Pictured Above: Kritika Ashok and the myartgallery.ie penguin

Digitisation is the future of business and one woman has already sprung from the starting blocks in the race to get ahead of the competition. Kritika Ashok is the founder of myartgallery.ie, a concept that is revolutionising the art business, as we know it.

Ashok, pictured right, comes from a business background, which will be explored further in our feature on female entrepreneurs in the next issue, and it is undoubtedly this knowledge and expertise that informs her decisions on her current venture to be part of the new wave of ‘digital disruptors’. As Accenture Technology Vision 2014 put it: “Those that get there first will be able to disrupt their existing markets and penetrate new ones. Make no mistake; this is very much a race.”

So what exactly is myartgallery.ie? Like all good ideas, it was born from a personal need. Ashok told Newsfour, “I really love penguins and was looking for an original painting to hang on a wall space. When I eventually found someone willing to do it, I was to be charged €1,000 for the commission. I thought, ‘There has to be a way around this’. So when a friend brought back a reasonably priced original from his travels saying, ‘It’s not that there are no artists willing to sell; it’s just that they have no platform from which to do it,’ I immediately saw the niche. Selling online would cut down on costs, making the piece more affordable and accessible for the buyer in the process. A win-win situation.”

It is incredible to think that an emerging artist today must embark upon a similar process as Van Gogh, Goya and as far back as Vermeer to sell work. A reliance on commissions and gallery displays that can have extortionate rates mean this business is unviable for many of even the most talented artists. Ashok aims to unleash this talent by removing the obstructions currently in place that are preventing people from accessing unique and original pieces of art.

Currently, if someone wants to fill a wall space they have two main choices – go to an established gallery or to a home-ware department store. Unless you are an art expert, it can be intimidating approaching a gallery. A hefty price tag with a meaningless value can be the result. The alternative to this is the same picture of a beach that hangs in your neighbour’s house. Ashok’s research has shown her that the majority of people just want something that makes them feel good when they look at it, something unique and reasonably priced. That is what myartgallery.ie aims to provide.

NewsFour asked Ashok about her motivation for this particular venture. “I like the artists that I am working with. Art is such a tough business to make it in. I know a lot of talented people who say they must choose different careers because they just can’t make ends meet. I’d like to think that I am helping artists on their way to success.”

The personal touch is very important to Ashok, who takes pride in having a uniform theme throughout, right through to packaging. In this model, which takes the art business from B2B marketing to B2C (business to customer), Ashok likes to think of her customers receiving their package from myartgallery.ie and enjoying their new piece of art with a cup of tea and the Penguin Bar it was enclosed with.

By Maria Shields O’Kelly

Pictured: Railway Union’s Stacey Flood representing Leinster U-18s against Munster, 2014.
Image courtesy of inpho.ie

Dublin 4 is represented in Ireland Women’s Sevens Rugby by local girl Stacey Flood, who plays out of Railway Union RFC.

Stacey is a young Outhalf, only 18 years of age, and a natural athlete. She has represented Dublin in Gaelic football on the Ladies Minor team where she played midfield. She plays football out of the GAA club in Irishtown, Clanna Gael Fontenoy. She is also kept busy studying Technology and Business in the National College of Ireland. Stacey is a talent to keep an eye on for the future.

Stacey’s sister Kim also plays rugby, for both Railway Union, who won the Women’s All Ireland Cup earlier this year, and Leinster. She plays on the wing and has also represented Dublin in the National Football League.

Irish Sevens qualification for Rio can be determined by performance in a number of competitions, including the European Championship held in Russia (Kazan) and France (Malemort) over two weekends this June, and in the European and World Repechage competitions yet to be held.

Ireland won the Plate at each weekend of the European Championship and came fifth overall. They played well and brought home silverware but didn’t qualify for Rio.

The ladies are getting considerable tournament experience under their belts and have won many matches. This will aid them in their up-coming qualification attempts.

Along the way, Ireland have beaten Ukraine, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Finland, the Dutch-Swiss Ushizi Warriors, Switzerland, Scotland, Brazil’s Amazonas, and Germany – an impressive tally of victories. Their toughest challenges have been France and Spain, while only narrowly losing out to Canada and England.

Ireland can still qualify for the Rio Olympics based on their performance in next year’s World Series Repechage. Qualification for a place in the World Repechage will be based on performance in the European Repechage to be hosted in Lisbon this July.

Ireland ladies 7s will gain more valuable tournament experience this August at the World Rugby Women’s Sevens qualifier to be held in UCD on the weekend of August 22nd & 23rd.

NewsFour wishes Stacey and the Irish Women’s Sevens team all the best of luck on the road to Rio 2016. We will be following their progress with interest.

By Keith Murphy

Pictured Above: Mary O’Toole Fr. Tonge and Maggie Biggs celebrate Bloomsday at St Andrew’s Resource Centre.

James Joyce once said that the Dublin of the early 1900s could be reconstructed from the pages of his book Ulysses. It captures a fragment in time with delicate detail of a single day in the life of Dubliner Leopold Bloom, 16th June 1904. This is the day we now call Bloomsday, with events taking place all over the city in honour of Ireland’s literary genius, James Joyce.

Joe McCarthy told NewsFour about the events in Sandymount Green that are now in their fourth year. “This event was part of the village design statement when the Tidy Towns Committee was coming up with ideas that would get people involved with our initiative. You can see us here most evenings picking up litter and it has been very successful.” McCarthy described Ulysses as the most important book of the 20th Century. “It takes in all echelons of Dublin Society. Heavy reading at times but very funny and very racy indeed.”

If this racy aspect of Ulysses had eluded anyone previously, they were left in no doubt when Senator David Norris took to the stage to give his interpretation of a particularly naughty passage, which was set on Sandymount Strand of all places. The original text was guised in innuendo but Senator Norris was leaving nothing to the imagination and sending the audience into an uproar with his explicitly animated description of a certain “fireworks display”. Undoubtedly the most flamboyant of all Joycean Scholars, the former resident of Sandymount recounted with accuracy the ghosts of business that once surrounded the Green, naming Findlater’s, Frost’s shop, Mrs Murray and the Post Office among others.

