Can you believe it folks its one year to the day since I did my first Christmas review for your favourite magazine here at the Fountain Resource Group and believe me you a lot has changed! We had sad losses during the year, we had good celebrations, we had many an interview, a load of tour reviews, plenty of poems were written and plenty were published.
We are very proud that we are just past one year going digital and already we are becoming more popular than we ever thought possible. So we would like to say a big thank you to you, the reader, for going online to check us out.
For anyone you know who would like to get involved in the web revolution but feels embarrassed that they don’t know what a mouse is don’t forget we do have computer classes here for free. Each class has no more than 5 people which includes the teacher, this ensures that the student if gets the very best help. The classes are ran each Monday & Tuesday morning, if you would like more information please drop in if you live near the Presbytery in St James parish in Dublin 8 or you can telephone and ask for Kevin the teacher either Monday Or Tuesday, or ask for Eoghan, or Derek on 01-454-6753. Sorry for the cheap pop!
As I mentioned we had losses this year, one in particular was a lady called Ellen Lucas. She worked here at the Fountain, and she also worked with the children at the breakfast and home work clubs that are ran here. Sadly Ellen passed away it was shock for all us. Not long before she passed on, she celebrated her birthday, the same day as our editor Eoghan so it was marked as a double celebration. Ellen didn’t like to fuss, so myself, Elisha, Denise, Derek and Tom, snuck around the building in an effort to keep moving the cake we bought for them. When we were ready, we called her and she walked in and nearly passed out with the surprise! She was delighted as the echo of “happy birthday” rang throughout the room. I managed to get about a few snaps, little did any of us realise how valuable those pictures would prove to be… She has not been forgotten by anybody who works here at the Fountain. Ellen was and still is a special person to those close to her on earth and in the spirit world, we all miss you Ellen, but we will never forget you.
The cuts in the budget have hit all community projects. We at the Fountain have been really lucky to keep our services going. Of course we still had to tighten our belts and review all of our services. In essence, we are like a big oak tree with lots of different branches be they the breakfast club, the crèche, play school, the fountain youth project, our internet magazine the list just goes on and on. I often wonder how our boss Tom Brunkard and all the staff do it, we as the people of the Dublin 8 area have an awful lot to thank Tom and all his staff for doing such an wonderful job. It’s like steering a huge big oil tanker through choppy seas, one big angry wave and it could knock them off track and getting back up to where they were could take a lot of time and effort. Then there is the cash side of it, believe you me it’s not an easy job and no he or his staff don’t sit around drinking tea or coffee, they all believe they are here for a reason and when that reason is done then, and only then will they have a cup of tea or coffee.
Like all new seasons the wee tots said goodbye to some of their students, who went into primary school and hopefully the junior youth. But as those little darlings started school, new ones took their place as the great wheel of life keeps turning. The staff at the Wee Tots are doing and always have done a wonderful job, I don’t want to name just one member of staff as they all part of a very well headed team, and they all work together and make it happen, that’s how progression works, through good team work. Just like their sisters services the breakfast club and the home work club the same, and like all the other Fountain’s branches the year has had challenges but the staff have rose to those challenges.
Back to our department, well my part and that is writing, I love to write and I am very honoured to write for the magazine as this is my first time to write for a publication. While I no longer just write poems, it is wonderful to get them published and share the joy I get out of them. My poems are based on reality, the odd time I write fiction I don’t care once I write! As I said earlier anybody can put forward any piece of writing they wrote and have it published, I would be very happy to share the poet’s page with you!
All in all another year passes with ups and downs, I hope you enjoyed yours and have a great one next year!
This article was originally published in:
Fountain News Digital – December 2011 (Issue 7)
We are re-publishing all articles from our past newsletter, Fountain News Digital, and you can view all completed newsletters here. There were nine issues published in total between 2010 and 2012.
