Hi there! 

Two postcards in a week you cry! I know!! I need to catch you up on all the news and not writing as fast as my adventures. 

This week I was in Ireland and spent time in three local authorities, like our councils! There are 31 Local authorities in Ireland compared to 564 in Australia!  So, I can say I saw 10% of them.  Ireland has an out-of-date national play strategy - completed in 2004, with one for teens in 2007 and is currently being updated.  However, I was intrigued to use Ireland as a research focus, as they really were driving change early on and it was clearly still happening. An earlier visit in my trip was to a conference for local authorities, held by the Irish Government ( good people by the way!!), this showed me that the play agenda was still alive and well and being driven by local authorities. 

So, new colleagues in Waterford, Cork and Dublin, generously shared their time with me and I spent a few days visiting with them and learning more about their projects. The Local authorities do not all have separate play strategies, but have in many cases embedded play into their whole service delivery model. Everything from streets to libraries to cultural tourism trails, are reflecting and adopting play initiatives.  All of these initiatives are driven by collaboration between different organisations and not stand-alone solitary projects, an important factor it seems in their ongoing success. The other key ingredient - play was seen an integral for social cohesion and community health, less about the individual and more about the community.  It was wonderful to hear the Mayor of Waterford remind a team member he was looking forward to another play street event in his area, as the last one had been so much fun! I left Ireland inspired by the potential - many of our local authorities are doing great things, and keen to see how we can harness and build on these as examples of excellence to inspire others.  

I did do a pit stop on Northern Ireland to visit our “cousins” at PlayBoard. Playboard is the national peak for play and IPA secretariat in Northern Ireland. We discussed projects and CEO Alan Heron had team members present on their work providing me with a fabulous overview of the depth and extent of their work supporting play. Once again, it was evident, play was not just stand also but being used as a catalyst for health, education, community cohesion. All of it funded by a mix of government and philanthropy.  

My final stop will be back to England to follow up my research there, if you have not heard, but this past week, the play sufficiency legislation was reintroduced to English Parliament. (by an expat Aussie!!) https://www.playengland.org.uk/newsblog/a-critical-step-forward-play-sufficiency-amendment-reintroduced-in-the-lords

So, my final week in England, and the final stage of my Churchill Fellowship will be spent exploring this exciting stage in the development of England's play sufficiency legislation! 

Yours Playfully 

Robyn