviting and you may not want to leave. There will be books, the flower-filled garden, hanging baskets, the canaries, finches and the water feature. You will be able to buy plants and flowers. Joe hopes that locals will “soak up a sense of beauty.” The children in the playgroup will have times to access the garden and the rabbits and birds. Joe anticipates that visitors who enjoy their café visit will then want to stay and take advantage of courses on offer: computers, cookery, flower arranging. Stressing that this building and volunteering process doesn’t end when the café opens, Joe invites anyone along who wants to get involved. “We have a volunteers’ breakfast each month for those who wish to sign up for other projects. The Anchorage will act as a conduit for volunteers, local companies and groups that need help,” he explains. The Fair Play Café is due to open in early May. Watch this space.

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

Film Scene By Caomhan Keane

‘Red Cliff’ Directed by John Woo Starring: Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kaneshiro, Fengyi Zhang The naughty noughties have not been good for John Woo, the

super fun helmer of such guilty pleasures as Face/ Off and Broken Arrow. From baby-sitting Tom Cruise on Mission Impossible II to trying to entice some form of emotion out of Ben Afﬂeck’s plank-like demeanour on Paycheck, it’s no wonder he returned to the warm bosom of the

A tribute to Joe Nolan When the news broke on Sunday morning of the untimely death of Joe Nolan at the rugby match in Wales on 12th March, the whole of Donnybrook went into shock. Though Joe lived in Sandymount, he spent a lot of his social life here in Donnybrook. He was a member of Bective Rugby Club, but many years ago when he offered to do M.C. during our fair week the people of Donnybrook took him to their hearts. Nothing was too much trouble for Joe, and when he did M.C. for Glamourous Granny, Surprise Surprise, Miss Donnybrook, and other shows, he was a professional to his ﬁngertips, so immaculately dressed you would think he was a top television presenter. Joe always said after each act “Remember the name.” Rest in Peace Joe, you have left behind a host of beautiful memories, with grateful thanks from the people of Donnybrook.

motherland with Red Cliff two years ago. The most expensive Chineselanguage picture ever made, this two and half hour epic is an amalgamation of two movies, with a dodgy Woody Allenesque voice over inserted to help those of us unfamiliar with the source material. There’s a war on, with Prime Minister Cao Cao (Fengyi Zhang) hunting down his enemies Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the southern territories. But wouldn’t you know– it’s all really over a girl. Despite the political and romantic intrigue, this movie is really just a good old blood and guts action flick. Out goes the cinematic film-flam that overpowered Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and in comes clear, uncluttered fight scenes. It never lags, with a beautifully orchestrated battle sequence behind every pesky pit stop to allow the plot time to catch up.

‘Control’ Directed by Anton Corbijn Starring: Sam Reilly, Samantha Morton While movies about musicians tend to dip their toes in the money-gilded pond of sensationalism, Anton Corbijn’s excellent drama about Joy Division’s Ian Curtis simply tells it as it is. Charting his drug-induced prefame existence in Macclesﬁeld to his death aged 23, Control never fully answers our questions as to the source of his pain or reasons for killing himself. Rather it unfolds like a series of snapshots, leaving us with as similar a sense of wonder and grief as those around him. Sam Reilly is sensational as Curtis. Even though Curtis’s fame is not such that he is burdened by mimicry, Reilly captures his sunken spirit with eerie exactitude.

‘Away We Go’ Directed by Sam Mendes Starring: John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Jeff Daniels, Alison Janey This terrific little movie put Sam Mendes back on the oneto-watch list after the desperate cinematic lull that followed American Beauty. From the honest and amusing love scene that opens the picture to its heartfelt ending, it was propelled forward by one of the

most engaging pairings in recent years. John Krasinski (from the American and better The Office) and Maya Rudolph (SNL) may not have been the most famous of faces, but they have an ability to light up the most simplistic of scenes without ever over-egging the comedic pudding. Burt and Verona are expecting their first child, and just when they need them most Burt’s parents (an excellent Catherine O’Hara and Jeff Daniels) have decided to up sticks and head for the Belgian hills. With Verona’s parents dead, they are left in a quandary. Should they continue coasting by where they are, with their cardboarded-up windows and MOR job’s, or should they take

advantage of being an anchorless ship and find their port of choice. What follows is a road trip through the hilarious highs and desolate lows that comes with being a parent. From Alison Janney (CJ in the West Wing) as the shockingly inappropriate mom who loves her kids but loves humiliating them more, to Maggie Gylenhall’s LN, a nightmarish earth mother who makes you want to demand your spare rib back, the movie is full of quirky performances that remain at all times human. Away We Go comes lacking the bells and whistles that help independent movies rise to the top. Its not big, it’s not clever, but it is warm, witty and heartfelt and, to my eyes, it’s damn near perfect.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

BABY,

PAGE 19

WHAT A WEIGH TO GO FOR

ince having her first child almost twelve years ago Pamela Malone kept putting on weight. After four children and almost four stone Pamela finally decided enough was enough. “I got the photos of my family holiday developed and could not believe the size of myself in them. How could I let myself get to this size? All I could see was flesh. It gave me the kick I needed,” Pamela explains. The next day she took the plunge and walked alone through the doors of her local Slimming World group. She was given a warm welcome by Blanche, the consultant, who explained all about ‘food optimising’ and how the Slimming World plan works. “I thought she was having a laugh with the amount of food I could eat. Before, if I ate a potato bigger that my fist I would feel guilty. Here I was being told I could have unlimited amounts of potatoes, pasta, rice, noodles, lean meat, steak, vegetables, beans, everything I liked and I still got to have my daily treats like chocolate or crisps.” So for the first week all Pamela did was eat, eat, eat. Even her husband was laughing at the thought that this was meant to be a diet. At her first weigh-in, when Pamela lost 4lbs she was delighted and fell totally in love with the plan. Pamela looked forward to meeting the group

PAMELA

every week. Everyone there was in the same boat and she loved listening to how they all got on. They were all comfortable that their weight would never be disclosed and they would never feel humiliated. Pamela would leave with the encouragement and motivation to help her through another week. The plan was easy to ﬁt into family life. Straight away, Pamela decided not to make different meals as it would save time and beneﬁt the whole family. “The family loves the Slimming World fry or bacon on toast for breakfast. Lunch favourites are stir frys or egg, chips and beans and for dinners, spaghetti Bolognese or pork chops, potato and vegetables.” A month after starting and having lost almost one stone, Pamela had a holiday booked to Spain and was afraid she would undo all her good work. Determined to stay on-plan, Pamela food optimised for the week and had a great holiday with lots of sun, sea, good food and of course a couple of glasses of wine. She still managed to lose 2.5lbs that week. Slimming World has become a way of life for Pamela. Having gone from a size 18 to a 12 and lost over three stone, she has decided to open her own class. It will be starting in Clanna Gael on Thursday 28th April at 7.30pm. All are welcome and Pamela promises that if she can lose weight and feel great, anyone can! Slimming World is recommended by Doctors.

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

R INGSEND

AND I RISHTOWN

C OMMUNITY C ENTRE N EWS To reserve a place please contact RICC at 6604 789. RICC Youth Club We cater for 7 – 9 year old boys and girls and meet every Wednesday in the Centre from 4pm–5.30pm and it only costs €2. Activities include crafts, kiddersize, clay modelling, sports and much more.

By Jennifer Betts Spring at RICC: Gardening Workshops We would like to invite you to join our gardening workshops. Join the RICC gardening staff with landscape architects Sophie and Anke, who will show you how to turn your own back garden into an enjoyable space for growing vegetables, playing and living. Our garden is sustainable using Irish materials and native plants. There is also a sand pit, so bring your little ones, too! The workshops take place every Tuesday morning from 10am-12pm and are free of charge. RICC May Day Parade RICC are in the process of organising the 2011 May Day Pa-

rade which takes place on Bank Holiday Monday May 2nd at 2pm. Heading the parade for 2011 will be St. Patrick’s Rowing Club who celebrate their 75th Anniversary. We welcome all groups in the Community to

take part. Meditations Offered Remove Stress… Understand the law of attraction and why.… Understand Karma… Manifest positive change…

Bring in awareness of self. This is a six-week course, one hour a week; Thursdays at 8pm free of charge. The course is run by a qualified and insured holistic energy therapist.

Gaining Confidence and Public Speaking Skills RICC are running a one day workshop on a Saturday in April (date to be confirmed). The workshop will be delivered by experienced and trained speakers and is free of charge Also available at RICC: Room Hire, Bowling, Bus Hire, Boxing, Computer classes, Parent and Toddler Group, Childrens’ Disco, Political Clinics, Ladies Club, Karate, CDYSB Youth Project, Irish Dancing, Free Legal Advice, Art Classes and much more. For further information please contact RICC at 6604 789.

COMMUNITY CENTRE TO BE REDEVELOPED

Ringsend and District Credit Union Ltd. 5 Irishtown Rd., Dublin 4.

Phone: 6686676 • Fax: 6686288

AT RINGSEND CREDIT UNION WE NOW OFFER

RICC are delighted to announce plans to redevelop the community centre. Studio Red Architects, who are undertaking the project, recently gave a presentation on the development plans. They surveyed clients and centre users about their needs and how to facilitate the growing services in the community. The proposed development has already received positive feedback, with organisations expressing interest in investment.

The plan is to create a new youth café, community café, commercial kitchen, additional rooms, multi storage space, and greenery. Shipping containers will be transformed into rooms for a better working environment and will create a modern, innovative design (see above). The use of shipping containers, already popular in London, is new to Ireland. They are friendly to the environment and can be stacked for a

modular way of building. RICC are extremely excited about the plans and encourage the entire community to get on board with their input and ideas! The above plans are subject to planning permission and funding and are currently a draft. All feedback is much appreciated and changes can be made to better facilitate the community and centre users. Images courtesy of Burke Imaging and Studio Red Architects.

Free Loan Protection Insurance Travel Insurance House Insurance All Business Transacted During Opening Hours OPENING HOURS Monday and Tuesday 9.30am-12.30pm • 2.00pm-4.30pm Wednesday 9.30am-12.30pm Thursday 9.30am-12.30pm • 2.00pm-4.30pm Friday 9.30am-12.30pm • 2.00pm-7.00pm

Good Friday: Open 9.30 – 12.30 Closed Easter Monday

These ladies took part in the Daffodil Day Coffee Morning at Cambridge Court, Ringsend recently.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 21

AVIVA: THEY DON’T MAKE THEM LIKE THEY USED TO By Joe McKenna

here’s a certain level of nostalgia that creeps up on you when you look at the gleaming Aviva Stadium as it sits on the south Dublin skyline. You can’t help but wonder if the glory days witnessed at the old Lansdowne Road were swept away with the rubble when the bulldozers began demolition in late May 2007. Costing a total of €410 million, the Aviva is equal to many of the top stadia around the world. Global design company Populous– who had a hand in Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium, Yankee Stadium, Soccer City and the Leeds Arena– contributed some amazing work in designing what was recently voted ‘Stadium of the Year’ by Stadiony.net. Besides being the home of Irish rugby and Irish soccer, the Aviva was also built to attract the biggest and best events to Dublin. NewsFour was lucky enough to be granted an all access tour of the Aviva Stadium and a brief interview with stadium director Martin Murphy. “It’s a showcase arena and we wanted to attract big teams, not just to the

stadium, but to Ireland in general. Getting games like the Europa League ﬁnal in May and hopefully the Heineken cup ﬁnals in the future is good for the stadium and good for the city. “We looked at a range of different venues including a couple in America and a number around Europe, including Wembley, Porto and the Emirates. There was a lot of work done and our own teams were familiar with venues they had played in and they helped us pick up some good ideas.” The futuristic look of the Aviva is something that sets it apart from other stadiums and its perspex panel facade is for more than just show. “We wanted to build something that was iconic. It’s our national stadium and we wanted it to be recognisable and enhance the local area. The outside is designed to allow as much light in and out of the building as possible. At the northern end where we’re closest to residents it allows plenty of light through and there’s minimal shading on the houses. Also it’s the lowest part of the stadium and that’s where the stage goes when we have concerts. “It creates a natural amphitheatre for acts such as Neil Diamond, who’s coming in June and the Script who play in July; we actually designed the stadium

with concerts in mind. We took into account all potential functions of large stadiums. Conferences, large meetings and events were not an afterthought; they’re part of the integral design of the building.” Many stunning aspects of the stadium are highlighted on the tour and having toured several large and famous grounds such as the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Celtic Park in Glasgow and the Bernabeu in Madrid, I can say that the Aviva has some of the best features I have seen. The Irish changing room is geared towards keeping the team together for the whole game. The physiotherapy area and the locker room are one and large plasma screens sit on each wall for either in-game analysis or inspirational videos beforehand. There is also a food area for any players who require an energy boost mid-game. Next to the changing area is a warm-up room ﬁtted with Astroturf and exercise equipment. Both the away changing room and

the home changing room are exactly the same, bar one thing. The Irish changing room is fitted with state-ofthe-art Hydro Thermal baths specially designed to regulate heart rate and reduce muscle deterioration. Before the introduction of the baths, players had the option of climbing into a wheelie bin full of ice water instead. Thankfully, those archaic practices did leave with the debris of Lansdowne. For a 50,000 seater stadium it does offer a great view of the action from nearly every area and is equipped with 230 specialist wheelchair spaces. The atrium area at the south end is the premium level where you can watch from behind glass in the comfort of the bar. But the best seat in the house is reserved for the President whose seat sits just above the tunnel and is mere rows behind both dug-outs in front of the plush Presidential box. The original pitch dimensions are the same but the pitch has been turned 15 degrees west. The roofing has been fitted with specialist acoustic panelling to reflect the sound of the crowd so as to enhance the atmosphere. And for anyone thinking that the old pitch is lost forever, there is good news. The soil in the Aviva actually comes from the old Lansdowne pitch; something to keep past glories alive and hopefully to

be an omen for today’s Irish teams. Overall the Aviva is a shining sports beacon that Dublin and Ireland can be proud of and the 600,000 people that worked on it have created something that has already produced some ﬁne memories. Community Funding Aside from giving the local area one of the top stadiums in the world, Aviva have also poured funding into the community and recently funded its 100th project. “There is a committee that is formed of local representatives. Members of the community, two councillors and two stadium representatives and they dispense the funding. The fund is €100,000 per annum and we support local community-based projects. We don’t fund one hundred percent but it’s valuable support for the types of projects we do fund. There are criteria laid down and there is a vetting procedure as to what the project is and what the organisers are contributing to the project. “So far, we’ve assisted the likes of Marian College, we’ve bought a boat for the Scouts, helped put on parties for the elderly and helped the Plurabelle Paddlers. We’ve handed out just under €400,000 so far.” Funding information can be found here: http://www.avivastadium.ie/localCommunity.aspx.

