Skip to main content

Back To Basics In Recession ...

How our young will get through the recession...


BASICS: Sewing and baking is key...

THE younger generation is being urged to get back to basics and learn the long forgotten skills of sewing, baking and fending for themselves in a series of classes to be held in Dublin city.

Celebrity chef Darina Allen recently said that elderly people have the know-how to cope with limited budgets, but those in younger age groups may find it difficult to survive in the recession.

Helpless

"People have been so focused on careers and academia that they are helpless when they lose their jobs," she said. "They don't have money and they realise they don't have skills that would help them through.

"From a small budget, grandmothers were able to feed the family," she added. "They could look in the fridge and make a meal out of all sorts of little scraps. That is a skill that's lost - being able to judge it yourself when food is safe to eat and when it is not. It's a forgotten skill to be able to make a meal, something delicious and lovely out of leftovers."

Darina has appealed to grandparents to pass on cooking skills to their grandchildren and vice versa.

And now Fashion Evolution, supported by Dublin City Enterprise Board, are holding a series of workshops designed to assist people make the most of their limited wardrobes.

The services available at Crafternoon Tea at Smock Alley Café in Temple Bar on May 2 range from basic knitting classes to pattern drafting for designing your own clothes.

There will also be a 'Clothes Clinic', where people will be taught to how to mend clothes as well as ''Upcycling', which involves taking an old garment and transforming it into something new from as little as €10 a class.

The event is part of Ethical Fashion Week 2009, with a whole host of seminars, lessons and to teach people how to get back to basics and appreciate the rudimentary aspects of fashion.

"The recession is bringing out the creative best in people. There is more of a community spirit and people want to take positive actions to find solutions and find similar positive like minded people," said Eibhlin Curley, Assistant Chief Executive, Dublin City Enterprise Board.

Focus

And Ms Curley said that there is more of a focus on small networking associations for people to exchange ideas and collaborate on projects.

"There is definitely a backlash into positive mode," she said. "People want to get involved and not become a victim but to be constructive and control their own destiny."



Report by Claire Murphy - Evening Herald.

Popular posts from this blog

Ireland's Celtic Tiger Excesses...

'Bang twins' may never get to run a business again... POST-boom Ireland is awash with cautionary tales of Celtic Tiger excesses, as a rattle around the carcasses of fallen property developers and entrepreneurs will show. Few can compete with the so-called Bang twins for youth, glamour and tasteful extravagance. Simon and Christian Stokes, the 35-year-old identical twins behind Bang Cafe and exclusive private members club, Residence, saw their entire business go bust with debts of €9m, €3m of which is owed to the tax man. The debt may be in the ha'penny place compared with the eye-watering billions owed by some of their former customers. But their fall has been arguably steeper and more damning than some of the country's richest tycoons. Last week, further humiliation was heaped on them with revelations that even as their businesses were going under, the twins spent €146,000 of company money in 18 months on designer shopping sprees, five star holidays and sumptu...

As Featured On Dublin Postcards, Ad's, U2 Video...

I see in the Irish Independent today an item concerning a favourite, Dublin landmark, of mine... "THEY have featured in numerous postcards and a very famous Guinness ad, but perhaps their most important cameo appearance came when they featured in U2s 'Pride (In The Name Of Love)' video. However, Dublin City Council does not believe the Poolbeg chimneys are iconic enough to place on their Record of Protected Structures. Following a request from Cllr Dermot Lacey (Lab) to have the landmark ESB chimneys placed on the protected record, city councillors heard that city planners had conducted a survey, history and full assessment of the chimneys. They concluded from this that while the Poolbeg chimneys were considered to be of a certain level of architectural, social and historical significance, they were not of sufficient value within the meaning of the Planning and Development Act, 2000. Complex The twin red and white chimney stacks measure 680 feet in height and were construc...

Developers Cut New Home Prices In Dublin...

Developers cut prices of new homes in Dublin... Developers have sharply reduced prices at some of Dublin’s bigger housing schemes this weekend, in a bid to stimulate sales of vacant units and entice first-time buyers into the market. Price reductions of up to €150,000 are being offered at the latest releases of apartments and houses for sale. P Elliott & Co has put a total of 80 units at four of its apartment schemes, on to the market through Hooke & MacDonald, at substantially reduced prices. Prices now start at €169,000 for a one-bedroom apartment at Arena in west Dublin, while a two-bedroom apartments at Mellowes Quay in Dublin 8 now costs €269,000, down from a high of €415,000 in spring 2007. Jackson Homes, Kingscroft Developments and Durkan New Homes have also reduced prices at their schemes by about €100,000, or up to 30 per cent on peak levels. Estate agents reported strong enquiries ahead of this weekend’s releases. ‘‘Based on the level of enquiries we’ve had, we expect...