Sophia Vigne Welsh is a final year student in The National College of Art and Design, studying Fine Art and specializing in Media (photography, video, sound).  For her final year project Sophia has been investigating the Education system and the subject of Identity within Institutions. In order to gain insight and first-hand information from those may not have ‘fit in’ to the current mainstream system she met our Ballymun Youthreach students and talked to them both individually and as a group about their experiences within education systems. As a means of documenting these discussions, Sophia used an old medium format film camera to take portraits of the participants. The novelty of this and the pace of exchange involved in this older process allowed for some very interesting discussions develop. We’d like to thank Sophia for her time here and look forward to seeing her Ballymun Youthreach portraits in her NCAD final year show in June.

Positive Aging Week

Ballymun is one of 15 towns in Ireland to host activities annually as part of Positive Ageing Week through Age Action Ireland

Ballymun has been a Positive Ageing Week Town since 2007 and this year was no different.

One of the main highlights organised was the Pamper Afternoon held in the Axis Centre.

With great delight and enthusiasm the Beauty Class in Ballymun Youthreach accepted an invitation to offer complimentary massage treatments for this event.

It was a fantastic way of integrating into the local community and being part of a very positive experience. Lots of relaxation, chats and fun were had by all.

Accompanied by their Teacher Yvonne Murphy students that participated in treatments were Jodie Boylan, Jess Cosgrove, Nikita Skully, Jade Murphy, Jessica Judge, Nadine O’Reilly, Cassie Crosbie, Rebecca Hanna, Leanne Kearney, Sarah O’Hara and Erica Shelley and Carla Fox.

It is with great sadness that Ballymun Youthreach says goodbye to Jacqui Caulfield. Jacqui was co-ordinator in Ballymun Youthreach for fifteen years having previously worked here as the catering teacher. Her drive and vision for the centre has been responsible for many great additions to the centre, most notably the change in location in 2008 when the Youthreach moved into the premises vacated by the Senior Comprehensive school here in Ballymun. She will be sorely missed by students and staff alike, many who have greatly benefited from her advice and direction over the years. We wish her all the best in her richly deserved retirement and hope to see her again very soon.

The Ballymun Youthreach staff took to the bowling alley to celebrate the end of year. It was a particularly bittersweet occasion this year with the impending retirements of Jacqui and Stewie. As always things got quite competitive but champion bowler was Dave, who we also wish all the best as he heads for New York.

It was great sadness that we formally say goodbye to long serving staff member Stewart Dowie who has retired from teaching here at Ballymun Youthreach. Stewie’s long career involved teaching Community Arts, Drawing, Painting, Workplace Safety but perhaps his real contribution was awakening a creative and artistic talent latent in many of our students.

Staff will miss many aspects of Stewie’s time here, from his wonderfully eloquent and off the point student reviews to the denim shorts that made an appearance every summer. But most of all we will miss his rampant enthusiasm for the job, his Scottish sense of bonhomie with the students and the protective instinct he had for all the marginalised in Ballymun and beyond.

We wish him safe travels on his new bike, its standout painted frame as unique as the man himself. Cheers Stewie!

On a scorching hot spring morning, the Ballymun ladies soccer team made their long journey down the N4 towards the all-Ireland indoor ladies soccer tournament. The team consisted of Marie Lynch (Captain), Vanessa Kiernan, Erica Farrell, Rebecca Daly, Cassie Crosby & Jessica Judge.
In the ladies first game they played against Naas Youthreach. The ladies gave a dominant performance with superb individual performances by Jessica in goal and Marie who score 6 of the 8 goals the girls had put past the Naas Goalkeeper. The final result finished at 8-1.
In the ladies second game, they were up against a tougher and solid defense by the Donegal Youthreach who looked to be favorites to win the tournament. The ladies fought hard and with fearless goalkeeping by Jessica and stubborn defense by Cassie the girls held off numerous attacks from the Donegal players. Unfortunately they were finally broken and Donegal just seem to be the stronger side, delivering a 5-2 defeat to the Ballymun ladies.

In the third game, the ladies were up against Mayo Youthreach. This affair was very tight. Both teams gave solid defensive performances and there was no sight of a goal to be scored. However, Marie had other plans and with a piece of great interchanging link up play with Vanessa and Rebecca, Marie pounced in on a through ball and broke the deadlock. The girls were relentless in defense and as tension grew towards the final whistle, Naas took advantage of a free kick and caught the Ballymun defense off guard, sneaking an equalizing goal. The final result finished at 1-1.
In the ladies final game they sat in joint 2nd place in the table alongside Mayo. It was foreseeable that the two would most likely meet again in a playoff for 2nd place if the Ballymun Ladies could get past their next opponents from Meath.
The game started off at a lightning pace with Ballymun smashing in two goals in quick succession. The goal from the team was to try get all the girls on the scoreboard in this game. In which they did. It was a penalty strike that seen Erica be the final player to get on the scorecard. The strike was kept low and to the left of the goalkeeper. The girls were on their way to another showdown with Mayo. The final result finished at 6-0.

Well down to all the girls involved and thanks to our own Jack, Dave and Frank Brady at Ballinrobe Youthreach.

Ballymun Youthreach were treated to a rare concert by the esteemed Garda Band to celebrate cetifications for current and ex-students recently. The garda band treated the audience to an eclectic mix of Amy Winehouse, Acker Blik and Michael Buble before certs were handed out by Jacqui Caulfield and Bernie Reilly for a variety of achievements and certifications from students.

Ballymun Youthreach would like to extend our appreciation to the band and hope to see them again some day soon.

Nikita Turner from Ballymun Youthreach joined the other two shortlisted entrants as part of the Human Rights competition run jointly by the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and Youthreach. The prize-giving ceremony was held at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office in Dublin City on December 12th, 2014.

Nikita won third prize of a tablet computer for her entry ‘What Goes On Behind Closed Doors’. This was a mural and performance art piece which tackled the issue of domestic violence and the abuse of alcohol.

ICCL/Youthreach Human Rights Compettion encourages young people in Youthreach centres across Ireland to use their creative talents to explore themes they feel passionate about.

Ballymun Youthreach is sad to say goodbye to Aisling Johnson. It seems a long time ago, back in 2011 in fact, when Aisling began here as a shy, retiring student. She now leaves with a list of achievements including a full level 4 cert and level 5 in Customer Service as well as experience of both the framing enterprise and assisting in the co-ordinator’s office.

Aisling lists her highlights of the centre as the 2012 History trip to Paris and the 2014 trip to the Titanic Museum, Belfast. On a more personal level she lists gaining confidence, overcoming shyness and meeting new people.

When asked what she will miss the most she says the staff and students but that she’ll also miss how comfortable she felt here and she admits to a little anxiety about starting all over again. However she knows she’ll always have Ballymun Youthreach to come to if she needs help.

We wish Aisling all the best as she begins her FETAC level 5 legal administration course on the Jamestown Road, Finglas and hope to see her again in the very near future.