Our Blog
Monday, 20th August
Meeting with Gabriella Hanrahan
Being back on the UL campus is always a sort of strange experience these days. Having been on coop for the last few months, the feeling of stepping foot inside the borders of the university still feels different, yet familiar. The feeling was no different last Friday when we met Nigel out there. We had a scheduled meeting with Gabriella Hanrahan, who is the Community Liaison Officer in UL.
On the drive out we had a pretty heavy conversation focusing on which of us has the best taste in music, as per usual! So once we met Nigel we were already full of beans. Another nice one minute/not so nice the next minute day. We decided to meet outside in the Stables.
When she arrived, the three of us were delighted to see that she was full of energy and enthusiasm. The purpose behind this meeting was to discuss the possibilities of students engaging with communities, which is something Local Heroes would like to include in the Student City campaign.
Over the course of the hour we discussed a lot. Gabriella started telling us about the Presidents Volunteer Award. Students can apply for this on any academic year. Basically it involves students putting aside a certain amount of hours to voluntary work. For example, 20 hours earns you a bronze, 40 a silver and 60 a gold. It is great for your CV and it is great for active community involvement and fostering a sense of good will.
Myself and Gary, as students, are very happy to see a structure like this in place. After all, the college experience is much more than the academia, the studying and the degree itself. It’s a character-building and a socially extroverted experience which offers students a great chance to meet people and get involved.
Interestingly, in our second year, both myself and Gary would have been eligible for this award had we applied for it because I was the second year class rep and Gary founded and developed the Journalism Society!
This revelation did however give us both a bit of a jolt and as a result, both of us have decided to achieve at least one gold award by the time we finish up in 2014. This is exactly the kind of thing we would like to help with in Local Heroes. After all, once of our central aims as a group is to connect the right people and assist them in any way we can for the betterment of Limerick.
We have a huge database full to the brim with community contacts so it seems silly for us not to get involved. We would love to get students more involved with the community, specifically city groups and the connection that we have now made with Gabriella will be very beneficial for us, the students and Limerick as a whole!
I think we all look forward to working with Gabriella, and UL in general, over the coming months. Making these connections and helping each other out is what Local Heroes is all about and this in particular is a very good opportunity to help a great initiative.
Being back on the UL campus is always a sort of strange experience these days. Having been on coop for the last few months, the feeling of stepping foot inside the borders of the university still feels different, yet familiar. The feeling was no different last Friday when we met Nigel out there. We had a scheduled meeting with Gabriella Hanrahan, who is the Community Liaison Officer in UL.On the drive out we had a pretty heavy conversation focusing on which of us has the best taste in music, as per usual! So once we met Nigel we were already full of beans. Another nice one minute/not so nice the next minute day. We decided to meet outside in the Stables.
When she arrived, the three of us were delighted to see that she was full of energy and enthusiasm. The purpose behind this meeting was to discuss the possibilities of students engaging with communities, which is something Local Heroes would like to include in the Student City campaign.
Over the course of the hour we discussed a lot. Gabriella started telling us about the Presidents Volunteer Award. Students can apply for this on any academic year. Basically it involves students putting aside a certain amount of hours to voluntary work. For example, 20 hours earns you a bronze, 40 a silver and 60 a gold. It is great for your CV and it is great for active community involvement and fostering a sense of good will.
Myself and Gary, as students, are very happy to see a structure like this in place. After all, the college experience is much more than the academia, the studying and the degree itself. It’s a character-building and a socially extroverted experience which offers students a great chance to meet people and get involved.
Interestingly, in our second year, both myself and Gary would have been eligible for this award had we applied for it because I was the second year class rep and Gary founded and developed the Journalism Society!
This revelation did however give us both a bit of a jolt and as a result, both of us have decided to achieve at least one gold award by the time we finish up in 2014. This is exactly the kind of thing we would like to help with in Local Heroes. After all, once of our central aims as a group is to connect the right people and assist them in any way we can for the betterment of Limerick.
