Louth - Event Notice
Thursday January 01 1970

Open Space for Community and Voluntary Forum

louth | miscellaneous | event notice

Monday April 16, 2007 18:21

by Sean Crudden - LCC&VF

sean.crudden at iol dot ie

Jenkinstown, Dundalk, Co Louth.

087 9739945

Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum

The forum is to use open space technology in a full-day session on Saturday 28 April 2007 in The Fairways Hotel, Dundalk. The idea is to review the progress of the forum over the last few years and to plot the way ahead. Not only stakeholders who may already have a connection with the forum are invited to attend the open space day but also anyone who is interested in or curious about the forum's function and who may have ideas or opinions which might help to advance the work of the forum.

Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum will host an open space event on Saturday 28th April 2007, from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m., in the Fairways Hotel, Dundalk.

The purpose of the event is to find out how the forum can be better at representing the views, the needs and the opinions of the Community and Voluntary Sector in Louth.

The forum is made up of elected representatives of the community and voluntary organisations in Co Louth. Representatives of the forum sit on several development boards, committees, boards of management and task forces which operate, many of them, on a county-wide basis.

The members of the forum donate a lot of their time and energy to further the work of the forum but, currently, members believe that there is room for improvement. "Open Space Technology" is the chosen solution to encourage participation and to help to plot a way ahead for the forum.

The forum is inviting a wide variety of people to this event, including elected local representatives and staff from the local authorities and other statutory agencies. Not only members of the forum are asked to participate but also any member of the public who wishes to contribute ideas which might help the work of the forum in the future.

Open Space Technology is an up-to-date method that has proved very useful in working with groups of people from very diverse backgrounds with many different agendas. Participants set the agenda on the day and therefore discuss the topics that are of most importance to them under the banner of a "calling question." The calling question for this event is

"How can we better represent the views, needs and opinions of the Community and Voluntary Sector in Louth?"

Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum has engaged the services of Alan Hayes to facilitate the event. Alan has used open space with groups and organisations like the forum before and he will guide the day and provide the forum with the necessary assistance to work through the process.

Transport is available for anyone who would like to attend but would otherwise have difficulty getting to the venue. Meals and refreshments will be available throughout the day in the hotel, so potential participants should not worry about it costing too much money to take part. Anyone who believes they would like to participate but feels there is something preventing them from attending should make contact with the forum to work out some resolution to the problem. Personal assistants/helpers are welcome to accompany those who require such support.

Participants will need to book their place in order to take part and should contact the forum development worker, Alison O’Neil, on or before Monday 23rd April. You can write, phone, text or email your response to

Alison O’Neil
Open Space
Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum
c/o Community and Enterprise
Louth County Council
County Hall
Dundalk
Co. Louth

Telephone 042 932 4302

Text 086 6013781 (please remember to include your name)

Email [email protected]

The forum’s website can be found at www.louthcommunityforum.ie/

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Comments (4 of 4)

How Open Space Technology Works

by Sean Crudden

Sat Apr 21, 2007 22:44

The link below will bring up an article on how "open space" technology works in practice - or in how it is supposed to work!

Participants and Organisers

by Sean Crudden - Greenore-Cooley Fisherman's Association

Sat Apr 28, 2007 19:31

A successful full day open space event took place today in The Fairways Hotel. The organisers have every reason to be satisfied because almost 50 very committed participants turned up and stayed the course until the end. There was voluble and intense conversation and no acrimony. Summaries of all "conversations" were recorded and copied to every participant at the end of the event. There will be little time to reflect because a meeting of Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum takes place on Monday night (30 April 2007) at which the open day will be evaluated and every effort will be made to plan implementation of the outcomes from the discussion which took place today.

Alan Hayes, Dun Laoghaire, facilitator of the open space event which took place in The Fairways Hotel, Dundalk, today.

Alison O'Neil, development worker with Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum, who organised the event pictured after dinner with Tony Mullins, Drogheda.

Fr Andy McNally, director of the Armagh dioscesan pastoral and family center in Dundalk, pictured before the open space event started at 10.00 a.m. this morning. On the right is Archbishop Michael Desmond Hynes OMA PhD, Greenore.

Celine McGuigan (left) and Lucy Rafferty both from Muirhevnamore. Lucy is honorary secretary of Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum.

Eugene Matthews, chairperson of Mid Louth Area Forum finishing off his dinner around 5.30 p.m. after the open space event.

Thinking Talking Eating

Sat Apr 28, 2007 19:50

Refreshments were available in the room all day for participants. There was a mid-day lunch of soup and sandwiches in the dining room and around 5.30 p.m. a buffet dinner was served. Hot dishes - chicken royale and beef curry - were available or alternatively a buffet ham/corned beef salad.

Luke Martin of Parental Equality. Luke is a candidate in Louth for the upcoming general election.

Mrs Peter Mulligan (left), Bellurgan, and Joan Brady, Dundalk.

Phil Conyngham (left), Drogheda, and Jim Cousins, Dundalk. Jim, a Progressive Democrat, is a former chairperson of Louth County Council.

Stephen, Drogheda. Unfortunately I misplaced my notebook and I cannot recall Stephen's surname. He is intensely interested in community development.

Chairman of Louth County Community and Voluntary Forum, Benny Devlin, Togher, Dunleer, has a word in Lucy Rafferty's ear during lunch of soup and sandwiches at the open space day in The Fairways Hotel.

Heavy Hitters

Sat Apr 28, 2007 20:04

Only one county councillor - Tomás Sharkey of Sinn Féin, attended and one town councillor, Leonard Hatrick, Ardee, a Progressive Democrat. Mark Dearey, a Green Party candidate in the general election, looked in for a while.

Tomás Sharkey, MCC, with Ide Lenihan, Drogheda.

Peter Purdy (left), Archbishop Hynes and Leonard Hatrick TC. Peter is related to Richie Purdy who used to play for Dundalk FC.

Maureen Ward, manager Louth LEADER, listening intensely to the conversation on "Expenses" during the final round in the matrix.

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Comments (4 of 4)