10 Jun 2020

Spring Clean, Cruinniú na nÓg, Council + Gov Info

Well the plants are certainly enjoying the weather, even if the rest of us aren’t. We hope you’re all keeping well, and getting used to this latest phase. Be sure to get in touch if there’s anything we can do. A few bits and pieces for you.

1. Spring Clean This Weekend – Donate an Hour for your Community
2. Cruinniú na nÓg – This Saturday
3. Some County-Wide Information Sent to us from the PPN
4. Latest Email from Covid-19 Health Communications Stakeholder Support

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1. Spring Clean This Weekend – Donate an Hour for your Community
This weekend the postponed An Taisce National Spring Clean will take place. We usually organise groups to litter-pick and remove weeds but this year is different due to the continuing Covid 19 restrictions. So instead we are going for an individual/ family approach. 

Could you donate an hour to pick rubbish and weed a local area close to you? Areas that need particular attention are weeds between the roadside and kerb. Residents are also encouraged to edge the grass verge outside their house and to help neighbours who are unable to do this themselves.

Contact us if you need supplies; we have gloves, bags and a limited supply of litter-pickers. There will also be a number of volunteers on the green outside the shops on Saturday morning between 10am-12pm.

All collected bags should be returned to the green by Monday morning for collection by the council. Only council blue bags will be collected. 

A few basic guidelines that need to be adhered to:
– Wear gloves
– Bring a bag for the litter/ weeds
– If weeding on the roadside wear a hi-vis vest and face oncoming traffic
– Put the gloves in the rubbish bag
– Wash your hands afterwards

One thing that Covid has taught us is how important it is to have amenities close to us. Please help us to keep our area clean. 

Take pictures before and after and send them in to us. Let’s try to cover the whole of Roebuck and to also stay safe.
You can see a couple of photos of the sort of areas that need looking at on the website
.

(The very hard working Tidy Districts Team is behind this initiative. It would be great if we could show our appreciation for all the hard work they do by as many as possible coming out and doing a bit of cleaning up this weekend. – The Committee)

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2. Cruinniú na nÓg – This Saturday
Do you know about Cruinniú na nÓg? It’s Ireland’s national day of free creativity for children and young people, and this year it’s on this Saturday, June 13th. Obviously events have been quite curtailed and most things are taking place online this year. 

One of the organisers is a Roebuck resident, Carla on Farmhill Road. She’s behind the programme of events for South Dublin County Council. These events will be streaming on www.facebook.com/CruinniuSouthDublin from 11am on Saturday. If you miss it at that time, it will stay up on the page, or you can go to this YouTube Channel- https://bit.ly/CruinniuTVChannel, where it will be all up and running by Saturday morning.

More information can be found at https://bit.ly/CruinniuTVSD. You can also see some information on this PDF.

Thanks to Carla for sharing this with us.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown Council are also running a programme of events for Cruinniú na nÓg. You can read all about that here.

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3. Some County-Wide Information Sent to us from the PPN
1. Free webinar on Sustainable Energy Communities (SEC) in collaboration with the DLR PPN:
Tuesday June 16th at 7:00pm. The purpose of this 40 minute information session is to introduce you to the Sustainable Energy Communities Network and to see what benefits and supports it can bring to your group and its members. The event will be facilitated by Gavin Harte who is the SEAI Community Energy Mentor for Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown. Read more here

2. From Land to Sea – Fly Your Flag at Dún Laoghaire Harbour:
Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council are asking everyone of all ages to come together in a day of solidarity and create a flag that we will fly at Dún Laoghaire Harbour in August 2020. As we emerge from the fifth and final phase of the Covid 19 public health restrictions, the Council are asking you to make a flag with your message of hope for the future. Tell your Covid-19 story! Read more here.

3. Community Connection radio show in collaboration with DLR PPN:
Tune in to Dublin South FM today 93.9FM, 3pm Friday 5th June 2020 for Community Connection, Dublin South FM’s monthly community affairs show. There will be a repeat on Saturday 6th June 4pm. Read more here.

