Life in The Bridge Community in 2011

2011 was a busy year in the Bridge Community. It all started with big changes in the new year. Minna and Kalle and their children Arne and Helmi who were coworkers here several years ago had, to the delight of everybody decided to return from Finland.

And when we all looked at how we would make this possible we did find that the best place for them would be Isserín and that made it possible for Mischa and Gese to move to a small house in Kilcullen and for a while to live just as a family while continuing to support the community. So the community had a new house at No. 1 Newberry Castlemartin Lodge. However that was not the only new house in the making as throughout 2011 as a building site right in the middle of the community announced other changes to come.

A small new wheelchair friendly house for Siodhna and Marion as well as three coworkers,  as well as a 2 bedroom apartment for Lorna and one coworker were raising out of the ground on the car park area between Manna and Isserín. The new house will be called Cruinn Roth and some people have already moved in from the beginning of December and Siodhna and Marion will move in on Stephens day. We also just received the news that Ross who had been a coworker in the Bridge and at Grangebeg many years ago has decided to rejoin the Bridge in January and we all look forward to see him again..

The community did a lot of future planning and looked at the question of management and leadership in a year that so many changes and a renewed vision for the future.

We had a short visit from a new day attendee by the name of Catherin for three months before she moved on to Ballymoney and two new day attendees by the name of Ana and Eimear joined throughout the year. But probably greater news for some of you will be that Holly finally joined the community as a resident and moved into Brìgheen in November. This had become possible because Michele had decided to join Mischa and Gese in Newberry to live a little  in a more quieter household. Mischa’s and Gese’s Daughter Tara had been to Germany for 5 months as part of her transition year experience and she was sadly missed by many in the community.

There were of course other goodbyes this years, as last year’s coworkers left and new ones joined in the summer. Andre left the community after 2 years of service and the community wishes him all the best for his future back in Canada. Also Maelisa decided to pursue a different future after many years of helping in the coffeeshop and a new employee called Marietta joined to take on some of Maelisa’s responsibilities.

Joe and Marietta revamped An Tearmann to be ready for the Christmas season and made a huge effort to stock up with crafts and decorate the place. There seems to be a renewed buzz around the place and even though Ireland is in a recession we have managed to survive and keep going.

Manna has now become the main food provider for all the houses and the cooks go “Shopping” in the morning on a daily basis rather then buying on a large scale from Cash & Carry. This has also created opportunities for some of the people with special needs to run errands and avoids food going off in the houses. Pauline had to enlist the help of some people like Eimear and Siobhan to manage the extra workload but Manna seems alive and well.

Siodhna and Gese receiving a cheque from Annette McCarthy  from the Kilcullen Lyons club fundraising for our new “Kilcullen Farm & Nature Trail”.

The land group has really worked very hard at the idea of a farm & nature trail open to the public of Kilcullen which would include a riverside walk, a wildlife preserve and some educational signs about animals and wildlife. The area down by our piece of swampland has been worked on to make it more accessible and many other changes are envisaged for next year. Our poultry is really a huge success , with turkeys and geese chicken and ducks populating much of our small farm and the orchard and garden.

The sheep were causing a bit of a stir this year as the particular breed that had been recommended to us as being very low maintenance turned out to be rather antisocial and not very community minded at all and we had to swap them with another breed that enjoyed human contact more and did not mind to be handled.
We had many local volunteers whose contribution to the community is invaluable and also some third level students in social care who did their work placements with our community.

As always our young coworkers have been fantastic this year and made such a huge contribution to the life here that it would be difficult to imagine a life without them. Thilo in particular did a fantastic project for his certificate course and produced a very moving life book with Kevin which was presented to the community in a very memorable evening that showed many photographs of Kevin’s past and was a real celebration of Kevin’s amazing life.
Geraldine became grandmother when her daughter Lisa had her first baby by the name of Zak, Margaret also became grandmother when Daffyd & his wife Ashling had a baby girl Sophie and Martha became great grandparent, opening the future for a whole new generation.

But these were not the only new arrivals. Our Sow had a miraculous litter of 13 piglets all of which survived and are healthy. The runt was handfed with goats milk by a hoard of volunteers and the piglets seemed to be the main tourist attraction of Kilcullen at one point this year with “cute” and “gorgeous” being frequent attributes assigned to them.
Sadly this year Justine’s mum Jean Nolan died at the age of 79 and many of us went to the funeral and the house afterwards where many memories of her and her husband Eamonn were relived to music chat and also laughter.