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

STARTERS ORDERS NEWSFOUR SPEAKS TO SOME UNUSUAL BUSINESS START-UPS AND

ASKS FOR A PIECE OF ADVICE FOR ANY OTHER BRIGHT SPARKS OUT THERE. as a freelance designer in Hong Kong. Wanderlust took him to Nepal and while trekking in the Himalayas he had to borrow a pair of boots which left his feet “destroyed”; hard calloused skin, blisters and squished toes. A few days later he was in Malaysia and saw a unique therapy involving garra rufa fish. “I was up for trying new things,” said Robert. The fish gently nibbled the excess skin off his feet. It was relaxing and beneficial, his toes felt like new; all the hard, rough skin was removed. Robert felt there could be a market for this treatment in Ireland. “It was innovative, worthwhile and good quality,” he said and it looked like a serious prospect. At the time, no one else in Ireland was providing the service.

By Sandy Hazel GUY AND GUITAR John Dooley was an electronics technician for many years until redundancy. “There are very few jobs out there, I had to look to another skill that up to now had just been a hobby,” says John. Self-taught on the guitar, John has played and sung since he was 13. “I am from Galway where there is a huge tradition of music; ballads and traditional music are part of life.” John played pubs and community centres and knew tunes to get a crowd dancing. “Old time waltzes were most popular,” he says. John’s wife is a nurse and knew that nursing homes in particular had a need for occupational therapies and activities for clients. John felt that music could be one of these. “Nursing homes have funding to help improve the quality of life for clients. I sent off leaﬂets on what I do to about 60 nursing homes and I offered the ﬁrst gig for free, to allow them to see what I could do,” explains John. He started getting replies and gigs. Once the clients gave feedback to the activities co-ordinators he was then asked back for regular

gigs. His diary for weekday performances is getting full. The residents’ response to the staff leads directly to more work for John. He will take engagements on a regular basis or one-off shows. “I take requests and if I don’t know a song I will learn it for the following week,” he adds. The music and sing-songs lift the spirits of both patients and staff. John acknowledges that he never realised the depth of care given in homes. “We only hear about the bad stories, you should see how gentle the staff can be.” Running order needs to be regional: Wexford or Galway clients will demand their own songs. John’s advice to start-ups: “Don’t be afraid to be upfront with Social Welfare when you get part-time self-employed work, even if it is just a day here or there. Also, make sure to get an accountant, it will save you money in the long term.” John is also available for private house parties and can offer a running order to suit any occasion. Guy with Guitar: John Dooley 087 948 0908 SWISH FISH Robert O’Shaughnessy worked as a web designer in RTE. He left three years ago to travel, working

Robert researched the health and safety, hygiene standards, the logistics of importing the fish and getting tanks set up. “Looking after the fishes’ welfare is important to maintain your stock, they are expensive to import.” He opened his first spa in the George’s Street Arcade in November 2010 and has made steady growth. The initial burst of interest has levelled out. Sole Therapy Spa is receiving repeat custom, which is steadily climbing. “There were novelty visits at first,” Robert explained, “but we now have clients who realise the exfoliating and relaxation benefits.” The therapy has been known to relieve psoriasis and similar skin complaints and is used by many sufferers. Advice to other start ups: “Be conservative on your budgets, always talk your projections down and keep costs low. Think about

purchases. Do I really need that comfortable office chair? Could I just do with an upturned milk crate for a while? Things are lean when you start off and you can improve things when you start to bring in money.” Robert says that some start-ups can want perfection immediately and this can lead to a “paralysis” where the business doesn’t move. www.soletherapyspa.com PLAY CAFÉ Parents meeting friends over a coffee can’t always relax with a toddler in tow. “My young daughter always wanted to be off making friends with other diners,” says Siobhán O’Neill founder of the Panda Play Café. Siobhán looked for child-friendly places to meet in Dublin, where parents could relax. “Existing play facilities are for older age groups; younger children could wander into the older sections, so again you are running after them,” says Siobhán. Playgroups are only available at specific times, which may not suit pre-school children. Siobhán worked at the National Museum of Ireland and it was here that she got experience in education and working with children while at the museum’s outreach department. “Working with children certainly influenced my move into this play idea,” Siobhán says. After one year planning and eight months finding the right venue, Panda Play Café opened

last month. Located in the Terenure College Rugby Club, Siobhán liked the light and space of the venue and good storage was a factor too: “I needed space to keep play equipment and toys.” Facilities for the café were also important; Panda Play Café offers only healthy options for kids and parents. The main attraction of the café is the opening times. It is drop-in, no booking needed and Siobhán reckons that her numbers prove there is a gap in the market for Monday to Friday play facilities. “Many parents will arrive after they have dropped older siblings off to school,” she says. There is free parking, which helps. The café is going to open on Saturdays from June. Toddler sofas, dress-up boxes, story time, baby area, slides and ball pits, hip hop dance classes with coffee and food, the Panda Play Café offers a decent alternative for parents. Prices start at €6 and there is no time restriction. Siobhán built her own basic but very effective website. Using wix.com she saved a signiﬁcant sum by taking on the task herself. Keen to encourage the social side of parenting, Siobhán also arranges special evenings for adult extra-curricular aka pamper nights for mums. A Panda Play Café is planned for the Dublin 4 area soon. www.pandaplaycafe.com From top left: John Dooley, Swish Fish and Play Café.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

A home defect and improvement column by Anthony Brabazon B.Arch. MRIAI Q. After the snowy weather some of the brick has ﬂaked off my house. How do I ﬁx this? HMH: The technical term is ‘spalling’ and it happens when the expanding action of frost in a saturated brick causes the face of the brick to break off. Traditionally, the lime mortar used in old brick walls was softer than the brick and following rain saturation this lime sucked moisture away from the bricks and allowed drying to the outside without brick damage. The increased use of harder cement

PAGE 23

mortars in recent years contributed to a more impervious joint which put the brickwork under more stress when water entered through broken joints. The face of a brick is its waterproof protection and once lost through spalling it becomes like a sponge and further deterioration can be rapid. A micro porous clear sealer might be provided to the face in the short term but the spalled brick should be individually replaced with matching brick. Q. Do I need Planning Permission for an attic conversion? HMH. Not normally, as it falls under the category of interior works which do not materially affect external appearance (as stated in the Planning and Development Act 2000, section 4.1.h). Projecting dormer roof windows, however, would need

permission as would Velux windows to the front of a house. If the house is a protected structure you would, most probably, materially affect the character of the building (or parts) by such a conversion and therefore need permission. Apart from Planning Rules you need to be aware of Building Regulations also. Assuming the attic is over a two-storey house the Fire Section (Part B) of the regulations requires three key things: a) escape window (within stated dimensions), b) Installation of interconnecting mains-powered smoke alarms, not a DIY job! and c) protection of main stairway and landings by way of self-closing ﬁre doors. Most of the attic conversions I’ve inspected have none of these. In designing the attic conver-

helpmyhouse.ie on the web. Questions for this column can be sent to anthony@helpmyhouse. ie Above: A gallery bedroom might suit better than a full attic conversion Below: Spalled Brickwork in Sandymount.

The Culinary Corner

Celtic Horizons Tours and Irish Ferries announce their first-ever guided motorcycle tour

PURE AND SIMPLE DUBLIN CODDLE

otorcyclists are being invited to take part in a two-night guided motorcycle tour to Snowdonia and the Lake District. Hosted by Celtic Horizons Tours in partnership with Irish Ferries it departs Dublin on Friday, 13th May and returns two days later on Sunday, 15th May. The trip will take bikers through the most picturesque areas of Snowdonia and the Lake District. Included will be visits to the Italian Village at Portmeirion, the Cars of the Stars Museum in Keswick and the Beatles Museum in Liverpool plus two nights B&B and one dinner at the 4-star Manchester Marriott Airport Hotel. Cost per person sharing, based on rider and pillion, is €259 with supplements for two riders/ two bikes and single room occupancy.

sion, structural roof timbers and floors need alteration and an access stairs needs to be cleverly and neatly designed. The Ventilation section (Part F) of the Building Regulations require at least half of the floor area to have 2.4m minimum ceiling height, something not always achievable in an existing roof. Something less than this may be acceptable but the room would not be deemed ‘habitable’ and so the three-bed house doesn’t become a four-bed! Having said all this, a properly designed and constructed attic conversion can add real value to most houses and who knows… you might get a sea view for the first time! Arrange a Help My House visit for a fixed fee of €150. To contact Anthony Brabazon telephone 01-6683519 or visit www.

Coddle is one of the most controversial of Dublin dishes, everyone has their own version. We’d love to hear from you to let us know your variations or Mammy’s ‘secret’ ingredient! If you’d like to see how I make my coddle follow the link on our website www.news4.ie

A Celtic Horizon representative will accompany riders with preplanned stops arranged for refreshments and re-fuelling every 1-2 hours approximately. Bookings can be made on the web site <http://www.irishferries.com/ seacoach <http://www.irishferries. com/seacoach> > where additional information is also published.

The ﬁrst venture of its kind by these two experienced operators, the idea was inspired by Celtic MD, David Buckley’s participation in last year’s trans–US Route 66 motorbike fundraiser on behalf of Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Pictured above is well-known local motorcyclist Derek Murphy

Ingredients: 500 gm bacon (sliced) 1 kg pure pork sausages (whole) 2 large onions (chopped) 2 cloves of garlic (sliced) 4 large potatoes 2 carrots (thickly sliced) black pepper Boil a pot of water. Now add the sliced bacon and pork sausages. Add onions, carrots, potatoes, garlic and pepper. Cover it with a lid. Leave to cook on a medium heat for about 1 hour until everything is cooked. Serve in a hot bowl. By Jason McDonnell

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

Festivals and Events in April and May in Dublin Compiled by Glenda Cimino

SWANS DIE FROM MYSTERY ILLNESS

Whatever your interests, you will ﬁnd plenty to entertain you in Dublin during the lovely month of April and the merry month of May • UNESCO City of Literature events. www.dublincityoﬂiterature.ie • Tutankamun, his tomb and his treasures’ exhibition. RDS until July 23rd http://www.kingtutdublin.ie/home/ • The Great Ireland Run, April 10th. A 10k run for all abilities in the Phoenix Park. www.greatirelandrun.org • The Sound of Music April 5th-30th, Grand Canal Theatre, www.grandcanaltheatre.ie

• The International Festival of Ideas; discussions, architecture, politics, design, history, art, energy, and more. www.mindﬁeld.ie

• Carling Nations Cup May 23rd–28th, Aviva Stadium, www.fai.ie • International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival, May 2nd–15th, www.gaytheatre.ie

• The Dublin Writers Festival May 23rd–29th. Including a talk by Michael Palin www.dublinwritersfestival.com

• Franco-Irish Festival (free) Dublin Castle, 8th, 9th and 10th April www.francoirishliteraryfestival.com • Bealtaine Arts Festival, entire month of May, celebrating the creativity of older people. www.feilenabealtaine.ie • International Museums Day–19th May

• Culture Week–21st –29th May www.irishmuseum.org

National Gallery Free Children’s events in April & May

On Saturdays there are free art activities for children accompanied by an adult. Each workshop has a leader and a theme: 2nd April – A Day on the River

9th April – Design a Decorative Textured Portrait 16th April – I saw a ship a sailing… 23rd April – I Spy the Easter Bunny 30th April – Battle Dress

7th May – A Walk on the Wild Side

14th May – Flower Posies in Pictures

21st May – Crawling Bugs and Flying Insects www.nationalgallery.ie Tel: 01 661 5133

Donal Bracken Local Electrical Contractor

R.E.C.I. approved and insured

12 Castle Drive, Sandymount, Dublin 4 Tel: 269 2278 • Mobile: 086 2651887

• Free estimates without obligation • Extra sockets, fuseboards etc supplied and fitted • All works undertaken, including domestic, commercial and light industrial

NO JOB TOO SMALL OR TOO LARGE

By Caomhan Keane

here has been an increased mortality in swans on the Grand Canal in Dublin. A total of 18 birds from this location have been subm i t t e d t o t h e C e n t r a l Ve t erinary Research Laboratory in Backweston, Co Dublin. The last swan submitted was reported dead on 11 t h M a r c h . E x t e n s i v e post mortem examination and further laboratory tests have been carried o u t . Tw o s i c k b i r d s t h a t survived have also been examined. While no specific agent has been identified to date, initial findings are suggestive of septicemia (which is an infection in the bloodstream) in many of the birds. The birds affected have only been swans and only those in the one location. The first death was reported on 2 5 t h F e b r u a r y. “It is not unusual to observe an occasional dead or sick bird in the wild,” says a spokesperson for the Department of Ag-

riculture, Fisheries and Food. “This is not a cause f o r c o n c e r n . H o w e v e r, i f a number of dead birds are seen in one place, the L o c a l D i s t r i c t Ve t e r i n a r y Office of the Department of Agriculture should be c o n t a c t e d . ” Yo u c a n a l s o report the incident on the H e l p l i n e . Te l e p h o n e 1 8 9 0 252 283. Niall Hatch, Developm e n t O ff i c e r f o r B i r d Wa t c h I r e l a n d , b e l i e v e s that it is possible the birds’ physical condition may have weakened over the course of the cold snap, allowing the disease to take hold. “They are an aquatic bird, so when water freezes over it can be very hard for them to r e s t o r f e e d o r f i n d w a t e r, which can have a serious effect on them”. This can a l s o a ff e c t t h e i r c h a n c e s of breeding. “The female needs lots of calcium in her system so that she can lay eggs and they need to have resources to look after themselves,” s a y s H a t c h . “ We d o o u r surveys in the summer so w e w o n ’t k n o w u n t i l a f t e r then how they were affected.”