We have a huge database full to the brim with community contacts so it seems silly for us not to get involved. We would love to get students more involved with the community, specifically city groups and the connection that we have now made with Gabriella will be very beneficial for us, the students and Limerick as a whole!
I think we all look forward to working with Gabriella, and UL in general, over the coming months. Making these connections and helping each other out is what Local Heroes is all about and this in particular is a very good opportunity to help a great initiative.
Tuesday, 11th August
New Street Art Exhibition in Limerick Local Heroes Boardroom
There are boardrooms in business parks and office blocks all over Ireland which certainly do live up to their name as a place of absolute boredom for the countless numbers who travel into work every day.
Thankfully, this will never be the case again in the Limerick Local Heroes boardroom. Both myself and Paul can now enjoy coming into work to have our morning meetings with Nigel to discuss the tasks of the day. Why?
Limerick Local Heroes has begun a new street art exhibition in our office here in Arthur’s Quay which will see our boardroom decorated with a new street art piece every month for the next six months. A structure has been put in place whereby at the end of each month we can change the artwork for that of a different artist. At the end of the six months, Limerick Local Heroes will 
then host an exhibition in the city displaying all six pieces and will hopefully raise money for a deserving organisation.
then host an exhibition in the city displaying all six pieces and will hopefully raise money for a deserving organisation.As you can see from the photo above the first piece was unveiled this morning to the delight of everybody working here in the office. Even some of the workers from some of the neighbouring businesses in Arthur’s Quay have been coming in to see our new boardroom.
The first piece was created by Danny Shortt from Thomondgate who is just 15 years old and possesses such amazing artistic talents for one so young. The son of Limerick City Councillor Tom Shortt, himself an art teacher in Scoil Carmel, Danny like many other young urban artists was delighted to have a platform from which to showcase his work.
Currently he practices at home on reusable canvases and garden walls and has only been creating street art pieces for a short (excuse the pun) time. Limerick is currently in a position that cities like New York and London were 25 to 30 years ago, street artists are being tarred with the same brush as criminals whose sole intent is the destruction of property. This unfortunately has created a stigma for their talent and as such the authorities outlaw anything that they create.
What Limerick must do now is learn from the mistakes of those cities and how they dealt with the problem of illegal art or tagging as it is called. They embraced the positive aspect of the community, commissioning artists to breathe life into rundown parts of their city which fostered a great working relationship between city officials and the artists; this relationship then in turn helped these respective cities in identifying and stamping out the criminal element of illegal tagging. A great example of this is Washington D.C who in 2007 spent $800,000 removing graffiti and yet after a change of tactics in 2011 are now spending $100,000 commissioning artists to create works of art in the D.C urban area.There most certainly is a problem in Limerick but comparing a talented artist who might spend countless hours creating a work of art to that of someone with a spray can intent on destruction is also wrong. Limerick Local Heroes is looking to set the ball rolling in our city by embracing the artistic and positive element of street art and offering a public display for some of our cities talented people.
One of those people who we can have a small claim to is a man making a major name for himself in the art world, hailing from Cork but who trained in Limerick is Conor Harrington. Conor is a supremely gifted street artist who mixes contemporary style with graffiti style and is being commissioned now to do work in major cities across the world. The link to some of Conor’s amazing work is here http://conorsaysboom.wordpress.com/
It is talent like this that exists in our city but currently their community are being ostracised because of a different element intent on criminality. Talents such as Conor and 15 year old Danny are at the forefront of a modern and vibrant culture which if embraced correctly could be a beautiful and decorative addition to Limerick.
Our office here in Arthur’s Quay is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5.30pm and everybody is welcome to come in to see our new and improved boardroom.
Tuesday, 8th August
Update on Street Entertainment and SFRZ
Hello everyone. Us again. We realised that it’s been a while since we’ve posted here. This absence from the blogosphere is mainly due to the fact that there’s been a lot going on lately in the hub. We haven’t exactly been thrown into an eleventh hour situation (not yet anyways) but a lot of the projects we’ve been working on are starting to come together. Two of which, the Student Friendly Retail Zone and the Street Entertainment initiative, are to be activated by the end of August.
