[1]

Hi & WelcomeThis is your

New Newsletter

Hi all,

I would like to wish SOS’s new newsletter the very best of luck!

I think it is great that we will be able to get all the news every few months and it will be great to see pictures of all the different events that are taken place.

Now to make sure the newsletter is a great success, we will need loads of help and it is up to everyone to make sure that all the news is given to Pat Ryan and that you encourage your fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters and all your friends to read all about SOS.

Best of LuckFrancis

[2]

Dreamtime was set up at the

beginning of this year in response to the needs and wishes of service users. This type of service, which requires all

sorts of expensive digital technologies, only became a realistic option when

funding became available from Denis O’Brian, thank you Denis!

Dreamtime is mainly

broken into three areas, radio, film making and

photography (and the p r o d u c t i o n o f t h i s newsletter). Dreamtime

radio broadcasts on 90.9 fm, three Wednesdays a

month from 10am to 12 midday and 2pm to 4pm. The radio shows on offer are presented by service users who

prepare there own shows with their choice of playlist, service users

listening in from around the campus and beyond get great music, news & weather, requests and interviews with

well known people such as Brian Cody, The Kilkennys and much more.

Dreamtime film studio is busy putting together its first movie, CSI

Kilkenny, which involves many of the service users most are involved in dreamtime and drama, but not all as

the cast numbers 50 to 60 people. CSI Kilkenny is the third film produced by

SOS, the first two were filmed by external film groups, this time Dreamtime have

full control over the production and allows

time for a higher level of creativity. CSI will have i t s p r e m i e r e t h i s

November (18th) in the Watergate Theat re . Dreamt ime

p h o t o g r a p h y o r ‘ F o c u s o n Photography’ is in its early stages of development, we are currently working

to achieve Fetac accreditat ion, meanwhile the service users are busy

brushing up on there photography skills in preparation for such future courses, many of the photographs

within this magazine were taken by the guys in Dreamtime.

Dreamtime - Radio - Film - Photography

Dreamtime StudioThis new and exciting section within SOS

uses digital technologies to broadcast Radio, to produce film’s, to teach and faci l i tate

photography and other creative productions such as this newsletter.

D R E A M T I M E

C.S.I.K I L K E N N Y

Premiere 18th

Nov. 2010

Watergate

[3]

Drumming Drumming has been going on in

SOS for some years and has been

run by different staff. At present it is

run by Trish MacManus and Christine

Wyss. Many of the service users are

musical and have a good sense of

rhythm. Twice a week there is an

opportunity for people to join a

drumming session. On a Monday the

group is smaller and includes singing

and performance. Often, when the

weather permits, drumming takes

place outside in a relaxed

atmosphere. The big drumming

group, open to anyone interested,

meets every Friday. Sometimes as

many as 15 people will participate.

The drummers and percussionists

accompany melodies played on the

electric guitar and sometimes we all

get so high with the joy of what is

being created. We have the steady

rhythm drummers like Bernie O’Shea,

John Bergin and Frank Dooley. Then

we have others playing percussion,

Padraig Doyle, Pat Fitzgerald,

Margaret McGuiness among others.

We also have a specialist drummer

Gerry Meaney with his own set of

Bongos. Of course each person is

valued and there are too many to

mention. Drumming is a great way to

relax, as no words are required and it

is also a good way to let go of any

tension. After the drumming we all go

back to our sections in high spirits.

Youth ReachLast month SOS teamed

up with Youth Reach to do

an interesting collaborative

project. A total of

13 youths from

Youth Reach and

4 service users

from SOS were

brought together.

They spent one

week together to

make a piece of work from

clay that was to be fired and

glazed and then placed in

both SOS and Youth Reach.

The workshop was run by

Will Lennon from Youth

Reach and Christine Wyss

from SOS. It was about

bringing together people

from different walks of life

yet having in

common that

they are all

marginalized

by soc i e t y.

From SOS we

h a d P e t e r

McEvoy, John Bergin, Brian

Manning and John Earl.

The work took place in

Youth Reach. One day was

spent learning different skills

with clay, while on another day we went to

Woodstock for inspiration and then it was down

to doing the work. It was interesting to see how

well the two groups got on together. While some

from Youth reach were reserved, the lads from

SOS were very outgoing and this got a great

atmosphere going. The project is still ongoing as

youths from the groups merged perfectly, as our

people got to know how the youth’s spend their

time and now the youth’s will come here and see

how we spend our time.

