The Dublin Community Blog

Ok, I’ve had a few emails from people, which is really encouraging, looking for more details on the quiz. I’m really hoping that the blogging community can get behind this a little and spread the word, as well as turning up on the night. The whole idea is to raise as much funds as possible for the Niall Mellon Township Challenge, so, the more there the better!

The quiz is taking place in 4 Dame Lane this coming Thursday (Nov 2nd) kicking off from about 19:00 onwards. It will be taking place in the upstairs function room of 4 Dame Lane. Suggested entry fee is EUR 10 per person. I say suggested, as the whole idea of the night is to raise as much as possible, so, if people want to add more to the pot to enter, it would be very much appreciated. The norm for table quizzes is to have 4 entrants per table, so, I’d like to stick it something close to this, however, won’t be strictly enforcing this either!

If anyone wants any further info, drop me a mail quiz@dublinblog.ie

And again, if you’re not able to make it on the night, you can always make a donation via PayPal by clicking below.

It’s Halloween tomorrow evening. It reminds me that I was in Belfast last Halloween and travelled back to Dublin in the dark. The night outside my train window was broken up the whole way along with bonfires and fireworks, you could almost touch the pagan throw back. This pic is all I managed to capture through the train window and was taken at Newry.

There are lots of things going on around Dublin so go and find something fun in your area. Be careful of fireworks, in fact why not leave them to the experts eh?

*As an aside anyone got any Dublin ghost stories – there were some in the Evening Herald tonight, stories centred on the Shelbourne Hotel ghost, one in Dublin Castle, Malahide Castle, Johnnie Fox’s, Brazen Head, Malahide Castle and of course the Hell Fire Club! If you want to hear them you will have to ask *

Today we awoke to clapping outside our window. Since the Dublin Marathon passed by our apartment, we took pictures from the first mile. Eventually, we wandered down Nassau Street to the end of the race. The marathon was won by Aleksey Sokolov in a record time of 2.11:38 according to rte news. The first Irish person to finish was Cian McLoughlin in a time of 2:22:36. Elena Ivanova was the first woman to cross the finish line with a time of 2:29:49.

Tomorrow is the Dublin Marathon.  So, if you are in Dublin, go out and cheer on the runners! The race starts at 9:00 AM and the course is a big loop starting and ending in city centre.  The course route can be found by downloading the pdf file.

If you’re going along to the Ideal Homes Exhibition in the RDS this weekend, make sure to stop off at stand MG1 and check up on the Niall Mellon Township Challenge stand there, to get a little more information on what the initiative is about, and what I and the the rest of the volunteers will be getting up to during this years builders week.

Whilst on the topic, if anyone out there is willing and able to donate some gifts toward a raffle I will be having at next weeks fundraising Table Quiz please make contact with me.

I’m delighted to hear that one of my favourite music radio stations, Phantom FM, is launching at noon on Oct 31st next. Phantom has been around for a long time, firstly as a pirate station and more recently as an on-line station and over the years they have built up a huge following. They primarily broadcast rock and indie music and also showcase emerging local artists.

They are currently inviting fans to pick the first song to be played. Add your song and you could win tickets to the Phantom 105.2 Launch Party at the Village on Oct 31st or an Apple ipod. Details can be found on their website here.

I hope the launch goes great and I look forward to once again listening to Phantom on the radio.

UPDATE Oct 31st
The first song was “Today” by the Smashing Pumpkins. Rather apt for the day thats in it

We are a bit late posting this seeing as how it was in the news late last week and mentioned on various other blogs, but Liberty Hall, a 16-storey landmark building in Dublin’s skyscape, is to be demolished.

It is a fairly ugly building which was built before air-conditioning and having worked in buildings without air-conditioning, Liberty Hall must be torturous to work in with all those windows and sun streaming in all day from all directions. I will lament the loss of the view however and will endeavour to get back up again to get more shots of Dublin from the top. Meanwhile here’s one I prepared earlier.

Let us know your thoughts on what should be done with Liberty Hall by participating in our latest poll.

TV3 has been running it’s own reality show over the last number of weeks The Box where two competitors work together during the day to win money doing challenges before competing against each other in a live final at 10pm each evening. Oh yeah while sleeping in a massive see-through box located somewhere around Jervis Street. I watched it a couple of times and I wasn’t moved into making it a nightly turn-on, but thats just me judge it for yourself.
While I might not be interested in watching the show I did fancy the idea of taking pics but I haven’t yet. However John at McAWilliams.com has taken some cracking shots including this one of two of the contestants.

Hey Folks,

Right, time to use and abuse this blog a little. As I’ve mentioned here on a few previous occasions, I shall be heading to Cape Town, South Africa on Nov 17th, along with 350 or so other Irish volunteers to take part in the Niall Mellon Township Challenge.

The challenge involves us going to Cape Town, in order to build houses in Townships (shanty towns) for poor and impoverished African families, who are currently living in squalid conditions in what I can only describe, having seen them for myself, as huts and shacks.

In order to try and raise some much needed funds for the trip, I am hosting a fundraising table quiz in the wonderfully cool 4 Dame Lane in Dublin on Thursday Nov 2nd. The event is open to anyone who wants to come, so long as they come prepared to spend some cash. Every single cent that is raised goes direct to a very good cause, all expenses involved in putting this trip together, and getting the people there are personally paid by Niall Mellon himself.

I’m hopping the blogging community can get behind this, I will be sending out emails over the coming days, encouraging people both to turn up, and also to spread the word about the quiz, and more importantly, the cause. Next November there will be places for 1000 people to go out to Cape Town, the largest ever Irish Charity Event outside of Ireland, and I can tell you now, from listening to the crew behind it, that it’s going to be absolutely massive.

If you are looking for more details on the quiz itself, or on the Irish Township Challenge, drop me a mail on quiz@dublinblog.ie

If you’re not going to be able to make it along on the night itself, but still want to help, you can always make contact with me, or you can of course donate through PayPal.