By Hilary Casey, Community Resource Worker, Dublin
Currently, NCBI offers day services for older people at two locations in North Dublin. These run on a Tuesday morning and afternoon in the Iona Centre and Wednesday and Thursday, morning and afternoon in the National League of the Blind on Hill Street (Top of the Hill Club). The members of each club along with staff and volunteers from NCBI recently enjoyed a trip away to Trim where they stayed for two nights at the very convenient and accessible Trim Castle Hotel.
The group of 37 service users along with staff, set off for Trim on Tuesday September 14th. Much anticipation for the trip had been building for weeks so there was great excitement as 5 buses left Dublin full to the brim with people and bags bound for County Meath. We were all delighted to find the hotel so comfortable and accessible and the staff couldn’t have done more for us. We had our own conference room set up for meals which meant that people could move around with relative ease, visit friends on other tables and of course there was space for the dance floor which was busy both nights! On Tuesday afternoon, the group split in two with one half taking a walk around Trim Castle itself and the other half stayed in the hotel for a quiz. That evening after having a very tasty dinner, we enjoyed traditional music from a local group which was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
On Wednesday morning we had an early start as the entire group headed to Newgrange and Visitors’ Centre. After enjoying a delicious lunch, we watched a movie about the history of Newgrange took a tour around the display and were taken by a guide to the interior of a complete replica of one half of Newgrange. The group found this tour excellent and very much enjoyed the experience of how the light shines through Newgrange on the winter solstice so although Newgrange itself is not accessible to all, the group found that they could see and imagine what it would be like if they were in the tomb on this magical day in December.
On Wednesday evening after another lovely dinner, a second band joined us and much dancing and singing was had by all. Members of the group themselves sang and thoroughly enjoyed the experience and we are hoping to have a repeat performance at the Christmas party!
On Thursday morning after a late breakfast the group started to pack up their bags and return to Dublin. A very enjoyable couple of days were had by all. Many thanks to all the volunteers who kindly gave up their time to help make this trip possible and to the staff at Trim Castle Hotel and at New grange who helped to make this event such a great success.