The final work will be ceramic glazed tiles put

side by side to form a wall sculpture.

[4]

The wishing tree actors and singer Raymond Lyng went to Cork in June of this year to take part in the

National Performing Arts Festival.

CONGRATS!

Second place was awarded to The Wishing Tree and Raymond lyng received a medal for his song, The Fields of Athenry.

Many thanks and congratulations to all who took part and to Jim Craddock who Presented the second place medals to--

Sean Hickey, Anne Proctor,David Brian, Therese Nolan,

Noel Kavanagh, Jimmy Renahan, Ruth O’Conner, M.J Scallon,Joseph Byrne, Alma BreenCiara Cahill, Connor Walsh,

John Halley, Natasha Dowling, Deirdre O’Niell ,Marie Bergin, John English, Mary Mahon and

Angela Holahan.

The Wishing Tree

National Performing Arts Festival

[5]

Service Improvement with

Co-operative Learning

In February Margaret Holohan,

Janet McCormick (Margarets Sister)

and Mary Lawlor went to D.C.U.

(Dublin City University) to do a

c o u r s e i n S e r v i c e

I m p r o v e m e n t w i t h C o -

operative Learning.

The aim of the course is

to provide, through focussed

education, individualized

Support with outcomes that

r e s u l t i n p e r s o n a l

d e v e l o p m e n t a n d

col laborat ion in serv ice

change.

O n c o m p l e t i o n t h e

participants will have developed

k n o w l e d g e a n d s k i l l s o f a

cooperative approach. This will lead

t o s e r v i c e c h a n g e a n d

improvements as a direct result of

service user consultation.

Four teams took part which

consisted of a service user, family/

carer and staff member.

Teams were from:

• S.O.S. Kilkenny

• St. Michael House

• L’Arche Dublin

• St. John of God Celbridge

Each team had to come up with

an idea around changing or

improving what is happening in their

service. For our project we looked

at our existing telephone list and

tried to make it more service user

friendly by having all staff photos

taken and placed beside their

telephone extension number. \this

will improve communication for

service users who have reading

difficulties.

This project also supports the

organization mission statement

and objectives.

On completion of the module

each Team had to give a

class presentation of their

project, people from the

different service and the

steering group came to

D.C.U. to hear a l l four

projects. Francis Coughlan

represented S.O.S.

The course was from Feb-

June. We all enjoyed working

together as a team, getting to know

about other services and meeting

new people. The whole learning

experience was very good.

11ElaineReception

4212Francis

CEO

66 AnnFinancialController

34

13

LiamDay ServicesManager

40

StephanieResidentialServiceManager

MichelleAccounts

50SineadAccounts

CatherineAccounts

The Nore Swim 2010

Jane Saunders participated in The Nore Swim 2010 on the 21st August. She was a fantastically brave woman and swam from John’s Quay by the Brewery to John’s Bridge. It was a lovely day and the weather was perfect for the occasion. There was a large crowd to support all the swimmers. The swim started at 3pm followed by a buffet meal in the Set, Langton’s, which all the participants attended. After the buffet they were all presented

with medals for their effort. The swim was in aid of The Home Care Team. Jane raised 150 euro for this charity. She says the water was not too cold and she had been training with Breeda Sweeney, who supported her on the day.

[6]

The Garden CentreThe Garden centre went on a day trip to Aras An Uachtarain. It was a

lovely sunny day. On arrival we had some very nice refreshments. We

took many photographs of the large board room where Irish and other

governmental officials attend meetings and seminars. We also walked

around the beautiful gardens which were spectacular.

We also visited the very big green house where various specimens of

tree and plants are grown. Overall it was a very interesting day and very

informative and everyone really enjoyed themselves.

Special Olympics Golf Event

Christy Hurley

Congratulation’s to Christy Hurley who

represented Team Ireland at the Triple Crown Golf event in Scotland. The games were held on the 6th & 7th of September in Drwmois Golf

club, St. Andrews, Scotland.Christy and Team Ireland claimed a Silver Medal in the event. Congrats to Team Ireland from all

in S.O.S. Castlecomer.

[7]

RATHWOOD

The eagle spies its next victim!

The victim, has a badhair day!

Oldest swinger in town!

You eyeballing me!

