The Dublin Community Blog

The good people of Dublin hit the streets of Dublin in their thousands over the weekend to check out the Street Performance World Championships. We made it along but not quite in time to participate in the world record attempt. From what I read on Twitter it seems like too many people hopped along! Congratulations to all who particpated in this wonky bit of history!

Congratulations too to the staff and volunteers at SPWC for organising another great free festival. We managed to catch JP Koala, Dr. Kaboom and Thom Sellectomy. We couldn’t get next or near last year’s winners, USA Breakdancers, but had we managed to catch them we would have missed our favourite this year, Dr. Kaboom so all’s well. Like last year the Festijeux were a big hit with three generations of our family and I eventually had to drag my father away!

If you haven’t already made plans for next weekend I would advise you to get yourself into Merrion Square, the earlier the better. Last year myself and my family had a great day out at the Street Performance World Championships in Dublin. It was so good on the Saturday that we went back for more on the Sunday. This event happens over 2 weekends – the first took place yesterday and Saturday in Fitzgerald park in Cork and from the tweets seemed to have been a big hit, regardless of the weather.While it was very busy last year, particularly on the Sunday, we were nearly always able to get a good view and we didn’t feel crowded.

Apart from the contiortionists, sword swallowers, breakdancers and acrobats SPWC are organising a world record attempt which we can all participate in on the Sunday. If you would like to break the world record for the number of people bouncing on space hoppers at the same time, your dream can become a reality on Sunday at 2pm. You just have to register by emailing worldrecord@spwc.ie.

The competition kicks off at 12pm on Saturday and the last performances are scheduled to take place at 6.30pm on Sunday. While most of the performers don’t take the competition too seriously, you can vote for your favourite act throughout the weekend. Make sure to bring along plenty of fivers or change to pay the performers. They do not get a penny except what they can persuade you to part with after their performance. Some of them are very persuasive!

The SPWC website includes maps (don’t worry about not being able to print it – they have plenty available at the event), timetables and lots of info about the competing acts. A favourite with the kids last year were the wooden games so we’ll see you there and challenge you to best us!

This Friday (i.e. the day after tomorrow!) the Hyperbolic Crochet Reef, which has been on display in the Science Gallery in Trinity College Dublin since March, will be packed away to continue its world tour elsewhere. I have yet to see this exhibition myself – the timing was a bit off for me with all that has been going on but I am heading to the gallery on Friday to catch a tour of the reef. I’m sorry to be leaving my trip to see this fascinating marriage of science and craft so late, being a bit of a hooker myself. I even rustled up a few pieces of coral myself which are still languishing at the bottom of my crochet box: as I said there’s been a lot of changes recently!

Photo owned by superfem (cc)

What in the heck is hyperbolic crochet I hear you ask? Well you can read Karlin Lillington’s excellent column from last week’s Irish Times to get an idea of this amazing process of modelling 3 dimensional geometry which was first developed by Latvian Dr Daina Taimina. Taimina was in the Science Gallery during the week to talk about her work. This was one of many events organised by the Gallery throughout the coral’s visit to Dublin.

You can also watch this brilliant TED talk given by Margaret Wertheim who, with her sister Christine, has used this modelling method to raise awareness of the dangers to the world’s coral reefs.

Some of my co-bloggers here on Dublinblog.ie have written a post or two about the Science Gallery and really it’s a gem. If you are visiting Dublin, planning a trip to the Gallery via the grounds of Trinity is well worth it. It’s easily accessed from a number of bus routes or you can alight at Pearse Dart Station and the Science Gallery is just around the corner. There’s a full calendar of events with something to suit all types, from ubernerds to schoolkids.

While I don’t think my children’s patience will stretch to it on Friday, I’m delighted to see that the Science Gallery’s Friday Tapas are back as I heard a number of favourable comments. Some day I’ll make it

It’s been a shocking long while since I’ve posted here or anywhere else for that matter. However I have a very good excuse – I’ve been busy increasing the population of Dublin!

Since I started contributing to Dublinblog.ie I have been meaning to write reviews of playgrounds. (Picture, left, is the playground in Marlay Park, which I will review in the future.) As a parent this is the kind of information I would love about a city I’m living in or visiting. There’s nothing like a playground to retrieve some of your sanity when you’re hanging out with kids. You can sit down with a book or a coffee and they can vent their energy. However it can all go wrong if you rock up and all the equipment looks perilous for your little darling. I am also always interested to hear about developments in parks in the city because, recession or no, there has been some interesting developments in Dublin parks recently. No doubt they were planned and paid for before things began to slide. Swings and roundabouts eh? (Expect much more playground wordplay ) Also, as your kids grow, certain playgrounds lose favour or playgrounds that were once too challenging are now just challenging enough. I’ll also try and include some essential info for parents (proximity of hot beverages, picnic tables, benches etc.; y’know essential!) Please, as always, share your thoughts or comments because I may not notice what you might notice about a playground.

