LIMERICK LEADER, MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2008. 3

LEADERBRIEFS

WhiteChristmasIF you’re dreaming of awhite Christmas inLimerick then bookieswill pay out cool hardcash if you’re provedright. Paddy Power areoffering odds of 4/1that a single snowflakewill fall on the city onDecember 25. SharonMcHugh of PaddyPower says they standto lose a six figure sumif it snows onChristmas Day.

Local moviesuccessHOLLYWOOD block-buster Inkheart whichhas just been releasedin the cinemas has aLimerick connection.Concept designerNorman Walshe fromCastletroy View workedon many of the back-ground scenes of thefantasy movie.

Jennifer’sexhibitionPHOTOGRAPHY stu-dent Jennifer Walsh isopening her first photo-graphic exhibition inLimerick City Museumat 7pm on Tuesday,December 16. BrianHodkinson, assistantcurator, will officiallyopen it.

Let yourselfgo...racingLIMERICK Racecourseis gearing up for it’straditional Four DayRacing Festival, whichtakes place atGreenmount Park fromDecember 26 to 29.Sponsored once againby Guinness up to40,000 punters areexpected through thegates over the course ofthe proceedings, withalmost €500,000 in prizemoney up for grabs.

Concert HallTHE UniversityConcert Hall hasannounced the appoint-ment of David Collopyto the position of com-pany general manager,responsible for allaspects of the day today operation of thevenue. This post wascreated as a response tothe ongoing growth inthe number and varietyof performances atboth UniversityConcert Hall and LITMillennium Theatreand the board’s desireto pursue a New Visionfor the future of UCH.

Call for CABprofilersLIMERICK needs morethan two CAB profilers,according to DeputyKieran O’Donnell whoattended a recent meet-ing of the JointPolicing Committee.The Fine Gael deputycalled for a full unit ofCAB to be properlyresourced in the city totackle gangland crimi-nals.

Past and present insouthside calendarBy DONAL O’REGAN

A GROUP ofSouthside womenhave captured every-thing good about theircommunity in a newcalendar and DVD.

The SouthsideWomen’s Group have 28members and they allhelped put the calendarand DVD together, whichis launched this week

Project worker BridLyons said that at thestart of the project theladies were talking aboutthe film Calendar Girlsand how they couldn’t dothat.

“And a couple ofmonths later here theyare with their very owncalendar and DVD,” saidMs Lyons.

The project, which wasrun from Southill FamilyResource Centre, startedin September. The ladies,who are mainly fromSouthill, were helped byprofessional photogra-pher Pat Mullins at thebeginning, but they weresoon out on their own.

“He taught the womento capture not only theouter images of photog-raphy but also an under-standing of inner-selfand self-identity,”explained Brid.

“They took photo-graphs of their commu-nity and themselves, andcombined those with pic-tures from the past,” sheadded.

“The calendar andDVD is called Presentand Past and because thephotos were so good, thegroup decided to go onestep further and make aDVD. It contains footageof new and old Southill,and of people in theircommunity.

However, the women,

who were in their mid-twenties to forties,learned a lot more thanjust how to take a goodphotograph.

“It was a very success-ful project not only forthe quality of the photo-graphs but because ofthe bonding between thewomen. They gelled as agroup. It really helped tobuild confidence,” saidMs Lyons.

“It was a great achieve-

ment by all the womenand has really boostedcommunity spirit,” sheadded.

The calendar and DVDis being sold as a packageand costs €10. The pro-ceeds go to the SouthsideDomestic Abuse Projectand they’re are availablefrom the Southill FamilyResource Centre.

“It is fitting that bytheir efforts theSouthside Women's

Group will be helpingother women to emergefrom isolation and over-come disadvantage,” saidMs Lyons.

And she stresses thatthe Southside Women’sGroup is open to every-one.

“If you have nothing todo and would like to getinvolved just give us aring at 061- 440250 atSouthill Family ResourceCentre,” she concludes.

At the launch of the Southside Women's Group 2009 Calendar were: Anne Lawlor, Anne Kinsella, Breda McNamara, MabelMescall and Mary Frawley (LL)

Liz Price and Mary Timmons, Limerick Womens Network and Pat Mullins at the launch