A community starts with One.

Photo by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash

I will take a cop-out this week and repost a poem I wrote about a place close to my heart a few months ago.

The shelters in Portmarnock are not only a place to change before going into the sea, but it is also a viewing point to watch the waves, the passers-by with their children and dogs, or a place to witness the numbers that arrive each Sunday to do yoga.

But inside and under that concrete roof is a place full of laughs, smiling faces, listening ears, hugs galore, and bundles and bundles of hope.

Hope that each day is better than those in the past. Along with that, this place provides safety for many, safe in the knowledge that all around are people who will be there for one another in support in whatever way possible. This place epitomizes the word community, and all bonded and linked with a love for the sea.

Now nobody there can claim they were the first to sea dip or the first to have the idea to meet there.

But it took each of those to go down and see the place for themselves and try it out.

There is the couch to 5K runs each week, growing by numbers, yet we did not invent running.

One decided to have an idea, and another decided to jump on board, told a friend, a sister, and a husband, and they joined, and so on.

Yoga is filled with solo yogis who decided to face their fear and head along and try it out, and now they are regulars.

This week's thought concerns what new place, hobby, or activity you have always wanted to visit or do.

Is there something you have witnessed on social media that interests you? Yet too afraid to go?

You would like to try new hobbies, but your friends say it's not their thing?

The longer you tell yourself you cannot go alone, the longer you will never know what it is like, what it is like to do the things that make you happy and feel part of something.

Walk away from something you cannot wait till you return to.

To surround yourself with like-minded people who once felt the same fear as you.

That book club, sharing circle, yoga, sound bath, sports team, or fitness class all started with one, the one with an idea, and in time it grew.

Remember, when you take that chance, that community grows by one.

And here it is, my community I took a chance on, titled the shelters. 

What chance will you take this week?

The Shelters

Standing long, standing strong that one hundred meters of stone, 

Anybody that has visited never leaves feeling alone,

Smiling faces greeting you each with a story to tell,

Stories of pain and darkness, of sickness to now being well,

The years of trauma and hurt endured seems forgotten on this sacred ground,

If heaven were a place on earth, it would be this safe area we have found,

Music playing loudly from a speaker, feet dancing to the beat,

Monday through to Sunday, nicer people you will never Meet,

The power and warmth of the Irish Sea seem quite the contradiction,

No agony, no drugs, no alcohol; this is the new addiction 

The dogs that play in the sand with their owners, young and old 

Shared by one and shared by all in July heat to the December cold, 

People on their yoga mats each Sunday sessions led by Mr 365

A place you do not want to leave, like bees and their hive

All there for their reason, United with love and care,

Stripped of all false values, all judgments are laid bare,

No handshakes or fist pumps; each hello is with a hug,

One visit to this sacred ground won't be your last once you catch the bug,

Years and years of collective trauma outnumber the grains of sand. 

If you ever need something, there is always a helping hand. 

A place like no other that has saved so many a live,

Walk softly into the cold water, or if you are brave enough, just dive.

Meet a friend for coffee, and a chat, take in the sound of the ocean,

To find that smile that you cannot find well, this place will put that in motion,

Follow the path down the hill and hear John Boland's speaker playing belters. 

For there isn't a day you will regret visiting the shelters. 

As always, thanks for reading.

Marcus.