The Senator was among a line-up of readers who brought the book to life through both their own writings and through acting out the parts of the characters in the book. Glynis Casson and Paddy Goodwire took us through an excerpt from The Dead, while Bríd Ní Grogán provided a beautiful rendition of the songs that were such an important element in Joyce’s works.

Pictured Above: Rodney Devitt guides James Joyce fans on a walking tour of Sandymount, highlighting some of the few key spots as featured in the book Ulysses.

Many members of the audience were rounding off a Joycean morning which started with Rodney Devitt and breakfast in the Iris Charles Centre. “The numbers have increased this year to about 40, all in the appropriate Joycean dress. We kept the menu in line with the description in the book, even down to the kidneys.” Devitt told NewsFour, also adding there was plenty of champers with which to wash them down.

All of the happenings of the day brought the entire community together, helping to demystify the book, and the excellent acting skills of the readers succeeded in bringing the book to life. This annual event is must for anyone who was ever afraid of Ulysses.

Pictured Above: St Andrew’s Church celebrate Bloomsday with a performance by tenor Simon Heaps and soprano Connie Murray.

By Maria Shields O’Kelly

Pictured Above: Minister Aodhan Ó Ríordáin presents The Spellman Centre certificates to members of the various community groups that completed the Drug Awareness education course facilitated by the Ringsend and District Response to Drugs.

The Ringsend and District Response to Drugs (RDRD), located at The Spellman Centre in Irishtown, has done so much to support this community. This year it celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The Lord Mayor of Dublin generously invited the centre’s staff, graduates and friends to the Mansion House to celebrate the event in grandeur.

The centre was established in 1995 by its current manager Teresa Weafer and the late Fr. Paul Spellman. Teresa was a community Youth Worker at the time who saw first-hand the harm addiction was doing to young people and their families. Fr. Paul was a Parish Priest. With the indispensable assistance of Betty Bissett they set-up the RDRD.

The project’s goal was, and remains: ‘to support young people and their families in their struggle to become free of drugs’.
Community is key.

Pictured Above: Dermot Lacey presents the Spellman Centre tournament cup to winners of the Tournament Betsi 7.

The centre has 10 staff who work so hard for so long. It is only made possible because of their passion for helping people and their families within the community. They work tirelessly, and it pays off. Approximately 85% of the centre’s service users succeed in breaking free of drugs.

With the comprehensive support of the centre’s staff, board of managers, and the community, most recoveries make new, productive lives for themselves. There are many success stories, including people who have attained recognition as experts in their profession, and students who excel in their college studies. They could not have done this on their own. With the support of the RDRD and the local community, anything is possible.

Pictured Above: Superintendent Gerry Delmar presents overall winner of The Spellman Centre School Art Competition award to Nicole Byrne representing Ringsend College.

The centre is staffed by Mary Doolan, a senior staff member; Lisa Byrne supervises the CE Scheme; Tony Fallon, Darren Dent, and Garett Redmond work in rehabilitation; Robbie McGuire and Michael Stanley focus on Harm Reduction, and Sinead Kavanagh and Saibh O’Brien are Key Workers. Teresa Weafer does much more than manage the centre, she leads from the front and embodies the indomitable spirit to support people and their families that drives the centre’s staff and supporters.

The Ringsend and District Response to Drugs (RDRD) was established when the founding members met up in ‘the attic’, an upstairs room, in Regal House on Fitzwilliam Street Ringsend in 1995. A year later the RDRD had passed all validation checks and quality assurance and began operating on a permanent basis.

Many young Dubliners were within the callous grip of heroin and a young woman with a Diploma in Community and Youth Work saw the need for intervention in this community. With the help of Fr. Paul and others she started something special.

Pictured Above: Lord Mayor Christie Burke presents Spellman Centre special achievement awards to the RDRD graduates.

One year later they celebrated the recovery of their first service user. At the time, they had to mask the event as a 21st birthday party. Drug addiction has a considerable stigma attached to it, and at the time RDRD did not have the full support of the local community, which they have since built up. Now the centre can openly celebrate the graduation of its service users who have overcome addiction, even to the point of this year’s ceremony taking place in the Lord Mayor’s Mansion House.

The Spellman Centre strives to put in place holistic supports for its service users. To leave a weak point, a support unfulfilled, is to invite relapse. The centre cannot provide all supports that can possibly be required by all users, so it works increasingly closely with other agencies and people within the community. To this end, the centre offers awareness training to other stakeholders who can be of assistance.

At this year’s Spellman Awards, 12 people graduated from the awareness training, and their support to the centre and its service users was gratefully recognised.

As a schoolgirl, Teresa Weafer saw a need for supports within her community. She spoke out for the youth who needed help. She has never stopped and to this day continues to work tirelessly for the most vulnerable in society.

The centre helps all sorts of addicts, including drugs, alcohol, and gambling. Over the past year the centre has assisted 178 families with all sorts of support. The centre and its dedicated staff help addicts and their families in any way they can.

Pictured Above: Teresa Weafer, Manager of RDRD and the Spellman Centre, Superintendent Gerry Delmar, Mary Doolin, Senior Staff member of RDRD at the Spellman Centre awards in the Mansion House.

The success story could not have happened, or continue to happen, without the excellent work done by the RDRD’s strong board of management and their support for Teresa Weafer. There are too many to name, and their patronage too numerous to list, but they include:

Tom Crilly, Chairman, a local teacher and key supporter of the project. Tom is also heavily involved in youth out-reach.

John Lynch, who even comes in to help out those in need on Christmas Day. John is also involved in St. Vincent De Paul, and has helped many successful graduates of the project access funding for further training and education.

Betty Bissett is the hard-working Vice Chair and founding member of RDRD.

Paul Meleady’s empathy with the service users is unparalleled. He is also an experienced Project Worker.

Doctor Michael Ryan is an indispensable aid to the work of the centre and he specialises in the administration of Methadone.

