Welcome from Chairperson Hello again everyone, It feels like only yesterday we were reliving the amazing accomplishments of 2011 in our first edition of the new year. But here we are, in spring, in what has already been a jam packed 2012 for TEO. It is my firm belief that all you valued members hold the spirit of Gaisce close to you. With that in mind, it is our continued mission to provide an outlet for your varied interests, keeping the pillars of the award in mind. So far, 2012 has seen us take to the slopes of the Wicklow mountains, provide some well needed help at the animal shelter and learn some tools to help save lives. We hope our next few months of activity will be just as interesting. Sincerely, Christine Carty Chairperson Spring Edition: March 2012 VOL. ONE ISSUE THREE Tar Éis Óir The President’s Award Holders Association of Ireland A new baby in the family! Congratulations to our former Chairperson Cian Timmons and his wife; Melanie who, on Saturday 3rd March had a healthy baby girl. We wish them all the best for the future!
This is the Spring edition of our online newsletter. It details the activities we have been involved in over the past number of months and outlines the activities which we have organised for Spring 2012. We hope to see attending these!
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Transcript
Welcome from Chairperson Hello again everyone, It feels like only yesterday we were reliving the amazing accomplishments of 2011 in our first edition of the new year. But here we are, in spring, in what has already been a jam packed 2012 for TEO. It is my firm belief that all you valued members hold the spirit of Gaisce close to you. With that in mind, it is our continued mission to provide an outlet for your varied interests, keeping the pillars of the award in mind. So far, 2012 has seen us take to the slopes of the Wicklow mountains, provide some well needed help at the animal shelter and learn some tools to help save lives. We hope our next few months of activity will be just as interesting. Sincerely, Christine Carty Chairperson
Spring Edition: March 2012 VOL. ONE ISSUE THREE
Tar Éis Óir The President’s Award Holders Association of Ireland
A new baby in the family! Congratulations to our former Chairperson Cian Timmons and his wife; Melanie who, on Saturday 3rd March had a healthy baby girl. We wish them all the best for the future!
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Another day, another hike. And a bright and early start from Cavan
to meet my walking buddies in Marlay Park. At least the weather was
promising more on this fine morning then it was on our previous hike
(read all about it in the winter edition of the newsletter). Anyway up to
Marlay Park to see what was in store for the day and what sights.
Beautiful views and that was just the rest of the group. We started off
on our way through wonderful parkland nestled under the Dublin
Mountains. Our Hike had begun!
Out of the park and up the road and up and up and up. And not just in
height for it seemed the more we climbed the meters the more we rose
in society! Past the odd private college were the curtsy was not en-
couraged to the electric gates of the upper classes. High society in-
deed!! From there it was still further up dodging golf balls and onto a
forest trail. Where all of a sudden we realised why we put ourselves
through this..em pain. Dublin Bay in
all its sunny glory opened up below us.
And although we had still a good bit to
go yet we were confident that things
could only get better.
On we marched buoyed on by this new
excitement. Leaving our trusty forest
track we stepped onto the Wicklow
way and after a while stopped to take
on liquids and a light snack overlooking the smoky remains of the Hell
Fire Club, the history of which was retold by our supreme leader
Christine. Suitably revived and with the sound of cloven feet behind
us we went on our merry ‘Wicklow’ way.
On we went until we came to the turn for our first summit. The Wick-
low Way from here went on her winding path calling us to Glen-
dalough and beyond. But her virtues were not for us to sample this day
as we slipped away with the fairies up to their Fairy Castle. A toast to
the lords of mischief to allow safe passage through their realm, a few
photos and the now obligatory Facebook check-in and we were back
on the trail.
Down we headed with the masts of RTE as our guide and companions.
Down with the view of Dublin spread out below us drawing our gaze
from every treacherous step. Over to Seefin and its easy to see how it
got its name (you can nearly see Finland). Here a moment of madness.
We decided to form a band. Alas you will not be hearing The ‘Three
Rocks’ topping the charts any time soon as we only got as far as the
band photo. But the dream was good while it lasted.
Time is forever a cruel mistress, and she was calling time on us. We
turned for our descent among the decent people of Dublin, the stroller,
the hiker the mountain biker we headed for home. Down once again to
our forest track and past our old friends in High Society we arrived
back in Marlay Park to stroll across green playing fields and listening
to children playing (and throwing the odd tantrum) all unaware of the
fantastic games to be had just up the road from them. All was left to
do now was to replace the calories burned, so off for a feed and to
reflect on what was a wonderful days stroll. Good weather, better
company and grub to match. Now that’s high living
So until next time, Dear Reader. Hopefully you can come away with
the fairies with us.
Among the high life and the wild life A walk around the Dublin Wicklow Mountains on January 25th 2012
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As part of our wish to showcase volunteering ideas for our participants, TEO members came to-gether on a cold February morning to provide some much-needed help at the DSPCA shelter in Dublin. Shelter staff welcomed us with open arms (and paws), so we could provide sup-port wherever it was needed most on the day. I must say, the regular shel-ter volunteers and DSPCA staff are some of the most inspiring people we’ve ever met. Not only is their pas-sion for animal welfare fan-tastic, so is their belief in the shelters good work. We all enjoyed ourselves so much, it was hard for us to leave. A special shout out must go to committee member Deirdre, who’s slight aversion to dogs did-n’t hold her back from
helping out on the day. She found her calling in-stead, in the cattery... and possibly wanted to bring all of the lovely cats home with her. Special mention should also go to Gold par-ticipant Robyn, who has since planned another day of volunteering. After all our hard work, we needed some well-earned R&R, so headed out to the Porterhouse Central on Nassau Street for a pint or two. As part of this TEO social night, members who could not make it to the shelter in the morning to volunteer, came to hang out and dance the night away. A special thanks to every-
one who helped make the
day so successful and to all
the lovely cats, dogs, pigs,
donkeys and other animals
DSPCA Volunteering Day 2012
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The Great Ireland Run on Sunday 15th April On Sunday 15th April Tar Éis Óir will be taking part in The Great Ireland Run in the Phoenix Park. This is a ten kilometre run which we will be doing in aid of Irish Autism Action. April is Au-tism awareness month. The IAA is an umbrella organisation with over 40 member groups which ranges from the 13 Special Schools for Children with Autism to local support groups and are lo-cated in practically every county in Ireland. They have set up Ireland’s first National Diagnostic and Assessment Centre known as Solas which is based in Dublin and run the National Autism Helpline.
If you are interested in taking part with TÉÓ please let us know and sign up on their website w h i c h i s a v a i l a b l e h e r e : h t t p : / /www. g r e a t i r e l a nd ru n . o r g / E v e nt s/2 01 2 /Default.aspx.
St. Patrick’s 5km Festival Road Race Tar Éis Óir is taking part in the St. Patrick’s 5km Festival road race. The race will take place in Dublin on Sunday, 18th March, beginning at 12.00 noon from the Mansion House on Dawson Street, where runners will follow a route through Georgian Dublin before returning again to the finish line at the Man-sion House.
Part of the proceeds raised will go to Our Lady's Children's Hospital, Crumlin with the balance going to fund facilities being provided for young athletes by the organising club Metropolitan Harriers & St. Brigid’s Athletic Club.
Tar Éis Óir is pleased to announce that we are in a position to run a Silver Expedition in 2012. This ex-pedition will take the form of a Cycle and this event will incorporate the ring of Kerry and will meet re-quirements for the Silver Expedition component of Gaisce the Presidents Award. Numbers: This expedition will be designed 8-10 Per-sons taking part with two leaders to provide support and guidance Who : This event is open to all participants of the silver award who are above the age of 18 TEO mem-bers, Associate members or friends of participants may also take part, however priority will be given to silver participants. Participants will be required to have a reasonable level of fitness and an ability to cy-cle. The ability to participate will be decided by the expedition leader whos decision shall be final. Partici-pants will be responsible for ensuring that they have appropriate insurance for the event and should expect to carry out planning and preparation work for the expedition in advance of the event. What : The silver cycle will incorporate approximately 219 km of travel across Co.Kerry. Accommodation will be in hostels, however participants will need to carry all necessary equipment with them. When: The expedition will take place between 02-05 August 2012, however participants will need to com-mit to training and planning meetings that will run from 08MAY12 onwards through to the expedition date.Training will take place in a location as decided by the expedition coordinator. Where: The expedition will begin and end in Killar-ney Co.Kerry. Participants are responsible for their transfer to and from this location at the start and fin-ish of the trip. Route : The route will incorporate the Ring of Kerry, a well known Kerry touring cycle.
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Tar Éis Óir Silver Cycle Expedition: Ring of Kerry 02 Aug - 05 Aug 2012
This route includes stops in locations includ-ing : (i) Killarney, (ii) Kenmare, (iii) Caher Daniel, (iv) Valencia Island, (v) Caherciveen.
Cost : Projected Costs will vary depending on the number of participants and whether or not you have your own suitable bicycle that you can transport to and from the event. We anticipate costs not to exceed €170, inclusive of food, accommodation and cycle hire inclu-sive of all spares and safety equipment if nec-essary.
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On Saturday 25th February we organized a CPR
course in Ratra house for Tar Éis Óir members at
10am.
Despite a shaky start (locking ourselves out of the
house!) we had a very successful morning. Partici-
pants practiced essential life saving skills including
mouth to mouth, chest compressions, the use of an
automated external defibrillator and how to re-
spond to a person choking..
Thank You so much for everyone who attended and
to Stephen Peers for saving us and Barney O’Cal-
laghan for his tremendous hospitality in facilitating
us in the house!
H E A RT SAV E R A E D / C P R C O U R S E
A two day course is being run on the 21st and 22nd
of April by Tar Éis Óir to equip people with the nec-
essary safety skills needed for the organisation of a
range of outdoor activities. It will take place in
Gaisce Head Office, Ratra House, North Road,
Phoenix Park.
The OSSM course is administered by the Royal Geo-
graphical Society in London and has been running
in the United Kingdom for a number of years. It is
the second time the course has been run in Ireland.
This course aims to allow delegates to safely plan,
execute and review trips away from their usual envi-
ronment at every level - from school trips to full
scale expeditions. Thus it would be useful for many
people in a range of different areas from teachers,
Presidential Award Leaders, to those involved in the
organising of leisure activities.
The course will cost participants 25 euro each. The
standard price for the course is 250 pounds ster-
ling. Places will be limited so if you are interested