Meet my new friend

[8]

BEST BUDDIES CARRY ON WITH THE SINGSONG YEA HA

!

GO AHEAD MAKE MY DAY! A WILD WEST DAY!

WILD WESTThe Wild West themed day in August of this year proved to be very popular and a lot of fun. There was a karaoky session, a line dancing afternoon with expert line dancers..from...a rodeo bull, sumo wrestling gear and a dress code of a wild west theme. All these ingredients mixed together resulted in fun, laughter and a sense of wild west adventure. Ye haa!

[9]

X FAC

TOR 2

010

[10]

THE WINNERS--

FROM TOP TO BOTTOM--

• TRISH SHIELS FOR MUSIC

• RAYMOND LYNG FOR SONG

• DERECK WATSON FOR DANCE

• ACCESS & A2E FOR DRAMA

X-FACTORALL EYES ON X-FACTOROn 20th of August all eyes were fixed on the wonderful display

and talent before us on stage in the Set Theatre in Langtons kilkenny.

A great show dedicated to music, song, dance and drama.

To all who took part, a big

Thank You! &

Congratulations! to our winners!

LOOKING FORWARD TO CORK IN 2011!!

[11]

Sports Day2010

Sinead & Spain win the

world cup & Tom was runner

up with the Netherlands

[12]

I’m only messing

Tune in to Dreamtime Radio for the best music, chat and news

Dates:Oct 13, 20, 27Nov 10, 17, 24Dec 8, 15, 22

10am-12pm2pm-4pm

Next Issue of REWIND January 2011

Remember to take photographs and stories/newsfor the next issue of your newsletter

Drop it into Dreamtime

[13]

OLYMPICSSPECIAL

OLYMPICS

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

S.O.S. as an organistion is committed to sport and leisure activities. Activities are for everyone, exercise provides a range of activities for all clients these include bowling, bocce, soccer, swimming and golf.In 2009 a state of the art gym was opened on campus, this has proved to be a huge success with staff, service users and external groups. In June of this year, eighteen athletes participated in the Special Olympics AlL Ireland Games. The games took place in Limerick from June 9th to the 13th. The athletes had a wonderful time and came home with an impressive amount of medals.As a result, two athletes have qualified in swimming for the Special Olympics World Games 2011 in greece. Diarmuid O’Flynn (Special Olympics Club) and Ciara Trait will be part of Team Ireland, well done and the best of luck to them.

SPORT

[14]

“And I would walk 500 miles?No thanks I'll cycle!”

100’s of people lined the streets of Belmullet on Friday night(22nd August 2010) to welcome back IASE (Irish Association of Supported Employment) Trailblazers to music, dance and champagne celebrations to mark their fantastic achievements for people with disabilities

Following the success of the IASE “Trail Blazers” Malin head to Mizen head Cycle in 2008, IASE trail blazers exceeded 5,000 miles of cycling with the addition of a two day coast to coast challenge from Dublin to Belmullet with the aim of raising awareness of equal employment opportunities for people with disabilities throughout Ireland.

11 novice cyclists departed from Phoenix Park on Thursday August 19th with the event having being launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Green. The whole journey covered a distance of 200 miles over two stages with the final destination being Belmullet, Co Mayo where IASE National head quarters are based.

Pamela Mansell from ACCESS, S.O.S completed this cycle over the two days and would like to thank everyone, including all in S.O.S for their sponsorship. The cycle was a great success with coverage on KCLR Fm, Today Fm, 2Fm, RTE 1 and many of the local papers. ACCESS the supported employment service set up in S.O.S, works with the model of supported employment and as many people are aware this enables people with disabilities to find, secure and maintain employment with the assistance of a job coach/employment facilitators.

IASE is a national voluntary organisation established in 1994 with the aim of promoting and developing supported employment throughout Ireland. IASE is the representative voice of almost 900 members in Ireland who in turn are working with over 5,000 people with disabilities who are receiving supports through a range of supported employment initiatives. If you would like to become a member of the IASE, it is free for people claiming benefits and only 20 euro for a year to all other members. IASE’s recently announced patron Sean Gallagher (Dragon’s Den) encourages employers to consider the skills, ability and contribution that people with disability can bring to the work force.

For more information about IASE Telephone 097 82894 email admin@iase.ie or visit www.iase.ie or contact Pamela Mansell on 056 7795833.