The best advice is not to handle live or dead wild b i r d s u n n e c e s s a r i l y. T h e r e are a number of diseases carried by birds that people can contract (e.g. salmonella and Chlamydia). If contact with wild birds h a s b e e n m a d e , t h e n n o rmal hygiene precautions should be taken i.e. disinfect your hands. If disinfectant is not available, make sure to scrub your hands thoroughly with s o a p a n d h o t w a t e r. The Grand Canal is home to several hundred s w a n s . “ Yo u a r e b o u n d to come across one every couple of hundred metres if you are walking along the canal,” says Hatch. The most popular area for them to congregate is The Grand Canal Dock or P o r t o b e l l o . H e u rg e s p e o ple not to feed the swans bread “which is high in carbohydrates but low in proteins and can cause pollution problems in ponds, causing algae to g r o w. ” I n s t e a d h e s u g gests vegetables, lettuce and cabbage leaves and “their favourite of all are the leaves from the tops o f c e l e r y. T h e y a d o r e i t . ”

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 25

AIB P HOTOJOURNALISM A WARDS 2011

T WO

FORMER

N EWS F OUR

PHOTOGRAPHERS AMONG WINNERS

Category: Arts & Entertainment (pictured above) 1st Prize: Leprechaun Museum, Dublin Julian Behal, The Press Association of Ireland.

Looking at the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ effect captured by the photographer in this image the spectator adopts a sense of voyeurism looking into a giant’s world. Category: Reportage (pictured right) 1st Prize: Shadowlands Kim Haughton, Freelance

A national and rather mundane story is turned into a very strong report with super observations and attention to detail such as the hand in the window and the horse.

F ESTIVAL AT

E UROPEAN H OCKEY R AILWAY U NION

Congratulations to Railway Union’s Ladies team who won the EuroHockey Indoor Club Champions Challenge 2011 in Bratislava in February, competing against teams from seven other European countries Back Row, left to right: Kenny Carroll (Coach), Orla Fox, Grace O’Flanagan, Holly Jenkinson, Eimear Dolan, Kate McKenna, Helen Johnston, Siobhan Smyth (Manager) Front Row, left to right: Emer Lucey, Isobel Joyce, Kate Dillon (Captain) Ruth Hutchinson, Cecelia Joyce, Lisa McCarthy.

ocal hockey club Railway Union are hosting the Eurohockey Club Champions Trophy for Women in their grounds in Park Avenue over the Easter Weekend from 22-25 April 2011. In this festival of European Hockey, the top club teams from Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Belgium, and Scotland will be competing with Irish national champions Railway Union. The Railway captain Isobel Joyce said “We are delighted to be competing in a European Outdoor Hockey Competition for the first time in the club’s history and even more pleased that we have been given the honour of hosting it. We hope the local people of Sandymount will turn out to support us in this auspicious competition.” Railway plays at 3pm each day,

facing MSC Sumchanka from Ukraine on Friday 22nd of April, Royal Wellington from Belgium on Saturday 23rd and HF Libertas San Saba from Italy on Sunday 24th. The final play-offs take place on Mon 25th. Tickets are available in advance or to buy at the grounds on the day– €5 per day or ˙€15 for a tournament ticket (four days); children are free. As part of this festival of hockey there will be junior hockey for Under 16s. Tournament T shirts for sale, an Easter Chocolate hunt on Easter Sunday, food for sale throughout and a BBQ on Monday at 5pm. A tournament of top class hockey and fun for all the family. For further details see www.railwayunionhc.com We hope you’ll come and support us!

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

V OCAL

LOCAL REPS

By Sandy Hazel With the election of Eoghan Murphy and Kevin Humphreys to the Dáil, the south east area constituency welcomes two new councillors, co-opted by their respective parties. Ex-councillor Paddy McCartan (FG) will be taking over from Eoghan Murphy and Gerry Ashe (Lab) will take over from Kevin Humphreys. NewsFour spoke with both and asked about their backgrounds and their plans for the area. Gerry Ashe is the Labour Party’s constituency council chairwoman and a board member of the Citizen’s Information Service in Dun Laoghaire. She is sister of Labour councillor Dermot Lacey. Ashe is one of nine children and grew up in Donnybrook. She attended Saint Mary’s secondary school, Haddington Road. It was while au pairing in Sweden that she started to work with people with disabilities. On her return to Ireland, Ashe worked at Saint Michael’s House.

Caring for some of her own family members meant that she “fell into caring” as a career but she feels this experience gives her an excellent base from which to push the carers’ agenda. Top of her to-do-list is getting more women’s groups involved and engaged in public life. “I believe that women really do rule the world,” says Ashe. “If we can get more women voting, then their children will vote eventually; grandmothers, single women, out of work women; we need to make links with all women,” says Ashe.

Homelessness is another of Ashe’s priorities. “It is probably the single biggest blight on Irish society: if you haven’t got a home then you can do nothing else, no school, no job is possible without a home.” Ashe wants to develop a more holistic approach to solving the problem. Addiction is a big factor in homelessness and more needs to be done in acknowledging this. Citing a project in Northern Ireland which Dublin could learn from, Ashe explains: “A lot of homeless people are afraid to go to hostels here because of bad experiences but the northern approach is a big open house where some people can just sit in comfortable armchairs if that is what they want to do. It is a place where they can bring their pets in if they wish for many people who are homeless their dog is their best friend. A lot of hostels here won’t allow this, so the person also won’t go in.” Ashe wants a wider context approach to homelessness as “more than just a hostel bed.” Councillor Ashe would like to see certain reforms in local government, including a bigger budget for the maintenance departments: “There are hundreds of vacant housing units which cannot

be re-let as there isn’t enough in that budget to make them ready.” Ashe is still planning her clinic location so watch this space.

Paddy McCartan grew up on Anglesea Road, went to school at Marian College and runs an optician practice in Ringsend. He has worked as a councillor previously and is well known around the Pembroke area. He is most proud of his work on the planning issues in Ballsbridge “at a time when it was very difﬁcult to query the plans.” He feels that his work was vindicated by An Bord Pleanála, which eventually gave the thumbs-down to proposed high-rise developments in the area. Top of his list at the moment is the incinerator issue. “We want to see an end to this vexed question,” he says. McCartan has already spoken with the new Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan and feels this issue will also be top of the new minister’s agenda. NewsFour asked McCartan why is it that Dublin City Council seems to have stuck its heels in. “Exposure to massive penalties payable by Dubliners is a big concern,” he says. Capacity and the resulting trafﬁc of trucks make the location unsuitable, according to McCartan. As a businessman, McCartan understands the plight of the small

business and the pressures they are under. “They are really hurting: rents, rates, water rates, insurances– it is very expensive to employ anybody,” says McCartan. He would aim to help small business and feels the new government is behind this. “The old government was totally out of touch.” McCartan would also push for political reform. “The amount of money, through benchmarking, that has been incrementally added to politician’s pensions is completely wrong,” he says. “For example, Mary Coughlan is due to receive, along with a €200,000 initial package, a yearly pension of €140,000, index linked, for the rest of her life. Whatever about getting a pension at retirement age, this is cash that could be used for public services.” So how will a councillor be able to effect change at that level? “I will put a motion to the council to ask for amending legislation,’ says McCartan. He will run his constituency ofﬁce from his optician premises at Thorncastle Street in Ringsend.

KNOW YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES Kevin Humphreys Party: Labour Elected Position: Teachta Dáila for Dublin South East Constituency Email: kevin.humphreys@oir.ie Tel: 01-6183224 “I will concentrate on job creation as I declared in my campaign and will work hard in my role to help stimulate the Dublin and Irish economies.”

Pigeon House Road residents protested recently over noise pollution from Dublin Port.

Ruari Quinn Party: Labour Elected Position: Minister for Education and Skills Email: minister@education.gov.ie Tel: 01-618 3434 “As Minister for Education and Skills I have a very ambitious programme for education, which is one of the key drivers of the economy. High on my agenda is to put in place a system to ensure that no child leaves school unable to read or write.”

Lucinda Creighton Party: Fine Gael Elected Position: European Affairs Minister Email: lucinda.creighton@oireachtas.ie Tel: 01-6183527 “I am delighted and deeply honoured to have been elected for a second term in Dáil Eireann. In my appointment as Minister for European Affairs, I have been tasked with one of the most challenging and exciting roles in Government. It will be my responsibility to ensure active and constructive engagement by the Government at European level.” Eoghan Murphy Party: Fine Gael Elected Position: Teachta Dáila for Dublin South East Constituency Email: info@eoghanmurphy.ie Tel: 086 0863832 “I’m very honoured to be elected by the constituents to represent them in the new Dáil and am very much looking forward to being part of the reform that is needed in Irish politics so that mistakes of the past are not repeated.”

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 27 can do that, I know I can. I can go without anything for a day.” And so it has worked out for the last forty odd years, One Day at a Time. To my knowledge there are, at least, forty seven symptoms of alcoholism. I’m going to leave with you a small number of them. If you can admit to three of the following symptoms, you need to talk to a counsellor, an expert working in rehabilitation. If your number is ﬁve, or more, you should look for the best help you can get, since, according to the evidence gathered in the last sixty years, you are very likely an alcoholic. The drinking of one active alcoholic affects the lives of at least seven people. In my view it can be a lot more than this– your family and your extended family are likely to be disturbed in some way when you give your alcoholism its head.

WHAT DO YOU KNOW! By Lee Dunne Lee Dunne author of ‘Goodbye to the Hill’ and ‘Paddy Maguire is Dead’ writes frankly about his problems with alcohol.

he fact is that too many people remain blank to the dangers of alcoholism and the extent of the world-wide booze problem which has become society’s wrecking ball during the last four decades. The World Health Organisation has, during much of that time, gone to great lengths to make it clear that alcoholism is one of the top ﬁve killers of mankind, that it is a disease which is, annually, taking more and more lives. In truth, alcoholism cannot be cured, but the power to arrest it can be yours, provided you are willing to put the plug in the jug and make a decision to stay away from one drink for one day! While this sounds simple enough, it comes, like all golden promises, with the warning: Do Not Confuse Simple with Easy! At the end of my alcoholic drinking, forty three years ago on October 16th I had already wrecked my marriage to a good and decent woman who had deserved a better husband than I turned out to be. At the age of thirteen or fourteen, I bought drink in an off licence and cycled to Herbert Park to see what

would happen if I drank the quart of cider and the pint of Guinness. I woke up nine hours later, the missing hours being a total blank. When I regained consciousness, my body hurt in several places, my mind assaulted by the fact that I was locked in behind six feet high black iron railings. Me and my bicycle! After an hour of desperate, sweaty struggling, I managed to get my bicycle– essential to my paper round– over the iron railings and onto the road without doing serious damage to it. I had been robbed of my senses by an alcoholic blackout. The blackout is a period of amnesia suffered by the intemperate drinker and should it happen on anything like a regular basis, is classed as a sign of alcoholism. I must admit that during the last two years of my drinking– I was then thirty four years old– I had drink on board many times as I drove my London taxi to earn a living while I was dreaming of becoming a famous writer. It never occurred to me that I was committing a criminal offence by being drunk on the job. It seems incredible to me now but I often came home from ten hours of cabbing with decent earnings, saved by what I now choose to call My Higher Power, from the hell of having killed somebody through drunken driving. Finally, when I feared I would

lose my mind entirely, I shuffled, shamefacedly, into an AA meeting room in London on a Tuesday evening in October, 1969. I was sweating and shaking and terrified, battling to ignore the voice telling me to run, to get the hell out of there and get a drink. When I entered that first AA room in London, I was instantly presented with a miracle of my very own. It muscled its way into my life as I looked down the crowded room. Sitting in the chairman’s seat, ready to lead the meeting, was a guy I used to drink with up to three or four years before. I’ll call him Pat. Pat went on to

enumerate the symptoms of alcoholism, as he had come to understand them, and I ticked off seventeen, before my tears tumbled all over me. In moments, I felt somebody touch my arm. I turned to a total stranger, a slim little Scottish guy, who pushed tissues into my hand, and even as I took them said, “you’re in the right place, pal” in the most matter-of-fact way, as he put a cigarette in my hand. Then, hunched forward over the smoke, wiping my tears away, I heard my own voice saying: “My God! That’s ALL that’s wrong.” The emphasis came in on its own steam, getting no help from me since I was the onlooker, the listener. Then, as Pat’s voice found me again, I heard him say “it begins and middles and ends with Staying Away From One Drink for One Day.” This sounded so simple and was immediately followed by a whisper of hope in my mind that vowed, “I

Five symptoms of alcoholism 1. Going for a drink– Just The One - after work. Staying at the bar long enough to get drunk. 2. Becoming seriously irritable when your spouse suggests that your drinking problem is interfering with your life together. 3. Lying about your drinking. Saying that you just had a couple when you have had more than this. 4. Taking a drink or two even when you are going to a party or function where drink will be in plentiful supply. 5. Taking drinks to bolster your conﬁdence when going for a job or an interview with the bank manager.

