Waterford Today | Waterford's free weekly newspaper

and other education institutes as a way to strengthen job prospects

Dr. Richard Thorn, Director of Flexible Learning at the Institutes of Technology Ireland, shows flexible contortionist Anita Woods the new and improved BlueBrick.ie in Herbert Park.

Picture Conor McCabe Photography.

BlueBrick.ie, the revolutionary education website allowing users to compare courses conveniently and register online, has announced a complete site "refresh" in order to improve user-friendliness. This refresh coincides with a survey conducted on behalf of BlueBrick.ie, focusing on people's attitudes to flexible learning. The website, which provides courses from WIT, recently registered a 15-fold increase in traffic since courses on the Springboard initiative were made available. There were over 57,000 visitors to the site in July, with an additional 25,000 last week alone.

The survey found that 65% of

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Starting the running practice can be a tedious task. Warming up properly before the training is extremely important to prepare the muscles of the legs and hips sufficiently so they are less likely to get strained or injured. The pose of this week is called Half Happy Baby Mini Vini. It is dynamic exercise that takes your hips effectively through its full range of motion. It can be done in home before you step out and you will need either a Yoga strap or any regular belt or towel.

1. Half Happy Baby Mini Vini-

Half Happy Baby-lay on your spine with your legs extended and arms resting by your hips. Have a Yoga strap (or a towel, belt) nearby. Pull your right knee into your chest and lasso the right arch of your foot with the strap. Joint stack your right

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Tullamore was the venue on Saturday last for the National League Finals and Ferrybank AC women were defending their Premier title and their men were also in the Premier final with West Waterford women in the Division One decider, unfortunately neither of the teams figured in the honours list.The Ferrybank women had to compete without a number of key athletes including Jessie Barr and Kelly Proper and finished 4 th overall behind DSD Dublin, Bandon and Leevale. They did have good winning performances by Niamh Whelan 100 and 200 Metres, Cara Kennedy Hammer and Megan Kiely 100 Metres hurdles, and third placings by Megan Kiely 400 Metres Hurdles, Sonia Kennedy Discus and Sorcha Murphy High Jump. Ferrybank men finished 8 th overall and had wins with Thomas Barr 400 Metres Hurdles and Christopher Russell 200 Metres, a second placing was

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The fifth Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford, part of the An Post Cycle Series in association with the Irish Sports Council and what is sure to be one of the most colourful and spectacular events in Waterford's 2011 sporting calendar is almost upon us. The Tour takes place this Saturday and Sunday August 27th and 28th. Entries closed last Tuesday and a massive 4000 participants had signed up for this great event. Of those entered almost every county in Ireland is represented in particular Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny, Dublin, Wexford, Kerry, Clare, Kilkenny and Galway. This year has also seen a huge increase in overseas entry particularly from our near neighbours in the UK but also from a number of European countries. This huge increase in the popularity of

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Blues Ready For Cup Challenge

Waterford United take a break from the trials and tribulations of the league this Friday night, when the magic of the Cup comes to the RSC, in the shape of Premier division St Patrick's Athletic. Pat's, of course, have played a big part in our Cup tradition, most recently in 2009 when United saw them off at the quarter-final stage, and most famously in 1980 when our last time lifting the trophy came against the Inchicore outfit. Despite last weekend's loss, the Blues are in fine form currently, and their attacking display in the second half at Monaghan should have earned at least a point, and probably more. What they do need, though, is support, lots of loud and vocal support, and the club are exhorting all their fans to please come out to the RSC

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Waterford Soccer Monthly is now on sale in every newsagent across Waterford. The straight- talking local soccer magazine that covers every aspect of soccer in Waterford is now available. In this Summer Special we cover all the Schoolboy Cup Finals and all the Junior Cup Finals with some fantastic photos from all the games. We also cover the

Waterford United win over Liverpool at the RSC recently, there are some brilliant

photos of that never to be forgotten game.Turn to our competition pages where you can win a signed Waterford United shirt. Our "Blast from the Past" will feature pictures from the sixties and seventies. Get to your local newsagent now and pick up your copy today priced at only 5 Euro.

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The Union of Students in Ireland (USI) launched its 2011 Rent Book & Accommodation Guide at the Waterford Institute of Technology Students’ Union in the Cork Road Campus, 11am on Monday, August 15th.

The 2011 guide, which has been produced with the support of Threshold and the Department of the Environment, will provide students and parents with all the practical information needed on any accommodation issues they may face throughout the college year.

This also marks the launch of USI's campaign for the introduction of a Deposit Protection Scheme to protect students from being ripped off by rogue landlords, and this year’s guide also includes a petition encouraging students and their families to support the USI campaign.

Research conducted by USI has demonstrated that unscrupulous landlords

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An Inner City Community Fun Day will be held on Sunday the 21st August from 3pm to 6pm at the: Edmund Rice International Heritage Centres Ltd, Mount Sion, Barrack Street, Waterford.

It will be a lovely day out for all who come along as there will something for

everyone to enjoy and take part in.

