News

October – December 2009

2009 at WHAT winds up with a range of arts experiences that taps into a range of initiatives, both local, as in the Celebrating Nursing event in Waterford Regional Hospital at the end of November, and national, as in All-Ireland Poetry Day.
If you haven’t been to the WHAT Centre for Arts and Health in the grounds of Waterford Regional Hospital yet, now is your chance. Come along and join in our weekly Open Studio or pick up a tambourine at our special Culture Night event. Read on…

Make it up as you go along…
A performance by Tramore Gospel Choir with audience participation!
The WHAT Centre for Arts and Health
Friday, 25th September, 7pm – 8.30pm
Come along to an interactive performance of gospel music by Tramore Gospel Choir in the WHAT Centre for Arts and Health as part of Waterford’s Culture Night.

Audience members will be encouraged by musicians Jane O’Brien Moran and Liam Merriman to join in through a simple vocals, chants and percussion. No experience is necessary. Just enthusiasm!
 
Admission is free

A Menu of Poems for All-Ireland Poetry Day
1st October 
As part of all Ireland Poetry Day on 1st October, the Waterford Healing Arts Trust brings poetry to the bedsides of patients in Waterford Regional Hospital.

Poems by nine renowned poets living in or from the South East of Ireland - Michael Coady, Richard Tillinghast, Thomas McCarthy, Mark Roper, Kerry Hardie, Aine Ui Fhoghlu, Grace Wells, Peter Sirr and Johanna Tanner - will be circulated to patients of Waterford Regional Hospital with their meals.  The poems will also be circulated to the staff in the hospital. 

This simple project aims to provide a poetic reverie for patients in the course of their day in hospital.  Although the poets were not given a specific theme, some shared themes emerge. Many of them are aptly located at this turning point of summer into winter.

The project is grant-aided by Poetry Ireland.                                                                           

Anyone wishing to get a copy of the Menu of Poems should contact Mary Grehan on mary.grehan@hse.ie or phone 051 842664. 

Poetry reading by Mark Roper
Thursday, 1st October at 9.30am and 10.30am in the Age-related Day Unit, WRH
Poet Mark Roper will read a selection of his own and other well-known poems in celebration of Positive Aging Week in the waiting room of Age-related Day Unit.

Mark was Writer in Residence with the Waterford Healing Arts Trust in 2003. His published collections of poetry include The Hen Ark (1990), Catching The Light (1997), a chapbook, The Home Fire (1998) and Whereabouts (2005). Even So: New & Selected Poems was published by the Dedalus Press in Autumn 2008.

Healing Sounds is a programme of live music performances in the foyer, wards and waiting areas of Waterford Regional Hospital.

Monday 5th October
Sure Sound
Sure Sound is a two piece band comprising Mary Prendergast on accordion and Pat Carpendale on guitar. Mary is well known within Waterford Regional Hospital as a nurse in the Renal Dialysis Unit and as a Musician with WHAT’s Participatory Music programme. She has been playing the accordion since the age of seven. Pat spent a number of years as a solo entertainer prior to joining Sure Sound. Sure Sound is working towards its first album which they hope to release at Christmas.  

Monday 16th November
Dylan Bible & Amanda Fardy
Dylan Bible and Amanda Fardy both studied Jazz at Leeds College of Music from 1995 to 2000, before settling back to their native Waterford City. Since then, they have been teaching music at WIT and Abbey Community College. Dylan and Amanda perform in various locations around Ireland.   The different line-ups include ‘The Moving Statues’ and the 6 piece band ‘Bossa Rocka’. Dylan is also a member of ‘Uiscedwr Big Band’ based in England.  For the past two years they have been invited to travel to Ethiopia to perform at the annual St. Patrick’s Day G.O.A.L. Fundraising Ball, and at the Sheraton in Addis Ababa.

Monday 14th December
Christ Church Cathedral Choir
The Christ Church Cathedral Choir numbers some 20 singers.
They have participated in many choral festivals and events including, a 'Three Choirs Festival' with Lismore and Kilkenny cathedrals and their respective organists Jan van Putten and Malcolm Proud. Both Malcolm Proud and Eric Sweeney work in the music department of Waterford Institute of Technology which offers a full time BA Music degree in music.

