Sept 2016
sjogliffeyregion.ie
Issue 03
What’s inside?
Summer 2016
Lots of trips and holidays have taken place recently including some special day trips like this one by Las Granada group to Galway.
Actors from the Run of the Mill Theatre group taking 5 during rehersales
If you have any news stories that you would like to share in our next Newsletter please email us enquiries@ sjogliffeyregion.ie Check out our website at www.sjogliffeyregion.ie www.facebook.com/ SJOGLiffeyRegion
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linkedin.com/company/saintjohn-of-god-community-services-liffey-region
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FIRST AID AWARDS Eight residents of Liffey Valley Services have successfully completed the First Aid Awards course since September 2015. Award certificates were presented by Mayor of Kildare Ivan Keatley at a presentation night on 13th July in Clane. The course was developed by and run in conjunction with the Irish Red Cross. Participants learned about calling for help, treating burns, sprains & strains and wounds. They also learned how to identify if someone is choking and how to help and how to do compression only CPR. The paticipants said that they had great fun on the course and learned a lot. The course will continue with new paticipants from September.
PRESIDENT'S GARDEN PARTY
LEFT TO RIGHT- SABINA HIGGINS – TERRY GAVIN PRESIDENT MICHAEL HIGGINS – EAMON KELLETT
Over the last six years, men and women have volunteered at the President's Garden Parties. This year there were eight Garden Parties over three weeks. The men and women involved worked by preparing the booklets. They would also meet and greet guests on arrival and present the booklets of the day’s events. Each Party celebrates a different Event, Art, Music, and Community Groups around the country. The Children of 1916 was a special party this year, hosted by Joe Duffy. We look forward to next Year.
SOCIAL FARMING ‘Social Farming’ is the practice of meeting the personal needs and choices of people who avail of support services through partnering with ordinary farm families. Horizons Day Service is operating one of the longest running and most successful Social Farming Projects in Ireland. Since 2010 Service Users in Horizons have the opportunity to visit a small organic farm in Co. Meath to enjoy nature, have contact with animals, work on the land during all seasons and to be part of a farming family’s life. Our project got positive attention on national media and was also presented as a model of good practice on an international conference on Social Farming. Social Farming is an integral part of Horizons day programme and – subject to funding – we’re positive to continue this great project well into the future.
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ST. RAPHAEL'S SHOP
VOLUNTEERS WANTED
Special thank you to everyone who supports the Parents and Friends Charity Shop on the Main Street Celbridge. Opening Hours:
The Parents and Friends Association always welcome new volunteers to support them in the:
Monday- Friday 10am – 4pm Saturday 10am – 2pm
• • • • •
Shop in Celbridge Flag Days Annual FETE Bingo Annual Events
Please Contact Liam Mc Namee if you are interested in getting involved.
liamwmcnamee@gmail.com
CHANGING PLACES A new fully accessible Changing Places toilet facility has been opened in Dublin Airport in Terminal 1. The new installation includes a heightadjustable adult-sized changing bench, full room coverage ceiling tracking hoist system and sufficient space both sides of the toilet for transfers.
SPEAK UP COUNCIL & MENNI VOICES
This facility is open to all members of the public and visitors to Dublin Airport and is located on the ground floor in the arrivals area beside the information desk.
Both Self Advocacy committees joined together for the first time in July and had a very successful meeting. They discussed key issues that affect both groups and look forward to working together in the future.
Staff and service users have been involved in the Inclusion Ireland Changing Places Working Group which has helped to champion the introduction of fully accessible toilets to public places in Ireland.
The key areas they are looking into include: 1. Respite 2. Traffic & Transport issues 3. Rights 4. Training more self advocates
Now fully accessible Changing Places facilities are available in Áras an Uachtaráin, Trinity College Dublin and the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick. We need more locations to install Changing Places to allow everyone become full members of our community.
If you have any issues you would like to bring to the Self-Advocate committees please email: louise.crowley@sjog.ie or speakupsjog@icloud.com sjogliffeyregion.ie
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SPORT - DUBLIN
Menni Movers is the Special Olympics football team representing St John of God Community Services Dublin South West. They compete in the 7 a side football division. Matches are 30 minutes long on a Saturday or Sunday, home and away fixtures. Matches are supported by our volunteer coaches Patrick Nichol and Maurice Murphy. The team train every Monday from 3:00- 4:00 in Kilnamanagh Astro, new players are always welcome. Coached by FAI Coach Chris McElligott. As well as the Special Olympics we compete in other blitzes and tournaments throughout the year. Recently we entered two teams in the Sports for All day out in the Deaf Village. Congratulations to all the athletes who took part in the Special Olympics sports over the past few months and wishing them all the best in the next round of games.