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4. Latest Email from Covid-19 Health Communications Stakeholder Support#InThisTogether Wellbeing campaign
Thank you for all of the fantastic support for the #InThisTogether Wellbeing campaign, from the Department of Health and the HSE. This will continue to be on the airwaves in June.

The website is www.gov.ie/together and the hash tag is #InThisTogether. Partners are recommended to continue to share their wellbeing content under the hash tag #InThisTogether.

The radio adverts can be found here and include new ads which are being aired on national and local radio relating to:
1.       Social distancing and disability – keeping in mind people with disabilities, including the visually impaired
2.       Sleep – advice for people experiencing disturbed sleep at this time
3.       ‘Small Walk’ – advice for people who are worried about getting back out and about or may be feeling unsteady on their feet  

Family Carers Ireland – offering family carers free counselling sessions
As a carer, there are times when mental health and emotional well-being may be challenged due to a combination of the demands of a caring role, and the additional worries of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Family Carers Ireland offer help to family carers, as they believe no one should have to care alone. They have developed a free, short-term online and phone counselling service for family carers, and will connect carers with a qualified counsellor from a panel of approved professionals.
The service can be accessed through the website or through the National Freephone Careline on 1800 24 07 24.

Online Mental Health Supports – As part of their on-going collaboration with HSE Mental Health, Silvercloud Health has made four of their online mental health and wellbeing programs free to access for all health sector staff and volunteers. The four programs cover: Stress; Sleep; Resilience; and Challenging Times, and were developed in response to COVID-19. These programs, which are self directed, feature evidence based content in a series of modules that draw on well-established interventions such as cognitive behavioural therapy. The HSE and Silvercloud want to ensure that the wider health sector can avail of the programs. To find out more and to access the content, please visit the dedicated landing page and please remember to use the access code HSE2020. Further information on minding your mental health during Covid-19 can be found here .

COVID-19 Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communications Resources
For people who are deaf or hard of hearing, communicating in a health setting such as a busy clinic or ward situation can be difficult. The COVID-19 pandemic and the necessity for many healthcare staff to wear face masks have made communication even more difficult, especially for people who may rely on lip-reading.
The Irish Deaf Society and Chime, in partnership with the HSE, have prepared resources for use by Healthcare workers and people who are deaf or hard of hearing. These can be found here and include guidelines for staff, communication supports and videos in Irish Sign Language.  

Institute of Public Health survey – The Institute of Public Health is inviting people to take part in an online anonymous international survey to help understand how people are coping during the Covid-19 pandemic. The survey has been developed by the International Loneliness and Social Isolation Research Network (I-LINK) that includes the Institute of Public Health along with Ulster University, Trinity College Dublin and Maynooth University as well as colleagues from the UK, Netherlands, Norway, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. The intent is that the information will help understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has impacted individuals, families, communities, policies and services at both a country and global level.
See survey – https://bit.ly/36PxDg1

Public Health Information: As always, for the most up to date information and advice on Coronavirus, please go to: https://www2.hse.ie/coronavirus/ and https://www.hpsc.ie/a-z/respiratory/coronavirus/novelcoronavirus/.

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10 Jun 2020

Spring Clean 2020

This weekend the postponed An Taisce National Spring Clean will take place. We usually organise groups to litter-pick and remove weeds but this year is different due to the continuing Covid 19 restrictions. So instead we are going for an individual/ family approach. 

Could you donate an hour to pick rubbish and weed a local area close to you? Areas that need particular attention are weeds between the roadside and kerb. Residents are also encouraged to edge the grass verge outside their house and to help neighbours who are unable to do this themselves.

Contact us if you need supplies; we have gloves, bags and a limited supply of litter-pickers. There will also be a number of volunteers on the green outside the shops on Saturday morning between 10am-12pm.

All collected bags should be returned to the green by Monday morning for collection by the council. Only council blue bags will be collected. 

A few basic guidelines that need to be adhered to:
– Wear gloves
– Bring a bag for the litter/ weeds
– If weeding on the roadside wear a hi-vis vest and face oncoming traffic
– Put the gloves in the rubbish bag
– Wash your hands afterwards

One thing that Covid has taught us is how important it is to have amenities close to us. Please help us to keep our area clean. 