Participatory Music Programme
WHAT engages people from a range of hospital, mental health and community settings in a busy programme of participatory music making. 

In July, two groups associated with Tory Services and ABI Ireland performed at the new Ferrybank Arts Festival in Belmount House. Both groups had prepared their performance through a programme of participatory music with musicians Liam Merriman and Mary Prendergast. The Tory Services group are now working towards a performance in Waterford Regional Hospital in December.

A programme of monthly music sessions recently began in the Renal Dialysis unit. These sessions, which will take place at the bedside, are designed to provide patients with a musical diversion from the tedium of the dialysis experience. The programme is funded by the National Concert Hall and the Renal Dialysis Patient Fund.

Those Were the Days
DVD Showcase
WRH Staff Canteen
Wednesday, 25th November, 9.45am – 11.30am and 12.30pm – 2pm
Please note that this event is postponed due to the H1N1 pandemic 
Those Were the Days is a historical film documentary of the old St .Theresa’s Unit at Waterford Regional Hospital. The history of the unit is explored through the memories of past staff and patients. The unit has been recently renovated to encompass the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health, the Age Related Day Unit and the Rheumotology Department.

The film is 20 minutes long and will be screened on a loop as part of the Celebrating Nursing and Midwifery event at WRH.

insideOut 7
Annual HSE staff art exhibition
6th November – 17th December 2008
The annual Christmas art exhibition by H.S.E. staff members in Waterford has come around again. insideOut is an opportunity for staff to present on a public platform, to their colleagues, patients and visitors to the hospital, the artwork they make on a private basis. It is also a great opportunity to purchase Christmas presents. Each year we uncover more and more creative talent amongst the staff.

This exhibition will be officially opened by TV Honan, Director of Spraoi on the 6th November. This year we will celebrate this exhibition through a lunchtime launch so there can be no excuses to support your exhibiting colleagues!

Lines in the Half Light
Poetry by Johanna Tanner
Lines in the Half Light is a book of poetry by Johanna Tanner that has been developed through art making sessions in the Renal Dialysis Unit at WRH. Johanna has worked with the artist Philip Cullen over the past year to focus her writing skills resulting in this beautiful book of 14 poems. Lines in the Half Light is available from the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health at the cost of €5. Proceeds will go to the Renal Dialysis Patient Fund and the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health. This could be the perfect gift for a friend or loved one.

Open Studio Workshop
Every Thursday, between 12 noon and 2 pm, a group of people, from all walks of life, come together to share in the joys of art making in the WHAT Centre for Arts & Health. The multi use studio space is transformed into a hive of creativity where you can learn new artistic skills, experiment with art materials, and meet new people. If you, or anyone you know, would like to take part in this fun creative workshop please phone 051-842664 to book a place. The workshop costs €5 per session, materials and refreshments are included.

Fundraising Events

Fashion Swap Party
Friday 9th of October from 4pm to 9pm
Saturday 10th of October from 10am to 2pm

WHAT will host Waterford’s first ever Fashion Swap Party in the WHAT Centre for Arts and Health in October.  This fund-raising event invites fashion lovers to swap unwanted clothes, shoes and accessories, in aid of a good cause.
Admission is €10. This is a great opportunity to update your wardrobe and try a new look with minimal expense. 

The highlight of the event will be a fashion-themed raffle and closed auction with top prizes including a €1,000 shopping spree with Littlewoods Ireland, a stunning Philip Treacy hat, and a signed limited edition Tommy Hilfiger tweed jacket. (See items modelled below) Raffle prizes of vouchers and designer clothes, shoes and jewellery have been donated by top Waterford boutiques including Muse, Orchid, Cummin & Stone and Shoebaloo, as well as Penneys, Shaws, Debenhams, Costume, Thomas Laine, designer duo Kate & Ava and Manifesto.

All proceeds will go towards funding the ongoing arts programme of the Waterford Healing Arts Trust.  
 

See you there!