Laura McKay
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Morgan Cole
SPORT - KILDARE There are 30 Athletes selected for Area Events to go forward to Special Olympics Regional Advancement which is the next step on the road to Ireland Games in 2018. This is a great achievement for all selected. The events take place in different venues from Jan – June next year. The Athletes selected are Bocce
Bowling
Equestrian
Golf 9 Holes Golf Skills
Swimming
Noel O’Dwyer Niall Monaghan Stephen Pwajok Joe Gannon Niall Gillen Charlie Campbell Aine Woods John Campbell David Brophy Pappy Herterich Suki Bassi
Equestrian Team
Claire Savage Charlie Campbell Brendan Horan Martin O’Brien Ruairi O’Fiannachta John Monaghan Garreth Kinsella Paul McNamee John Paul Sherry Kieran O’Reilly Sean O’Reilly Bert Coster Noel Shorte Dean Richardson Leriche Mayitonda Simon Darragh Paddy McNally
Basketball Team
Golf Team
On Tuesday 15th March all schools Swimming raised the National flag and read out Team the Proclamation. Eoin had the honour of raising the flag in our school with help Training is continuing for all these athletes from Val.will It was day forfor ustheir all. so they be a in proud great shape events. Our Bocce League Team finished second in Bocce 7s 2015/16 League and our Basketball team also finished second in the Eastern Region Baskeball League 2015/16. sjogliffeyregion.ie
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PARENTS & FRIENDS ASSOCIATION Garden Fete A Big Success The Annual Fete run by the St. Raphael’s Parents and Friends Association was a wonderful success again this year and is the biggest fundraising event for the service. Held on the Celbridge campus on 7th July, there was excellent weather and a great turnout with support from across the local community as well as from service users, families and staff. Planning begins months ahead and the event is run on an entirely voluntary basis. Michelle Brennan and Teresa Flood are pictured volunteering on one of the baked goods stalls.
FETAC GRADUATION Our FETAC Graduation for level one took place in the Red Cow Hotel in July. The awards were for; Personal Decision Making and Visual Arts. We had students from Islandbridge and Las Granada graduating and it was a lovely day for everyone
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DRAMA - DUBLIN
As always our creative drama department was very busy. We had our younger actors perform for their family and friends in July, the children from Cork street and Cookstown graduated, and they staged "The Rhythm band" .The older actors just completed their Fetac module in drama There are 9 students on this the very first Fetac Drama course. They enjoyed 2 different field trips to Billy Elliot and Petes Dragon.The students are now in rehearsals for the Harvest Celebration.
Our Drama therapist Fidelma, arranged for some of our group to go Salsa dancing in Dublin City, where we enjoyed a workshop with the fabulous Laura who taught us all the Merenuge. We are hoping to show off some of our skills at an event later in the year.
DRAMA - KILDARE PATHWAYS DRAMA & EDUCATION PROGRAMME CO-ORDINATED BY AISLING BYRNE B.A. HONS P.G. DIP. M.ED. Rehearsals are in FULL swing for Reason in Madness, our production of King Lear to be staged at Draiocht Blanchardstown on November 29th and 30th. There have been photo shoots and non-stop rehearsals, we’ve met some of the creative team of professionals who are working on the show with us and we’ve generally been working harder than ever before, challenging ourselves to bring our work to be the very best it can be! Tickets for the event will be available only through the Draiocht box office and are on sale now. Booking instructions: Online Web address: http://www.draiocht.ie/events/Reason_in_Madness_A_Devised_Reworking_of_King_Lear and follow the links to book. Or else phone: 018852622 and book over the phone. We strongly encourage friends and family to book early to avoid missing out. As the booking is controlled totally by the venue, we want our families and friends not to be disappointed if it sells out fast! Spread the word and please tell everyone you know as we really want this show to be a sell-out success and have as many people as possible see our work. We want to take this opportunity to thank you again for all of your support. Keep updated at www.runofthemilltheatre.com or facebook/runofthemilltheatre sjogliffeyregion.ie
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GREENGABLES ADVENTURES In Greengables, they have decided to take on a project “Discovering Ireland” Once a month, we chose a location and explore the town. We visit landmarks, attractions etc. The students actively choose their next location, googling landmarks, watching videos, exploring the internet to see which city they are interested in exploring next. We all then research train times and durations, and get planning our trip! We have also linked this into our Fetac Art class and have designed/painted a huge map of Ireland on the centre wall – with pictures of our trips beside every city we have ticked off our list. So far we have visited: Galway, Belfast, Athlone, Cork, Limerick, Sligo and Kilkenny
BLUEBELL PILGRIMAGE TO GRANADA A group of eighteen people, men and women, from the Bluebell Centre in Dublin went on a pilgrimage to Granada in Spain.