Arthur & Annemarie joined our community for a short stint as temporary house parents to help train in the new crew in Brìgheen and many people enjoyed seeing old familiar faces. Govinda & Binu took a longer visit to Nepal, their home country , which they had not been to, for over 3 years and had a chance to introduce their family to their son Suriansu. Kevin O’Kelly meanwhile did a guest appearance in Annamaes  to stand in, to the delight of all his old friends from the past who loved to have the opportunity  for chat and banter.

Ciaran finally moved into his own apartment behind Bardon’s only a stone’s throw from where he used to share a flat with Justin. Justin now decided to become independent and live on his own with some support given by people in the community but mostly from Joe who supports Justin with shopping-, cooking- and other skills. Justin is looking for a supported employment placement outside the community and only time will tell where all that is going to go. Siodhna meanwhile is working with a key worker from KARE on her own future and what she hopes to do in her day time hours. Many ideas are floating around but the new year will see what is possible. Marion this year has worked in Grangebeg two afternoons a week and Colm has joined the National Learning network group for basketball once a week.

And there has been much learning going on this year. Many people took night time classes in computers or cookery or other pursuits and there have been a load of training courses in the community from CPI to patient handling and advanced emergency epilepsy training. Gese and Joe are doing a training as Care Assistants at FETAC level 5 and people are going to many conferences and training days all over the place.

We had many parties and discos and in September hosted a cultural evening with poetry reading and songs and music which was part of a national event the was happening all over Ireland. We got many friends and neighbours to join in bell ringing and Lyre playing and many described this as their first time to play a musical instrument. Of course many in our community have been very busy practising as part of the Camphill County Kildare Orchestra which after several sessions with John Billing that kick-started this impulse, was busy throughout the year learning musical pieces and performing at several occasions largely headed by Vicky from Grangebeg and Gese form the Bridge. The whole thing culminated in a massive music week in Dingle in November where over 90 musicians from throughout Camphill in Ireland and beyond had a wonderful week of music and fun ending with a full scale concert which was performed to the public.

The community of course went on villager holidays again this year which were enjoyed by everyone. The destinations were Munich, Spain, Wales and Vienna, where a small group joined a European  congress on the theme “Living in the Encounter” and Siodhna even managed to get into Austrian television.

The community was very busy producing a play for Easter Michaelmas and Christmas, and the hall which is used for so many events has finally been christened and received the name “Artaban”.

As our community is busy preparing for Christmas and our Santa sleigh is getting ready for its appearance on the streets of Kilcullen I want to take a moment to wish all our ex-coworkers, volunteers and friends a wonderful Christmas time and a happy 2012.

P.S.

I know that it is very early but 2013 will be the 21st Birthday of the Bridge Community and we plan for a week of celebrations in mid August 2013 and would like all ex-coworkers and friends of the community to come and join us for a reunion of so many people that we have not seen for a long time. We will in 2012 set up a facebook page to keep in touch about more plans but maybe it is enough for people to know now that this event will take place and to pencil it into their calendar for long-term travel plans for 2013.
 

Farm & Nature Trail Initiative Receives Boost From Kilcullen Lion's Club

Our community is working on a project to create a Farm & Nature Trail through our garden, farm and the natural wildlife along the riverside boundary to our land. The Project is still in its early stages of planning. We would like to make this accessible and safe for both the people in our community and the local people in the town. This would be a great asset to the local community. We would hope to make this trail an educational experience where people can learn more about nature, animals and wildlife.
We are extremely fortunate to have the support of the local community. Kilcullen Lion's Club has decided to support our project through fund-raising. A concert with " The Moon & Sixpence" in the local Town Hall and a Coffee Morning in Angela Murray-Headon's house was held recently which has raised awareness and funds. The Lion's Club aims to support this project in the future, both financially and humanly.
Last night the Lion's Club Presented a cheque of 1000 Euro towards the project. We had coffee and biscuits in our community hall and walked around the proposed trail. It was an event that highlighted the warmth and support from the local community.