Events on the day will include:

- Face painting- Youth Busking Corner- Band, Music and Dancing- Puppet Show- Family Fun - Activities, e.g. novelty races, hula hooping, soccer skills, etc- Fancy dress competition for children

This day is open to people of all ages and All Events are free on the day!

For further information please contact

Br. Kevin in Mount Sion 874390 or Liz in St. Brigid's FCC on 375261.

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The Waterford Crystal Sports and Social Centre will remain open after the receiver last week accepted a proposal put forward by staff to cut costs and maintain it as a going concern.

The Centre had been threatened with closure at the end of the month but a fast response by the 18 staff members, supported by the UNITE trade union and the people of Waterford, has meant it will now be put on the market as a going concern.

"This was a great collective effort by staff who have fought for their future and won this first battle at least," said UNITE Regional Officer Clive O'Regan.

A facebook campaign had brought lots of support from local people, many of whom had learnt to swim themselves in ‘the glass pool' and whose children are doing so again.

Privately owned alternative facilities charge more than twice

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Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT) has announced a pilot ‘second chance scheme' for students who have not achieved the required maths grade in their Leaving Certificate for their chosen course in WIT.

Students will be given another opportunity to matriculate to the Institute by sitting a Leaving Certificate equivalent paper at the end of August. The exam will be available to candidates who have already applied for a course in WIT. The exam does not provide additional points so intending applicants must have already achieved the cut-off points for their programme of choice.

Launching the initiative, Dr. Derek O'Byrne, Registrar at Waterford Institute of Technology said: "The Institute's Academic Council wanted to offer Leaving Certificate students every opportunity possible to access our programmes and recognise the importance of maths as a key skill underpinning performance at third level. We believe that this

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Waterford's hosting earlier this summer of The Tall Ships Races 2011, presented by Szczecin and organised by Sail Training International, generated an estimated €7,597,568 worth of positive publicity for the city.

A detailed independent analysis carried out by Dublin-based Kantar Media found that the event generated almost one million square centimetres of newspaper and magazine coverage worth €5,008,939 and 25.9 hours of broadcast coverage worth €2,588,629.

Stephen Kent, chairperson of the marketing team for The Tall Ships Races 2011 in Waterford, said the data reflected what had been achieved through an ambitious and energetic public relations campaign. "Our PR team put together and delivered a programme with real breadth and depth over 18 months of sustained activity built around key milestones. Using media relations in Ireland and overseas and direct ‘on the ground' promotional tactics, the PR push also dovetailed well with

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ENTRY NOW OPEN FOR THE 2011

COMMUNITY & VOLUNTARY AWARDS

The Award scheme is now open for nominations. County Waterford Community Forum would like to encourage all eligible groups to enter the scheme and look forward to meeting those groups at the Awards Evening in November. For a copy of the Nomination Form & Guidelines please contact: Muriel Tobin, Community & Voluntary Awards, County Waterford Community Forum, Civic Offices, Dungarvan, Co Waterford. Tel: 058 21198. Email: murieltobin@waterfordcoco.ie Closing date for receipt of nominations is 5pm on 23rd September 2011.

The Sean Kelly Tour NeedS YOU!!!

The Sean Kelly Tour of Waterford is happening again on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th August. In order for this event to continue to be successful and bring national recognition to County Waterford and the surrounding areas, we need your assistance. Would you be interested in helping out?,

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Would you like to hold a community clean up in your area? Maybe there has been some litter scattered on the green area recently that you and your neighbours would like to tackle.

Litter can be unsightly and have a negative impact on the community. So what can you do to combat it? The good news is that although littering is a very visible problem, it is one that can be both avoided and tackled.

Getting involved in clean ups is an excellent way to raise awareness about litter and it encourages people of all ages to take pride in their local environment. Many residential groups and youth groups carry out clean ups of their local area. In fact almost 60 community groups, resident associations, schools, etc. have carried out clean ups so far this year in Waterford City. These clean ups

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Hospitality Industry and Duty of Care for those who become Intoxicated

The High Court has recently delivered judgement in a case taken by the estate of John Connolly deceased who was killed when the car he was driving was involved in a collision. Mr Connolly was a late night regular at a pub known as "The Diamond" and it was claimed that it was known that his regular means of transport was his car. On the night in question he had bought five or six pints of Guinness.

Whilst driving home Mr Connolly's car crossed to the other side of the road colliding with a car driven by Mary Sheridan. Mary Sheridan suffered personal injuries whilst her passenger and Mr Connolly suffered fatal injuries in the accident. Mary Sheridan brought a personal injury action against the estate of John Connolly who in

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From the 4th to 10th of July last a group of 6 young people from Waterford and 2 leaders went to our twin city; Saint Herblain to meet with like minded young French people. The idea behind the trip was to develop knowledge on how democracy works at local, national and European level and to compare and contrast how young people can affect change in their respective local areas in Waterford and Saint Herblain.

A programme of workshops was arranged to discuss such themes as education, immigration, emigration, transport, stereotypes, mobility in Europe. The aim of the workshops was to encourage an exchange of ideas to take positives from both sides and create a better way forward.

The meeting took place in advance of the 30th anniversary of the twinning arrangement between Waterford and Saint Herblain. From the 14th to the 16th

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