Fr. Ivan Tonge provides comforting and non-judgmental spiritual support and guidance to service users on 12 Step programs.

Pictured Above: Alice Foley presents the players’ awards of the Spellman Tournament to Dillan O’Toole (RDRD) pictured on the left, Georgie Gannon representing winners Betsi 7 and Natalie as the women’s soccer player choice.

Amongst many other supporters and stakeholders whom there is not enough room to mention, Community Liaison Officer Garda Anthony Kelly has returned to offer his invaluable support and insight to the management board.

The centre could not function so effectively with such a high success rate without the input of all these people and many more who have gone unacknowledged but who are known and appreciated by all in Ringsend and District Response to Drugs.

The Spellman Centre has 35 people on its Community Employment programme, 10 hardworking staff, and a strong, supportive board. It is well supported by the Department of Social Protection (DSP), the Health Service Executive (HSE), and the Drugs Task Force. Without their continued support the centre could not operate and help so many people. Yet it is missing one thing: a strong experienced woman to work with mothers and their children. Hopefully, this can be addressed soon.

Pictured Above: Pat Ward from Dublin Port Company presents the Spellman Centre volunteer of the year award to Delores McCabe.

In addition to direct support to addicts within the community and their families, last year the centre conducted some very valuable research. It found that cannabis and alcohol are typical gateway drugs to drug abuse and addiction.

Weed and Polydrugs, the most commonly abused substances now, have a lasting and harmful impact on users’ lives; Heroin is still a major problem but is no longer as common as it was in the 1990s. Gambling is also a major problem for families and addicts.

Teresa Weafer is unusually well placed, experienced, and qualified to lead the project to tackle addiction in the community. She has over 20 years’ experience working on the front lines. Her excellent postgraduate training in Addiction and Conflict Resolution at Trinity College Dublin has proved very beneficial to her working as a keystone stakeholder in the community’s efforts to combat addiction.

The holistic strategy to support addicts and their families involves many different government agencies, local support, community initiatives, and individuals to work together to help the most vulnerable. Teresa’s deft handling of this great responsibility is quite simply priceless.

Pictured Above: Thomas Crilly, Chairperson of RDRD, Teresa Weafer, Manager of RDRD and Spellman Centre, Pat Ward, Michael Sheery of Dublin Port Company, Superintendent Gerry Delmar all pictured at the Spellman Centre awards held in the Mansion House.

By Keith Murphy

Pictured: Shay Connolly with Ringsend Mayor Alice Foley.

A night of recognition for the combined services of four Clanna Gael Fontenoy greats took place on July 3rd in the club’s bar. Well-wishers on the night – including friends, family and Clanna Gael figures past and present – paid homage to Shay Connolly, who has had a 50-year involvement with the club, and also to Frank White, Eugene Davey and Michael O’Kane.

The night featured music and speeches from prominent Clanna Gael figures, with John Dodd beginning proceedings with an email from Shay’s sadly absent friend Ciaran O’ Donnell, and went on to thank the contributions of the four men to the club’s legacy.

Awards were then handed out to the four men, described by John Dodd in the following terms: “Frank White, a proud son of Roscommon, Eugene Davey, a Sligo man who insists he’s from Dublin, Michael O’Kane from Belfast, Shay Connolly a full time Dublin man from Longford!”

Also speaking on the night was Padraic White, founder of the Irish Development Authority, who described how he first met Shay through his wife, Senator Mary White.

Padraic was struck by Shay’s commitment to the local area and how he intertwined both club and community in the true ethos of the GAA. Padraic said he was delighted to be working with Shay on the new Our Town Project for Ringsend and Irishtown.

“Shay was born on a street called Hope,” Padraic said on the night. “Shay has his philosophy; GAA is more than just games. He epitomises everything about Clanna Gael.”

Shay recalled his years at the club, describing the pain, the agony and the ecstasy that was experienced during those years. He extemporised at length about how the original development committee that featured himself, Eugene, Frank and Michael, along with Dave Reddy and John McKenna, had a vision for the club, and spoke of his pride of their long journey.

“We loved each other, we hated each other, we got through it and we were chuffed and delighted that we did,” Shay said.

After the evening’s events Shay sat down to chat to NewsFour about his back story, both personally and club-related. Shay originally started playing with Clanna Gael Fontenoy at age eight, when the club was still based in Ringsend Park. His father had been manager of the team he performed for, who won the Dublin Juvenile Hurling Championship for the first time in the club’s history.

The following year the team continued their winning streak by winning the Under-16 Dublin County Championship, with five of that team eventually playing for Dublin.

Until 1989, the club had been bereft of a premises for a number of years before eventually securing the lands in Sean Moore Park from Dublin City Council, with work being done on the site by Frank White and John McGinley.

Initially, a bar was built, with two dressing rooms and a hall. In 2000 the development committee, comprising of Shay, Michael, Eugene, Frank and Dave Reddy and John McKenna sat down to discuss expansion due to increased demand from the community. As a result of these endeavours, the car park was re-developed, their two dressing rooms became six and an overhaul of the club’s pitches is being tended to by specialist firm Prunty Pitch of Fermanagh. Further developments within the club involved the astro turf arena and the refurbishment of the hall.

Shay was club manager for 12 of his 50 years association with Clanna Gael. Other sporting triumphs encountered by the club included their 1991 O’Briens Cup victory, the club’s first adult football trophy since 1968, with Shay and Frank at the club’s helm at the time.

The club had also contested the Dublin Senior Championship semi-final in 1983 before enduring a few barren years. “Our team reached huge heights,” Shay told NewsFour.

Shay has since moved on from Clanna Gael and is now deeply entrenched in our local Our Town project. When Diarmuid Gavin initially proposed the Our Town initiative, Shay was quick to get involved in the project’s objective in seeing to the regeneration of Ringsend and Irishtown and in dealing with many of the social difficulties that our community faces.