We have been having meetings every Friday at 1:30pm with people interested in helping with the Street Entertainment. We have, over the last number of weeks, started contacting people who might engage with the project. We have only scratched the surface though. There is a wealth of talented people in Limerick who just aren’t in “the know” so we’re doing all we can to contact them.
As you all know, we have been prepping this project for a long time and the idea behind it has changed very little. Street entertainment is the natural order in other Irish cities including Dublin, Galway and Cork. It generates a buzz which is certainly needed in Limerick. I know, I know. Busking mightn’t seem like the most glamorous endeavour but it will give you the opportunity to display your talents for a city full of people and get your name out there and hey, it’ll be fun too!
If you have any doubts about the potential of busking, just take one look at Glen Hansard. He started out on the streets of Dublin and now look at him! Multiple albums, extensive tours and an Oscar in the bag. Think big! Now obviously this won’t happen for everyone but who knows! As well as this, you will be doing a great service for the city and yourself so don’t hesitate to call in and get involved!
We have also made significant progress in our plan to create a Student Friendly Retail Zone. We have sent out an e-mail to the retailers of the city and have also gone to visit many of them face-to-face. The feedback thus far has been great! Most of the retailers are more than happy to get on board with this and it is great to see such enthusiasm and excitement.
We have been having meetings every Friday at 1:30pm with people interested in helping with the Street Entertainment. We have, over the last number of weeks, started contacting people who might engage with the project. We have only scratched the surface though. There is a wealth of talented people in Limerick who just aren’t in “the know” so we’re doing all we can to contact them.
As you all know, we have been prepping this project for a long time and the idea behind it has changed very little. Street entertainment is the natural order in other Irish cities including Dublin, Galway and Cork. It generates a buzz which is certainly needed in Limerick. I know, I know. Busking mightn’t seem like the most glamorous endeavour but it will give you the opportunity to display your talents for a city full of people and get your name out there and hey, it’ll be fun too!
If you have any doubts about the potential of busking, just take one look at Glen Hansard. He started out on the streets of Dublin and now look at him! Multiple albums, extensive tours and an Oscar in the bag. Think big! Now obviously this won’t happen for everyone but who knows! As well as this, you will be doing a great service for the city and yourself so don’t hesitate to call in and get involved!
We have also made significant progress in our plan to create a Student Friendly Retail Zone. We have sent out an e-mail to the retailers of the city and have also gone to visit many of them face-to-face. The feedback thus far has been great! Most of the retailers are more than happy to get on board with this and it is great to see such enthusiasm and excitement.
Once we nail down exactly who is/is not on board with the plan we will then get the stickers printed so the retailers can put them on their windows to show students that their shop offers student deals and discounts. We have already gotten a quote from the printing company but will have to wait until we know how many retailers we have. I have a feeling it will be a lot!
Monday, 30th July
Meeting with Tim Kelly and Street Entertainment Meetings
As we come to the end of our second month in Local Heroes, it’s pretty clear that it’s not going to slow down. In fact, all signs are pointing toward a quicker pace considering the amount that is happening at the moment. It’s Monday morning and before I dive right in to a week of work, I’m going to take a moment to catch you guys up on the latest news.
We met Tim Kelly during the week and it went exactly the way we hoped it would. Throughout all of our discussions to date, we identified travel as the one of the biggest keys to success in the student initiative. After all, €3.40 to get in and out of town for a student IS actually a lot of money. We hoped to offer students an alternative to this particular mode of travel by setting up a direct route to and from the city centre, perhaps on the hour from 5pm until 10pm.
Tim was game for this. He said that in order for it to be a sustainable on his end, the fare would have to amount to about €2 for a return ticket. That’s a great figure to get. You don’t need to be digging around your pockets for change and it is significantly cheaper than what is already on offer for students. He added that there should be no trouble and doing it for the Welcome week as a trial run.
We’ve also made significant progress in the Street Entertainment Initiative. Last Friday was the second Friday in a row that we had a packed board room full of interested people looking to make the initiative a success. We have identified 8 spots in Limerick City for buskers and are planning to get close to 32 groups/individuals to perform on a rotating basis for one day out of the four days in total the entertainment will be running for. All of us will now spend the next week confirming these entertainers and having all the correct people on board before proceeding further.
