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SwimableLimerick @Riverfest 2019

As part of Limerick’s Riverfest Festival Weekend, SwimableLimerick is bringing back public baths to the city for one night only.

As evening falls we will open our own bathing area on the shores of The Shannon. Plunge into the cool waters of our city’s river and experience our unique swim. Our swims take place from the historic Curraghour Boat Club and we provide a fun, relaxed environment for anyone to enjoy the freedom of swimming in the open water. You will be swimming in the heart of medieval Limerick and will experience some stunning vistas of the city from the River Shannon. Hot drinks and treats from The Urban Co-op will be served by the hearth of the Curraghgour Boat Club afterwards

The bathing area opens at 6.30pm on Friday 3rd May at The Curraghgour Boat Club. All swimmers must be at the boat club by 5.45pm with registration at 6pm. If you would like to book a space please email limerickunderground@gmail.com with you name, age and any open water swimming experience that you may have (It’s okay if you don’t have any!)

Our swims are all about having fun and enjoying the open water, not about fast times or swimming long distances so feel free to just have a bit of a splash or wade your feet into the water.  We will have a small swimming area open to the public which will be roughly the size of a 15 metre pool. All swimmers will receive a custom made Riverfest Swimming Cap that they must wear in the water. 

This event is opened only to those aged 18 or over but children and supporters are more than welcome to watch from the shore and  join us for a cuppa or juice in the boat club following the swim. 

 

For any further information please contact Elisa O’Donovan on 087-9120231 or contact us at limerickunderground@gmail.com

 

We would like to thank Limerick Council for their support with this event.

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Limerick City Baths return for one night only as part of Samhain festival

For one night only SwimableLimerick brings back public baths to the city. As night falls we will open our own bathing area on the shores of The Shannon. Plunge into the cool waters of our city’s river and experience a moonlit swim. The bathing area will be illuminated with lanterns, glowsticks and the lights from medieval Limerick. Afterwards, SwimableLimerick’s legendary post swim feast awaits. Hot drinks and treats from The Urban Food Co-op will be served by the hearth of the Curraghgour Boat Club.

The bathing area opens at 6.30pm on Friday 26th October at The Curraghgour Boat Club. We are delighted to be running this as part of Samhain: Limerick’s Halloween festival.

Spaces must be prebooked and are limited. Spaces are now sold out but if you would like to be added to the reserve list please email us at limerickunderground@gmail.com

For any queries please contact Elisa on 087-9120231 or email us at limerickunderground@gmail.com

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Limerick Underground gets cultured again

We are hosting a special Speakers Corner in the garden of The Hunt Museum, Limerick on Culture Night, Friday 21st September, from 7-8pm. If you have any thoughts, opinion, ideas or reflections on Limerick, Culture or anything at all, then now is your chance for the world to hear your thoughts. We invite all limerick citizens, young and old, to have the opportunity to stand up and speak about any issue that they feel is important.We will have some fun topics to choose from on the night for any kids that want to try out our speakers corner!

Limerick Speakers Corner is open to everyone and anyone who wants to get up on their soapbox and have their voice heard. Just turn up on the night and let Limerick hear your opinions, views, thoughts and musings. We encourage public discussion and debate for Limerick people to connect in a meaningful and thoughtful way.

LU_poster_September

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Help us reinstate Limerick city bathing!