“I’m delighted to be involved in the Our Town project,” Shay said. “There’s lots of energy, lots of positivity. Feilim Dunne was the architect who I got in to do the hall and we were talking about Ringsend constantly. Diarmuid Gavin had a series on when he went around towns in Ireland, and we wanted to do something bigger for Ringsend, a whole regeneration.

By Craig Kinsella

Pictured: Una Molony (left) presents Marian Winters (middle) and Dave Mahony (right) of Alzheimer Society of Ireland with a cheque for €1,900.

On Friday 17th July the Sandymount Ladies Amateur Golfing Society held their annual charity fundraiser. Members of O’Reilly’s Sandymount Golf Society also joined in for this memorable occasion.

It was a great day for the event, and despite predictions for bad weather, the rain held off. Everyone scheduled to tee-off did so, which showed great commitment on everyone’s part.

The day started with an outing to Bray Golf Club. The club was established in 1897 and the course varies from a par 3–5. 60 people, spread across 15 teams of four, played a good round of golf for charity.

Frank Carroll won the coveted Closest to the Pin prize by getting a phenomenal hole in one. You can’t get closer than that!

There are so many worthy causes that each year the Sandymount ladies focus on a different charity. Last year they raised €1,600 for cancer research. This year they focussed on The Alzheimer Society of Ireland and raised well in excess of €2,000.

Many local businesses donated generously to the raffle and auction held that night in O’Reilly’s of Sandymount. Punters responded in kind with generous bids in the charity auction. Many golfers went away happily with meal vouchers to local restaurants and drinks vouchers to local pubs.

Maxine Pilkington, of Bennetts Auctioneers Sandymount, compered the event and presented the generous 4-ball prize, tickets for two pairs to play a competitive round of golf at Elm Park Golf Course, off Nutley Lane Donnybrook, worth over €200.

Later that night, Una Molony of the Sandymount Ladies Golfing Society presented Marian Winters and Dave Mahony of The Alzheimer Society of Ireland with a cheque for €1,900.

There was a great night out after the golf at O’Reilly’s pub Sandymount with a delicious BBQ, raffle, and auction. €280 was raised for charity from the night on top of the golfing event. It just goes to show it pays to have fun with friends.

By Keith Murphy

Pictured Above: Noel Twamley.

All of us at NewsFour were saddened by the news of the passing of our long-time contributor Noel Twamley on Friday July 17th. Noel passed peacefully, but unexpectedly at his home.

For many years Noel had been contributing an article each issue and I’m sure our readers will miss his great contributions. His articles usually focussed on famous historical figures, some of whom Noel had actually encountered himself, and I always looked forward to receiving his hand-written letters every other month.

Noel lived a full life and this was reflected in the experiences he shared through his writing. Since becoming editor I had enjoyed many phone conversations with Noel, which usually veered towards our shared interests in movies and Jazz music (he was always surprised that someone of my generation was familiar with such names as Alan Ladd and Tommy Dorsey!).

Noel’s final piece, on Bonnie and Clyde, can be found on page 34, and it’s one of his best.
Thanks for everything, Noel; NewsFour won’t be the same without you!

Pictured Above: Crusaders women’s Athletics Club.

Irishtown stadium athletics track is now open after a winter of repair and upgrade. Displaced teams and athletes will be licking their lips at a new track, none more so than resident athletics club – Crusaders.

The club of our infamous 1956 Olympian and 1500m Gold medalist Ronnie Delaney has had to use the nearby parks and beach for winter training, but members will be very happy to get back on the track for the remaining summer months and to enjoy the appropriate facilities for athletics training coming into the autumn and winter season.

“Crusaders have about 400 adults and 250 juveniles presently training with the club and are always open to more members,” explained Head Coach Michael McGovern. The club has been at Irishtown Stadium since 2004 after approaching Dublin City Council about building a proper athletics and sports facility for the club and wider community. Crusaders had already obtained a €650,000 Sports Capital Grant for a facility, and with additional funds from club and DCC they were able to initiate the creation of Irishtown Stadium.

“Dublin City Council were very good about the idea I have to say,” said McGovern when recalling the planning stage that created the stadium as it is today. “There were top-class people who really worked with us on this.” Crusaders raised money for the project via the club and the Sports Council and DCC put in the rest.

The club has been around since the 1940s and is always open to new members, particularly children as they are the future of any sport.

As for that future, there are some hopes, as always. In 2014, Crusaders achieved a bronze medal at the National Senior Track and Field Championships 4 x 400m Relay with a team that included an 18, 17 and 16 year old.

That team included Matthew Behan, who tried out hurdles when he was 14 and a coach quickly recognised his potential. He was put on a coaching pathway aimed at pursuing that event. Rewards from that have been reaped when Behan recently broke the 110m Irish hurdle Junior record and in doing so got the qualifying time to represent Ireland at the recent European Juniors in Sweden in July 2015. He gave a good account of himself by reaching the semi-finals.

“I reckon he will be an Olympian,” said McGovern cautiously, mindful that such predictions can alter the very future that they are setting out. The last Olympian for Crusaders was their 800m runner Thomas Chamney, who competed in Beijing in 2008.

The club also has a range of other promising stars, although it is challenging to make it to the very top, due to lifestyle and funding issues, as an athlete puts more and more time into achieving marginal gains as they approach the elite level.

A recent high-level athlete, Orla Drumm, has finally had to commit to her medical career as she has trained to be a doctor. Drumm was reaching heights such as representing Ireland in the European Athletics Championships in 2012. She still competes in Irish road races but has had to face reality in focussing on her medical career.

Pictured Above: Orla Drumm.

“In Athletics there is an event for everyone,” said Hetherington. “The important thing is to allow the person to develop into what their own body is capable of.”

“We have many people, even from other sports, who come to train with us when in off-season to keep up their fitness. Children are always welcome,” McGovern added, “Parents can bring their children down on Tuesdays and Thursdays and can approach the coaches there. However, we do like to see the parents get involved in helping too, even if it’s just laying out the cones.”

And for anyone who really wants to get into coaching, training is available as the club can pay for parents who want to train as coaches.