Get your business or ser vice noticed! Advertise in NewsFour Congratulations to Mick O’Neill who recently celebrated his 90th birthday with family and friends at Poolbeg Yacht Club.

Contact Karen Keegan for information and advertising rates Phone: 01 6673317

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

V OX

POP …

“There are some good facilities in the area but only if you are really into sport: there are pitches and basketball courts but there needs to be places where our age group can meet without having to be on a team or playing matches. There is a Monday Youth Project but times don’t always suit. There are good projects at St Andrew’s in Pearse Street but we can’t join as we aren’t from that area– they have animation and DJ groups. I also think that more could be done to bring employment in to the area. Facilities for us would provide jobs too.” Deborah Barry

T HE

By Jimmy Purdy

he first time I saw a heron was on the mast of one of the trawlers belonging to the Dub-

Local students from Ringsend College told Sandy Hazel of NewsFour what they would like to see more of in the area. Councillors take note– these are the voters in the next local elections.

“I would like to see more done with the water amenities, a fishing club possibly. There is some good fishing to be had in the area: we are surrounded by water and we have the Dodder too. Young people could be encouraged to take it up. A club to teach them and to organise trips wouldn’t cost a lot and equipment isn’t too expensive to start with. I would also like to see more done to deal with noise in the area. We can’t have our class windows open in warm weather as the noise from port traffic is so loud. The area could do with a space like the one in St Andrew’s centre on Pearse Street.” Stephen Connolly

“Space for a youth club is needed. There are facilities for the younger kids but our age groups, 16 upwards, are more interested in a hanging out space with rooms for rehearsals and instruments. I’m with the Irishtown Stage School but that is only eight hours a week, more people would get involved in music and productions if we had more space with soundprooﬁng. There is a lot of talent in Ringsend and a place to connect through bands and art could work well. Access to the internet is important to teenagers too.” Nicole Bui Thi

“More facilities for our age group would be great, there seems to be stuff for other ages but less for us. I had heard there were plans for a youth café in the area which would be great. We do like to hang out at the park and the beach but it would be cool to have a shelter of sorts for rainy days. Also our councillors could look at the times there is a terrible smell in the area which could be sorted. Again we have to keep classroom windows closed then and it’s hard to concentrate with the heat. The local library is good but a bit depressing; it could do with some paint and a facelift. Saoirse Moran Doyle

HUNGRY HERON WHO COMES CALLING

lin Trawling Company. This company was based at the corner near the hailing station at Tobin’s Pub. One of their trawlers was coming up the Liffey with a cargo of fish and sitting on the mast was a

heron. It was probably summer time and we were on holidays from school. We used to ramble over the lock gates and if a trawler was docked to unload their catch we would

stand looking at the unloading. It was fascinating to watch. The fish were unloaded into baskets which had two handles. Hooks were put into the handles and the basket was swung up onto the quayside, where a man caught it and unloaded it into a wooden fish box for market. The names of the boats were Fr O’Flynn, Tom Moore and the third was Tamora (I think). As far as I remember, the trawlers went to Iceland to fish. Often a fish would fall out of the basket and if it was left on the ground there would be a rush to get it. It would be a nice supper for someone, or maybe part of a dinner the next day. The boss man was a Mr Pidgeon who lived in a house up near the new buildings in Grand Canal Dock. So now I want to go back to the heron. No, not the one I saw on the mast of the trawler. This heron is a bird, pictured

above, that regularly arrives on the green in Edenmore, Dublin 5. The first time I saw him was two to three years ago. It is male, as my neighbour and friend Noel, who is a keen bird watcher told me. Noel feeds a lot of the wild birds around us and often puts something special out for the heron. On and off, you would see the heron standing ready to snatch or snare a fish except there is no water on this green. So the heron takes up a stance directly facing Noel’s door. If Noel doesn’t show soon the heron starts to move towards the garden and then on to the garden wall. One day he was up to the front door, I thought he was going to knock at it! Lately, Noel told me, he was going to ease off feeding him to get him back to his seaside territory. Left: The brazen heron.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 29

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE Dublin resident sees fireballs in the sky– a firsthand account by an eyewitness

ast September I was sitting in my sitting room watching telly and out of the corner of my eye I saw a big light coming towards my house out my window at 9:20pm. I thought it was a plane headed for me as I am on the flight path beside the airport but it was coming in from the wrong direction. So then I thought it was a plane on fire, and I ran outside to make sure it wasn’t going to hit my house. It was coming in on a horizontal line, like a plane would. A huge red and orange ball of flames went over my head at about 2,000 to 3,000 feet. I could see the flames. There was no white streak at the end. At this point I knew it wasn’t a plane, it was way too big. And there was no noise. I was looking up as it went right over my house, it was so fast and there was no noise at all. It

THE NEWSFOUR

CROSSWORD COMPILED BY ANN INGLE

had a yellow arched light– the only way I can describe it is that it was like a commercial plane three times its normal size but on fire at a height of about 2,000 feet. I was on my balcony and shouted down to neighbours below at their gate and to a man walking his dog, “Can you see that?” Then the four of us stood there trying to figure out what it was. It didn’t look like it had just come through the atmosphere because it was moving horizontally to the ground, rather than diagonally from space. I had seen meteors before, and comets, but this didn’t have a tail– it was just a giant ball of flames. I got online and starting asking everybody on Facebook if they had seen or heard of it and what should I do. Should I report it to somebody? My brother in Denmark is a UFO buff, and he gave me the number for Air Traffic Control in Dublin Airport and also said to report it to Astronomy Ireland, which I did straight

away. I called Air Trafﬁc Control the next morning and was left holding for 15 minutes while the guy went off to ﬁnd out if there had been any other sightings. Finally, he told me that they had had no reports of anything in that area. He said that at that time (9.20pm) directly above my house, the police helicopter was shining its spotlight down because there were children in the area pointing lasers at the incoming planes! I burst out laughing, there were no kids, there was no helicopter, I would have heard that. I said I know what a helicopter is and it wasn’t a helicopter! The man on the line then said, “You are imagining things. Don’t worry your little head about it.” I hung up,

Name:…………………………… Address:………………………… Telephone:…………………

feeling patronised. I rang my brother again and told him what Air Trafﬁc Control had said. I was in shock that something that big had just shot over the airport, and could have taken a commercial plane out of the sky, and they didn’t know anything about it. Two days later, the thing I had ‘imagined’ was on the front page of every newspaper– it was a meteor and was worth over a million euro to anyone that found it. Anyone who saw it was to report it to Astronomy Ireland so they could make a proper trajectory of its coordinates. They reckoned it landed in the midlands, possibly Leitrim. My friend saw that same meteor that night and has seen them regu-

larly since, about once a fortnight. He has seen huge things– not just shooting stars. Astronomy Ireland reported another one nearly as big in January. The thing that struck me the most was that it could have hit a house or a plane, it was that big and that close to the ground. If the authorities are aware that these things are going on, you would think they might warn Air Trafﬁc Control that there are big giant rocks of ﬁre hurtling through the sky at very fast speeds! I would like to know why we have had so many in the last six months. Is it happening worldwide or just here? Upcoming meteor showers Astronomy Ireland assures us that there are upcoming meteor showers to look out for in April and May. The Lyrid Meteors (April’s shooting stars) can be seen from late night April 22nd until dawn on April 23rd. The Eta Aquarids will rain down before dawn on May 6th with a possibility of sprinklings the day before and the day after. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Prize of a €25 book token. Post entries to NewsFour, RICC, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, D.4 by 1st June 2011. Winner of our February crossword competition was T. Cunningham of O’Connell Gardens, D.4 ACROSS 8 The Hotel that Bono and The Edge own (8) 9 Boyzone song ‘Love me for a ------, let that ------ be love’ (6) 10 A short sleeved, collarless garment (1-5) 11 Places for securing vessels or the means to do so, ropes, anchors, etc. (8) 12 French cake (6) 13 One of the first flowers to arrive with 26 down (8) 15 ‘If you’re happy and you know it’ do this (4) 17 Being on the brink of, especially tears (5-2) 19 Can’t bear to miss one, especially if it’s Coronation Street (7) 22 You need this to enter some countries (4) 24 Grant freedom to, set free, relax a grip, untie (8) 27 Springtime flowers through which you can tiptoe according to Tiny Tim (6) 29 President Obama is one (8) 30 Prepared for publication (6) 31 The French word for lemon (6) 32 Another flower, this little one is usually yellow (8) DOWN 1 Largest state in the USA by area (6) 2 Large vessels for leisurely holidays (8) 3 Tell what to do and how to do it, provide with knowledge (8) 4 Off east coast of America and often associated with a mysterious triangle (7) 5 What you have to do after a swim (3-3) 6 Place to win or lose money quickly (6) 7 A nightingale is one (8) 14 Chimpanzees, gorillas, etc. (4) 16 Is it this or money that makes the world go round (4) 18 Women’s underwear (8) 20 Miserably inadequate, bit of a loser (8) 21 Strips of toast to dip in egg (8) 23 The arches of the feet (7) 25 Smells and scents (7) 26 The season that is upon us (6) 28 To give satisfaction or pleasure (6)

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

Wines for Easter selected by Therese O’Toole Easter is almost upon us and below I’ve chosen some of my favourite wines that are ideal for this time of year. These wines are available at The Wine Boutique in Ringsend, and at good independent wines stores. Greenhough Sauvignon Blanc, 2010, New Zealand. Was €14.90 Now €12.90– for the month of April Greenhough is one of the two founding vineyards in Nelson, New Zealand. Their range of wines are hand-crafted using artisan techniques and are rated amongst the finest in the country. Master of Wine, Michael Cooper rates this wine with 5 stars: “ripe tropical fruit flavours, showing lovely delicacy and richness, finely balanced acidity, and a long, slightly spicy, dry finish.” Wonderful on its own, with seafood and white meat dishes. Domaine de Bisconte, 2009, Cotes du Roussillon, France €11.85 From the Languedoc Roussillon region this red wine is made from a blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan. Aged 12 months in oak, this is an elegant, fruity wine with aromas of red fruits and vanilla followed by good tannins combined with liquorice spice and vanilla. Recommended with lamb. Vargas, Antao Vaz 2009, Alentejo, Portugal €12.85 Similar in style to a white Burgundy, this grape is indigenous to Portugal and suits the warm climate of the Alentejo region. Wonderfully light with delicate fruits on the nose and palate. This wine is lovely on its own or can be enjoyed with seafood, chicken and pork. Njiro, Nero D’Avola, 2009, Sicily, Italy €9.50 Made with 100% Nero D’Avola grape, which grows very well in Sicily, this style of wine shows intense aromas of black cherries. There is no oak ageing in this wine but it has a soft taste of strawberries and plums. This is ideal with white meats and lamb dishes.

Nineteen and a Half Art Exhibition– City Art Squad– Moxie Studios. Artist Sinead Cunningham (left) and Vanessa Cunningham, her sister, with a set of nine paintings by Sinead. Sinead is an artist and art instructor. She is currently interested in collage and likes to create a positive atmosphere in her paintings.

In February Ringsend Park was the venue for an international soccer match between F.C. Chippio from Switzerland and local team Bridge Utd. with Thomas Quinn as referee. The Swiss team hail from a French-speaking, grape-growing region and are the biggest team in that area. F.C. Chippio won the match 2 – 1. Swiss player Steve Rey, who has local Ringsend connections, said that each year they pick a country with which to have a ‘friendly’ match. This year the choice was between Ireland and Spain and the unanimous decision was in favour of Ireland.

THE SPELLMAN CENTRE – FIGHTING DRUG ABUSE THROUGH EDUCATION, PREVENTION AND REHABILITATION By Caomhan Keane

ome to The Ringsend & District Response to Drugs Unit, The Spellman Centre, Irishtown Road is a drugs service with emphasis on rehabilitation and community development. Funded by the HSE/ TASK Force its primary target is drug users and their families but it also plays a key role in education, prevention and spreading awareness of the dangers of drug abuse to the community. Established in 1997 and named after the parish priest at the time (Fr. Paul Spellman) it is made up of exdrug users, their families and local residents concerned about the effects of drug abuse in the area. “We needed to have that (family) drive behind it,” says manager Teresa Weafer “as they were the ones feeling the pain and the pinch.” As the families spoke up on the issues they quickly established the differing problems. The main one was the inability to get people on a rehabilitation programme. “The wait is as long as a rope,” says Weafer, “so we set up a family support group,

then an addicts’ support group. We started running drug awareness programmes, making people aware of emerging trends and issues so that the community could have a say and a sense of belonging.” Mary Doolin, the senior project manager, got involved with the programme after attending the first public meeting. “I went as a concerned resident,” she says. “News had gotten out about people in the area that were involved with drug addicts, giving out methadone and the like. People didn’t want to accept that this thing existed in D4. But what struck me at this meeting was this mother who got up and said ‘My son has a problem and I need help.’ As a mother myself, how could I not respond to that?” She says she was ostracised by the community for getting involved and that’s why their open door policy is an important way to dispel the fear amongst families. Darren Dent, a project worker who will be ten years clean this May, does a lot of out care work, helping people take the most difficult step in recovery. “They are destroyed by the stuff,” he says. “Their confidence is shattered. All

they can think about when people try to get them to get help is ‘who is in there? What are they going to ask me?’ So when we hear through the street that someone might be interested in getting drug-free we make contact.” The process can take two to three months. Darren calls around to the house for a cup of tea, goes for a walk in the park, whatever it takes to get them through the door. Once there, a care plan is drawn up, catered to each individual addict. “It looks at everything,” says Weafer, “from what you’re using on a daily basis, to who you want involved in your recovery; from your accommodation to your physical and medical requirements.” The more chaotic addicts are handled by Robbie McGuire, a former addict himself. He helps them towards stabilising their addiction, through prescribing medication or holding workshops that teach how to inject safely and keep from harm within the addiction. “I check out if they are living on street, if they need to be linked in with any health or housing agencies. If they have appointments I go along with them.” He encourages

them to come to the centre to have some breakfast before they score their gear, take a shower or bring their clothes for us to wash. “The only thing I ask of them is that they come back. If you put demands on someone the minute they walk in the door, they’ll just go. Its hard enough to just come through it.” So he tries to get them comfortable with him and other people. “Slowly and at a rate they are comfortable with, I’ll start putting things in their plan.” Garry Cunningham works with the addicts who want to work towards achieving drug-free status. “I link them in with family support and their GP, all with a view towards getting them residential detox and day programs.” He puts them on a pre-entry program, four to six weeks long, where he keeps an eye on their motivation, whether they are stable or on harm reduction. He looks at their previous training, education, interests, whatever skills they may have and works at getting them into a position where they can avail of a CE programme. “If someone has a burning desire to achieve something we’ll make sure that happens,” says Weafer. “We ac-

cess funding, services, we recognise what people have. But they need to work with us.” One of the biggest problems facing The Spellman centre is demand. “We are the only drugs project in the South East but there are only 22 CE places available.” There is a waiting list of 48 addicts and it is growing daily. I ask Teresa if having former addicts helping current ones is a boon or a bane to recovery? “I have mixed views. I have found that once people get drug-free, some people will try to pull them back. There is resentment from those that didn’t move on. Yet there are others who say they wouldn’t be drug-free today without the wisdom of those who have gone through it.” Different strokes work for different folks but what is universal is how signiﬁcant the Spellman Centre has been in meeting the needs of the community. “We work with 178 families in the area,” concludes Weafer. “From users to drug-free, family support members, ex-prisoners, referral services. Since we started in 1997, 42 people have maintained their drug-free status, which is quite a good rate.”