Limerick Council have requested that the public assist them with identifying official bathing areas in Limerick city and county. There are currently no designated bathing areas in Limerick city. A designated bathing area would legally mandate Limerick Council to comply with the following:

  • The water is monitored to ensure it meets stringent microbiological water quality standards. (Currently Limerick Council does not monitor the water quality in the city Shannon as it is not a designated bathing area)
  • Safety measures (including possibility of lifeguards during Summer Season)
  • Detailed description of the identified bathing area
  • Bathing Area profile including an assessment on the risk of pollution and what action would be taken if pollution occurs

This is the first step to the return of baths in our city! Please respond to the Limerick Council with the following information:

  1. Comment on a bathing area that you currently swim in
  2. How many people use this bathing area
  3. What facilities exist at this site and how accessibility it is
  4. Any safety issues

Email this information to the Water Safety Development Officer, Limerick City & County Council, Dooradoyle, Limerick or by email to wsdo@limerick.ie. the deadline is Friday 22nd June

Continue reading “Help us reinstate Limerick city bathing!” →

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SwimableLimerick @ Riverfest- Event Information-Update for Reserve List

 

 

As part of Limerick’s Riverfest Festival Weekend, SwimableLimerick have organised two social swims in the River Shannon.

SwimableLimerick @Riverfest is an opportunity for people to dip their toe (and a whole lot more!) into Limerick’s beautiful River Shannon. Our swims take place from the historic Curraghour Boat Club and we provide a fun, relaxed environment for anyone to enjoy the freedom of swimming in the open water. You will be swimming in the heart of medieval Limerick and will experience some stunning vistas of the city from the River Shannon.

Our swims are all about having fun and enjoying the open water, not about fast times or swimming long distances so feel free to just have a bit of a splash or wade your feet into the water. For those whom would like to swim a longer distance, the swimming area will be confined to a 750 metre area and is an opportunity to see sights such as Thomond Bridge,The Treaty Stone and King Johns Castle from a truly, unique perspective. Swimmers can swim as short or far a distance in the designated area as they choose. All swimmers will receive a custom made SwimableLimerick Swimming Cap that they must wear in the water. 

 

The best of Open Water swimming is the food afterwards. Join us by The Curraghour Boat Club fire for our post swim picnicswith good food and company! SwimableLimerick have teamed up with Canteen and The Urban Co-Op for our post swim picnics. In the Boat Club we will be serving hot pittas with homemade choco-nut spread, blueberry drizzle muffins, Rigneys farm granola, The messy Apron Cookies, Ceile Kombucha…and more

This event is opened only to those aged 18 or over but children and supporters are more than welcome to watch from the shore and  join us for a cuppa or juice in the boat club following the swim.  All tickets are free but MUST be pre-booked at the links below. We have to limit each swim to 45 swimmers so tickets are available on a 1st come, 1st served basis. 

The first social swim will take place on Saturday 5th May at 9am, with swimmers in the water for 10am. Tickets for Saturday can be booked here–  SOLD OUT

The second social swim will take place on Monday 7th May at 10.30am, with swimmers in the water at 11.30am. Tickets for Monday can be booked here   SOLD OUT

*All Tickets for both swims are now SOLD OUT. If you would like to be put on the reserve list please email us with your name and contact details at limerickunderground@gmail.com*

 

For any further information please contact Elisa O’Donovan on 087-9120231 or contact us at limerickunderground@gmail.com

We would like to thank Limerick Council for their support with this event. More information on Riverfest can be found here

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Restoring The River Shannon-A Limerick event on World Fish Migration Day

Join SwimableLimerick, Old River Shannon Trust and the Limerick Greens at 11am on Saturday 21st April at Ormston House for ‘Restoring the River Shannon’, a Limerick event to mark World Fish Migration Day 2018. We will be joined by speakers on how we can take positive action on the many issues affecting the Lower River Shannon. This event aims to bring together all interested parties who wish to ensure a sustainable, quality and usable River Shannon for all river users in years to come.

Speakers and topics on the morning include:
How to restore the River Shannon (Will O’Connor, Ecofact)
Dublin Water Supply Project and its threats to the Shannon (Gerry Siney, Shannon Protection Alliance)
Reviving salmon angling in the Shannon catchment (Eoin Brocket)

And more……

Directions to Ormston House, Patrick Street, Limerick can be found here.

This event is free and open to all.

