I might not be able to connect before meeting as I have a few things on at the moment. So in case I can’t get there it might be useful to do this by email and what I say is nothing hard and fast so please add and adapt as you see fit.
I agree with you that going in on a narrow specific subject might be not be best yet but if it comes up it can be addressed. This group is in the early stages of connection and there is hopefully more to join and become involved and we will have a better sense of the shape of it after Monday’s session.
We have to some extent set the scene of why we are all sitting together –that is, that we are witnessing further destruction of the heritage of Suir Island in the interest of short-term expediency against a background of an inert larger/wider community response. Connecting the wider community, might be a question of creating some kind of debate [preferably a dialogue] within the community about the kind of community spirit we would like own and participate in creating. The objective would be to find agree a vision for what kind of community we would like to be part of ,that would include all of the diverse interest groups, as well concerned individuals and community activists.
If we focus at this stage on too narrow a perspective ie such as ‘stop the bulldozers’ ,we will in effect be going head to head with other community organisations [chamber,local authority, traders etc] and will ultimately be digging trenches and in for a long battle.
What I felt started to emerge from our first discussion, was the idea of using the island as a focus for the exercise of unifying the town.
So if we could frame a context in which we can now give some time to dialogue about the state of our affairs, a dialogue that we might consider bringing out into the wider community to stir up some passion and interest. We could start with something along these lines :
The state of neglect of Suir Island and the absence of any balanced plan for developing the space as a central amenity for the residents of the town, is further evidence that the centre or heart of Clonmel is being allowed to die, through a general lack of interest by the wider community. The overall lack of a co-ordinated response or voice from the community means that no-one is ‘minding the shop’, and we as individuals can only look on and witness the ongoing demise of our beautiful town.
How can we as a group of concerned individuals engage the wider interest of the town residents in becoming more aware and creating one voice for what is in the best interests of the town – the creation of spaces for the evolution of a healthy community spirit?
Let me know what you think and include others in framing the session for Monday
Pat