Take pictures before and after and send them in to us. Let’s try to cover the whole of Roebuck and to also stay safe.

Some examples of areas that need attention:

13 Apr 2020

Eastery Updates

Hope you all had a nice weekend, as nice as possible anyway. Chocolate always makes things better we find, so hopefully you all got an egg or two to munch on.

Local Books
One of our members has let us know that he is very happy to loan and deliver books to anyone who is cocooned and short of reading material. Email us and we will put you in touch. He has thousands of books (Enid Blyton’s Famous Five to James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake) and will probably be able to find something of interest for you. In good weather he will leave a box of books at his gate from which people can borrow. We’d like to thank him for this very generous offer. A great service.

Easter Decoration Competition – Photos
We had a great response to our Easter Decoration competition, and the bunny judges were out on Saturday delivering the Easter egg prizes. We’ve put some photos of the beautifully decorated houses up on the website.

Other Photos
We’ve also put some other recent random photos from around the area up on the website too. Sure why not.

Banking Freephone Numbers
Banking freephone numbers have been set up for people cocooning. (Information taken from this Irish Times article.)
AIB: 1800 207 232
Bank of Ireland: 1800 946 146
KBC Bank: 1800 804 472
Permanent TSB: 1800 218 000
Ulster Bank Ireland: 1800 656 00

Planning
There is no sign of the IGB secondary school planning application drawings/details up on the DLR Planning website yet. According to the DLR website, the external scanning company they use is closed. The new emergency legislation means that the clock has been effectively stopped on the time period available to lodge an observation until April 21st. So that means there should be just under 5 weeks from that date to make an observation if you wish. Well unless things change again. More information regarding the changes to planning etc. can be found here.

DLR Biodiversity
DLRCoCo posted some biodiversity ideas and activities to do at home or in self isolation. The bird guide could be useful, and the mammal tunnel is an interesting idea. Although be prepared for what you might discover…
More here.

DLR Community Call Freephone Number
The DLR Community Call helpline now has a freephone number. 1800 804 535 or 01 271 3199. Both lines open from 8am – 8pm You can also email covidsupport@dlrcoco.ie
Please note: These numbers/email is not for ordinary Council services.

New Trees
You may have noticed some new trees in verges around the area. It looks like PJ from the Council was busy a few weeks ago putting in some new trees for us. (PJ sometimes works in mysterious ways, but we won’t hear a word against him.) If these new trees are outside your house (or the house of neighbours who might be cocooning), can you ensure they get regularly watered over the coming few months? If there’s a dry patch, they won’t survive.

27 Mar 2020

Updates and Ideas

Spring Clean + Photos
We had originally scheduled this for Saturday April 25th, but we will have to postpone it. We’ll get back to you with a new date at some point in the future.

In the meantime, you can click here to see some lovely calming photos of the flowers in the area. I’m sure most of you have already spotted all the springtime floral displays while out on your daily constitutional. Thanks to the Tidy Districts Team, and the local grass-cutters for all their great work. The place looks beautiful.

By the way, if anyone wants to send in photos, please do, and we’ll put them on the website. (We did this with the Beast from the East, just over two years ago now. We got some great photos that time.)

Charity
Today is Daffodil Day. There are no collections on the street, but there are still ways to help. You can visit the Irish Cancer Society website, or you can text DAFFODIL to 50300 to donate €4.

Volunteer, if you can
Alone are looking for volunteers…(can volunteer to call people on the phone)
https://alone.ie/Or if you feel you need their support you can call 0818 222 024, 8am to 8pm.

Keeping the kids entertained
Art For Lynam’s:
Some of the kids in the area will be busy creating some masterpieces to go on display in Lynam’s over the next while. We’re expecting some works of art! A great idea.