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 31

THE POETRY PLACE A boy!

September on Sandymount Strand

The terns were gathering On Sandymount Strand Getting ready to ﬂy to another land Chirping and chattering and shooting the breeze “Who is leading the ﬂight? Is it you? No it’s you”

No weary wise men trailed east to Holles Street the night that you were born No smelly camels were tethered to the railings. No telltale whiff of frankincense lingered in the lifts. No dusting of gold sand puzzled the cleaners on the early shift. There was no alleluia chorus. But pigeons came from Ringsend to coo on the window sills and the morning light lay gently on me and lit the orchids tied in blue. I lifted you again getting used to the weight of the gift of another child born under a coincidence of stars. By Christine Broe

The Colour Orange* A gestation of months in concrete, dank amniotic cell of despair, he existed in palpable blackness, thick sticky darkness touching his skin. Air stiﬂing, hooded grey limbo, his head bound in a ﬁlthy shroud, he was walked to defecate daily, in the bowels of Beirut re-interred.

The summer is over For sure it’s gone What lies ahead is another dawn North Africa beckoning Its shoes are welcoming With sun and sea Get into formation It’s a V shape we need. Strength at the front, Strongest will lead. He can fall back when tired Next will replace To lead in formation With style and pace Like a grand lace scarf Black and white in the sky It waves in the breeze As it rises on high. Will you catch a thermal? Like I catch a train? A warm current of air That will carry you there. You’ll be back in March For St. Patrick’s Day To chirp round our shores Like the sea birds your way.

Perdition

Poor But Blessed

A brown bowl with some apricots, one banana, some cherries and nuts and oranges oranges oranges miraculous as suns. The smell of the fruit leaped into him and he began to dance, mesmerised by colour in somnambulant rage he danced, he danced every dance he knew and dances unknown to him and the walls the walls were singing to the orange diamond within, the orange the colour orange intoxicated him with joy and the walls of his sarcophagus became blue sea blue sky. Drunk with understanding unstateable, ﬁlled with love sublime, orange light of his solitary solstice danced on the Jordan, danced on the Boyne. By Christine Broe *This poem was inspired by Brian Keenan’s An Evil Cradling, Vintage, 1993.

I start thinking about bowls of cornﬂakes, cold milk. They crunch down with the spoon. Some sugar And mix It all up. Heaped Spoons. Heaped Spoons into the mouths and the taste. Eat half. Leave an untouched half. Then start on the untouched half. Finish it all. Oh. There’s milk left In the bowl. Pour in more cornﬂakes, a little sugar. By Ashley Black

By Carmel McCarthy

One day of that long longing his ‘shufﬂing acolyte’ came to the door, laid a bowl of fruit by the light of a candle ﬂame.

Flakes of Corn

We met and we married a long time ago, We worked for long hours when wages were low, No T.V., no wireless, no bath, times were hard, Just a cold water tap and a walk in the yard. No holidays abroad, no carpets on floors, We had coal on the fire and we didn’t lock doors. Our children arrived, no pill in those days, And we brought them up without any state aid. They were safe going out and played in the park, And old folks could go for a walk in the dark. No Valium, no drugs, and no L.S.D., We cured most of our ills with a good cup of tea. No vandals, no muggings, there was nothing to rob, We felt we were rich with a couple of bob. People were happier in those far off days, Kinder and caring in so many ways. Milkmen and paper boy would whistle and sing. A night at the pictures was our one mad fling. We all get our share of troubles and strife, We just have to face it– that’s the pattern of life. Now, I’m alone, I look back through the years, I don’t think of the bad times, the troubles and tears. I remember the blessings, our home and our love, And that we shared them together, I thank God above. By Jacqueline Tilley

As always, we welcome contributions to The Poetry Place, which can be sent to the ‘NewsFour’ ofﬁces at Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Thorncastle Street, Ringsend, Dublin 4, or by email to newsfour@gmail.com

It’s cold inside this heart of mine When drink and drugs are taken It’s not a place for lovely days When good habits are forsaken It’s hard to keep my mind on track When my chest is too quick beating My demeanour is not full of mirth And honest ways are ﬂeeting It’s not a time for assuredness When the cocaine dives inside me Intelligence is warped and skewed When loved ones might deride me It’s a place I know just far too well And has seen some great men topple It’s a way I must equate with Hell When Eve nibbled from the apple It’s numb cynical my feelings then When gargle takes me over It’s a need that sends me to the edge That reminds me to stay sober By John Leonard

www.soberpaddy.com

A Lament for Emmett I am a slave to the silence of the night I dive deep into its tranquillity and emerge bathed in the half light of a summer Gibbus moon Shining on a primrose’d grave I am soothed by its beam of a day of a thousand sad thoughts, of a little boy long since gone, dancing with mother to a tangent song By Derek Murphy

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

75 YEARS A- ROWING ST PATRICK’S ROWING CLUB CELEBRATES By John Hawkins

ur club was formed in 1936 and is the first skiff rowing club in Ringsend parish. It was named after our parish church by the late Paddy (Nipper) Breslan, Jamsie Geoghan and Walter McFarlane who were all confraternity men in Ringsend Church. The following is a story taken from the memoirs of Willie (Lax) Murphy (Snr). He records that there was only one club at the time in 1935-1936. The keel had been laid by the boat builder Harry Smith, whose boatyard was where the Community Centre is now. The late Paddy Breslan was running raffles to raise the 40 pounds old money to pay for the skiff. Jamsie Geoghan (a stevedore on the docks) and Kit Murphy gave donations along with the prize money from winning Wicklow and Dun Laoghaire races. Hence, the skiff was built and then the time trials were set up to pick the best crew to represent the boat. The winning crew on time was Christy Dalton, K. O’Byrne, Ned McDonnell (Ramsey), Willie (Lax) Murphy and the coxswain Willie Lacey. Following some dispute, the wrong crew were deemed to be winners. After a heated debate some rowers left and decided to form their own club, which became the Stella Maris, the name coming from the Star of the Sea church. Christy Dalton, Ned McDonnell, K. O’Byrne, Joe Moore and Bill Higgins all started the Stella Maris club in 1937, so the first crew to represent the St Patrick was Whack Dent, Davy Geoff, Jack (Saw) Cox, Willie (Lax) Murphy and Eddie Lacey.

Their first race was the triangle course in Dalkey. The race was won by The Guiding Star, Wicklow. It was Willie’s opinion that the crew who won the trial would have won the race. Once the St. Patrick was up and racing from 1936, finding a home or a base was a problem. The first base was the Anti-Communist Hall in Thorncastle Street. Then it was in Kit Murphy’s yard for a while. Paddy Breslan tried for several years to get some sort of base for the club, when finally a piece of land at the top of the lane in Pembroke Cottages was donated. The clubhouse was built by the late Gerry Gregg and Tommy Kinsella, a bricklayer and a master carpenter. The following is a list of helpers: Pierre, Gidda, Willie, Seamus, Thomas, Christy, Paddy, Tommy (2 thumbs), all Murphys! Also, Joe Doyle, Kammer Kimple, Hawkie Barnie Murtagh and the lad with the billie can was Johnie Gregg, our now-president. Work was completed in 1956. Unfortunately, our club later went on fire so we were out of a home once again. It must have been God telling the committee not to be selling drink in the club on Sundays! We were then reduced to getting changed for training at an area called ‘the products’. That was some experience, with the size of the rats running around. Things took a turn for the worse because the old club was in a bad way and the Scouts became established there. Whatever agreement was made, we could no longer use our old club premises. A new committee constantly pursued the issue and the scouts handed back the old club in 1984. That committee was J. Gregg, R. Saunders, P. Orr, J. Farrell, J. Murphy, T. Plunkett, F. Maher. We got our new club in 1985 along with

our new St. Patrick, built by Patsy Whelan. We were like lotto winners from then on. The committee back then worked so hard to get the old and new club up and running and it must be said Tommy Plunkett was a big influence to Johnie Gregg and Ritchie Saunders. They both became brilliant at any negotiations for the club. It was a sad day for us when Johnie Gregg (honorary president) retired from the committee for health reasons. We still have a great committee: Ritchie Saunders (chairman), Pat Orr (secretary), Gerard Murphy (fund officer), Noel Murphy (treasurer), Philip Murphy (safety officer), Dave Cox (grant officer) and our lifelong member Irene Montgomery (child care officer) and me John Hawkins (club maintenance). Like so many clubs, a committee is only as good as its members, who bring us so much fame in rowing. I’m very proud of all our present members and rowers. Two have won us indoor gold and we have won the All Ireland Senior Open Skiff Race in Wicklow on no fewer than 16 times in the last 20 years. Our rowers have won several gold medals in the All Ireland. We have won the East Coast Shield numerous times, the London Great River Race under 16 and under 18; a super-race over 22 miles long. Our crew won in Italy, Scarborough and Holyhead. It would take the whole of NewsFour to name all the places we have raced. We went to Cobh Island five times, coming first each time and raising money for Chernobyl Children’s charity. We left our skiffs behind and ran from Wicklow

Rowing Club to our own Club. One of our big sponsored rows was the one from Arklow to raise money for the Seaman’s Memorial up at City Quay. Another project was our club being invited to be a guard of honour for the World Peace Day mass in Ringsend Church. Last year we rowed the offerings up to City Quay on St. Patrick’s Day. The style of rowing probably has not changed much but with the families associated to our club, we are always getting a good crop of rowers. Ringsend has a deep family connection to both clubs and I don’t think any other sport has as much family ties as the rowing. I’d like to thank our sponsors; Dublin Port Company and Bob and Monica Prior (the Yacht). A special mention to Charlie Murphy for his commitment to helping our club. Without the co-operation of the harbour master with his kind permission for our gangway and pontoons, our club could not survive on the river. On a more serious note, both clubs won’t survive if the yacht and boat owners keeps pushing out the line of yachts. We have a safety training lane to protect our very young members, but it is getting smaller by the day. Both clubs are having to address the problem of safety so we hope the owners might take note. Both clubs look after quite a lot of children from Ringsend. While this story is not meant to offend anybody, our survival in rowing is our number one priority. Does anybody remember Peter Tilly dressing up and walking the greasy pole on the Barge? We’d

like to wish Micko a happy 90th! Himself and Jimmy Purdy are always at the club supporting us. Good health to Christy, Paddy and Annie Murphy. To all our supporters, we need you all more than ever this year to make our 75th regatta a big success on the 23rd/ 24th July. To all past rowers, you’re all welcome to the club to celebrate your involvement and contribution to the success of the club. Thanks to RICC and NewsFour for bringing our history into so many homes. Last but not least, to all our deceased members especially club captain Thomas (Come on Paddy) you are always in our hearts. Behind the scenes over the years has been a group of ladies who made life easy for us: Tina Gregg, Marie Murphy, Marie Saunders, Dolores Orr, Olive Farrell. And more recently, Jacqueline, Christine, Debbie, Jacqueline Smith and Barbara, Laura and the two Barry twins. I hope I’m not forgetting anyone. Be very proud if you were ever a member of our club, because you helped to make us what we are today on our 75th Anniversary. Yours in Sport, John (The Hawk) Hawkins. Main photo: Factory Race from 1944. It was won by the I.G.B. crew. Pictured left: The launch of St. Patrick 1986. Left to right: John Gregg; R. Saunders; Patsy Whelan (Boat Builder, RIP); P. Orr; J. Farrell; T. Murphy; N. Murphy; G. Murphy.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 33

W ORD M AGIC

W ORDS

AND CUSTOMS ASSOCIATED WITH

By Glenda Cimino

he origins of the name Easter, the reasons for its celebration, and the correct date have at times been hotly argued. The modern English term Easter is believed to have developed from an Old English word. According to Bede, the Northumbrian monk and scholar, the name refers to a month of the Germanic calendar. Around 731 Bede wrote that the month (now April) is named after an Anglo-Saxon pagan goddess. In the 19th century, scholar Jacob Grimm– of Grimm’s fairy tales– proposed the existence of a form of Ēostre among the preChristian beliefs of the continental Germanic peoples, whose name he reconstructed as Ostara. Some linguists have identiﬁed the goddess as a Germanic form of the recon-