Thursday, 19th July
So It Begins: It’s Your City
Skateboarders, sports clubs, rockers, theatre groups and community organisations. Just some of the representatives of Limericks youth who attended the first ever It’s Your City meeting last evening in our hub here in Arthur’s Quay. The evening was a resounding success with our office packed with young people from all backgrounds and every walk of life.This new initiative is not a youth group in itself. Rather, it is designed to connect the already established youth groups of Limerick and create a platform for them to interact with one another. The groups being targeted are specifically those in second level education. The aim is to create a unifying body that will communicate between all of the different youth groups/cultures and create a structure whereby these groups can contact each other easily.Starting an initiative such as this can be quite daunting, the easy part is organising the name and sending out invitations etc. Because it is a step into the unknown for us here in Limerick Local Heroes, we were admittedly anxious about the attendance. How many young people would actually turn up? We had said beforehand that if 10 to 15 people turned up then it would be a great start, they could then tell their friends and we could have a larger gathering in a month. However, we were delighted to see the office absolutely full, with close to 40 people attending. Amazing, and a start which has only served to motivate Nigel, Pat, Paul and myself to really drive this initiative forward.
Should this be successful then the young people of Limerick will have a platform to voice their ideas and opinions about what is essentially their future. An example of some of the ideas last evening was to have the Rubber Bandits officially turn on the Limerick Christmas Lights and to have a Christmas festival feeling surrounding it, such as what happens in major cities across the world. Also what should be a basic necessity is something to do in the evening times in the city centre. Having fun activities in evening time venues, such as video game tournaments in coffee shops and movie nights. These are all attainable goals for the It’s Your City campaign over the coming months.
After the amazing response of our first meeting, plans are now being put into place to have an even larger meeting in the coming weeks. With the aim to have representatives of every youth group, sports team or simply interested individuals all in one room together so we can begin the process of making all these great ideas a reality.
As always continue reading our blog to follow our story and see how this initiative progresses over the coming weeks. If you would like to speak with any of us directly then feel free:
Thursday, 19th July
Trip to the Milk Market
The Milk Market has become sort of a hot topic in the office over the last few weeks. Initially it would be discussed briefly here, briefly there. But lately we’re beginning to see it crop up in a lot of our conversations as a potential venue. Because let’s face it, it really has potential to be bigger than it is.Suddenly, we’re talking about the It’s Your City campaign and our student initiative and the Milk Market is entering the equation. It’s a very exciting prospect. What if the Milk Market became a central hub for student? What if the Milk Market hosted a gig every couple of weeks? The possibilities, like many of our projects, are endless.
We decided that we would go down there yesterday and look at the place in a new light. We saw potential. We saw students sitting down chatting to one another while drinking some coffees. We saw a stage with Hermitage Green playing to a buzzing crowd. We saw a big cinema screen with everyone on bean bag chairs watching a series of Jim Carey movies. We saw it all.
However, in the end, what we see is the possibility, not a reality. We need OTHERS to see it. We went into Harper’s café and had a lovely chat with Maria Harper, the owner. Now this is the kind of person you want on board. A quirky and fun woman, she was immediately game for getting involved with the students. She showed us pictures of her café during the 4th of July Festival and St Patricks Day and it’s clear that she enjoyed going all out and is up for a bit of fun.
Apparently people started coming to the café looking for the woman in the crazy socks (she wore one red and white sock and another blue sock during the 4th of July festivities). This just goes to show how a buzz can be created through a bit of fun and passionate involvement.
So there you go. Another ready and willing coffee shop is on board with us. By now people should really notice from reading this blog that there are LOADS of interested people who would love nothing more than to give this a try.
So there you go. Another ready and willing coffee shop is on board with us. By now people should really notice from reading this blog that there are LOADS of interested people who would love nothing more than to give this a try.