For further information please email limerickunderground@gmail.com, follow us on twitter, facebook or drop us a line on 087-9120231

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Why we swim from The Curraghgour Boat Club

 

I’m walking along Rutland Street. It’s a cold evening in the city so I brace myself from the harsh winds and stay bundled as close to the passing buildings as I can. My walk takes me past the fading remnants of Limerick’s failed Limerick 2020 bid proclaiming that ‘Culture is where we are from’.  It reminds me of where I am headed and I quicken my pace.

Today is International Women’s Day in the city. There are public meetings being held, evening dinners enjoyed, readings and songs being sung throughout Limerick to celebrate our cities women . My International Women’s Day is ending with a walk along a moonlit Merchants Quay as I approach the Curraghgour Boat Club. Inside awaits a room full of boatmen, with me a lone female, ready to address them all.

12 months ago this space would have held no meaning or interest to me. Indeed, like many Limerick people I have walked by this small, white bungalow perched on the edge of The Shannon numerous times with a mere curiosity. This intrigue increased when a ‘No Bridge Here’ banner was unfurled  along their shoreline proclaiming their existence to our city. Yet a year goes by and here I am, standing in the club house shadow about to address its committee. I reminisce of when I first walked into the club on a basking hot, sunny day in June last year with nothing but an idea of swimming in The Shannon. Me and my swimming togs easily could have been turned away, politely declined for spontaneously evading their Summer’s afternoon. Instead I was met with a cup of tea and a two hour tour of every nook and cranny of what I now believe to be as Limerick’s best kept secret.  Continue reading “Why we swim from The Curraghgour Boat Club” →

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Videos and Update:Limerick City River Information Evening

Over 120 Limerick citizens attended our Limerick City River Evening in Ormston House earlier this month. As Living Limerick summed up topics discussed on the night included Shannon water quality, flooding, barriers to fish migration, endangered habitats and species, navigation by boat, pollution, river clean ups, recreation and swimability!

We were fortunate the brilliant Wendigo Media were on hand to film all the presentations from the night as follows:

Elisa O’Donovan from SwimableLimerick introduced the night, followed by Pat Lysaght, Limerick’s very own Eye of the River. Pat spoke about the various locks and bridges throughout the city, as well as the current and flow that impacts getting out and about on the boat.

 

Continue reading “Videos and Update:Limerick City River Information Evening” →

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On St.Brigid’s Day

The photos were only thing I’ve kept, you’d be annoyed to know. Isn’t it what you wanted? To be invisible altogether? That was your one wish. I don’t take them out often, and less and less now. Maybe someday it’ll be a year or more since I’ve seen them. Hard to believe that though. I remember each shoot, how great you looked when it was just me and the camera. I didn’t have the studio then, we had to move the bed up on its side against the wall to make the room look bigger, but you always looked good on windowsills and in corners of rooms, anything that could frame the scene, anything that would hide the paucity of our options. You always looked great anywhere.

Our rooms were all strange angles then, walls built to divide bigger rooms into small flats. The grandeur faded but not wholly gone, though one window was painted closed and the other wouldn’t fully close. Catherine street outside was all electricity wires and cracked pavements and day time drinkers. At two in the morning the crowds from the Desmond and Costellos would mingle and riot to keep the night going. If we weren’t amongst them we’d watch them through the window, urban anthropologists laughing at ourselves. The flat wasn’t much, but the views were great conversation. Every Saturday night the scene was infinitely different and always the same, crowds moving to preordained rhythms it seemed.

 That flat suited us, careworn, better days behind and hopefully ahead. The back of the door was a history of locks, so many variations and changes. You could chart the building’s decline by the strength of the locks and so many keys we’d to keep it barred for fear some past resident would drop by unexpected, unannounced and definitely uninvited. It was patchwork of panels that had been broken through and replaced, not always with wood, polyfilla held the door and flat together. Everything broken not quite repaired, everything broken not quite fixable. Continue reading “On St.Brigid’s Day” →

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