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I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
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See What’s Happening in the Latest
I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
You can view the article by clicking on the preview.
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See What’s Happening in the Latest
I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
You can view the article by clicking on the preview.
Page 1
Page 2
See What’s Happening in the Latest
I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
You can view the article by clicking on the preview.
Page 1
Page 2
See What’s Happening in the Latest
I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
You can view the article by clicking on the preview.
Page 1
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See What’s Happening in the Latest
I Love Limerick Chronicle Column
You can view the article by clicking on the preview.
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They queued for four hours in advance to meet the man who is without a doubt a true Limerick legend.
Coinciding with the release of his much-anticipated autobiography, Paul O’Connell signed copies of his book, The Battle, in O’Mahony’s Bookshop .
Over 500 people queued for hours to meet former rugby legend Paul O’Connell at his book signing in Limerick city this past Sunday, eager to get a signed copy of his book The Battle.
The book signing was due to begin at 2pm, however after The Battle author observed images of the lengthy queues on I Love Limerick’s social media, he arrived early so as not to disappoint fans on his home ground in the Treaty City.
Paul O Connell book signing at O’Mahony’s Bookshop. Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick
Even before he was due to meet his legions of fans, he had planned to sign more than 200 copies of The Battle, which were pre-ordered by customers who couldn’t attend the signing.
The Battle was co-written with Alan English, former editor of the Limerick Leader and current editorial director of Iconic Newspapers, which own the Leader. He also attended the signing along with many family members.
I had the honour of interviewing Paul at the book signing. With typical modesty, when asked how he felt about the phenomenal turnout, he joked that the book might be an easy Christmas present for people, as many queued to purchase several books for friends and family members.
The former Munster, Ireland and Lion’s captain described The Battle as “the full story. I think it’s very honest and I hope people will enjoy it,” he said.
I asked him what exactly was ‘The Battle’ he faced, he revealed, “the battle was mainly with myself, the injuries, playing high-pressure games, trying to win things, trying to be successful,” and told me, “blaming myself when we lost a game made me better.”
I asked him how it felt to be so loved by the people of Limerick, “I am very proud of my Limerick roots. I love living here, the sense of humour the people have, what a great place to live.”
I admire Paul so much, not just for his sporting achievements, but for his soul. Paul is a man who is truly proud of our beautiful city as he has said himself on numerous occasions and proved undoubtedly over the years through his involvement with positive campaigns and charity work. Congrats Paul. All of Limerick are rooting for you!
You can find out more about the Paul O Connell book, ‘The Battle’, here.
Here you can read more stories about Paul O Connell.
On Thursday, September 29, Niall Breslin aka Bressie, a role model and advocate for mental health in Ireland gave a talk on mental health and well being at the Castletroy Park Hotel. The Bressie talk at Casteltroy Park Hotel was a huge success with a full house of around 400 people listening to his keynote speech.
Bressie is an Irish musician and former Westmeath Gaelic footballer and Leinster Rugby player. Breslin found success as the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter with pop band The Blizzards, as a co-writer and producer with XIX Entertainment and as a solo artist. He was the winning coach on the first and third seasons of The Voice of Ireland.
Before the Bressie talk at Castletroy Park Hotel, Bressie spoke with I Love Limerick correspondent Holly Kenny about mental health and well-being on a variety of topics such as, the evolution of Mental Health in Ireland, the connection between physical and mental health, how music and creativity help when battling anxiety and depression and the next step for the progression of mental health services in Ireland.
Niall Breslin gives a talk on mental health to a capacity crowd at Castletroy Park Hotel Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick
When asked about his own role models for mental health in the 90’s, Bressie spoke about how mental health was misunderstood, “Things I remember quite acutely, one of our heroes growing up would have been Kurt Kobain and when he took his own life all of us in school were asking the teachers ‘what happened?’. I mean, we didn’t understand what suicide was.”
The conversation turned to the importance of embracing the talents and passions of an individual. Bressie spoke about his own musical history with his band ‘The Blizzards’, “When I play an instrument, I’m not thinking about anything else. Whether it’s piano, guitar or I’m writing music, you go into the present which is the holy grail for anybody. If you can be present, you can actually embrace the moment and not worry about the past or the future – and that’s a cliché thing to hear but until you do things that you love or are passionate about, that’s when you will truly understand.”
Following the interview, the I Love Limerick team sat to listen to the speakers for the evening. The first speaker, Jen Ronan from See Change Ireland, gave a humorous speech about her past and complications she endured when dealing with her mental health issues over the years. Considering it was her first time doing public speaking, Jen stole the hearts of the crowd with her endearing, quirky personality.
After Jen’s speech, Bressie came up on the stage to talk about the spectrum of Mental Health while also touching on some political issues regarding the need for more governmental mental health resources.
Niall Breslin gives a talk on mental health to a capacity crowd at Castletroy Park Hotel Picture: Cian Reinhardt/ilovelimerick
Bressie spoke about growing up with anxiety and the difficulties of getting support and the pressure of presenting yourself in a positive light even though you’re going through hell on the inside. He also spoke about the importance of being good to your body and how that can reflect on your mental health. After changing his diet, eating healthier and staying away from alcohol his anxiety improved. He also spoke about the importance of facing your fear when trying to overcome anxiety by telling a story about his fear of swimming, and how he confronted it by learning how to swim and signing up for an open water swimming competition.
He said that schools needing to embrace young people’s talents instead of pushing them to do courses that they don’t want to do.
Lastly, Bressie gave five simple tips for the audience to practice at home for 10 days.
First, stay away from toxic people and environments.
Second, practice self-compassion.
Third, say 30 thank you’s from when you wake up and be grateful for life.
Fourth, have 30 mindful moments a day, pay attention to the little things in life, the comfort of a cup of tea or how snug you feel in a blanket.
Last but not least, stop judging people, because you have no idea what that people could be really going through.
Follow Bressie on Twitter here.
Visit Bressie’s Mental Health website A Lust for Life here.
For more news on Mental Health in Limerick from I Love Limerick click here.