Death, dying, loss and care is everybody’s business but it can be so hard for us to deal with these issues.  Sometimes we might not know what to say, what to do or how to plan ahead.  Milford Care Centre is working with the community to engage people in conversation and action around death, dying, loss and care through a pilot Compassionate Communities Project.
 
Compassionate Communities brings people together
·         to discuss death, dying, loss and care
·         to reflect on what it means to them and the people around them
·         to take positive action
 
At the moment the project is based in North-West Limerick City but we hope, that with further funding the good work will spread.  Find out more about the project by watching the video of the launch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqTgmZfWq7c or watching Bill’s Story http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqYmTTY-3gs or joining us on Facebook.
 
 

A big thank you from the Director, cast and production team to all who attended the sell-out premiere of Cancer Tales last night. If you have any feedback on the performance, please add your comments here.

Please note: There are still some tickets available for tomorrow's performance, 8.00pm Friday 20 March at LITMT.

Wednesdays date is sold out - but you can still get tickets for the performance at 8.00pm on Friday 20 March

Tickets available via the LITMT website

This weeks edition of The Limerick Leader carries an article, by Alan Owens, about the background to the Cancer Tales production.

You can read the full article on the Limerick Leader’s website.

Cancer Tales goes ‘Older and Bolder’ at the Strand Hotel

Marie Richardson (Mary) and Martina O’Reilly (Rebecca) will perform scenes from Cancer Tales at the Older & Bolder event at the Strand Hotel, Limerick on 24 February.

About Older & Bolder's National Positive Ageing Strategy Campaign

The Government is now developing a National Positive Ageing Strategy. Older & Bolder wants an effective national strategy that will improve the quality of life of older people. This will only happen if older people and older people's advocates have a real say in the design of the strategy. That is why Older & Bolder is campaigning for a meaningful Government consultation with older people about their priorities for the strategy.

On Tuesday, February 24th, Older & Bolder will be holding a meeting for older people in the Strand Hotel, Ennis Road, Limerick from 11.00 am to 4.00 pm

About Older & Bolder

Older and Bolder is an alliance of eight non-governmental organisations in the ageing sector in Ireland. The member organisations are: Active Retirement Ireland, Age Action Ireland, Age and Opportunity, Alzheimer Society of Ireland, the Carers Association, the Irish Hospice Foundation, the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament and the Senior Helpline.

Visit the Older & Bolder website

The producers are delighted to announce that due to popular demand a second night has been added for Cancer Tales.

It will be performed on Friday 20 March at 8.00pm in Millennium Theatre, Limerick Institute of Technology.

“In 2001 I received a parcel which contained a number of transcripts of interviews with doctors, nurses, carers and patients all connected with cancer. The parcel was from Nell Dunn, a playwright and author who I had never met but whose work I admired. Her great skill is to present and validate the lives of ordinary people in a sympathetic but unsentimental way and I was moved by the stories she sent me, they were particularly poignant as my father had just died of cancer...

We gathered together a group of actors and set about workshopping the material and from these experiments and discussions Nell went away and wrote the play, Cancer Tales.

It was first presented as a rehearsed reading at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, followed by a performance of two of the stories at a conference on Arts and Health Care organised by the Royal Society of Medicine. We were all surprised at how well the play was received by healthcare workers who seemed very excited by the work and a number of organisations asked us to present extracts at conferences and seminars. In 2002 the play was published and began to attract even more interest from institutions who saw it as an important teaching tool for the training of people involved in cancer care. The play continued to be performed at large medical conferences but, increasingly at smaller training seminars.

In 2007 Mundipharma International began to fund productions of the play and published Cancer Tales, Communicating in Cancer Care, a workbook which republished the play together with a commentary from doctors and cancer specialists. Since that time the play continues to be produced at conferences both at home and abroad, most recently at the World Cancer Congress in Geneva and the Royal Society of Medicine in London.

Never having worked with amateurs before, I was slightly alarmed to be approached by Milford Care Centre who told me that they would like me to direct some of their workers in a production of the play. On meeting them all I was impressed by their commitment to the project and to the play and I’m looking forward to working with them over the next couple of months. ”

Trevor Walker, Director of Cancer Tales

Cancer Tales is open for booking: Wednesday 18 March at LIT Millennium Theatre

New venue

Please note our venue has changed to the LIT Millennium Theatre. Booking is available online via the Millennium Theatre website or by phone on 061 322 322.

Panel discussion...

A panel discussion follows the performance.

Tickets may also be purchased by calling, or attending:
the UCH Box Office, University Concert Hall, University of Limerick. Telephone: 061-331 549
the City Centre Ticket Desk which is located in the Tourist Office at Arthurs Quay, Limerick. Telephone 061-314 314