Siodhna receiving a cheque from the Kilcullen Lion's Club for € 1000. - towards our Kilcullen Farm & Nature Trail. Also in the picture Annette Mc Carthy from the Kilcullen Lion's Club  and Gese Muecke from the Bridge Community

The Other Wise Man - Video Post

Here is the video recording courtesy of Kevin Prendergast our camera man of the play "The Other Wise Man", performed by a large cast of members of the Bridge Community on Good Friday 2011. Some of you will recognise Kevin O'Kelly who of course took the part of Artaban

Watching The Sunrise At Old Kicullen

Here is a picture of the group of early risers that went to Old Kilcullen this morning to watch the sunrise on Easter Sunday Morning



Posted by Mischa

Location:Newberry,Kilcullen,Ireland

Revelling in the moment

Posted by Mischa

The Bridge Community receives highest "Kilcullen Community Award"

Bardons is still what makes a friday night

Guess what - yes even after all these years Bardons pub our local within rolling distance of our front gate is still the main attraction as to what makes a friday night.



And of late a band called distraction that plays classic rock and Irish rock tunes in an acoustic set is great entertainment and Kevin Siobhan Julie Siodhna and all the coworkers are having a ball even Justin who doesn't often let his hair down was seen to join in a dance and had a great time.



I suppose the atmosphere and character of this old traditional Irish pub is a great pull and integration of our community is not a question but a fact. Good to see that everyone is enjoying themselves. As you know some things don't change.

I had a dream...

These famous words of Martin Luther King have inspired many. When an opportunity arises to follow a dream, one will work hard, and be persistent.

Colm, a young man of few words had a dream. Only his was difficult to communicate. Colm has autism and communication can be difficult. It was when Colms sign for airplane kept being used consistently (he has travelled on a plane before), and when pictures of New York in magazines were constantly pointed to, that those living with Colm started to investigate this further.

Colm one day in Eason’s in Newbridge went straight to the travel section and browsed travel books for New York. And then there was this poster he acquired one Saturday afternoon in HMV. It was a treasured buy, that when eventually revealed on the wall of his bedroom showed the “Statue Of Liberty” the obvious symbols for the often dreamed of “New World” in all her glory. Magazines, books, posters and cards kept appearing. Yet such a trip seemed out of reach as Colm’s and his family’s financial resources are limited and the support he would need would mean at least two people travelling.
It was when suddenly a request for an exchange with another person from a Camphill Community in upstate New York arrived in the inbox of the Bridge Community and when a recent volunteer co-worker in The Bridge Community was about to return to her home in New York City that this trip to the “Land of Opportunities” came into reach.

And so we are hoping that You may be the one that helps making this special young man’s dream come true and contribute towards sending Colm to Big Apple.
Send any donations to the Bridge Community, Main Street, Kilcullen, Co. Kildare

Brendan's Book Launch 2010

Brendan's Book Launch

Living Communities

Get your copy today, contact the Bridge Community

Arthur and Annemarie's Leaving Party

And King Arthur had a medieval banquet with a whole pig roasted on a fire !!!!!!
A good time was had by everybody with very emotional goodbyes and chat and laughter into the early hours

The Tale Of King Arthur and Maid Marie-Anne

Arthur and Anne-Marie are leaving this Saturday
and since they have been in the Bridge for a long time
here is a story for their amusement !!!

It was in a time long gone by when knights were still courteous and maids were still virtuous, in a far corner of Eireann where the man drank stout out of bottles by the name of Arthur Guinness and had their hair in wild strands. It was in these strange lands that a boy appeared. He had come out of the nebulous wars where he had fought barbaric battles with the Angle Saxons and he came with tales of woe that could grow bigger by the minute. And he had a deep love of all creatures weird and wonderful . And he brought his gifts to a place called Grangebeg where he served as an apprentice squire and had to work very hard. And while he courted the ladies dug the grounds and fed the swine his days in this place on a hill soon came to an end and he was sent to travel the road to a pace called Cill Cullin.

Now as it happened in this place there was a giant turnip that was buried deep in the ground and ancient lore told that nobody would ever be able to move this turnip unless they were of royal Ulster blood and a descendent of the true fairy king of times long gone by. And the wizard called Merlin the black who had a beard and was a big man said he would declare anyone king of the fairies if they would move the turnip from the ground. And many people had tried to move the turnip over the years but it wouldn't budge.


