Update May 2011

Hi everyone,
just to update you on the project’s activities so far in 2011:

  • Site visits: We have looked at a number of sites recently and have been approached by outside parties regarding possible options.  These are being appraised carefully in the light of our overall criteria and aims.
  • Practical Training: In recent months, some group members attended various hands-on work days in coppicing, woodland conservation and a week-long intensive course in permaculture.  The permaculture course enabled making several contacts with a view to setting up a permaculture group in Galway which would meet up regularly to do Meitheals and hold events such as creating a permaculture forest garden.
  • Visits to other projects:  Some group members visited a Camphill Community which was an interesting opportunity to witness community in practice and to think about how to support people with disabilities in community.  Camphill Communities of Ireland is part of an international charitable trust working with people with intellectual disabilities and other kinds of special needs.  In Camphill, residents share their home, spiritual and working lives with voluntary co-workers.  They call their model “life-sharing”, based on reciprocal relationships and without emphasis on distinctions between carer and cared for in the conventional sense (www.camphill.ie).
  • Education: The group recently underwent a full-day workshop in class awareness, in an effort to acknowledge and confront attitudes, prejudices and barriers and to devise strategies for an anti-classist ethos and practice within our project.  The day also served as a prompt for further ongoing reflection and exploration of equality issues. One member is also attending a course on social housing issues, run by the Irish Council for Social Housing.
  • Raising our profile:  There was a meeting held in Galway city recently specifically for older people, as they are a demographic group who either may not hear about the project or feel it to be inaccessible to them.  There will also be a general public meeting in Tuam on Thursday evening, June 2nd.  We will also have a stall this year at the Open Day in Brigit’s Garden, Roscahill, on Sunday 22nd May, 1-6pm.  This event is being organised by Roscahill Environmental Network & Brigit’s Garden and will feature interactive stalls and talks or demonstrations on a variety of topics (www.brigitsgarden.ie). Drop by either of these two upcoming events and chat to us there!
  • Other information:   Finally, some of you may be interested in courses being offered by Greenworks, one of which is the permaculture course mentioned previously.  It is worth noting that these courses are available free to jobseekers and at a fee to those in employment (www.green-works.ie)

That’s a brief summary of what we have been up to recently.  If you would like more information on any of the above, please do not hesitate to ask.

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