E ASTER

structed Proto-Indo-European goddess of the dawn, Hausos. Some scholars have suggested that Bede invented Ēostra, and that Grimm was equally stretching credibility. There are also theories connecting Ēostre with records of Germanic Easter customs involving hares and eggs, both associated with fertility rites. Bede noted that feasts held to honour the Goddess had gone out of use by the time of his writing (circa 731) and had been replaced with the Christian custom of ‘Paschal season’. Pascha comes from the Hebrew Pesach, the festival of Passover. In Greek the word meaning upstanding, up-rising, resurrection is used also as an alternative. The idea that Easter came from the name of a goddess is controversial. But it seems that the origin and proper dates for celebration of Easter have been a hotter controversy for centuries. The New Testament teaches that the resurrection of Jesus, which Easter celebrates, is a foundation of the Christian faith. Easter is linked to the Passover and Exodus from Egypt recorded in the Old Testament through the Last Supper and cruciﬁxion that preceded the resurrection. According to the New Testament, Jesus gave the Passover meal a new

The Draft Village Design Statement for Sandymount (SVDS) is now ready for review, observation and comment by the people of Sandymount. It is available on the following websites: http://www.dublincity.ie/YourCouncil/LocalAreaServices/SouthEastArea/ www.dublin.ie www.samra.ie www.heritagecouncil.ie A hard copy of the statement will also be available at the Post Ofﬁce and Books on the Green, Sandymount Village. Alternatively you can request a copy if you email southeast@dublincity.ie Two workshops to discuss the SVDS will be held on Saturday 16th April 2011, Scoil Mhuire Lakelands Girls School, Gilford Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4. You are invited to attend the workshops, which will be held at 11am and 2pm and will be facilitated by Soltys Brewster Consulting and the Sandymount Village Design Steering Committee. Each workshop session will last approximately 2 hours. If you are unable to attend the workshop, please submit any comments to the email: southeastarea@dublincity.ie

meaning, as he prepared himself and his disciples for his death in the upper room during the Last Supper. He identified the loaf of bread and cup of wine as his body soon to be sacrificed and his blood soon to be shed. Theologians are still arguing these many centuries over whether body and blood is to be taken literally or symbolically. Easter in the early Church The first Christians, Jewish and Gentile, were certainly aware of the Hebrew calendar but there is no direct evidence that they celebrated any specifically Christian annual festivals. The ecclesiastical historian Socrates Scholasticus (circa 380) attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of its custom, “just as many other customs have been established,” stating that neither Jesus nor his Apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival. By the later second century, it was accepted that the celebration of Pascha (Easter) was a practice of the disciples and an undisputed tradition. Serious controversies still arose in the second and third centuries over when Easter should be celebrated. Since the days of Moses (1,500 B.C.), the Passover was always celebrated 14 days after the new moon during the time of the full moon following the Spring Equinox. Those who followed this timing were called Quartodecimans. Some say it was a tradition of the Hibernian Christians for over 500 years after St. Patrick (373 – 465). The Roman and Alexandrian churches continued the fast until the Sunday following, wishing to associate Easter with Sunday. Bishops argued over this, and a number of synods were held to try to resolve the controversy. Quartodecimanism seems to have lingered into the fouth century, when Socrates of Constantinople recorded that some Quartodecimans were deprived of their churches by John Chrysostom and that some were harassed by Nestorius. Some deemed it a serious error to celebrate Easter before the Equinox, as early as March 11, and wanted to do their own computations. This was finally agreed at the First Council of Nicaea in 325, who decided that all Christian churches would celebrate Easter on the same day, which would be computed independently of any Jewish calculations to determine the date of Passover. Since then, Easter had been a moveable feast. Using the Gregorian calendar, Easter will always fall

on one of 35 possible dates, on a Sunday between March 22 and April 25. Christian Churches use March 21 as the starting point from which they find the next full moon. The cycle of Easter dates repeats after exactly 5,700,000 years, with April 19 being the most common date, happening 220,400 times or 3.9%, compared to the median for all dates of 189,525 times or 3.3%. Easter last fell on March 22 in 1818, and will not do so again until 2285. It fell on March 23 in 2008, but will not do so again until 2160. Easter last fell on the latest possible date, April 25, in 1943 and will next fall on that date in 2038. However, this year it will fall on April 24. Easter bunny and Easter Eggs Bringing Easter eggs seems to have its origins in Alsace and the Upper Rhineland, both then in the Holy Roman Empire, and south western Germany, where the practice was first recorded in the early 17th century. The first edible Easter Eggs, made of pastry and sugar, originated in Germany during the early 19th century. The Easter Bunny (Osterhase) was introduced to the United States by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch country during the 18th century. The excitement of the Easter Bunny was comparable to the arrival of Santa on Christmas Eve. According to the tradition,

children would build brightly coloured nests, often out of caps and bonnets, in secluded areas of their homes, and the Easter Bunny would lay brightly coloured eggs in the nests of the good children. Over time, the nest became the modern Easter basket, and the placing of the nest in a secluded area has become the tradition of hiding baskets and eggs, and Easter Egg Hunts. Many Christians of the Eastern Orthodox Church to this day typically dye their Easter eggs red, the colour of blood, in recognition of the blood of the sacriﬁced Christ (and, of the renewal of life in springtime). Some also use the colour green, in honour of the new foliage emerging after the long dead time of winter. Eggs, like rabbits and hares, are fertility symbols of antiquity, since birds lay eggs and rabbits and hares give birth to large litters in the early spring. The saying ‘mad as a March hare’ refers to the crazy dances of hares as they ﬁght over the females in the mating season.

Give your unused musical instruments to a welcoming home Fancy having you own local orchestra? Well it is on the way to happening and part of the start is a call-out by Dublin City Council for instruments. Strings, yes, but also brass instruments. Bobby Neill at Dublin City Council has said that the project is in its initial stages but a launch is in sight. “We will have direction and help from other quarters, but the main thing now is to get instruments donated,” says Neill. So, if you have a spare euphonium in the wardrobe or if your attic is home to any trumpets, clarinets or ﬂutes, then please give them a new lease of life and donate to this brilliant project. Contact Bobby Neill on bobby.neill@dublincity.ie He will tell you where to drop the instruments. Photograph by David Corby, Wikimedia Commons

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

The Fontenoy Files By Shay Connolly and Sharon Geraghty, PRO Clanna Gael Fontenoy Clanna Gael Fontenoy Player Profiles Stacey Flood and Eimear Linehan speak to Sharon Geraghty Both ladies have been selected on the 2011 Dublin U16 panel Name: Stacey Flood Club: Clanna Gael Fontenoy Position: Left Back DOB: August 5th Height: 5’ 6” Nickname(s): Flood Honours: Football– Dublin Intermediate Championship winner 2010. Soccer– NDSL League winner 2010. Basketball– Runner Up 2009 and 2010 U16 Dublin League Favourite Food: Pizza Favourite Artist: Rihanna Favourite Book: Romeo and Juliet Favourite Film: Easy A Favourite TV Show: 90210 Favourite School Subject: Art Pet’s Name: Dog, Ozzie Favourite Irish Sports Personality: Katie Taylor Favourite International Sports Personality: Stephen Gerrard Most memorable game as a player: Intermediate County Championship Final 2010 Biggest inﬂuence on career to date: My sisters Kim, Karen and Lynn Toughest opponent to date:Eimear Linehan Sporting ambition: To win a Senior County Championship medal with Clanna Gael Fontenoy What change would you like to see in the GAA? For boys and girls to get equal attention and recognition Other interests/ hobbies: Basketball, Soccer

Name: Eimear Linehan Club: Clanna Gael Fontenoy Position: Forward DOB: December 24th Height: 5’ 5” Nickname(s): None that I know of Honours: Football– Dublin Intermediate Championship winner 2010 Favourite Food: Ice Cream Favourite Artist: Beyonce Favourite Book: I like a lot of different books Favourite Film: Harry Potter Series Favourite TV Show: One Tree Hill Favourite School Subject: Music Pet’s Name: Dog, Monty Favourite Irish Sports Personality: Tommy Bowe Favourite International Sports Personality: Tiger Woods Most memorable game as a player: Intermediate County Championship Final 2010 Biggest inﬂuence on career to date: My Dad and the mentors at Clanna Gael Fontenoy Toughest opponent to date: Stacey Flood Sporting ambition: Continue to represent my Club and County into the future What change would you like to see in the GAA? More young people playing in general Other interests/ hobbies: Hockey

CLANNA GAEL FONTENOY – PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

By Jason McDonnell

have often walked past Clanna Gael Fontenoy on Sean Moore Road in Dublin 4 and seen all the young athletes out training. The facilities on offer to the community have greatly improved there over the last couple of years and I was curious to ﬁnd out more about the club. The manager Shay Connolly was good enough to give me a brief history of the club and how it got its name. He said joking “If I had €5 for all the times I was asked where the name Fontenoy came from, then I could have bought the Irish Glass Bottle Company!” The name Fontenoy comes from a small town in Belgium, which was the scene of a battle on 11th May

1745 and was part of the War of the Austrian Succession between the French, the British and the Dutch. The British and the Dutch were assured of victory, or so it seemed, until the Irish Brigade (ﬁghting for the French) made one last charge to the cry of “Remember Limerick.” They went on to win the day. Afterwards, a Celtic Cross Memorial was erected at Fontenoy by Nationalists and it was unveiled there by the Lord Mayor of Dublin on 25th August 1907. The name Fontenoy came about as a lot of the men who fought in the battle of Fontenoy were from the Ringsend area, so when they came back and talked about forming a club, the battle of Fontenoy was still very prominent in people’s minds. The Fontenoys’ ﬁrst match was a Gaelic Football match in Elm Park

(now St. Vincent’s Hospital) against the John Mitchells on 23rd October 1887 and the Fontenoy club was then officially founded in 1892 on the Irishtown Road. The first reports on the Fontenoys as a hurling club didn’t appear until 1901 and the first fixture for Ringsend Park was 14th May 1910. The Clanna Gael was a club for teachers that was formed in Parnell Square. The teachers found themselves in the area around Star of the

Sea and Haddington Road so they started up a Gaelic football club. The Fontenoys had been predominantly a hurling club and so the two clubs amalgamated in 1968. The ﬁrst club house was built in 1989 with just two dressing rooms, a function hall and a small bar. Membership increased so much after two years that the facilities were not enough to serve the demand and there was a lot of interest in forming a ladies’ football team. The decision was made to increase the club house to eight dressing rooms and a major improvement to the two pitches was carried out in 2000 and 2002. Now the club facilitates 32 teams, 8 of which are ladies’ football teams. The club also has a hurling wall and an allweather training pitch at the rear of the clubhouse.

The club facilitates the training of athletes from Trinity College, who in turn run a grinds system for Junior and Leaving Certiﬁcate students who are involved in the club in what’s called ‘education through sport.’ The most recent work was in 2010 when the club got a brand new function hall (left). It is now open for any type of function and is second to none. It can accommodate large parties of 200 to 250 people with the option of a sliding partition wall for smaller parties facilitating from 80 to 100 people. Ideal for birthday parties etc. Shay would like to thank the local community for their support over the years. For further information on membership or room hire please phone 660 4064 or email: clanfont@gofree.indigo.ie

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 35

D EPRESSION : By Caomhan Keane

epression can be more than just a mood and can affect anybody. The tendency in some people to experience it frequently, or for long periods of time, may be the sign of a more serious illness. Depression can be the result of several factors, both physical and mental. We may feel depressed if someone dies or we may be depressed due to chemical imbalances in the brain. Although both are beyond our control, there are ways to reduce depression; forms of treatment are available. Symptoms can be mild or severe, but depression often displays itself through physical, as well as mental, symptoms. Sadness, irritability, the inability to enjoy life and difﬁculty in thinking are just a few of the mental signs of depression. Physical symptoms may include insomnia, exhaustion and the lack of energy, and some aches and pains with no apparent physical cause. If you are getting up in the morning thinking that you don’t want to go on or are having thoughts that life is meaningless and pointless, then there are people you can go to. Caomhan Keane proﬁles some of them here. TEEN-LINE, which was set up by Maureen Bolger following the death of her son Darren by suicide in April 2003, is a free phone help line for young people, aged 13-21. Shocked to discover the lack of services available for young people in Ireland, Darren’s