Next we will hope to meet with the management of the Milk Market and see how they feel about these ideas. The place has such a great atmosphere even when it’s so quiet you can hear your own heartbeat. Imagine the sort of atmosphere that could be created by a strong student presence! We can only hope that the management shares our vision. It’s a great spot and while it is being used well, it’s missing out on a few great possibilities.
Thursday, 12th July
Meeting with Michelle Costello Who Is Publishing a Student Magazine
Yes
terday we received a call from Michelle Costello who is a student in Mary I. She is currently working on the publication of a once-off student magazine which will be given to all students in their fresher’s pack. It is called Student Life. This ties into what myself and Gary have been working on so we asked her to pop into the hub today for a chat.
terday we received a call from Michelle Costello who is a student in Mary I. She is currently working on the publication of a once-off student magazine which will be given to all students in their fresher’s pack. It is called Student Life. This ties into what myself and Gary have been working on so we asked her to pop into the hub today for a chat.We just concluded our meeting a few minutes ago and it was very interesting. We all established that connecting with Michelle would be mutually beneficial for everyone. Mary I and LIT reps recommended us during their talks with Michelle so she took their recommendation and came in for a chat. We were delighted to see that the student bodies are actively getting involved and pointing motivated people in our direction.
She is looking to have people behind the magazine so as to make sure it kicks off strong and isn’t looked at as just another publication. In return she said she would be willing to allocate some space in the magazine for Local Heroes. This could be of great benefit for us considering we would like to set up student pillars in the various colleges. Yet again, we are seeing the positive impact that can be made when the right people are connected.
The magazine itself is a great idea and we immediately wanted to help out. We want the students to enjoy and really discover their city and this magazine will help them do this. You could easily tell she has the right level of motivation to make this happen and we have told her that we would like to help in any way we can.
Thursday, 12th July
Our Travels Through Limerick’s Coffee Shops
Today myself and Gary braved the streets of Limerick on a day with rain that would have given Noah a run for his money. Maybe that’s a slight exaggeration but the point is it was raining cats and dogs. Why exactly did we do this to ourselves? Well we wanted to meet face-to-face with some more coffee shop owners.We identified the Thomas Street/Fashion Quarter area as one potential centre for our student evenings. We have already made contact with Brian Mortell of Mortell’s coffee shop and Pat Keogh of Jack Monday’s who are both interested and ready to roll with our plans. We were checking out some coffee shops and in one particular café we spoke with a manager who didn’t seem too keen on the idea. Even though we clarified that we would only be hoping for them to stay open 3 or 4 hours on one evening a week to give the initiative a test run, the manager was still adamant.
I’m beginning to really see for myself the conservatism and lack of real interest that can be found in Limerick businesses. The city is dying and they’re all blue in the face from talking about it. But at the end of the day, that’s all they are doing. Talking. We’re offering a real opportunity for revenue and business but they don’t seem willing to take a chance. At the end of the day, it couldn’t hurt to try even once or twice. What’s needed is a bit of faith and interest.
This is exactly what we are looking for and exactly what we found in French’s Café. Derek Daly, who came into the hub during the week, recommended that we talk to someone there because of the connection the management has with the Scholars in UL. The manager, Jodie, heard what we had to say and shared our view that it is a good opportunity and expressed interest in coming on board with the initiative.
We talked about “Cake n’ Date” evenings. We talked about blues/jazz evenings. We talked about debating evenings. Why wouldn’t she be interested? Right? As a city, we NEED alternatives like this. They may not know it but Limerick people are in dire need of something new, fresh and exciting. It seems nonsensical not to at least try considering the amount of relevant people we have on board. With a coordinated approach that is being put in place, this initiative could be huge!
Jodie epitomised the fine blend of realism and hope. She was, as she should be, excited by the prospects and was of the opinion that if done correctly, there are very real opportunities. If it doesn’t work, she said, at least we tried and we can continue going about our business. We took her details and now French’s will join Mortell’s and Jack Monday’s in our student initiative.
We are starting small. Three coffee shops are a sufficient amount to kick-start our plans. It is the hope that should this be a success, which we believe it very well can be, all of the up-until-now uninterested parties will get on board with us and the buzz will spread like wild fire.
