It’s undoubtedly been the busiest ever start to a year for our Team in providing support to events, activities and projects in the area. It’s impossible to capture all within a couple of pages but hopefully the following gives a good snapshot of some of that inspirational work being carried out in the community by volunteers, groups and local centres/organisations.
Age Friendly
A host of Age Friendly events ranging from musical tea dances to talks to bingo nights have been taking place and there’s lots more in the pipeline for April and May.
Donnybrook Active Retirement Association are continuing to organise events every second Tuesday afternoon at the new Donnybrook Parish Centre, located next to the Church of the Sacred Heart. In recent times, they’ve hosted a Going Wild in Your Garden Talk from RTÉ & Virgin TV wildlife expert, Eanna Ní Lamhna, Singalongs Afternoons and The Importance of Being Oscar one-man play.
Sandymount Community Centre on Newbridge Avenue is now hosting a weekly Home from Home Drop-in Morning every Thursday for over 65s, offering a warm cuppa, newspapers, cards and games as well as lots of chat every week. This is currently being run on a pilot basis so be sure to pop along and lend your support!
Moving on to Pearse Street, St Andrew’s Resource Centre Senior Care has some really exciting performances coming up including Songs from the Silver Screen with vocal harmony trio The Charming Soubrettes, a Singalong Afternoon with Pastimes, and pre-Bloomsday musical bonanza with Songs of Joyce.
Two hugely valuable new additions to facilities in the area are the Ringsend & Irishtown Dementia Café and Sensory Garden at Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre which were both launched in February. The Dementia Café and Sensory Garden aim to provide a much needed social outlet, not only for local residents with dementia, but also for their relatives and carers whilst facilitating access to information and support. The Cloud Spotter play formed part of the launch week’s programme and was performed daily to sell out audiences with key stakeholders such as MABS, Clanwilliam Counselling and Dementia Advisors from the Alzheimer’s Society also in attendance to provide information of services available. Warming up the audience each day were local balladeers, The Pullovers, who went down a storm. The Centre will also be hosting an Easter Tea Dance on Wednesday, 5th April.
As part of our Community Roses Project, over 200 potted roses were distributed to older and vulnerable people in the community during Valentine’s Week in partnership with local centres and groups in Ringsend, Irishtown, Pearse Street and Donnybrook. The idea behind this initiative was to remind older and vulnerable people that there is care in the local community and that neighbours are on hand to help. Following its success, this initiative is being extended to St Patrick’s Week and Easter with 1200 tri-colour roses being distributed by residents groups and our Sheltered Housing Liaison Officers during March and April.
The South East Area’s Older Persons’ Council has also recently been relaunched. The OPC, a recognised ‘voice’ for older people in the area and going forward, will be involved in local decision making and national consultation on relevant issues.
Arts in the Community
The committee of the all new Sandymount Community Centre on Newbridge Avenue have been doing trojan work in bringing together the local community through a range of activities and events. With support from our Community Team and Sandymount Tidy Towns Community Association, the Centre has been presenting a Sandymount Culture Programme on a near monthly basis, offering theatre, poetry, music and more. Admission is free to all events with a donation box at the door for support for future events. In February there was a compelling tapestry of theatre with The Importance of Being Oscar, whilst March saw a wonderfully intimate You Must Believe in Spring concert from the Emilie Conway Jazz Trio. Be sure to keep an eye out on the Centre’s website for future events.
There will be more community theatre at the Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre throughout April and May, starting with a double header of Beezie and A Galway Girl on the evening of Thursday, 6th April. Beezie is written and performed by Sheila Flitton (Mrs. McCormack/The Banshee in The Banshees of Inisherin) and tells the true story of a woman from Sligo who decided to live her life alone on an island off the west coast. A Galway Girl, to be performed by Michael Judd and Sinéad Colreavy, is an absorbing play, mixing humour and tragedy that charts the ups and downs of a couple who leave small-town Ireland for London in the 1950s. An evening not to be missed! Looking ahead to May, the Centre will also be hosting the May Day Festival and the very first Ringsend Rock Festival!
Finally, Merrion Square Artists Association will complement their weekly Open Art Gallery on 23rd April with an Art for All Day. Taking place will be Art Demonstrations, Face Painting and a Family Creative Space to encourage young and old to get involved in art.
