Co-operative Housing News Autumn 2018

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 20182

Staff News

In staff news this Autumn, we are delighted to welcome back Claire O’Mahony, Munster Housing Manager who has recently returned from maternity leave.

Our Childcare service in St. Finian’s also welcomes two

new staff members - Shamika Zaheer and Therese

Boutrous Nada, while Annette McDermott has joined

the team in Brookview. Congratulations are also

in order for Padraic Clancy, former Development

Manager for the Leinster region, who has just been

appointed Acting Head of New Business.

But, with the changing of the seasons, also comes the

news that John Masterson, our Head of Finance, will

be leaving us when he retires at the end of the year.

John has been a wonderful asset to the CHI team over

the last number of years, and we’ll miss him terribly –

don’t miss us too much John!

All Summer long!

The long, hot summer provided plenty of opportunities for members across the country to get together and host a range of events.

Dublin South Co-operative Housing Society members

held their annual Street Party in Kilcronan on August

5th. There were games, food and face-painting galore.

Members of Dublin West Co-operative Housing

Society in Avondale held a Neighbours’ Day on August

6th, complete with face-painting and other activities, a

BBQ and music.

A summer party was also held down south in The

Tannery, Bandon, which boasted sports activities, a

barbeque and an ice cream van.

To bring it all to a close, an End of Summer Party was

held in Fruithill Manor on September 16th. The well-

attended event was a roaring success and included

a bouncy castle, a BBQ, terrific weather and two of our

very newest co-operators (new-borns!).

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 2018 3

Community spirit

Ensuring that local co-operatives are equipped to finance community projects is very important to us.

With that in mind, we were delighted to learn that

Dublin South and South Leinster were both successful

in securing funding through the Community

Enhancement Scheme, operated by the Local

Authorities. The funding will go towards the vegetable

and herb garden in Kilcronan and the updating of the

play area in Fruithill. Well done to both societies! Be

sure to keep in touch with your local Housing Officer

for latest updates on funding opportunities available to

your society.

Upcoming events

So, it’s Autumn, and for some of us that means only one thing – we’re getting ever-closer to Christmas!

To get us into the Christmas spirit, South Leinster

are holding an outing to Santa’s Enchanted Castle

Experience at Enniscorthy’s Castle Museum on

Castle Hill, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford on December

12th from 4.30 p.m.- 6.30 p.m. for members based in

Gorey and Enniscorthy. There will be a small tour of

the Enchanted Castle & Santa will have a small gift

for each of the children. Maria Butler, South Leinster

Housing Officer will collect completed forms on her

estate visits. All members in the area welcome!

In conjunction with the UCC Centre for Co-operative

Studies, we are holding a screening of ‘A Silent

Transformation’, a documentary examining co-

operatives in Canada, on Wednesday, October

17th. The screening, which takes place at 6 p.m. in

the Creative Zone in the UCC Library, will offer an

opportunity to learn more about co-operatives globally

and to discuss their importance and relevance. Co-

operative members and members of the public are

welcome. Register here: http://tiny.cc/filmdocu

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 20184

Weaver’s Wood launch

On September 11th, we were thrilled to host the official launch of a brand-new 33-unit development in Clonsilla, Dublin.

Weaver’s Wood is in a mature residential cul-de-sac

within five minutes’ walk of Clonsilla Railway Station.

It is close to Blanchardstown Centre and St. Mochta’s

primary school and Hansfield Educate Together

school.

Each home is spacious, modern and A-energy rated

with 2 car-parking spaces. Developed in collaboration

with Fingal County Council, G. McGreevy Construction,

and Downey Planning & Architecture, the Weaver’s

Wood scheme was funded by the Housing Finance

Agency and the Department of Housing, Planning and

Local Government.

The official launch, attended by Mayor of Fingal,

Anthony Lavin and Minister of State for Housing and

Urban Development, Damien English, as well as a

range of other stakeholders, presented a fantastic

opportunity for members to meet new neighbours

and celebrate moving into their new home and

community.

One new member even baked a delicious cake for the

event! The event was widely covered in the national

media, including RTE News.

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 2018 5

Going Green

We’re gone all green-fingered across a number of CHI estates in Dublin!

Patricia Whelan, a member of Dublin South, spent all

summer planting and maintaining the community

garden in Rockfield. Members of Dublin South in

Kilcronan, Clondalkin also officially launched their

community garden in July. The garden, which was

opened by South Dublin County Mayor Mark Ward,

was picked up by the local media, The Echo, which

praised it for its bee and child-friendly credentials!

A community clean-up morning was also held in

Hunter’s Green in Gorey in July, which offered a great

opportunity for members to get to know each other.

Many hands etc.!

Competition Corner

We are very excited to launch our COMPETITION CORNER in this season’s newsletter.

The Competition Corner will offer the opportunity for

our younger co-operators to really get creative and

get involved. For this edition, we’re asking children up

to 12 years of age to submit a picture that represents

what living in co-operative housing means to them.

The winner will win a €50 Smyth’s voucher, 2nd place

will win a €30 Smyth’s voucher, and 3rd place will

win a €20 Smyth’s voucher. All entries, including your

name, age, local co-operative and address should

be submitted to Fiona Dunkin, Co-operative Housing

Ireland, 33 Lower Baggot Street, Dublin 2. Take a look

at Dublin South member Lacey’s gorgeous picture and

description of their new chicken coop in Kilcronan for

some inspiration!

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 20186

AGM Update

Our 2018 Annual General Meeting was held on Saturday, September 29th in the Ashling Hotel, Dublin. Members from across the country travelled to the event, which offered the opportunity for member discussion, updates from CHI staff, and distribution of copies of our recently published 2017 Annual Report.

We were delighted to welcome our newly elected

Board members on the day. They are listed below.

We wish them all the very best for their two-year term.

John Power

Loughlinstown

Lisa Kinsella-Colman

Dublin South

Kim Olin

Dublin City

Frances Kawala

Connacht

Kim Byrne

South Leinster

Pearse O’Shiel Ralahine

Taoufik Hammami Munster

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 2018 7

Getting Winter ready

The weather might be all over the place at the moment, but it’s still well worth gearing up for Winter.

Below are a few energy-saving tips that might come in

useful:

1. Bleed your radiators regularly. It can be a pain,

but if you don’t, it may mean your radiator is not

working as efficiently as it could be.

2. Try washing your dishes and clothes at a lower

temperature. You probably won’t notice a huge

difference if you bring the temperature down

gradually to ensure that your cleaning remains as

effective!

3. Keep your curtains closed in the evenings. A huge

amount of heat escapes through windows, and it’ll

be dark out in any case!

4. With the dark evenings, we’ll be switching more

lights on in the house. If you don’t already, try to

make a habit of switching off lights in rooms that

aren’t occupied.

5. With the arrival of the colder weather, it’s

more important than ever to be aware of fire

safety. Please ensure that you know where

fire extinguishers are located in your home

and in common areas. If you notice that a fire

extinguisher has been tampered with or appears

to be damaged, please make this known to your

Housing Officer immediately.

Similar tips are to be found in our upcoming Member

Handbook, which will be made available to members

in 2019.

Correction

In our Summer Newsletter, we incorrectly referred to member organisation Cloughjordan Co-Housing as

Cloughjordan Community Co-operative Society. We wish to apologise for this error.

Co-operative Housing News Autumn 2018