Crusaders emphasise that they are always open for new members and participants to come to the club. Now that they are back on the newly-refurbished athletics track, they can be found training on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.

By Ferg Hayden

Pictured Above: The Banks of the Grand Canal.

The summer is well past its mid-point and the warm days are getting numbered, so now is the time to make sure to get outside and enjoy at least one coffee break or lunch in the sun (when it appears!).

Sandymount Strand
The beach seems like an obvious choice for a picnic but it can get quite windy so unless you enjoy authentic ‘sand’-wiches you may regret setting up camp on the wide flat strand! Try for a more sheltered spot like the Sean Moore Park or sit along the walls of the old bathing house at the Martello Tower to block the wind.

Sandymount Green
The Green can be packed on a sunny afternoon so if that’s the case you can forget getting a free bench but the grass is just as nice to sit on and Borza’s chipper is only a stone’s throw away, which is never a bad thing!

Ringsend Park
Comprising 10.58 hectares, this park is perfect for anyone looking to burn off their lunch. There are free tennis courts, an athletic running track, and the multi-use sports area also caters for soccer, basketball, and seven-a-side matches. Not to mention the full size UEFA certified synthetic surfaced floodlit pitch! (Booking required).

Pearse Square
Previously known as Queen Square, this 0.5 hectare grassy Georgian square dates back to 1839. It was successfully refurbished and reopened in 1998 and offers a calm spot to eat a sandwich and escape the traffic.

Merrion Square
Stephen’s Green can be quite overrun with tourists in the summer months, so why not pay a visit to the not-so-cool little brother five minutes away and savour the peace and quiet.

Herbert Park
Herbert Park celebrated its 100th birthday in 2011 and continues to offer a range of activities and leisure options from tennis, boules, croquet, running tracks to nature trails and an all-weather multi-use pitch and new children’s playground, which were both added in 2007. With countless ducks nearby to eat your left-over crusts and endless spots to sit, this is a winning choice for a full afternoon in the sun.

The banks of the Grand Canal
On any given ‘Sun’-day the banks of the canal, pictured left, are lined with people dining, dozing and dreaming. If you want to feel a part of a summer’s day and live/work anywhere from the Grand Canal up to Rathmines, the canal is a quick fix for a chance to eat a bite outdoors and watch the world and the ducks go by.

By Caoimhe Fox

It was recently announced that an investment of €5.5 million is to be made for National Association of Building Co-operatives to develop 39 social housing units in Moss Street and Beech Hill in Donnybrook. The allocation is part of a package of funding outlined by Environment Minister Alan Kelly.

The project allows voluntary housing groups to deliver housing units quickly and efficiently. At the announcement, Kevin Humphreys, TD for Dublin Bay South, and Minister for Employment, Community and Social Support said, “The funding will go towards 19 new homes on Moss Street in the old flats building at the corner of Gloucester Street; and 20 homes in Beech Hill through the Royal Hospital Donnybrook. The Beech Hill homes will be built on the site of the old maisonettes.”

Kevin Humphreys, who has previously been involved in assisting the building of the Pump House beside Londonbridge Road, spoke to NewsFour about these plans and how he hopes they will be received.

“We’re hoping development will start as soon as possible because we know there is a housing crisis,” Humphreys said. “There’s been virtually nothing built over the last nine years of the recession. In the first instance we had to make sure there was a strong financial footing where we could borrow money or invest in housing, and this is the first sign in our area. I’m hopeful and full of expectation that this will be the first of many such housing announcements that we will see in the coming years to deal with the chronic shortage of social units in the Ringsend-Pearse Street area.”

The units in the terrace behind Beech Hill flats are to be turned into high quality social units, with Cllr Dermot Lacey playing a key role in uniting the forces of Dublin City Council, the Department of Environment and the Royal Hospital in Donnybrook.The units in question are planned for allocation to elderly people with the future objective being to free up larger units for families currently on housing lists.

Many of these detachments will not require planning permission and the emphasis will instead be shifted to refurbishment. Construction on Moss Street is still awaiting the green light but will get underway as soon as possible.

This is part of a wider network of projects which also includes the delivery of up to 150 new social housing units at Charlemont Street under regeneration plans that are to start soon. Nine new units on Maxwell Road, Rathmines have already been constructed.

“I am delighted to see this further progress in delivering on the Government’s social housing commitments, which will provide homes for people in Dublin Bay South,” Kevin Humphreys added. “There has been very positive feedback. People have been waiting for so long that the belief will start to come as the builders move on site.”

By Craig Kinsella

Picture courtesy Fr Ivan Tonge.

There is no better way to say community than with a good old get-together and the residents of Canon Mooney Gardens said it with gusto on August 22nd when they marked the end of the summer with a reunion for residents past and present.

Deirdre McGuinness was the energy behind the event when a suggestion from a neighbour stirred her to action and she got straight to work. “All the other flats around have had their renovations and celebrations and even though we’ve been overlooked for renovation so far, I thought, ‘Let’s have a party anyway. It will cheer people up!’”

The atmosphere from the children’s party, which was also held that day, carried on to the evening, where music played and people shared stories and memories of times gone by, as they ate and drank.

Father Ivan Tonge was present with his camera to record the merriment and everyone enjoyed the occasion. McGuinness tells NewsFour, “It was a great night, I am glad I went ahead with it. I have lived here all my life and it was great to see some of the old neighbours coming back like the Doyles and Tony Nugent. Parents, grandparents, old and young all around came to look at old photos from over 40 years ago. Some of the residents even made their toilets available for use and when the rain came we just sheltered under the balconies. It was really old-school and brought back fond memories of a close-knit community.”

Lorraine Barry from Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre sponsored the chairs and Sueann Moore from the Spellman Centre designed the poster.

McGuinness added, “The feedback has been brilliant. My sister Liz Doyle was almost crying when she said, ‘I’m so proud’. We will concentrate on events for the children next year. After all, the children are the future.”

By Maria Shields O’Kelly

Picture provided by Joe McDonnell.