Autism Awareness Week
Neurodiversity Irishtown Ringsend & Pearse Street will be launching their Autism Friendly Towns at Ringsend Park with special guest Adam Harris, CEO of AsIAm invited along to unveil their new Communication Board at the playground. Also taking place will be a ‘Walk with Me’ lap of the park and a family day featuring Wooly Farm’s Bunny Zone, a Cake Sale, Street Performers and lots more fun entertainment.
Neurodiversity Sandymount are another group driving education, awareness and inclusivity for neurodivergent individuals in Dublin 4 and they will be marking World Autism Awareness Day with a Family Day on the grounds of Monkstown Rugby Club on Park Avenue, with lots of family fun to be on offer there too.
Our most helpful Dublin City Libraries Outreach Team are arranging to have 100 books available on a longterm loan basis at Ringsend Library for Neurodiversity Irishtown Ringsend & Pearse Street. These 50+ titles relating to Autism, Asperger’s syndrome and other disorders will cater for both children and adults on the spectrum.
Easter
A packed Easter programme has been planned throughout the South East Area with a strong focus on our flat complexes where local residents continue to make such big efforts for the good of all in their community. Activities ranging from the PAW Patrol DJ Dance Party to Carnival Games to Easter Egg Hunts will be taking place in many of our complexes including City Quay, Conway Court, Glovers Court, Leo Fitzgerald House, Markievicz House and Pearse House. In addition, there’ll be fun-packed youth programmes organised by Pearse Area Recreation Centre, Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre and the Talk About Youth Project.
Meanwhile Tea Dances, Bingo Bonanzas, Bridge, Musical Singalongs and Theatre Evenings will be taking place to cater for our older residents.
Friends of Green Spaces
With Spring in the air, Tidy Towns and numerous environmental groups have been out in force again cleaning, planting and making their areas extra colourful. In 2022, our Team supported over 65 environmental projects in our work catchment area which demonstrates just how much great work is being done out there. With regards Planter Projects, the focus over the Spring period is on the refurbishment of many boxes already in our villages and along our streets, with a painting and planting programme underway since February. A Hanging basket project is now also in place in Sandymount Village in partnership with the local Tidy Towns group and businesses.
The annual licences for our allotments at Herbert Park and Ringsend Park have now been renewed. Due to the huge demand for plots, the waiting list unfortunately remains closed.
International & Inclusion Day
The Talk About Youth Project will be hosting its inaugural International & Inclusion Day event on 13th April at St Andrew’s Resource Centre on Pearse Street. On the menu will be Art Workshops, Music and a Kahoot Quiz, all based on diversity and inclusion. In addition there’ll be Sporting Activities, Carnival Games, a Virtual Reality Zone, Mindfulness and an Adult Space where people can chat and have a cuppa.
International Women’s Day
In conjunction with our Libraries Outreach Team and Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre, we organised a Talk at the Catholic Men & Women’s Society of Ireland on Joe Moran’s Ringsend Plaza sculpture “The Door” which highlights the issue of domestic abuse against women. This talk was given by one of our Historians in Residence, James Curry and was absolutely engrossing, with valuable input from both Joe Moran himself and other members of the audience. To complement activities taking place at Ringsend & Irishtown Community Centre that day, Dublin City Libraries also provided a Pop Up Library featuring a variety of books from Irish female authors.
St Patrick’s Week Celebrations
At time of writing, a number of events and activities for all ages were due to take place in the area including a parade through the villages of Sandymount, Ringsend and Irishtown, organised by Clanna Gael Fontenoy GAA Club which was to be followed by a family day at their clubhouse. We continue to support the distribution of care packs to those who are vulnerable in the community over holiday periods and for that week, Dublin City Libraries provided us with 100 Quick-Read books for the care packs being distributed within Dublin 2, 4 and 6 by Ranelagh Meals on Wheels.
To conclude, we’d just like to say a huge thanks to all volunteers, groups, centres and organisations for their efforts and invaluable work in the community. Thank you also to all of our local Councillors for their ongoing support to all of the above events and projects.
Community Development Team (Pembroke & South East Inner City)
Contact
South East Area Office, Dublin City Council, Civic Offices, Wood Quay, Dublin 8.
Email: southeast@dublincity.ie
Phone: (01) 2222243
