Limerick Local Heroes - Tonight

ZombieBride

The next meeting of the Limerick Local Heroes initiative will take place on Monday 30th January @ 6pm in the Limerick Strand Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick.
The Limerick Local Heroes initiative aims to energise Limerick people from all walks of life in order to first and foremost create new and sustainable jobs for the people of Limerick.
It is an initiative for the people of Limerick driven by the people of Limerick and its success will ultimately be measured by the participation of Limerick citizens.
A public town hall style meeting will be held at 6pm on Monday 30th January in the Strand Hotel where all Limerick citizens with ideas as to how to improve our city both economically and from a community perspective are encouraged to attend.


http://www.limerick.ie/living/whatson/2012-01-30limericklocalheroespublicmeeting.html

Won't be able to make it myself, but is a great idea to try and get us kick started again.

kenoconnell

Best of luck, wanted to go but couldn't make it

bigpink

Anyone here get to it?

Who set it up etc?seems a bit vague

Im known here for being a realist or negative but they need to tackle the goverment to let business to grow in this country

jbkenn

bigpink wrote: »

Anyone here get to it?

Bock the Robber did a good take on it here
http://bocktherobber.com/2012/01/limerick-local-heroes-meeting

Who set it up etc?seems a bit vague

A group of citizens from all walks of life with the interest of the city at heart.

Im known here for being a realist or negative but they need to tackle the goverment to let business to grow in this country

Who's "they"?, surely you mean, I,we,us, you are more than welcome to get involved.
http://limericklocalheroes.com/

Armada

The meeting was a great success, close to 500 people packed the Strand.

It is vital that people drop the word "They" and start using "I" and "Us"
The government are not going to do anything to help Limerick, it is up to the citizens to get out there and make something happen. From small things like cleaning up the streets and parks to large scale like a huge 4th July celebration, we the people have the power, the passion and the skills to make a difference.


Get off your couch, stop saying "Someone should do something" and wake up to the fact that YOU ARE "SOMEONE"

Insect Overlord

4th of July is an American celebration, n'est pas?

link8r

Insect Overlord wrote: »

4th of July is an American celebration, n'est pas?

Yes it is. That's why it's being celebrated as the 4th of July/American day of independence. St Patrick's day is Irish but its celebrated all over the world, especially in America.We're delighted at the huge support and goodwill from American organisations and people that have heard about it

We're just a few months in but our shiny new hub is nearly open - 2,200 Sq Ft with 3 meeting rooms, a coffee lounge and informational portal.

We now have 8 full initiatives (including the 4th of July) rolling out to boost community spirit, involvement and business.

The Lunchtime Theatre group got off to a great start this week too.

We're delighted for all of the support and happy to answer any questions about what we're doing, who we are and where we want to get to!

Link8r
Disclaimer: Member of Limerick Local Heroes

bigpink

How is this going?

Ive noticed a few of the local celebs seem to be getting the photo ops for them not good to see

link8r

bigpink wrote: »

How is this going?

Really well actually, thank you for asking. We have a great core team (about 20 people) - which are split into 5 teams and running the different initiatives. The hub is the biggest investment to date, and there were 8 of us in town paining it up today. It's looking really well and I'll post up soon.

To be honest, its definitely taking longer than anticipated - so many things you just wouldn't think of unless you've done it before. But nothing major. Some of the things went really well, like our WiFi project but the nature of this project makes it difficult to announce!

bigpink wrote: »

Ive noticed a few of the local celebs seem to be getting the photo ops for them not good to see

Not sure who's a celeb or not - so to speak - but a lot of local Limerick people have been really good to us, including well known and not so well known. I'm not sure I've seen any hijacking (bad turn of phrase) but I know the support we've been getting from the public, businesses, City Hall, the media, the bigger names - are all really great. It's more than we thought we'd get!

The Snipe

Link were you painting earlier..? :P

Great time giving a hand with it inside today sound bunch of lads!

phog

bigpink wrote: »

Ive noticed a few of the local celebs seem to be getting the photo ops for them not good to see

Maybe the celebs help to get the joe bloggs out to help, were any of these celebs local business people too?

Why be so negative?

link8r

The Snipe wrote: »

Link were you painting earlier..? :P

Great time giving a hand with it inside today sound bunch of lads!

Alright my man! I was - great fun innit?

Thanks a million for all the help!

The Snipe

link8r wrote: »

Alright my man! I was - great fun innit?

Thanks a million for all the help!