Dermot Cunningham (EUSE Rep), Lord Mayor of Dublin, Gerry Green,

David Ryan (IASE Chairperson), Greg Barry (IASE Vice Chairperson),

Aaron Ryan (Cyclist), Pamela Mansell

(IASE South East Representative) Leaving Phoenix Park on

Thursday 19th August 2010.

[15]

The Wishing Tree

The Access and A2E group attended the above festival on Wednesday 23 June 2010. The drama group performed

“The Wishing Tree” and won second place in this highly professional competition. After their performance the

group had a day of fun and activities and rounded off their time in Cork, attending the singing competition to

support Raymond Lyng which was held in City Hall .

Despite travelling a long distance and having a very late night the group had a super time and some of their

comments are highlighted below.

Although it was her first time in Cork, Marie Bergin said it was a “great experience”! Ciara , Joseph and David

loved performing on the stage and despite feeling a little nervous they were very excited also!

Natasha , Ruth and Gerri loved the whole day and enjoyed being on a trip with their friends! Alma had “no

nerves at all” and loved meeting all the new people in Cork and Ann Proctor loved the bus journey down with all

her friends. According to Conor “it was great” and he loved playing the role of the wishing tree . Therese, John

Halley and MJ had no nervous feelings at all and loved performing on the

stage. Therese also loved having her lunch in the park with all of her friends .

The weeping willows , Angela and Jimmy, loved the day and Deirdre , the

dancing tree just cannot wait to perform all over again!!

The hard work and determination of all the performers was obvious on stage

and the group are excited to be able to put together another super show which

will surely impress the judges yet again in Cork 2011!!! Well done to all and

we look forward to another great day in Cork .

ACCESS

Congratulations

To- Jennifer Gaffney, Lorraine Cashin, Ann

Proctor, Ciara Cahill, Joseph Bryne, David

Bryan and Deirdre O Neill - All of whom have

become employees in different buisness’s in

Kilkenny over the past few months. Well done

to all of you. From Everyone in Access.

Well Done To all who worked over the summer months with KKB (Keep Kilkenny Beautiful) to help Kilkenny win the Tidy Towns competition which will be judged in the coming weeks. This was organised by Sean Leahy and

Access and they would like to thank everyone for all their hard work.

[16]

SOS on the World Wide WebWe are delighted to announce the launch of S.O.S Kilkenny’s upgraded website. The new and improved website is more user friendly, maintained and will be updated continuously with monthly news items. We are hoping that the website as well as being a resource of information for the public, will have the option of downloading worksheets and training materials for service users when they are at home. It will also provide an option for staff to avail of training resources.

The development of the website has been undertaken by Pamela Mansell from Access, along with the help of Pat Ryan who provided the images and Nick Murphy the website developer. The website is a great opportunity for S.O.S and has many benefits such as increasing awareness of the extensive service that S.O.S provides and giving the public an immediate point of contact and information 24hours a day, 7 days a week. We invite everyone to take a look at the website and we would be happy to hear your feedback. Our website address is www.soskilkenny.com.

Thanking You – Pamela Mansell.

GraignamanaPat Costello and Patrick Foley started going to their home town of Graignamana in November 2009, one day a week to be involved in and contribute to their community. Pat & Patrick are well known in Graig, they can go nowhere without bumping into people they know well.They are involved in lots of activities in Graig such as being members of the local snooker club, taken part in art classes, going to the library for internet and books, taking walks along the beautiful river Barrow and drinking tea and coffee in the local pub or coffee shop. Recently they got involved in the local church helping out with the upkeep and a tour of their fire station.

[17]

Steps GraduationThe Steps graduation took place on Wednesday the 2nd of June this year. We had a fabulous sunny day for the ceremony which was held in garden here in SOS. Flavours restaurant supplied the catering for the event which as always was top class and the ceremony was photographed and recorded by Dreamtime studios. The real class however were those that graduated who included Siobhan Logan, Padraig Doyle, Sue Walsh, Johnny Earl, Ciara Cahill, Joseph Byrne, Frank Dooley and Jamie Hogan. All the graduates received OCR certification for the modules completed over the two year p r o g r a m m e w h i c h i n c l u d e d r e t a i l s k i l l s , communication skills, home management and work experience modules.

The Steps programme is designed to assist in general daily living and communication skills and is often a stepping stone into the world of work or an opportunity for people take on new challenges.