WHERE TO FIND HELP AND SUPPORT

mother founded the confidential listening service, a volunteer operation that is mostly funded by donations and fundraisers, with a little support from the HSE. Teen-Line’s volunteers are ordinary, every-day people who understand that young people need to be heard, now more than ever. “We’ve had to recruit extra volunteers,” says Janice O’Brien, the company secretary. “A lot of parents are under pressure and it is spilling over onto the children.” While the demand could be put down to Teen-Line’s growing profile, O’Brien thinks that more needs to be done to get the word out about the service (and services like it). “We desperately need to run a TV ad,” says O’Brien. “There were 527 cases of suicide in the country last year, more than twice the number of people killed on the roads.” Yet mental health organisations can’t get the money together to run a campaign like the one rolled out by the Road Safety Authority. “There was a significant drop in road deaths following their campaign.” It is important to note that Teen-Line is a completely confidential service, that won’t turn up on your phone bill, that won’t eat up any of your credit and since your number doesn’t come up when you call, there is no way of tracing you. They deal with all sorts of problems from people who are having issues adjusting with the change from primary to secondary school, exam pressure, bereavement, bullying or issues in the home. “We provide an ear; let

them know that someone is here to listen to them, not to tell them that they are wrong or right, just to listen.” Telephone:1800 833 634. Email: www.teenline.ie CONSOLE was also born out of grief. When Paul Kelly lost his sister to suicide in 2002 he and his family found that there were precious few support services that specialised in suicide bereavement. A nationwide organization, their counsellors and therapists offer free and accessible counselling services through their support groups and their free helpline which is operated 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. “In the aftermath of a suicide people don’t get to talk about their loved one as much as others do,” says Ciaran Austin the Console helpline manager. “They become deﬁned by the method of their death rather than the life that was lived. Suicide has a long protracted recovery. There is a lot of shock and numbness. The anger and guilt can bring a lot of discord to a relationship or within a family.” If not helped, a person themselves can plummet into prolonged depression and may develop suicidal thoughts. Austin believes that people want to speak about their grief, “maybe not right away, but eventually.” He says that rather than approaching them directly on the topic, friends and family should let the person know that they are there for them, if and when they are willing to talk. He believes the recession has placed people who were prone to mental health problems or who have been ill in the past at

particular risk. “People are more likely to put that €60 in their pocket than hand it over to a GP or spend it on their meds.” Telephone: 1800 247 100. Email: www.console.ie Another downside of the economic crash is that the issue of loss is amplified. This is something Michele Kerrigan, CEO of GROW (a Mental Health Organisation that helps people who have suffered, or are suffering from mental health problems) has noticed from the number of calls her organisation has received. Due to the lack of jobs, people are finding themselves in a position that they wouldn’t have been in before. “When someone loses their job, their self esteem and their dignity is eroded,” she says. “Once that starts happening, your confidence within yourself is eroded and that can bring about depression and isolation.” When you are in the workplace there is social contact, when you are outside the work environment that social contact is breaking down and that is another reason that people are seeking assistance.” GROW has a national network of over 130 Groups in Ireland. Its principal strength is the support members give each other from their own experience in matters to do with mental health. Telephone:1890 474 474. Email: www.grow.ie Kevin Smyth, Chief Executive of AWARE, an Irish charity helping to defeat depression, believes it is important to put prejudice and judgment aside when approaching someone you think might be depressed. “They may not notice that anything is wrong

with themselves,” he says. “They may be embarrassed, might feel that they aren’t being understood. It is important to let them know that you are there to talk to them, and more importantly, to listen.” He believes that we need to break the stigma surrounding depression by being open and communicating with one another. He encourages people to be open about their illness where they can. “They need to know that it’s OK to talk, that it is an illness rather than a weakness.” He says that Aware is not just for people who are clinically depressed. “We provide services for people dealing with depression, who think they or others might be depressed or for people who are coping with someone else’s depression.” They run face-to-face support groups; support groups for relatives, support groups for young people and this past January have launched a support group online. Telephone: 1890 303 302. Email: www. aware.ie “Talk is cheap but it can save a life,” says Vicki Bisset who has spent the last ten years suffering from different bouts of depression and anxiety. “I just think it’s so important to tell someone. I know from personal experience that you don’t want to talk to anyone. You feel embarrassed, you feel frustrated, and you deﬁnitely feel like you’re going to be judged by professionals as well as your local community. But if you can get up the courage to tell the family, a friend, a relative, anybody, it can help you start to build a support network around yourself and help you get well.”

S UMO ‘ WRESTLERS ’ RAISE €3,723 FOR P IETA H OUSE On 26th February 2011 Jennifer Betts hosted a charity sumo wrestling tournament in Clanna Gael Fontenoy in aid of Pieta House (centre for the prevention of self harm and suicide), Lucan. The total amount raised was €3,723. Jennifer would like to say a huge thank you to all who supported this hilarious night of entertainment. Thanks also to Alice Larkin (pictured left) who was referee for the night.

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NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

POET

for the elderly in Birr, with day care and other community health services, where Christine did art therapy for 20 weeks with a group of elderly people. The art project arose from her work with them, and thinking about what “would be missing when I was gone,” the sense of containing the space and making it safe for people to go into their deepest places.

IN PROFILE

C HRISTINE B ROE

By Glenda Cimino

hristine Broe is an accomplished though modest poet. She has published one collection, Solas Sólás (Swan Press, 2003), has won many awards, and published widely in Ireland and abroad. At the same time, she has brought up seven children, run writing workshops, and followed a career as an artist and art therapist. Yet she describes herself as “just a woman who does these things.” Christine Broe grew up in the Liberties of Dublin, the eldest of ﬁve girls. “It was a vibrant community, like living in a little village, with extended family close by. My father had a shop

in Dean Street, and Mam’s family had a second-hand furniture shop, and we girls helped out after school.” She attended the Holy Faith Convent in the Coombe, where she was unfortunately turned against the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins by a teacher who adored him. Christine was somewhat dyslexic, and her essays were returned with so many red marks, they looked like a battleﬁeld. She couldn’t spell, but even then she loved writing. She had romantic notions about Shelley. There were no living poets on the curriculum at that time, in the 50s. She haunted Kevin Street library, reading Enid Blyton, hiding some books behind others so they would be there when she got back to the li-

Fresh from international duty in Wales, Ireland rugby stars Donncha O’Callaghan and Denis Leamy unveiled ‘The Sandymount Line-Out’, an impressive bronze sculpture, at the newly refurbished Sandymount Hotel recently. The sculpture is a tribute to Irish rugby and will welcome fans to the hotel, which is located beside the home of Irish rugby, the Aviva Stadium.

brary. She liked Annie Smithson, romantic stories about the War of Independence. As a girl, Christine had a regular income from entering art competitions on Radio Éireann. She drew on every box and piece of paper, waiting for boxes to be emptied so she could draw on them. Her parents encouraged her, as did winning prizes in Caltex (now Texaco) art competitions. She was conscripted to camogie and piano lessons, but was neither sporty nor musical– musical talent had skipped a generation, in her case. Later she studied nights at the National College of Art and Design and worked days in the Department of Finance, where she met her future husband, Tommy Nelson. She studied advertising in the Rathmines College of Commerce and trained as an art teacher. She and Tommy married in 1972, and they began a family (seven children, three girls and four boys.) In 1988, Tommy’s job took him and the family (then numbering six children) to Luxembourg for four years. Her last boy, 21 year old Luke, was born there in 1989. Those years for Christine were like living in Disneyland. They seemed to have loads of money, “Luxembourg encouraged you to have children and there were allowances for everything. The postman would come and hand you francs at the door.” They took up skiing, as you could drive there. For the ﬁrst time, the economic pressure was off, but Christine was somewhat isolated, home with the children, and with people speaking Luxembourgish around her. It was during this time that she turned to writing. It actually began with letters she wrote to her family, which “with my spelling, they must have had family coun-

cils to decipher.” She loved writing them, and later her mother who had kept them, gave them all back to her. Towards the end of four years she started dabbling in poetry. When they returned to Ireland, she went to extramural creative writing classes at UCD taught by Susan Schreiberman. “I went to see if I was writing poetry or not. It was an amazing group, and it made you believe in your work.” A key event in Christine’s writing career came in 1994, when some poets from the Rathmines Writers Group invited her to come along to their public reading. She joined the group and is still a member. She also attended the Syllables Group in Inchicore, where she learned more about writing from Michael Flanagan. “I went there for an information night for a competition, and attended the group for years after.” 1994 was also the year when Christine had her ﬁrst poems published, in the second Wings book, edited by poet Rosemarie Rowley. Christine at the same time followed up on her early interest in art, developing a career as an artist and art therapist. When her children were small, she had done a bit of community-based art teaching, for instance, with an active age group in Mount Argus whose creativity she encouraged. Later, she did a foundation course in art therapy– and disability facilitation– hanging in until Ireland had a training for art therapists. Then she commuted two days a week to Cork, getting a Post-Grad degree in 2003, and Masters in 2008. One of her projects, ‘The Black Chair’, was funded by the Per Cent For Art Project, in Birr Co. Offaly, from 2005/06. One percent of public building money was set aside for the arts. They built a residential place

The Black Chair Art therapy can go very deep. Thus began the ‘Black Chair.’ She cleared out a room in her house, and took a month to make it. She got a really comfortable armchair that felt like it was hugging you, and covered it in black fabrics of every texture she could ﬁnd, with pockets and openable ﬂaps to explore, embroideries and silk beads. Blank books were placed in the pockets so people could write things. One visitor wrote lines from a Yeats poem, ‘…once while he nodded in his chair at the moth hour of eve’. A blind woman sat in it and was so pleased by the experience she didn’t want to get up. “The Black Chair became a place to sit and dream. It was moved to a wide space in the corridor of the residence in Birr where people could sit in it. The sun faded it into a kind of sepia. There was also a cloak on the back with pockets which could be brought to someone who was bedridden. The oldest person I worked with was a 99 year old man.” She recorded her own emotional journey through this project in poetry around the experience of working in an institution, feeling a stranger there, and imagining that this might be the experience of the people asked to spend the rest of their lives in care. She has also linked her art and poetry, making bog sculptures and writing in the voices of her creations. She does not sit down to write a poem– for her poems need to surge up. She waits til the poems “attack” her, and then she writes them down, revising a good bit. Her advice to upcoming poets? Participate in writers’ groups. As Michael Hartnett said, “you have to learn to kill your darlings,” those phrases you may be most attached to in your work. Two of Christine’s poems are on the Poetry Page in this issue. She can be contacted at al.mandala@gmail.com for workshops etc.

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 37

THE EUROZONE – A LOCAL VIEW By Sandy Hazel

es, NewsFour is just a little local paper but we like to keep an eye on international developments too. We would like to present our good news fiscal forecast or in other words: How Ireland might benefit from the convergent economic governance agenda being pushed by our Eurozone neighbours. There is much debate on the pros and cons of harmonisation and common fiscal policies. With debts now Europeanised, tighter rules and similar tax bases are probable but Ireland could gain in this scenario. The EU is using the crises to occasion remedies which were needed all along: stricter rules and enforcement. The stability mechanisms include a six-pack of economic reforms. Are the remedies going to be all that bad? Maybe we shouldn’t worry too much about loss of supposed sovereignty: our own finance departments and ministers got it so wrong for so long; why not let the Germans audit everything? Ireland is not seen as having much bargaining power at the fiscal fist fight of heads of state summits, in hock as we are. But it will become easy to highlight the unsustainability of punitive interest rates. This is language the Eurozone

understands. She does not like her countries to deteriorate and the new economic governance rules will only serve to highlight this lack of growth potential, another advantage for Ireland. The six-pack rules cover: speeding up the excessive deficit procedures; strengthening surveillance of budgetary position and economic policies of member states; regulation for correction of macroeconomic imbalances; requirements for budgetary frameworks for member states; enforcement of budgetary surveillance in euro area and measures to correct excessive macroeconomic imbalances. The term surveillance sounds ruthless but we might care to remind ourselves where the lack of surveillance has left us. These checks will illustrate how bleak growth is in Ireland, no more hiding behind dodgy bank stress tests and questionable stats. Any deviations from national recovery plans or overly optimistic forecasts by our ministers will be questioned with “Will this place the EU at risk?” Enforcement is serious and sanctions will include lodging a deposit which may or may not generate interest. If corrections are not made then that cash could become a fine, distributed to other member states. Persistent deficit sinners may be stripped of voting rights.

R AINWATER

By Glenda Cimino

n this time of water shortages and threats of water charges, rainwater harvesting is a concept whose time has come. Rainwater harvesting is a system where the rainwater from the roofs of buildings is ﬁltered and collected in a storage tank. The storage tank can be either underground or over ground. Typically a domestic system is underground with commercial and agricultural systems located over ground. The water in the storage tank is then re-used in place of potable drinking water. Typical applications include: Garden Irrigation: Watering ﬂowers, car washing, outdoor cleaning etc. Domestic Use: Flushing toilets, cleaning, laundry etc. Supplying drinking water to animals, water reserve for spraying, washdown, etc. Commercial/Industrial: Flushing toilets, cooling for industrial machinery, wash plants, etc.

During the summits we can be sure of much media coverage of French president Sarkozy’s demands for Ireland to increase its corporation tax. We might ask why Sarkozy does not just reduce the French corporation tax which would also level the ﬁeld. He won’t of course. If he did then French citizens would need to make up revenue shortfalls with higher income taxes. A regularised tax base need not be dismissed out of hand, but again, the lower rate countries would come out worse and Irish citizens could possibly gain. If harmonisation of economic governance is on the table, it will be also interesting to see Sarkozy trying to sell a retirement age of 68 to his electorate. Banking will not be exempt. There is a proposed Financial Activity Tax– at last an acronym we can live with– on large-scale money movements. A European Banking Authority will supervise each country’s regulators. Presumably the dismal performance of the Irish regulator will be required reading at this EBA. The percentage of GDP to ﬁnance debt will be strictly monitored as part of the governance package. As long as this percentage is too high we can show an obstacle to growth and require debt reconsideration. It is interesting that Ireland is perceived, by other Europeans, as a low-tax

economy, notwithstanding the many indirect taxes. If fiscal reforms are finalised, mutualised debt may also assist Ireland, since rates may be pushed towards a Eurozone average. Anyone with a tracker knows the huge advantage to having stuck with ECB rates rather than national rates of interest. That all countries in the financial mire are nominally Catholic while stable economies are ‘Protestant’ has not gone unnoticed in Brussels. NewsFour suggests that the ECB also be stress-tested and be asked whether its lending ‘puts the Eurozone at risk’. If economic governance works by

2013, if creditworthiness of sinner countries could be re-established, if we can get our penal interest rates to allow for growth, if the Eurozone can push its own bonds, then all should be rosy in time for our presidency of the EU– but if is a big word. The lower-paid sections of Irish society have put up with most austerity measures so far. Our ability to renegotiate any terms is seriously undermined as long as Irish public servants and chairs of state bodies earn more than Angela Merkel. This also has not gone unnoticed in Brussels or Frankfurt. Sandy Hazel reporting from The Fate of the Euro in Brussels.