“The yard had been levelled and the cowshed was gone but as soon as I walked in I put it together in my mind and could see everything just as it used to be.”

This is the story that had NewsFour staff riveted recently when Joe McDonnell dropped into the office with a collection of photographs, some going back as far as the 1920s.

He did not come here about a story and was not seeking to be published. Rather, he wanted to submit an image for the current month of the NewsFour Photocomp. However, as his fascinating family history revealed itself through the images, we at the paper felt that the readers would be interested either because they remember the era or because they don’t!

Joe’s grandfather, James McDonnell, had a dairy farm in Templeogue and one in Ballinteer. He died in 1948 but by then his son Jack was delivering milk throughout Sandymout, Irishtown and the general Dublin 4 area.

Jack McDonnell is pictured here outside Miss Milligan’s Hardware (The Chandlery was associated with the selling of nautical hardware) along with his milk gig and two-ton dun horse with Ryan’s Pub to his right. “He was always well-dressed and everyone knew him along the milk run. There was a shortage of milk in the 1920s and there were three other dairy yards, Hayden’s, Tritonville and O’Briens.”

Joe went on to tell us how his father went around the houses delivering milk from the gig. “There were two cans which held 20 gallons each. There was a tap at the bottom of the cans and he would fill the milk spout, which he used to transport the milk to the people with jugs and bottles waiting at the doors.”

This photograph was taken in 1922 and also pictured is the frame from the famous curved window, never to be replaced with real glass, which was mentioned by Sen. David Norris in his memoirs.

The next photograph takes us forward two decades and depicts Joe’s cousins, the Ironmongers working the field on Lansdowne Road. It is hard to imagine as we embark upon the Rugby World Cup that the top–class Aviva Stadium once looked like this. In the bottom corner of the photo are three brothers – Joe, James and Kevin McDonnell.

Although taken well before the Lansdowne Stadium was conceived, perhaps this is when the love of rugby entered his blood stream, a passion that was passed on to his own children. Joe’s rugby career took him to Uganda, where he met none other than Idi Amin. This reporter was glad to have met a man who made hay, sheared sheep and played rugby in Lansdowne Road.

When Joe married his beloved Joan in the Star of the Sea Church it brought crowds to the street to see the coming together of two well-known local families, the McDonnells and Dunwoodys.

Joe’s memories offer us an insight into a lost world. He talks about playing football on the road as the only traffic was the odd horse. He hopes that this story finds someone who also remembers the man with the four-wheeled wagon who sold coal around Ringsend from Monday to Thursday but fish on a Friday.

He remembers that Dr. Denham in Sandymount village made the Smallpox vaccine because he bought the heifer calves, which were required for this process, from his grandfather. Most of all he remembers being a boy whose only ambition was to milk more cows than his Dad.

By Maria Shields O’Kelly

Drones: even to mention them conjures images of American death robots, intrusive surveillance and a host of other negatives. Turning this perception on its head are a growing number of people for whom drones mean only positive things – hobbies, aerial filming and of course, as we humans love it so much, competition.

The competitive streak NewsFour saw in one diverse group of drone enthusiasts was palpable. On an overcast evening in Herbert Park we heard the unmistakable high-pitched whine of these versatile flying machines and went to investigate. We found three people discreetly bunched under a tree with the tell-tale remote controls of the drone pilot in their hands. This was drone racing, or, to give it its correct title, FPV (first person view) Racing. The FPV part refers to the fact that with a bit of clever technology, in the form of a small camera on the drone connected to a headset viewer, the pilot sees whatever the drone sees. This allows the machine to move from the field of view of the pilot and lets them around obstacles with absolute precision.

The racers were cagey at first, with all this being something of a grey area with regards to the law. They explained that as hobbyists, they were allowed to operate them without a specific permit, but still felt that as they were in a public park they might come in for some flack from the authorities.

We assured them that we were merely curious and they immediately opened up with a wave of enthusiasm, talking over each other and at times getting quite heated about whose skills were superior. They meet in a wide range of locations around Dublin and their loose gang numbers nearly a dozen. They were in Herbert Park for the second time. The playing pitches with well-spaced large trees at either end make an ideal practice course they told us.

The race is by the clock, as opposed to drone-on-drone; this is because there is enough to be crashing into without having to watch each other. They explained how this is a sport that is sure to catch on, with the equipment becoming cheaper and cheaper and the ability of spectators to watch a live feed from the drone cameras during the race. They had finished up when we approached them so we didn’t get to actually see a race but we exchanged numbers and they promised to contact NewsFour when they were meeting again. We may even enter the NewsFour copter in it so watch this space.

By Steve Kingston

Pictured: Aerial ‘Refugees Welcome’ message on Sunday September 13th. Image by Steve Kingston.

After the harrowing scenes in the news and the escalating crisis of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees dispersed across Europe, it seemed there was little an individual could do in the on-going politics around refugee aid and the Irish government’s role.

A group of Irish NGOs decided to form an alliance and organised a local event with a simple approach to demonstrate Irish support to the refugee crisis. The photo was planned to take place in advance of a meeting of the EU Council of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers the following day.

With the help of social media, and word of mouth locally, news spread that willing participants were to gather on Sandymount Strand at 2.30pm on Sunday September 13th.

At the last minute, the meeting time was pushed back to 3.30pm as a result of an unseasonably high tide but it did not seem to affect attendance and also allowed time for the heavy rain to subside.

Attendees were assigned to letters upon arrival and instructed by volunteer coordinators to stand along the outline of a series of large letters drawn in the sand to spell out a human ‘Refugees Welcome’ message.

With people of all ages and nationalities, dressed in vivid colours and raincoats, the overall numbers exceeded expectations and the various organisers ran excitedly from group to group to deliver updates via megaphone, repositioning lines and trying to keep everyone from moving too much.

The overflow of people was directed to form the shape of a heart just above the message and it was orchestrated for everyone to pop open their umbrellas filling the heart shape and adding a wonderful burst of colour to the image.

