NewsFour speaks with Sarah Staunton of the Sandymount and Merrion Residents’ Association (SAMRA) about upcoming plans for this summer.
Sandymount, of course, has a particularly active and involved volunteer force of concerned citizens, many of them familiar names and faces to locals and regular readers.
Sarah, who works in PR, aside from her work for the residents’ association, explains that the ball gets rolling in late Spring with Easter weekend events, but the first major event of the Summer calendar is Yeats’ Day on June 13th (a Friday, but don’t let that put you off!), which sets the ball rolling on four days of festivities and activities.
Yeats’ Day will start around 12 noon at Sandymount Green and involve readings and performances of the great poet’s works. Saturday 14th is a Traders’ Day on the Green, showcasing local traders and businesses from the area. Sunday 15th will be the annual Community Day, now a fixture and something of a local favourite. Sarah explains that “there will be face painting for kids and their parents, and fun activities for everyone.”
Monday 16th is, of course, Bloomsday, the anniversary of the events of Joyce’s great novel. The usual Edwardian-garbed larks will be afoot. Bloomsday celebrations begin with the customary Bloomsday breakfast, this year taking place in the Iris Charles Centre. Revellers and Joyceans can then walk the Guinness and kidneys off with a tour of Sandymount Strand and environs, which will culminate on Sandymount Green for readings and recitals. As ever on Bloomsday, period garb is encouraged, for the craic.
The following Saturday, June 21st, there will be a barbeque on the Green. The Saturday after that, the 28th, will be the Repair Café, as covered previously by NewsFour, where you’ll have a chance to bring broken or malfunctioning household items to volunteers who are handy with a toolkit.
Events are planned for into July and August, some of the details for which are sketchier at time of writing. There will be a local dog show, and the Tidy Towns Committee are planning some mysterious Secret Garden parties. On a more solemn note, Monday 4th of August will be a commemoration day for the centenary of the Great War of 1914, and the week of the 23rd to the 30th of August will be National Heritage week. There will be historical talks and tours throughout this eight day stretch.
Keep an eye on www.samra.ie and www.newsfour.ie for more details.
By Rúairí Conneely