HARVESTING MAKES SENSE

Why Rainwater Harvesting Makes Sense It saves drinking water. It can help you reduce your need for mains water by up to 50%. It will reduce water charges. Water charges will probably be brought in sooner rather than later, and may increase as time goes on. Therefore it makes sense to utilize the rainwater that falls on your roof and is not metered. Businesses can save even more as they can be charged both for water supply and for waste water produced. Climate change is leading to more violent and erratic rainfall patterns leading to increased ﬂooding on the one hand, and prolonged droughts on the other. Rainwater harvesting helps to mitigate these effects by minimising stormwater run-off by storing the water on- site for subsequent use. This helps prevent downstream ﬂooding. During drought periods, rainwater harvesting helps to ease the pressure on mains water supply, meaning more effective use of wa-

be successfully granted planning permission in the process.

ter resources for all. It preserves groundwater supplies and reduces the effort and costs for water treatment and transport. It relieves sewage treatment systems, as some rain is retained for use later after heavy rainfall, and peak loads are reduced for the sewer network. Emerging Planning Regulations Provision for rainwater harvesting is increasingly being considered as a factor in reviewing planning permission applications, especially in areas that have a high ﬂooding risk and areas that are facing increasing water shortages. As mentioned above rainwater harvesting can help to successfully mitigate both these issues whilst helping you to

Water Security of Supply issues There have been increasing instances where the ability of mains water systems to adequately supply the population it serves has come under signiﬁcant pressure. As a result, one can no longer assume that mains water by itself is going to be able to cater for one’s water needs. Effective water management planning will require an effective back-up system when mains water is under pressure and rainwater harvesting is the most environmentally friendly back-up system available. Furthermore, rainwater harvesting helps to extend the life of wells and other sources of groundwater supply that would otherwise be expended more quickly, thus preserving quality water supply for future generations. There are a number of companies who install water harvesting systems. You can also purchase a rainwater butt for about 40 euros which

can be attached to your drainpipes. There are safety considerations. Storage tanks should have locking lids and/or bars that keep the children and pets out. You must also make sure that children and pets do not climb on the storage systems and accidentally fall into the storage tank. It is equally important to ensure that there is no possibility of contaminating the mains water supply with non-potable water. All rainwater harvesting systems must be approved in advance by Dublin City Council. If you would like to discuss your options for rainwater harvesting system please contact Dublin City Council at the details below. For more information, look up www.dublincity.ie/WaterWasteEnvironment/DrinkingWater/Rainwaterharvesting/Pages/RainwaterharvestingFurtherInformation.aspx Or contact the Water Services Division, Dublin City Council, Marrowbone Lane, Dublin 8. Tel: (01) 222 0600 Fax: (01) 453 4849 Email: customerservices@dublincity.ie

PAGE 38

A RTIST

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PROFILE

By Jason McDonnell

’d like to recommend an artist called Frank O’Dea. You can check out some of his work online at http://www.frankodea.net/ or at the Balla Bán Art Gallery. I was very impressed with his work and decided to get in touch with him . Frank (right) was born in Dublin in 1966 and from an early age had

an interest in caricatures and cartoon drawing. In recent years he has moved away from the caricature drawing and started painting in oils. His subject matter is based on his personal interests with music/ musicians and social interactions. Regular themes include musicians, cafe/ bar scenes, fashion models and lovers– all of which he was able to observe in abundance when he used to play piano bars and restaurants in Dublin. He has also done a lot of travelling, particularly in South America and continental European cities. You can see he has developed his own unique style in the use of vibrant colours in his work. He says “The extremely intense bright oranges draw the viewer towards the work and instantly remind one of summer and warmth by radiating a

T RAD By Dave Fleming

he village of Sandymount has always conveyed the feel of an English county town, with its quasi-Tudor style architecture and the manicured lawns of the village green. One would expect to hear the sound of the ball being hit by the cricket-bat, and if recent exploits in Bangalore are anything to go by, the Sandymount brothers, Kevin and Niall O’Brien and of course their father, ‘Ginger’, might just have derived some inspiration from this iconic village emblem. However, these days and in particular on Wednesday nights, if you are walking in the direction of O’Reilly’s on Seafort Avenue, you will be transported to the atmosphere of New Orleans on a sultry summer night with the sound of traditional Jazz, wafting from this traditional Sandymount drinking emporium. The O’Reilly family has owned this pub since the 1920s. The pub has always retained its traditional atmos-

– F RANK O’D EA happy glow.” Frank is achieving a growing recognition from art buyers in Ireland and internationally with his works in private and public collections in the UK, Switzerland, Germany, Japan, USA and Australia. He works from his studio which is based in Clontarf and at his Balla Bán Art Gallery (which is the Irish for ‘white wall’), located in Dublin’s Westbury Mall (off Grafton Street). The ‘Kris da Bug’ collection is on view in the window of the Balla Bán Art Gallery, featuring such vintages as ‘Patricia’s Paint Stripper’, ‘Lady in Red’ and ‘Rosanna’s Rose’, named in honour of Rosanna Davison. Frank, being an avid Chris de Burgh fan, warns “consumption

JAZZ COMES TO

phere and basks in the delights of conversation over TV commentary, apart from exceptional circumstances. Thanks to former Sandymount residents, musicians Bob Whelan and Ian Hyland and a chance meeting with Paul O’Reilly recently, the idea was hatched for a jazz session in the traditional style every Wednesday night from 9pm to closing time. “The response has been fantastic,” said Paul. “We were hoping to attract a few more people to the pub to liven up the mid-week but this has exceeded all our expectations.” The band is called the Swing Factory and the line-up includes Bob Whelan on keyboards and vocals, Ian Hyland on drums, Dave Fleming, whose mother was Sandymount born and bred, on double bass, another local resident and veteran Capital Showband trumpeter and vocalist, Paul ‘Satchmo’ Sweeney and Howth man, Niel McMahon on sax and clarinet. The music is lively and is drawing jazz fans from north and southside, many availing of the nearby DART to do the driving. Best of all– admission is absolutely free.

of this wine could leave you high on emotion.” Frank is also a big fan of K T Tunstall (above) who he recently met with in Dublin on Monday 21st February prior to her gig in the Olympia Theatre. ‘The girl with the red guitar’ is Frank’s latest painting and my personal favourite and it was inspired from a previous gig of the Scottish singer/ songwriter. The painting is now on view at the Balla Bán Art Gallery. The gallery is open from Tuesday to Saturday 10am to 6pm (and to 7pm on Thursdays). Frank also exhibits at the November Art Fair Showcase in the RDS and at the People’s Gallery Outdoor

Exhibition, Stephens Green every June, August and September. His works also sell at Kenny’s Gallery, Lahinch and occasionally through a number of ﬁne art auction houses in Dublin and Cork. A limited number of his paintings can also be viewed/ purchased at ‘D Four Urban Cafe’, Upper Baggot Street, Dublin 4, and at ‘Il Fico’ Italian Restaurant, Chatham Row (off Grafton Street)– two doors down from ‘Butlers Cafe’. Contact Frank O’Dea by email: frank@allireland.com or text 087 6622234. Prices start from as little as €50. Drop in for a coffee and a little browse in Ireland’s smallest art gallery!

S ANDYMOUNT

Above: The Swing Factory who play

turing: Bob Whelan (Vocals & Key-

Dave Fleming (Double Bass) and

Wednesday night 9pm–11.30pm fea-

Sweeney (Trumpet and Vocals);

and Tenor Sax).

in O’Reilly’s, Sandymount every

boards); Ian Hyland (Drums]); Paul

Neil McMahon (missing, Clarinet

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

PAGE 39

P AID

By Joe McKenna

f there’s one thing Sandymount native Colum O’Kane knows, it’s how to get the party started and keep it going. After attending Scoil Lorcain and Colaiste Eoin, Colum went on to study at the National College of Ireland (NCI), where his reputation as a man who gets things done grew into a job most young graduates can only dream of. If anyone needs an event organised, subsidised or energised, they only need to speak to Colum for help. “My title here in NCI is Clubs and Societies Ofﬁcer, which entails running all the clubs in the college, all the sports teams, soccer, Gaelic, basketball etc. The societies include fashion, voices of

TO PARTY

NCI, singing societies and so on. “I’m given a budget by the college for all clubs and societies and it’s up to me to distribute the money the best I can among the various groups. The larger groups would get more based on their constant activity but the smaller ones, if they progress, can get more. Recently we funded a skiing society which started off small, but then we saw more people were going so we increased their funds.” As a graduate in a time of great unemployment and severely limited opportunity, Colum put his name forward for the position and found himself with unanimous support. “There are elections every year for the job, you can’t just apply; it has to go by student vote. I ran last year and the students voted me in. I think out of 300 votes I got 280.

QUIT SMOKING CHALLENGE UPDATE

By Sandy Hazel

n our last issue we introduced you to five smokers who were desperate to quit the habit. Each had smoked from a tender age and was totally hooked. Each tried a different technique to help them stop. So how did they get on? Hypnosis was recommended to Karen Keegan as a good method to help stop smoking. What happened and did it work? “My first session was a consultation to establish trust,” explains Karen. She feels that she was “open” to the therapy but timing is crucial: “You have to really want to give up and be in a certain state of mind,” she says. Still smoking after the first session was normal, but Karen admits she had some doubts. The hypnothera-

pist, Aidan Sloan, supplied a CD to listen to at home. The second session involved Karen entering a deeper state of meditation. “It was a therapy that made it clear to me the mental and emotional connection I had with cigarettes and smoking,” she explains. After this second session Karen “couldn’t get the cigarettes out of my handbag quick enough, not to smoke them but to dump them.” Karen says the therapy “made it easier to give them up than I had imagined.” The thought of smoking still occurs to her but less often and Karen stresses that “now I control these moments and have no desire to actually put one in my mouth.” She is very happy with the “surreal” experience and the results. Still off the smokes 11 weeks later, Karen is now training to run the 10k women’s mini marathon. Michelle Coughlan smoked since

I was well known because I was class representative every year. Before this post, I was Student Services and Equality Officer, dealing with anything from racism, sexual harassment or unplanned pregnancies in the strictest confidence.” Not only is Colum in charge of the much sought-after funds, he also attends events and assists in the organisation of gigs, booking well-known acts such as Example, Hot Chip and tribute act Daft Funk. “I help out getting buses for parties and gigs to get people to venues that we use, like the Academy, Tripod and Sin. I go through agencies to book well-known acts and I book acts that someone either knows, such as Soundproof and Temple Fire, or acts like the Von Shakes, who attend the college. We try to keep as full a calendar as we can.” Colum’s reputation stretches beyond the mere divvying up of cash. He uses his position to soak up the vibrant and carefree lifestyle that can go along with college life. “I go to nearly all the events and enjoy myself with the students. I’m probably the most tagged man on Facebook. It would be a shame to deny myself the perks of the job.” Bands and artists are encouraged to submit demo CDs for consideration to: Colum O’Kane, Clubs and Societies Officer, N.C.I Students’ Union, Mayor Street, I.F.S.C, Dublin 1. Tel.449 8680. Mobile: 085 8244 044.

Described as a ‘majestic debut’ by Hot Press and ‘beguiling’ by The Irish Times, Una Keane’s debut LP ‘Trees’ was released last month on Marabou Records, her own cottage industry label. This record of 11 lovingly-crafted songs explores the intricacies of growing up, falling down, getting back up, smiling and reﬂecting upon it all. ‘Trees’ resides for the most part in the alternative acoustic genre. The message is positive, fun and just a little bit quirky as Keane’s left-of-centre approach shines tiger-bright on songs like lead single Alice, Saw a Wave and the hook-heavy Microscopic. This is a talent unafraid of experimentation or blurring boundaries. Think Alice in Wonderland jamming with the White Stripes. Listen to Keane on www.unakeane.com or at www. myspace. com/unakeane

age 11 and tried the Allen Carr programme to attempt to quit her 20 a day habit. “I went for two separate sessions,” says Michelle (who is still smoking but not as much as before). “I felt that maybe it was me rather than the actual programme, it could be timing.” Michelle says that there has been a result of sorts even though she has not totally quit. “I have cut down significantly; where I used to have 20 a day now it is more like 20 over three days,” says Michelle. She says she will keep trying. Barbara Keegan attended an acupuncturist to help quit smoking. The first visit involved mapping out a plan for the treatment. “I felt good just after that first session,” says Barbara. “I managed to re-evaluate my thinking about smoking and to manage the moment when craving occurs.” By the second session Barbara was still smoking, but less so. “It was a weaning-off process

rather than stopping,” she explains. The acupuncture therapy involved placing tiny needles at points around her body: legs, toes and tummy. Pairs of studs are also left in the ear area and wrists when the patient goes home. Barbara says the needles were “mildly uncomfortable” but not painful. “There is a sensation as the therapist twiddles them around, but the direction of this sensation indicates that it is working,” says Barbara. She started to become aware of the smell of smoke, especially on others. “It was an effective turnoff.” Barbara says she needs another session of acupuncture but she still smokes. She has changed brands to a weaker smoke, but she feels that the therapy has helped her in other ways. “It has made me a lot less stressed and I feel empowered; I think about smoking in a different way. It’s about timing and I am approaching a time when I will decide to give up

Music Review Una Keane: Trees

smoking.” Ed Penrose smoked 15 cigars a day. He stopped on 2nd December 2010 and is still off them. Using will power, cold turkey and mints, Ed has managed to stay away from smoking and says his cough is now gone. “I was getting chesty but not now, I am glad I made the decision to quit,” says Ed. His advice to others: “Don’t start in the first place.” He has switched from mints to sugar-free sweets to keep him going. We are impressed. Sharon Meier smoked since she was 13 and attempted to quit using Emotional Freedom Technique (Tapping) with Norah Sweetman. Sharon is still smoking but only in work and doesn’t smoke any other time. “I don’t think it was the right time for me to quit smoking because I’m under a lot of stress at the moment. I didn’t finish the treatment but the tapping definitely helped me to cut down,” she says.

PAGE 40

NEWSFOUR APRIL / MAY 2011

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