On Saturday 22 August Green Foundation Ireland hosted a brief event entitled “A Celebration of the Camac”. It was part of National Heritage Week and held under canvas in the Royal Hospital grounds in Kilmainham. It effectively turned out to be a “Dublin Rivers get together” and a useful opportunity for those involved in the various organisations engaged in Dublin river clean ups to share experiences and approaches. Brian Ronan and Maria O’Connor from the Friends of the Camac made initial remarks after the introduction by the Green Foundation chair Pat Brereton and communications director John Gormley, well known to Dodder Action as the producer of the Dodder and Tolka films.
As well as music and poetry from others in the Friends of the Camac organisation, speakers from Treasure the Tolka, Dodder Action and the Poddle gave brief outlines of the activities of their respective organisations, including regular cleanups, invasive species removal, water quality analysis, sources of pollution investigation and native tree planting meitheals.
Catherine Ann Cullen sang her own composition, a heartfelt song about the Camac, reminding us all of the Irish origin of the name Camac, An Chamóg. The name comes from an old Irish word related to bending or wandering,” and so is connected to the curvy and twisting path the water takes.
John Gormley informed us that hot on the heels of the Dodder and Tolka films, a film about the Camac is going into post production and that he also intends to make a film about the Poddle.
(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)