View a communication sent by Irish guide dogs on the topic of fireworks.
Hi all,
As you may remember an inorgural meeting of the GDO Network was held last November. The idea of this group was to provide an outlet for guide dogowners in Ireland to meet each other and exchange ideas and experiences.
It was also hoped to provide an opportunity for people to discuss issues which affected the guide dog community as a whole.
I'm glad to announce that we are planning a second meeting for all guide dog owners in Ireland to be held on Saturday 13th November at 2:00 pm. The meeting will be held in the National League of the Blind on Hill street in Dublin.
More details, along with an agenda will be sent out nearer to the date of the meeting.
In order to gauge numbers, It would be great if you could contact me at the below email address or phone number if you can confirm you will be able to come.
We Look forward to seeing as many of you as possible on the 13th at 2PM.
On behalf of the GDO Network working group,
Tim Culhane
To All Guide Dog Owners - past and present! This is for you!
In response to an often wished for Guide Dog Owners group, five Guide Dog Owners got together to see if we could get something off the ground, with the support of the staff and Board of Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind. We have had a number of meetings over the last year with IGDB C.E.O. Padraig Mallon, as well as the then Chairman of the Board, Tom Aplin and Board member, Derry Walsh. These meetings were very open, productive and friendly occasions.
We are now delighted to announce that we have IGDB’s support in setting up a Guide Dog Owners group, run by and for current and past Guide Dog Owners in Ireland. The group will be known as The GDO Network. This group will work closely with IGDB, but will be an independent, stand alone group. Aims & Objectives These are provisional, subject to the approval of group members.
We are hoping that the GDO Network will;
The first meet up of the GDO Network will take place on 14th November in the Ashling Hotel, Parkgate Street Dublin, Liffey Suite at 12 o’clock. The hotel is located on the Luas line, which services both Houston and Connolly stations. The stop to get off at is known as Museum.
The Agenda for this meeting will include;
Whle the GDO Network has been provisionally established and approved, it is now up to you – the wider community of Guide Dog Owners - to define, shape and nurture this new support network of former and current guide dog owners.
It is important to note that IGDB cannot release any details of any current or past Guide Dog Owners, under data protection legislation. So if you wish to be involved in the GDO Network you will need to make contact directly with Breege O’Neil, (contact details below), to make known your interest after you receive this once off letter from the center.
We will have to be a self-financing body, so contributions will be sought from those attending to cover the cost of the function room. We propose to divide the cost of the room, €150, equally between those who attend the meeting. We hope this will be acceptable to you all!
We would like to thank IGDB for allowing us the use of their systems to get this once off communication out to all of you. Without their support this project could not go forward.
Finally, it would be just wonderful if as many of us as possible could attend this first get together, but we recognize that for people outside of Dublin concerns over travel, train connections etc may prove daunting! Well, we really don’t want such concerns to stand in your way. If you have any difficulties with travel arrangements, please contact Breege O’Neil, either by telephone, on 01 6747954, between 9.00am and 4.00pm, Monday to Thursday, or by email on brioneil@revenue.ie, and let us know how we can help to make your travel plans easier.
Looking forward to seeing you all soon,
Sandy Tomkins, Sarah Campbell, Breege & Tom O’Neill, Tim Culhane.