Reinvigorating Waterford

Last night I  had the great privilege of sitting down with Danny Kidney, Paul Dower and Stephen Mullally. After my piece on the Humans of the Deise exhibition was so warmly received, Danny approached me and asked me would I be willing to meet with them for a chat. Somehow I managed to misunderstand the fact that I was supposed be interviewing them for my blog and turned up woefully unprepared. Mind you I have never actually interviewed anyone before so I probably wouldn't have done much better if I had gone to the trouble of preparing questions. 

 I'm going to work on the assumption that you don't know who these men are or what they have done to improve Waterford city and then I am going to be really sound and fill you in. 

 Danny Kidney is a fantastic photographer and is responsible for Humans of the Deise, a photographic project where he singles out the ordinary folk that make Waterford special. Everyone looks forward to seeing who will be featured next and there's something very easy to relate to about the people he chooses. I was naturally chuffed to selected as a human of Deise (even if I am from Tipp, shhh) and only wish I had come prepared with a snappy quote so I wasn't doing my best fish impression when asked to come with one on the spot. His work can be found on the Humans of the Deise Facebook page. You should check it out, especially if you haven't had the pleasure of seeing my portrait yet.

 Paul Dower is the man behind Waterford in your pocket. This is a Facebook page and a website. The facebook page shares all kinds of information about what is happening in Waterford and usually a great joke every evening. I really enjoy the joke and my boyfriend does not but I insist on telling him anyway because that's the kind of person I am. The things that feature on the Facebook page can be anything from an event coming up to a bit of news for Waterford (new jobs and so on) The website however is a bit more extensive. Only this Sunday we found a lovely walk in Dunmore woods under the walk section. It has all sorts of information on Waterford, ideal for a tourist staying a few days or a local looking for something to do at the weekend. There's a great events listing page and full range of attractions. It's very well laid out and easy to navigate and has clear links to the Facebook and Twitter accounts. The one thing that makes it stand out against other websites on Waterford is that it's primary purpose is to promote Waterford in a positive light.

 Stephen Mullally is the one of the faces of Tramore tourism. They been fighting long and hard to ensure Tramore, a town which has been somewhat neglected in the past, does not fall to the wayside and they have been making great progress in improving the town through the work they do behind the scenes and in promotion on the Tramore Tourism Facebook page. One of their greatest successes to date was getting the Tramore inclusion park up and running. He was saying the response to the page has been great so far and they have plans to do many great things in the future.

 These men are not politicians and from what I gathered have no aspirations to become them in the near future ( though I could be wrong) but they are doing great things both in changing Waterford and changing how it is seen. I have written a number of pieces in recent times that have shown the City in a positive light which is how I came to their attention and it's part of my own philosophy that if I don't enjoy something that I wont write about it (unless I can do so in a hilarious way and even then I wont name the band/restaurant etc) I look forward to seeing what they come up with in the future and I promise that if given the opportunity to meet with them again that next time I will come better prepared. 

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