Hello everyone. This is the last time I will be saying hello to you here. My time with NewsFour and Sandymount Community Services is over. Regular readers will remember I prematurely announced this a couple of years ago but this time it’s a reality.
You may not be aware that all the staff of NewsFour are community employment participants and that Sandymount Community Services is responsible for 24 such workers in Ringsend Creche, Ringsend and Irishtown Community Centre, Clanna Gael and Cambridge Court.
It has truly been a privilege to have had this opportunity for the past six years to work with every one of them. Each in their own way has brought some new learning and fulfilment for me. I am more than ever convinced of the importance of community employment whereby people are given time to develop, grow and thereby go on to greater things. FÁS grant aid community employment by way of wages and training grants to participants. Long may they continue this good work in these straitened times.
Many thanks go to Eugene Carolan who has been constantly by my side in my efforts to progress NewsFour and to Grainne McGuinness for her support. There is always room for improvement and no doubt the new Editor will bring yet more innovation.
I have developed a great rapport with readers and contributors. I always look forward to your stories, letters and poetry, to your emails, to you dropping into the office and to the response from our crossword aficionados. I am going to miss you all so much. You are the backbone of the paper and without your input where would we be?
Many thanks also to our advertisers, especially those faithfuls who stay with us through thick and thin. We would not be able to publish without your support and I am grateful to each of you for making NewsFour possible.
Sandymount Community Services has been on the go for the past 24 years and NewsFour for 23. I am proud to have been a part of the organisation since its inception by Ruarí Quinn in 1985 and to have worked as Supervisor for the Sponsoring Committee, Chaired by Dermot Lacey for the past six years.
I will be gone in a few weeks time to write my autobiography, to play with my grandchildren, to explore new opportunities and who knows what else.
Best wishes
Ann |