Day One: The group visited The Elvira Gate where St. John of God traded as a bookseller from a small alcove.
Mass at the Basilica of St. John o f God One of the h ighlights of o ur pilgrimage w as attending Mass at the Basilica. It w as beautiful an d we saw th e silver urn containin g the remain s of St. John of G od.
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Thank You. Our would like to say a big and thank you to Br. Gregor y the to all who helped make pilgrimage a wonder ful experience for us as we etraced the paths and e significant places that ar the history of St. John of God.
SPEED DATING R e l a t i o n sh i p N e t w o r k i n g Ev e n t Bar till Late
Menni DJs DISCO
A great Speed Dating night Speed Dating and Disco €10 took place inDisco Tallaght in Only €5 July if you would like to be involved in the next event email: ian.byrne@sjog.ie When:
Where:
Thursday 28th July 2016 6.45pm – 11pm
Abberly Court Hotel (Library function room) Tallaght
(across from McDonalds Tallaght)
Why:
Fun, Friendship and Chance to Meet that Special Someone.
Contact:
Ian Byrne email: ian.byrne@sjog.ie
Speed Dating
Remembrance Service
Our Remembrance Mass will take place Friday 25th of November at 11am in Bluebell parish Church, Bluebell
Congratulation to Keith Whelan and everyone who was involved in his Variety Show and the ‘Doors to Elsewhere’ performances that took place earlier in the summer. Keith hope to run another Variety show soon.
A number of student's from across the Liffey Region and key workers have started to work on a Skills Training Android App Desktop designed by Vodafone foundation Spain with Saint John of God Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria and Poland. It is part of a two year Erasmus programme. If you have an android phone and would like to find out more please contact sarah.boland@sjog.ie
Christmas Service
Our Christmas Service will take place Thursday 22nd of December at 11am in Bluebell Parish Church, Bluebell.
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TRANSFORMING LIVES
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OUR VISION The aim of the Saint John of God Community Service is a society, inspired by hospitality, where the potential of each individual is reached. Our mission is to support and empower people with an intellectual disability to be active participants in the community in which they live. Our goal is to work in partnership with individuals and their families in achieving this.
DIT AWARD FOR COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION Congratulations to Graeme, Anthony, Mark and Kenneth from Maynooth who were awarded a special certificate in the DIT Community partnership awards in Grangegorman earlier this year. The team worked on an accessible login project with a number of third year students from DIT Kevin Street. This was the first year we worked in partnership on community based projects with the DIT students and it is something we would really like to continue next year.
If you would like to be involved or have a great idea for a tech, media or engineering project please send your details to sarah.boland@sjog.ie We hope to run the community partnership projects again this year working with students in computer science, engineering or media projects.
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ST RAPHAEL’S SCHOOL GREEN FLAG AWARD ASDAN is a pioneering curriculum development organisation and awarding body, offering programmes and qualifications that explicitly grow skills for learning, skills for employment and skills for life. Four pupils have achieved ASDAN awards this year: • Amy Dunne and Michael Angelo Moran achieved the New Horizons award • Sarah Burcheal achieved the Towards Independence Introduction to Baking award • Madeus Zorila achieved the Towards Independence Horticulture award
MOBILE TECH- PROVIDING OPPORTUNITIES FOR INDEPENDENCE Two Self-Advocates from Saint John of God Community Services Liffey Region have been invited to present at this year's Entelis conference in Brussels. Self-advocates David Dean and Sarah-Jane Lavin will present on their roles as Self advocates and how they are using technology to support their roles. They will be supported by Alan Byrne, Supervisor in a Day Centre and Sarah Boland. They presented at last year’s conference in Dublin Castle and received great feedback from the audience. We wish them all the best in Brussels.
An Taisce has awarded St Raphael’s Special School its first Green Flag for litter. A committee of pupils, staff and parents worked together to produce a policy for the reduction of waste and litter.
We would like to thank everyone who sent in news items for this newsletter and the infoshare. The next infoshare will be on the 15th of November in Maynooth and the next Newsletter released in December. Please send in just one photo and three lines of text for the next newsletter please. All news to be sent into
enquiries@ sjogliffeyregion.ie If you have any suggestions, comments or would like to get involved we would love to hear from you. For more stories please go to our facebook page www.facebook.com/SJOGLiffeyRegion
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