Now Arthur on his way to Cill Cullin had met three knights called Spotty, Stripy and Pinkie and they were wild and barbarian knights and had tormented and plundered the lands with their grunts and snouts. And Arthur fought these knights and in his wit he outsmarted them all, even though he had to fight with stripy to the last in the middle of the riverbed and wrestle him to the ground. But in the end he made them his squires. Arthur vowed never to forget the battle in the riverbed and that he would wear the red garment he wore that day till the end of his days.
And when this merry entourage arrived in Cill Cullin and heard about the legend of the turnip, Arthur felt that by rights the turnip was his and but he asked spotty to pull and when the turnip didn't move Pinky gave it his best and Stripy tried his last but it was Arthur that finally went up to the turnip and with a little pull held the turnip in his hand like a sword. And a mighty weapon it was. And the peasants rejoiced and they were all in awe and they built a cathedral in his honour and Merlin the black, the large magician crowned Arthur in this mystery centre and declared him King of the fairies.


Now Arthur met a maiden in this place called Marie Anne and she was of the Saxon descent from a land far away. She was shy and small, beautiful and virtuous and her heart was so large that it encompassed anyone in need. And Arthur brought her flowers and courted her , he was so in love the he even forgot about his squires Spotty Pinkie and Stripy and he would stare in her eyes and she would blush. They were under a magic spell. So deep were their feelings that for three months they could not see or hear anything around them . But when Arthur awoke from his spell he said to Marie Anne that he had to go forth and find fellow knights .


And Arthur went through the lands and discovered the knights of the poultry and three of them followed him in his every footsteps loyal to the last, and other knights of the poultry soon joined the band of knights. The biggest and proudest of them all was Sir Turkeylot. He wore black armour and had a red helmet with a blue face shield and he was brave and fierce and beautiful to behold and he kept all the other Knights of the poultry in cheque , so that there was discipline and order.


It was Arthur that would mark his territory with empty mugs that were left as a gift to the peasant at regular intervals. They soon became the currency of the land and his generosity in supplying mugs was such that it emptied the state coffers and the treasurer called Geraldine the stern would soon replace them with a new currency of mugs made of paper because of the current economic climate.

And Arthur and the Knights went to the cathedral and had a large table there and they had banquets of grain and told each other tales of their adventures late into the night. And they became known as the knights of the poultry cathedral. Every now and then some went on far away adventure - some returned and some didn't. They fought the knights of the fox and the knights of the mink and many were wounded and some went to a place called holiday and never returned. And in the deep mid winter there was the massacer of the 12 white knights of the geese, but let us talk about more pleasant things. Arthur as their king rejoiced in the circle of the knights of the poultry cathedral and in their ever increasing number.


But Marie Anne was wooing for Arthurs time and did not want to share Arthur with Sir Turkeylot and Spotty and Stripy and Pinkie and often lured him away from the knights and she made him vow to give up the filthy habit of the cigrette and made sure that he slept enough to be refreshed for his fights with the knights of the fox and knights of the mink and all the other battles he had to face in his day.


And Arthur met many other noble kings the Three kings of de Isserín called Sir Leonardo the Noble and Kevin de Recycling and Sir Colm the Cheeky. And he united the clans of the Brigheen with noble man like Sir Patrick and De Sirrka and the knights on other side of the river with the Knights of the Poultry Cathedral .
Meanwhile Maid Marie Anne wove beautiful garments and became a friend to Marion de Prickly and Lorna de Tea. And she served the knights in the halls of An Tearmann together with Christine the Bold and Lady Nolan the Just with meals and cakes in abundance and her smile charmed many princes in the Curragh of Eireann. Her Eye for beauty and talent with the needle enchanted much that she touched and she was very popular with all the subjects in the kingdom


But King Arthur and Marie Anne were still on their search for Avalon and so the day came when they made plans to sign the treaty of dole and move into the wild plains outside the kingdom of the knights of the Poultry Cathedral. And much was the sorrow and big were the tears when they said goodbye and they vowed to return and said goodbye to Sir Turkeylot and rode into the sunset on their search for Avalon. But in the land of the knights of the Poultry Cathedral they will always be remembered and their tales will be sung in the halls of An Tearmann and the friends they made will always remember Marie Anne's large heart and King Arthur's mighty adventures.

Brendan Reid Publishes his Auto-Biography

Living Communi...