The training department wish all who graduated the very best for whatever they have chosen to do, be it supported employment or campus based activities and look forward to seeing the group taking steps towards their future.

If anyone is interested in joining the Steps Programme or finding out more about what the training programme is all about please contact Margaret Larkin or any of the Training Team.

Flavours News

Happy birthday to

Bernie Morris

12/9/2010

Big preparations going on for Martin Flynn,s

60th Maybe the king will

drop in!

Welcome to Paul

Purcell, John Lupton,

Malachy O’Keefe and

Jamie Hogan joining

Flavours

Welcome to Geraldine Hennessey delighted you’re on board.Sad

farewell to Pat O’Leary Flavours group went to

Kildare for day out

recently many thanks

to all who helped, great

day had by all

Christmas Cakes and puddings orders now

being taken-contact ext 18 for

details

[18]

Australia My name is Margaret Trehy. This is a photograph of Sydney Harbour in Australia. My brother Richard and his wife Barbara live in Sydney. I am going to visit them next year, please god. I am looking forward to seeing all the sites in Australia. It’s been six years since I have been there.

“G’Day Sheila”

By Margaret Trehy

The biggest event that’s happened recently was the All Ireland between the champions Kilkenny and Tipperary. We at Solas were very excited and hoping for a 5 in a row, (ah well you can’t win ‘em all), we were out in our black and amber shouting and roaring ‘up Kilkenny’.Brian Cody dropped into the SOS and I was excited to say hello to him, and I loved our visit to Croke Park before Kilkenny played the final on the 5th of September.

“Up Kilkenny”By Sheila Kelly

Croke Park Dressing Room

Up Kilkenny

WELCOME

SOS would like to extend the usual SOS welcome to three new service users starting the Steps programme. Their names are Ciara Trait, Louise Nash and Erin Hacking.

Alan in Reception

As you have probably noticed Alan is in reception almost everyday of the week keeping the communications open.Alan is handling all our telephone enquiries, messages and is the first voice the public hear when ringing S.O.S. You need a good handle on phone numbers and messages when working in reception and Alan has it in spades.

[19]

Castlecomer’s New Garden

Between February and April of this year an idea was formed by the service users of Castlecomer Workshop. The idea was to design a garden for the grounds of the workshop so that they could work in it and use it. Joe Walsh, Michael Dywer, Michael Lonergan, Christy Hurley, Michael Stableton, Julia Brennan and Johnny Kavanagh, all worked on the idea of a lawn with some shrubs, trees, plants and flowers, where they could sit out in the fine weather relax. Vegatables and herbs were also added to the garden.

With the good help and go ahead from staff in Castlecomer and Kilkenny the idea was brought to life and today the clients have a beautiful garden in which they can work and relax in. The clients wish to thank the staff of both Castlecomer and kilkenny for the help to do this.

Harmony ExhibitionArtists from the SOS Art Centre celebrated the opening of Harmony

in the Watergarden

Gallery ,Thomastown in July 2010.

This exhibition included inspirational work over a range of media...Ceramics, Paintings, Mixed Media... and was a

successful show running until the end of July. It was opened by Cllr Betty

Manning and the county Council Chairperson Catherine Connery and well

supported by family and friends. Thank you to everyone who helped make this an

enjoyable community experience and we look forward to future exhibitions!

[20]

SeasamhSeasamh as you may or may not know is a group of people with intellectual disabilities whom are speaking on behalf of other people with disabilities in relation to matters that affect their lives.In June of this year we were fortunate to have had the opportunity to meet with Minister for Disability and Mental Health John Maloney. We spoke to him of our concerns in relation to cuts to the disability allowance, cuts to services and our fear of future cuts in the budget in december.

You may remember earlier on i n t h e ye a r w e a s ke d everyone to sign a petition in relat ion to cuts to our services. We currently hold more than 1,500 signatures which we will be presenting to the parliamentary party in October (a date for this has yet to be finalised).

It is hoped that on this date everyone in S.O.S., staff, family and friends will help us deliver the message by descending upon the Dail to protest and express our difficulty with the decisions made by government in relation to cuts to our services. The silent, dignified march will be organized and supported by Seasamh and members from all over the south east.

In order to make a success of the day we urge everyone to come along and we encourage as many supporters of our services to do likewise.We are working with a rights committee in Trinity Collage Dublin helping to forge links with other organisations and learning from other advocacy groups about their experiences.