May 2023
This was an outing that almost didn’t happen – twice! We had everything planned for a visit to Newbridge House and Farm for March 11th, and did a very promising recce the previous day in brilliant sunshine, but the weather forecast was foul, even dangerous, so after discussions with our partners in Meath Partnership we decided to postpone and try again on April 1st.

The wettest March on record ran on miserably, right into that April morning, and when Muhammad Achour and Paddy Woodworth arrived early at Newbridge House it was still raining. But the bus was enroute, and we could not postpone again.

Happily, the rain had eased off when the bus arrived, and we were able to walk two groups of guests to the house visit without anyone getting wet. Our guides, Michael and Emma, gave us fascinating tours of this magnificent and historic Georgian villa, built by James Gibbs for the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, Charles Cobb, in 1747. The Cobbe family gave the house, and sold the large demesne, to Dublin (now Fingal) City Council in 1985, but retain a right to residence in the house, so its collections of art, furniture and historic domestic utensils remain uniquely intact. 

Our guests, adults and children, were fascinated by the elegant rooms, the many paintings and statues, the collections of shells and stuffed birds, but perhaps above all by details of the daily lives of both servants and proprietors. The comically complicated toilet arrangements, whereby servants brought a privy from downstairs to upstairs and back, when called upon to do so by a bell pull, caused a lot of amusement.

We then did a self-guided tour of the farm, which was very popular, after distributing snack bags. The weather got kinder and kinder, with good light to walk freely in the beautiful grounds of the farm. Our guests enjoyed observing the different breeds of pigs, fowl and exotic birds, and the young animals were especially popular. Some of our guests were particularly interested in the espaliered fruit trees, which brought memories of home, while some of the children were quick to observe the local wildlife, including a squirrel very high in a tree, and some rabbits.

We then travelled to Dublin City University’s Interfaith Centre DCU Chaplaincy, where we all enjoyed a tasty lunch provided by Umi Falafel and The Shawarma Company, before Kate Kavanagh presented the final of event of the day, a lively and good-humoured workshop in which guests were asked to recall objects or animals or plants they had enjoyed seeing at Newbridge, and then we tried to learn and write down their names in all of the languages spoken among us: Albanian, Syrian Arabic, Mongolian, Yoruba, English, Irish, Spanish, Basque, Romanian, Ukrainian, Georgian, and Russian. It was a happy exercise in intercultural discovery.

We would like to thank Meath Partnership, Fiona Duignan, Aoife Malone for sharing all the responsibilities of this outing with us so well. And of course our SiNH volunteers James Butler and Kate Kavanagh and for all their help and support. And a very special thank you to Elena, from the Ukrainian community, who did such brilliant translating, both at Newbridge Farm and for the workshop. Thanks to Fiona, Kate and Muhammad for the photos accompanying this post

Thanks to the staff of Newbridge House and Farm, especially Rachel, for their unfailing support as we planned this trip, and to Caroline Cowley of Fingal County Council for putting us in touch with them.

We would also like to thank Kierans Bus Hire of Drogheda and their every helpful and good-humoured driver Joe for getting us so smoothly from place to place.

Thanks to Fr. Séamus McEntee, Muhammad’s Colleagues and our friends at DCU for welcoming us and giving great support to make this day happen by opening their doors at the Interfaith Centre for this integration and culture event as usual, 

here is the link for information 

https://www.dcu.ie/chaplaincy/people/fr-seamus-mcentee

DCU Chaplaincy

Also to Umi Falafel and The Shawarma Company restaurants for their great collaboration and making and delivering the delicious food for lunch. 

Finally, these trips would not be possible without a much appreciated grant from the Community Integration Fund set up by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth and managed by our third partner Sonairte through Dr Kim O’Reilly. 

Meath Partnership Sonairte Paddy Woodworth Muhammad Achour Kate Kavanagh Sonairte Laytown Andrew Leonard @islandfielder Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth The Heritage Council Lorcan Scott James Hackett

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