A Biography Of Sorts

By Brendan Reid

Book Preview

We hope to invite everybody on Wednesday the 23rd of June at 7pm to join us on the special occassion of the Launch of Brendan Reid's Auto-Biography with a cheese and wine reception in the new hall of the Bridge Community. Everybody is welcome

Living Communities by Brendan Reid | BOOK INFO

Manna's Openday and Re-launch

Hatching Time in The Bridge Community

Our hens and cocks have been busy at it and low and behold the first of this years chicks have appeared and are adored by everyone that sees them plenty of aaaaaahhs and ooooooohhhhs and Arthur becoming protective and all........

Eastern Neighbourhood Disco

The recent Eastern Neighbourhood Meeting ended on a high with a disco and everybody from Dunshane, Greenacres, The Bridge, Grangebeg, Duffcarrig and Ballymoney that was there seemed to have had a good time!!!

Less Meetings and more Discos!!!!!!!

Annamaes in Kilkenny

Kilkenny is about an hours drive from Kilcullen. When we arrived I couldn’t believe we were already there- on our little holiday with the house. The hostel was cosy and Rosie made sure that everyone felt comfortable. It was the ‘four girls’, Julie, Siobhan, Maive and Barbara, in the large room and a double for ‘the lads’, Anthony and André, and Brendan in his single domain.

We didn’t do much. We had breakfast at the latest; we made sure each day we had some time at home just having a nap. And although Julie announced that she won’t sleep at night if she did that, she always slept well after coming home from the pub. We went to see the castle and Holy Mary Church, we saw the Castlecomer discovery centre and the lovely town of Kilkenny with its shops and street musicians. We did some shopping, a lovely CD –yes, another one- for Anthony and some for the house, loads of cake and sweets for Julie, some computer stuff for Brendan, and again the unsuccessful quest to find Siobhan a poster with birds.

We all did our share. Brendan reminded us to take it slowly, Julie reminded us to have plenty of tea breaks, Anthony reminded us to smile and celebrate extra hard when ever we pocketed a ball playing pool- no matter whose ball it was, mind you…- and Siobhan reminded us to look after ourselves. André always knew where everything was, Maive knew what it was called in Spanish and Barbara found the love heart polar bears… Yes, we had fun.

For me personally I found that living in the same room with the people ‘I look after’ for the holiday time and going new ways with them opens horizons. Siobhan never had seafood chowder before, Julie reluctantly managed to walk a forest trail, Anthony won in pool against the cool lads from town and Brendan showed me the paths of his past. We are blessed to be in touch in such a way that we actually touch people’s lives and let them touch us. To put it in Julie’s words: can’t we stay just for one more day?

Siodhna's Book Launch

The Fairies are back!!!

Progress at our community room

The walls are slowly but surely going up and gradually one can see what will be a great and much needed building.

Eilish at 40th birthday party

Someone is having fun

40th Birthday Party !

40th Birthday Party !

What a Birthday Cake!!!

Ben says hi!!!!

New community space

Here is a picture of the Walls going up for our new community space

Julie at our shop outing

Here is a picture of julie at our recent shop outing to Johnny Fox's
in the Dublin mountains. a moment of rest after a great meal

it's party time!!!

Hello everybody,

it's me again! 2 weeks ago I was on holidays but now the day-to-day life is back and with it all its work and duties but also its pleasures ;) Especially because we had a lot of parties last week.
Ann Meehan's birthday had to be properly celebrated just as well as Minna and Kalles Farewell. That's actually not nice at all: they are going back to Finland after staying in the community for one and a half years. They were great houseparents for Brigheen and everybody misses Kalle and Arni already now, Minna and Helmi will leave for good next Wednesday :(
This time I've got some pictures here:


Then we continued with the St. John's celebration. Each it's a great fire and we included a barbecue. It happened on our field where we collected all sorts of old wood and branches and it was an immense pile. First I had some concerns that it wouldn't burn properly but soon they dissolved into smoke just like the timber. I personally enjoyed it very much - later on Mischa called me a "Pyromaniac" ^^
I even took a video although it seemed much more impressive in reality...

And the day after we finished with Brendan's 56th birthday. It was rather relaxed with a few drinks and stuff. Amongst others Julie looked after everybody's entertainment with amazing dancing performances. So also Julia, our new co-worker got a pretty good impression of the liveliness of our community ;)
But now I'm personally quite happy to just have a few normal working days...sometimes work can be relaxing too! :D

However... that's all from me for today.

Best wishes
Martin