In case you haven’t heard, from next Monday, 30th, RTE will be broadcasting 1 hour of school from 11am-12pm (Monday to Friday) with a catch up in the afternoon.
https://www.rte.ie/news/2020/0320/1124339-rte-to-launch-school-on-tv-teaching-initiative/

There are also a raft of celebrities (some slightly more current than others… ) helping out in their specialist subjects. Details below.
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/family-kids-news/celebrity-homeschooling-services-joe-wicks-17977894

If young people are finding this time tough, there are some great resources and help at Jigsaw.
https://jigsawonline.ie/?utm_campaign=coschedule&utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=DublinTown

Culture Vultures
Abbey Theatre – Cypress Avenue is streaming on line: https://www.abbeytheatre.ie/whats-on/cyprus-avenue/

We also have the https://www.metopera.org/ broadcasting free online.

Every Thursday from the British National Theatre – live streaming of some of their shows.
https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/26/national-theatre-to-broadcast-shows-online-on-thursdays

Recommendations from the media20 of the best travel films, according to The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2020/mar/27/20-best-travel-films-movies-cinematic-stunning-locations-laptop-tv?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

And some Good news stories from around the world
Dutch Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra record Ode to Joy from their home.
https://www.rte.ie/news/newslens/2020/0326/1126579-ode-to-joy/
Harvard Health Publishing (Harvard Medical School):
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/the-coronavirus-pandemic-is-not-good-but-the-news-is-not-all-bad-2020031919247

The Guardian
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/27/covid-19-a-good-time-to-look-for-good-news

Prospect Magazine (free online articles & archive until April 20th!)
https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/science-and-technology/coronavirus-hand-washing-uk-lockdown-sanatizer

Good News Network
https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/another-roundup-of-positive-updates-on-covid-outbreaks/

Finally a beautiful piece from John O’Donohue

This is the time to be slow,
Lie low to the wall
Until the bitter weather passes.

Try, as best you can, not to let
The wire brush of doubt
Scrape from your heart
All sense of yourself
And your hesitant light.

If you remain generous,
Time will come good;
And you will find your feet
Again on fresh pastures of promise,
Where the air will be kind
And blushed with beginning.”

John O’Donohue, To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings


07 Nov 2019

Spring Bulbs

You may have noticed the Tidy Districts’ Team out planting bulbs over the last few weeks. These amazing ladies are planting over 50kg (i.e. a serious amount of bulbs) around our area. There is going to be a riot of colour here come the Spring time. Daffodils, tulips, crocuses, snowdrops etc. etc.

07 Nov 2019

Reclaim the Footpaths

We are re-launching our Reclaim the Footpaths initiative we successfully ran a few years ago. We’ve had quite a few complaints recently from residents (including wheelchair users) in relation to hedges and trees overhanging, and encroaching onto, the footpaths in the area.

We are asking that residents look at the path outside your house and remove any vegetation from your garden growing above the footpaths. If your hedge is encroaching onto the footpath, it needs to be cut back to be in line with the garden wall.

Parents with buggies, or small kids on bikes/scooters, know how annoying it is when passing houses with big hedges that encroach out onto the footpath. It makes going two abreast difficult, if not impossible. It is also a particular problem for wheelchair users.

“Twig Eye”

As well as being really annoying for walkers and wheelchair users, it’s a safety concern, especially at night when it’s hard to see vegetation. Nobody wants to make a trip to The Eye & Ear with “twig eye”!

If you need help to cut back your hedge, we can pass on contact details of a reliable local hedge-cutter.

12 Sep 2019

Runners Up – Tidy Districts Competition 2019

We were awarded Runners Up in this year’s Tidy Districts Competition! Well done to our fantastic Tidy Districts’ Team, and to everyone who came out and helped during the year. We’ve won a prize for 3 out of the last 4 years. Not bad, not bad at all.

Winners and Runners Up 2019

You can read more about it on the DLR website. While the competition is primarily an anti-litter and anti-graffiti competition, it has evolved over the years and now considers biodiversity, ecological projects and community engagement. This year, a new climate change category was added. This category seeks to encourage and reward positive climate action. So if anyone has any ideas please let us know.

31 Jul 2019

Tidy Districts’ Board

As part of entering the Tidy Districts’ Competition, we have to design a board/poster highlighting all the various relevant activities during the year. This is the board for this year. Well done to all who help to keep the area looking so nice all year round.