Once everyone was in position, a drone camera circulated above the giddy crowd of supporters to capture an aerial view of the understated but clear words of welcome and support.

By Caoimhe Fox

Pictured: Kevin Humphreys and Oscar – winners of the look-a-like competition (Image by Keith Murphy).

On a wet Sunday morning, Sandymount Village Green was awash with WAGS and D4 glamour. The air was filled with the distinctive waft of eau de chien mouillé. September 13th may well go down in history as the day Sandymount Tidy Towns and Dublin City Council (DCC) hosted the premier event of the year, the much-anticipated Sandymount Dog Show.

NewsFour contacted Declan Hayden of DCC about the Sandymount Dog Show. He said, “Despite the rain, the Sandymount Dog Show was a great success on Sunday. Thank you to everyone who braved the weather to come. We had around 70 dogs of all breeds, young and old. Those who didn’t have a dog may have one by next year. Well done to all the winners.”

Of course it couldn’t have happened without the support, vision, and selfless dedication of Valerie Jennings, Maxine Pilkington, and all the hard-working members of Sandymount Village Tidy Towns.

Hayden commented that: “The team from TidyTowns did their usual wonderful job in setting up and clearing up. Thank you to you all.”

He also expressed, “A huge thank you to all the businesses in Sandymount who supported this event, especially Miriam in the Sandymount Pet Hospital who organised all the prizes; Catherine in AIB Sandymount who sponsored the judges and prizes; Leslie of Clever Companions; Declan in Sandymount Hardware and Butlers Pantry; all of whom provided prizes. A big thank you to Edel Swords who helped organise the event and to Liz, our judge, who did a great job adjudicating. Declan from DCC helped us by organising the PA system and the stage.”

Sandymount Tidy Towns handled the event with their usual good humour, and turned what otherwise could have been a wash-out into a fun day out for all. NewsFour eagerly looks forward to joining-in in the fun next year.

By Keith Murphy

John Creagh celebrated his birthday on April 22nd with a luncheon at the Grand Canal Hotel. John is officially from South Dock St, as were his family and friends, grandparents and great grandmother. In the photo are cousin Mary Tobin, sisters Angela Murphy and Carmel Gough, birthday boy John, brother David, wife Celine and brother in law Tommy. Happy belated birthday greetings, John, from Ann Marie.

Volunteers collecting for Pieta House at Irishtown House’s Wild West Day, on Saturday August 29th.

Pictured are Cllr Chris Andrews, Lord Mayor of Ringsend and Irishtown Alice Foley, Cian Cross, Sue Cross, Vicki Bissett and Jennifer Betts.

Pictures by Steve Kingston.

Much has been written about the reasons people risk their lives to flee conflict and misery at home. There are endless stories of pain, degradation and horror on the journey to the Calais refugee camp in France, which is called The Jungle by those who live there.

At the camp itself there are daily reports of attacks by right-wing groups. Attacks on women and children by these groups go unchallenged by the police, who seem to do all but nothing.

Attacks by the police themselves also, which serve no purpose but to inflict further suffering and provoke a reaction, waiting as they do until late at night then randomly firing tear gas into areas where families sleep, forcing them from their tents and makeshift shelters until the gas clouds disperse.

This is not a biased view of events or a “leftie police-hating” spin; these are facts witnessed by myself and many other independent observers.

Much has been written about the horrors of The Jungle because there are few if any positives in a situation like this. The conditions are not fit for livestock, the people there are very often suffering from the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder.

They have been exploited at every turn on their journey and now that they have arrived in Calais they realise that the pain is far from over.

On a recent trip there, the vast majority of people I met were hard-workers who want to continue in their professions or indeed do anything to earn a living. Engineers, carpenters, mechanics, bakers and accountants were just some I came across.

Imagine for one moment if we had war in Ireland, foreign countries began bombing Dublin to support one side or another, then a fanatical gang of psychopaths swept through and started beheading people on the street in Sandymount.

You are a middle class-family who have the funds required to escape so you set out for safety (perhaps to one of the countries that are bombing your home), travelling thousands of miles and paying small fortunes to various mafia groups for passage.

You make it to a safe country with the hope of rebuilding your lives and providing a future for your children away from conflict. Then it all grinds to a halt in a muddy field. You have to adjust to walking 200 metres in the rain to use a broken portaloo, and your children start getting sick from the damp in your tent.

You are used to living in Sandymount, in a nice house, with a good job and now here you are and nobody wants to know. This, you would imagine, is enough to break the strongest of people. Enough to reduce you to a shivering wreak. But no, the ability of humans to deal with hardship and not lose sight of their own humanity is boundless, it seems.

From the moment I arrived in the camp I was greeted with warm smiles. It took hours to walk a small distance, as pausing to say hello to someone at their dwelling meant entering for tea and maybe some bread, generosity on a grand scale from those who have nothing.

When humans gather together to shelter or escape conflict or strife there is a bond that joins them. Like a prisoner of war camp, the Jungle binds people who share a common enemy, in this case the horrors they have fled and the fresh horrors they are now enduring.

One man I met is a prime example of the strength of the human spirit. We’ll call him W. He is from Damascus in Syria, a telecoms engineer by trade, he is married and has two beautiful children. He is from a good family and had a very comfortable and happy life until the conflict started.

He said rebel groups trying to oust the current regime were one thing, ISIS however, is quite another. He witnessed unspeakable horrors and would very likely have been murdered if he had not fled with his family.

His goal is to get to Canada where he has relatives and start a new life. Rather than inflict further pain on his family, he got them as far as Lebanon and made a break for it on his own, planning to get them to join him as soon as possible. He is a man on the very edge of endurance.

“When I arrived here in the camp I could not believe it, I thought how can this be, how can people who are escaping war be allowed to live like this. That was seven months ago,” he said.

His English is very good as he has been getting lessons from a volunteer aid worker called Polly. To say thank you to her, he decided to throw a surprise party for her birthday. He asked me to come along and I am forever thankful that I did.