Thursday, 5th July
4TH OF JULY POETRY IN THE WHITE HOUSE
Wednesday ma
rked the beginning of Limerick’s 4th of July Festival. The hub has been very busy over the last number of weeks putting this great festival together and it is good to see it come to fruition and above all, see some success at its very first event.
rked the beginning of Limerick’s 4th of July Festival. The hub has been very busy over the last number of weeks putting this great festival together and it is good to see it come to fruition and above all, see some success at its very first event.As myself and Gary were going about our business in the hub, Siobhán Downey stopped us and asked if we would like to go to The White House on Wednesday night for the opening event of the festival. The event itself was a poetry reading. We both accepted this invitation.
As the hours grew closer to nine o’ clock I decided to read my book and of course, I nodded off and woke up at 8:10pm. After a little hustle bustle I made it into The White House for 9pm. I went in groggy and tired but it didn’t take long to shake it off. The place was electric.
It was great to see so many people embracing the very American theme of the evening. The Mayor of Limerick was in attendance and gave a very informal and very Irish opening speech before reading the first poem. There was a fine blend of Irish and American and a very cordial and friendly atmosphere circulating the packed room. It was good to see the city embrace the connection our country has with the US in such an active way.
The second poem was a rather emotional reading of “Oh Captain My Captain” which earned a huge round of applause because of how much it meant to the reader. Now I don’t appreciate poetry. Well, it’s more accurate to say I don’t “get” poetry. Gary is on the same boat. We’re both music fans and we get our poetry from the lyrics of songs. This being said, I really enjoyed the poetry night. It was an alternative. Wednesday night, read a book, watch some tv, another night of monotony, Groundhog Day. Right? Wrong!
We took it upon ourselves to attend regardless of what we thought our interests were but we were both delighted to have been in attendance. To be in a room full of people who appreciate the beauty of poetry was great. Being in a room of culture, a culture I was unsure of, was great.
This is what the people of Limerick need. We all need to be able to experience new things.
We are delighted to see that the first event of the festival was a massive success. The White House was full to the brim with people and the atmosphere was fantastic, and unique in some sense. On a personal level, I was just glad to have been a part of something that I may not have otherwise been a part of. I have high hopes for this festival and Limerick will be well worth checking out over the following days.
Thursday, 5th July
REPRESENTATIVES FROM LIMERICK COLLEGES MEET IN LIMERICK LOCAL HEROES
Yesterday was a very productive day here in Local Heroes. After contacting the various SU President’s in Limerick over the last couple of weeks, we arranged a meeting in the hub which took place at 1pm yesterday. It was great to see everyone in the same room communicating and talking out ideas and ways to achieve them.As before, myself and Gary both explained a bit about Local Heroes and what we do, and particularly what we plan to do regarding the student situation in the city. We asked whether or not a meeting like this has ever taken place before. They told us that a few cross-college events were organised but nothing that would require this level of coordination. So in essence, this was the first meeting of its kind in Limerick, which is a great achievement in itself.
Everyone seemed keen on the idea of some kind of “Welcome to Limerick Week”. After discussing potential weeks for this to fall on, we all agreed that Week 3 of the college semester would be ideal. We also let them know of the bus situation and that Tim Kelly of Kelly Travel would like to get involved and see if he can help get students some sort of cheap, or free, travel into city at designated times.
Once we had discussed all of these ideas, we then told the group that Brian Mortell of Mortell’s coffee house on Roches St. wanted to see us. So we all got up and made tracks toward Roches St but not before a quick photoshoot! We were greeted by Brian when we got there and he is some character. He explained all of the things he’d be willing to do for the students. He was very open and more or less said that once students make it worth his while, they can use the place for whatever they want, be it drama nights, jazz nights, debate nights etc.
James Ryan also joined us. He told us that the retailers are game for helping get students into the city and that they’ll do whatever they can do to make this happen. Up until now both myself and Gary were getting blue in the face from saying “We have the retailers on board and they’re just waiting for us to bring them ideas”. Now the student bodies have heard it straight from the horse’s mouth, and have also gotten a very clear and enthusiastic go-ahead from a coffee place with great potential. There are no more excuses for action. We have all of the pieces to the puzzle, now we just have to connect them.