The only possible problem with the series is that I’m a southsider and with 3 small children it will definitely be the summer before I make it to any northside playgrounds, if I make it at all. If you are based on the northside and have children and would like to contribute please leave a comment below and we’ll get in touch. Also I refer to my children as Nipper 1.0 (Boy, 6ish, kind of cautious), Nipper 2.0 (Boy, 3ish, bonkers) and Nipper 3.0 (Girl, Shiny, shiny, new, new!)

With no further ado I’m going to kick off with Rathfarnham Castle Playground. (Map) This was discovered by Nipper 1.0 when he and his classmates were brought here by his school. He was mad keen to revisit so we have been back a couple of times since then. The playground here seems to be very new and unlike many in Dublin does not use bark chip as a weed suppressant/ falling child catcher. The ground directly under the various equipment is covered with a soft rubbery, faux tarmacadam and elsewhere a bright hard tarmacadam like composite. I understand the attraction of bark chip but it gets very messy when wet and while it hasn’t rained for a good while in Dublin this is not the norm. But more about bark chip when we get to it!

When we were at Rathfarnham castle today it was quiet enough. Last time we were there during the Easter Holidays and it was busier. What I like about this playground as a parent is that while it is sizable enough so that you are not sitting on top of the other families that are there, it is still small and flat enough to see from one side to the other, thus allowing you to keep an eye on the kids without shifting from your seat. Also the fact that it is big enough means that the equipment isn’t packed together so it is easy to see around it. I forgot to take photos today but future posts will include more. (And if i’m back in the meantime I’ll add photos. Obviously I have to be careful not to include other people’s kids so it can be a little challenging if the playground is busy!)

There are about 5 main pieces of equipment and then a variety of swings and, for want of a better word, twirlers. The five items include a spiderweb style rope climbing frame that rises in a pyramidal shape to about 15ft. This is quite a challenging item although Nipper 1.0 told me today that a girl in his class climbed to the top and got in trouble when they were there with the school. He wouldn’t dream of doing this but I would say it’s only a matter of time before Nipper 2.0 is shouting at us all from up there. There is a piece of equipment that involves stepping stones on springs, balancing and reaching, which would be suited to older children. There is set aimed at toddlers and ambitious wobblers with bridges, platforms, steps and slides all placed at a lowish level. Finally there is a large castle with rock-climbing style walls, slides, steps and various games, tables, windows, a portcullis (non-operational boo hiss) and the ground also includes blue fauxmacadam in the shape of a moat. It is attached by a rope bridge to the spiderweb rope frame. The castle appeals to both the nippers and because it is accessed by steps and has wide bridges and large platforms it is very easy for parents with toddlers to use it as well. As mentioned there are a variety of swings including a large disk into which a number of children (or adults, I daresay!) can fit. Also I recommend you give the twirlers at the gate a go. You hold what is for all the world like a steering wheel that is nearly parallel to the ground but about 6ft up and place your feet on a disk that is also skewed off the horizontal and the next thing you are spinning. The pic right are the nippers twirling on the bottom part. A lot of the playgrounds have variations on these clever twirlers and they can be great fun until somebody pukes!

There are also quite a few simple but not uncomfortable red benches and enough bins. I think it’s a pity that the benches aren’t two sided so you can face either way and so capacity is increased. I also noticed that there isn’t a bin beside the gate into the playground which is always handy so you can dump your rubbish as you leave. You might laugh about me commenting about the bins but this can be an issue in some parks. There are no picnic benches i.e. benches with tables, which is a pity but this is not a deal breaker for me. We were there for about an hour today and could easily have stayed longer without the boys getting bored. The park itself is very simply landscaped and of course contains Rathfarnham castle itself. There are tearooms in the castle but at the time of writing and during my previous visit they were closed. Rathfarnham village is just across the road and through the archway. We were there on Good Friday so trading was a little funny but there’s a good sized Spar where you can get takeaway coffee or ice cream for the kids! I think there are public toilets available in the castle as well and will confirm on my next visit. There is parking available just off Rathfarnham Rd. directly after the traffic lights. It is 50c/hour, max. stay 3 hours. According to DublinBus.ie you can take the 15n, 16, 16a, 17, 48n, 74a or 75 to Rathfarnham but do check their site to find the most convenient bus for the park.

Also housed in the park grounds is the Tree Council of Ireland. You can read more about Rathffarnham on Wikipedia.