He got balloons and spelled out ‘happy Birthday Polly’ on the wall of his immaculate makeshift shelter, built with his own hands out of scrap wood, pallets and plastic sheeting.

He used what little money he has to buy chicken for a barbeque, rice, couscous, flat bread and fruit for dessert. He even managed to make it into town to buy a cake complete with candles.

About a dozen of us squeezed in tight and waited for her to arrive. When she did it was one of the most profoundly moving experiences I have ever had.

Seeing the joy on W’s face, seeing his pride in being able to give something back, a man with nothing giving the last of what he had to repay kindness.

Someone like that will be a gift to whatever community he ends up in, a decent, honest and productive human being who just wants to live in peace. He is in the majority in The Jungle.

By Steve Kingston

Given the year we currently find ourselves in, it has become increasingly difficult to turn a street corner without seeing a poster regarding the Easter Rising of 1916 or indeed even become embroiled in a debate regarding the significance of that particular rebellion.

Charles Hulgraine, who runs the Ballsbridge Gallery, is no stranger to this topic, as evidenced by his recent paintings of 11 garrisons that played a crucial role in the events of Easter Monday 1916.

Charles’s 11 paintings are to be put on display in the Ambassador Theatre on O’Connell Street on February 27th for a period of up to six months. This exhibition features a wide range of artifacts from 1916 up to 1923, featuring art, sculptures and street murals. Tickets are available from Ticketmaster.

The 11 garrisons featured are the Mendicity Institution, Jacob’s Biscuit Factory, Boland’s Bakery, The Four Courts, Dublin City Hall, Rath Cross in Ashbourne, South Dublin Union, Royal College of Surgeons, Enniscorthy and of course, the General Post Office.

Charles’s main political interest in these depictions was that of a lament for the socialist principles that underpinned the rebellion, which have been lost in subsequent decades as socialism gave way to nationalism.

NewsFour spoke to Charles at length about how he felt inspired to produce these historical pieces. The conversation began with a brief compendium of the early hours of the Rising, through to the occupation of the buildings, all the way through to the strategic attempt to block off British reinforcements stepping off the boat in Dun Laoghaire.

“I wanted to show their revolution as a shining light,” Charles says. “I wanted to paint these garrisons like icons. For seven days these 11 buildings were the physical manifestation of the Republic. No one had ever drawn 11 garrisons of 1916 before, nor have they been exhibited in one room. I have wanted to do it since I was a kid, and it took a lot out of me. When you’re painting you’re normally full of it but this is history, so I was researching as I was painting.”

Hulgraine’s 11 garrisons possibly reflect a change in the zeitgeist in terms of how people engage in retrospection regarding the Easter Rising. For many decades now, the Irish public have had a tendency to over-indulge in the role of martyrdom in the rebellion, as opposed to the locations which made the insurrection possible.

Many of these portraits have also been rather sombre and morbid in nature, very often been painted in black and white. Several of these structures have now been consigned to the dustbin of history, while others have been modified or serve as functioning civic buildings.

“I wanted kids to see my paintings,” Charles continues. “I have family and friends who are teachers, and the Rising has largely been ignored by our schools. We live in a Republic, we still have to live up to the ideals and spirit of 1916 and I’m sure we’ll get there eventually.”

By Craig Kinsella

Pictured Above: Members of the Choir.

2016 will bring the centenary of the Rising that led to the birth of our nation. This April however, O’Connell Street will have to share centre stage with the renowned Riverside Choir, who will mark a decade of providing musical entertainment for the public.

NewsFour paid a timely visit to one of the weekly practice sessions that are held in Ringsend College and walked into a sound-filled room with all four sections of the choir in full swing. Choirmaster Ray Ryan told us about the origins of the musical group.

“The timing was perfect when I was approached to lead the Riverside Choir. I had just retired from being music teacher at Marian College for 30 years. I am still brought back occasionally to put on musicals. They are gluttons for punishment,” he humbly jests, “but I had a lot of free time to fill.”

The choir has approximately 40 members and it has become a family occasion for many, with five sisters from one family attending weekly. The choir must be commended for providing a hub for this regular reunion, as two of these sisters travel from Walkinstown and Finglas respectively to gladly attend.

While enjoying break time refreshments with some of the other members, Bella Nevin told NewsFour: “We are all here because we love singing. I have been coming here since the start,” she said, while Anna Hevey announced: “We are always looking for men…” hastily adding, “to sing in the choir!”

Unfortunately, a lack of male singers is a plight that affects many choirs but Riverside has a very strong Base section and the choir’s newest member, base singer Morris Boyle told NewsFour about the uniform. “It is a green dicky bow for the gents and scarf for the ladies. I don’t dress like this every day,” he assured me. Morris sits alongside Pat Micheau who was the only base singer for some time but now has two others for company. “We all learn from each other,” he told NewsFour.

Choirmaster Ray Ryan, who is known to this choir as, ‘Tutor’, told us that the singers are placed in the section which best suits their voices. For example, there is a female member singing with the altos at the moment and it perfectly suits her voice, adding, “I haven’t seen a man singing in the soprano section, though.”

Evidently Ray has music in his blood and the desire to pass on the joy of music through teaching still burns bright in retirement. He is still teaching, though now as he puts it, “it’s the mothers and grandmothers of the pupils I once taught at Marian College that come to learn from me now.”

Pictured Above: Ray Ryan conducting the Choir.

Twins, Tríona Boland and Bernadette Egan, both spoke to NewsFour about their experiences in the choir. Bernadette has been with them for ten years and just took one break to have her son Jack. “You’ll see him later. He’s the youngest member.” she told us, while her twin sister Tríona reminisced about what was the highlight of her time with the choir: performing at the National Concert Hall. She continued, “We were performing Andrew Lloyd Webber numbers and other musical hits, alongside some of the other choirs that Ray leads.” Tríona’s next statement gives hope to singers of all levels. “You don’t realise what you are capable of until Ray is teaching you.”

Prospective members may be pleased to know the following; No previous experience required, and the best bit, no audition required either.

By Maria Shields O’Kelly