On another note, myself, Gary and Nigel treated ourselves to a nice meal afterwards, a meal comprising cod, sautéed potatoes and salad. And by Jesus let me just tell you, this place deserves some business. Delicious!
Tuesday, 3rd July
SO MUCH TO DO!
Today officially marks the beginning of the fourth week that Paul and myself have been working with Limerick Local Heroes. I hate to use cliches but the time really has flown right by. The sheer variety of work that we are doing is serving to be such a valuable work experience, that I am sure is not the case for the majority of UL students currently on co-op.Just in the past few days alone we have written content for the weekly LLH Limerick Post column, newsletters, organised a new podcast, promoted the 4th of July festival, had meetings with city councillors, meetings with community representatives and the most exciting of all, we have set the wheels in motion for an initiative we have christened “It’s Your City”.
This initiative will gather together all the various youth organisations in Limerick City and County to form one single group, from which this group will then have a platform to voice their opinions, concerns and suggestions about the future of their city. We have organised a first meeting on July 18th in Arthurs Quay where we hope representatives from as many youth organisations, sports clubs and hobby groups as possible will be there and from initial discussions with some of them, they seem very excited.
This could possibly be a major turning point for the young population of this city and to be involved in starting this will be a very proud moment for both of us. This is in addition now to the ongoing meetings we have been having with the student body representatives about the role they will play in bringing the student population into the city centre once again.
Incidentally tomorrow the three student union presidents in the city will be coming into our office to start putting into action the suggestions we made at our meetings last week. Should both of these initiatives be successful then there will be an major injection of young energy into this city which has never been felt before.
Besides those two projects to keep our attention, we are also looking forward this week to the July 4th festival. This has been organised through Local Heroes and is a perfect example of someone coming into the office with an idea a matter of weeks ago which has now turned into a massive four day event and one which next year aims to be the largest Independence Day festival outside of the United States, a sort of Paddy’s Day in reverse. Something to be very proud of for Limerick.
Again like in previous blogs I would like to encourage anybody with an idea for a project you believe should be happening in Limerick to call into the hub here on the first floor of Arthur’s Quay, or even if you don’t have any you can volunteer to help with our existing projects. Hope to see you soon.
Friday, 29th June
FIRST STEPS TOWARDS A YOUTH INITIATIVE
Yesterday we witnessed the very first steps forward in an all new initiative in Limerick Local Heroes. For the last couple of weeks the idea of creating a youth extension of Local Heroes has circulated around the office. Given that this generation will be living their lives in Limerick for the foreseeable future, it seems fair to give them a platform and a voice to ask the city for things they want.A meeting took place yesterday in our hub between myself, Gary, Nigel and Pat Forde who is the head of Munster Martial Arts. It was great to see him express such enthusiasm in the project. He works with young people on a regular basis and would like to see a group put in place to allow Limerick youth to express themselves and be heard.
It was a productive meeting and it was exciting to see an idea being actioned. It is all very achievable and the benefits would be immense.
Not to sound too obvious or clichéd but the youth of the city are in fact the future of this city and to not give them a say is unfair. There is an age gap, usually between about 14 and 17, where you are too old to “go out and play” and too young to go out and socialise in the city at night. Activities and events should be put in place for the youth of this city, especially those that fall within this age group.
In the coming weeks we will communicate this to the youth groups of the city and get them to all come together. Through this gathering we will launch a Facebook page and a new area where all the youth communities can communicate with one another. We have a few guest speakers (who will remain anonymous for now so we can build some suspense!) that will be coming in to talk with the community.
Work on this project is going to begin on Monday and both myself and Gary are very excited to a part of this project. Giving the young people of this city a place to voice their ideas and opinions is a worthy cause and I would like to think that in a number of years we can look back on the success of this initiative and feel proud to have helped kick start it.
For earlier blog entries visit: