On Wednesday 1st August two judges from the Pride Of Place competition visited our community. The Judges Donal Connelly and William Beatty were accompanied by a representative from Co-operation Ireland, and Bernie Lillis of Dublin City Council. As previously agreed by the community groups in the area, Marie O’Reilly acted as the host and guide for the judge’s visit. Greeting the judges at the Sean O’Casey community centre, Marie welcomed them to East Wall. She then outlined briefly the history of the area and its community groups, before explaining the role played by the East Wall for All committee in co-ordinating events. A big emphasis was placed on the inclusive nature of the community and the positive impact of promoting inter-generational activities. Before taking the judges on their tour of the area, Marie emphasised that our community was “not about bricks and mortar, but about people”.
With this foremost in everyone’s mind, Marie then conducted the judges on a tour of the area, visiting a number of key community facilities and meeting the volunteers and workers that make these facilities more than just bricks and mortar. The tour comprised of Killane Court (and the Garden club, who had the complex looking beautiful), the credit union, a meeting with Paddy the Butcher (whose premises is almost the “heart of East Wall”), St. Marys Youth Club (and Hubert Fuller football pitch), the water sports club, St. Josephs co-ed school, the recreation centre and finally back to the Sean O’Casey Community centre. Here the judges met some of the oldest and youngest members of the community – enjoying a full tour of the building including Daisy Days Crèche and a lunch in the Day care centre. They also got to see the theatre in all its glory – enjoying a performance of two of the scenes from the wonderful “Home from Home” production.
At every location visited by the judges the members of our community present did us all proud. The message was sent out loud and clear that this is a wonderful area – genuinely inclusive, with something for everybody and with a co-ordinated approach to addressing all the issues and needs that face us as a community. The great tradition of self-help and volunteering in the community was emphasised again and again, with a history going back decades to illustrate this.
Time was also taken to highlight the important links between the community and local business and state bodies. The working relationship and partnership approach with Dublin City Council, Dublin Port Company, the National College of Ireland were just some of the examples used.
The announcement of winners and the awards ceremony for Pride of Place will take place later in the year. Regardless of how we are placed in the 32-county competition it was an honour to have been selected to participate – only one area is chosen by each local authority and the fact that we were chosen to represent Dublin City is a victory in itself.
We are a great community, but of course we already know that, and it is great to see this being acknowledged by others. All we need to do now is “Keep up the good work”.