Great fun was an understatement to be honest. Some of the stuff we were coming out with inside there! :P

Myself and Nigel finished the painting finally the other day! So now its just the Interior Designer methinks!

kilburn

So what is the hub? where is the hub? what is its purpose?

The Snipe

The Hub is basically an office and meeting space for the Limerick Heros - its upstairs in Aurthur's Quay - and basically provides a physical presence for the entire group.

kilburn

thanks for that and what are the 8 events ye have lined up?

link8r

kilburn wrote: »

So what is the hub? where is the hub? what is its purpose?

The hub is on the food mezzanine area of Arthurs Quay Shopping Centre, who donated the lease on it. It's been built by a volunteer workforce comprising a building contractor (who generously donated many hundreds of hours), an architect (again, donated), civil engineers (volunteers), interior designers, painters, IT, broadband...it goes on.

The hub is the main presence for Limerick Local Heroes in the city. We want people to be able to drop in to see 1) what we're up to 2) to see the ideas that were given to us at the public events in the Strand and at Thomond Park, via e-mail and since the launch 3) to offer help 4) to work on new ideas 5) a time bank where professionals and entrepreneurs will be able to work with those looking for employment or starting up a new enterprise 5) to co-ordinate with the different business, council and state organisations.

Local Heroes is about giving a voice and lending support to initiatives that will create activity in the centre, boost community spirit and support, and create events that will drive more business which will lead to jobs and helping businesses start.

link8r

kilburn wrote: »

thanks for that and what are the 8 events ye have lined up?

We have 8 initiatives (distinct from events) in total. Some are quite advanced and other's are still in planning. The retail pillar will work with the local retailers to build a number of smaller city events (our goal is 12) to make the city more vibrant and active. These include working with the Limerick Tidy Towns group, creating fun runs like Limerick Local Loopers.

The lunchtime theatre group have started and are running lunch time plays in The Savoy Hotel. Have lunch and enjoy a play. The arts are important to a living city. Not only is this fun and great value, but it supports our local artists and is important to our cultural development. Also, all of the world's best innovation and technology hubs are created around artistic centres/neighbourhoods.

We're also quite far advanced in planning a very large 4th of July celebration which is being very well received. Ireland has a great and important relationship with the United States and a lot of our sons and daughters are also American citizens. What a great way to celebrate their culture and heritage. While we haven't yet a very polished presentation on what will be happening, it will be very soon!

One of our earliest achievements is building enormous central city wifi capability. This will be published shortly as we have a lot of red tape to get through, but thanks to a great LLH member who has invested a lot of time building this infrastructure, it will be a huge achievement for Limerick.

We'll also be looking at FDI and attracting more technology companies to Limerick. We've gone from having no Venture Capital in Limerick to having two funds. Regardless of the size or scale of these operations, its a great coup for us - how many local VC funds do other cities (apart from Dublin) have?

I hope people can believe that people can make a difference. I have this instinct automatically and I am grateful for it. I hope everyone can adopt the same. I'm self employed and employ 6 people. To me, challenging the status quo and changing the game plan is an everyday experience. Not only can it be done - but you can make a living from it

CheltenhamJ

well done to all , sounds exciting and positive , looking forward to supporting it

link8r

CheltenhamJ wrote: »

well done to all , sounds exciting and positive , looking forward to supporting it

Thank you very much!

If it pleases the community, I'd like to share the following links:

If anyone wants to stay up to date, we keep these updated regularly:
http://www.limericklocalheroes.com (Main Website)
http://www.twitter.com/lmklocalheroes (twitter)
http://www.facebook.com/localheroeslimerick (facebook)
http://twitter.com/#!/4thjulylimerick (4th July Limerick)

The Snipe

Launch of LLH 4th of July Festival in King Johns Castle at 5:30 if anyone is interested in getting involved or wants to find out what we are doing. Also if you want to find out more on what we are doing, Nigel is in the hub all day today located upstairs in Aurthurs Quay!

bigpink

How are people picked for local heroes?Is it a voting system ?

The Snipe

Its all voluntary. No voting or anything, you have anything you can help with, then welcome onboard or if you have an idea that you want help and support with, just say it and they'll do everything they can for you!


I had actually missed the original meetings, and was brought in by a friend of mine who runs a transport company, who is involved - and that was just to help out painting the hub, until I heard some of the ideas and got involved with the festival as well.

link8r

The latest newsletter can be accessed here:

http://newsletter.ie/E/run/v3.aspx?x=868-2312-1

Anyone who wants to volunteer and get involved with any of the pillars can do so here too!