Dublin Team

We had a great meeting last Sunday, after the Sunday programme, where we invited a few of our most active members to participate in forming a team that will look after the day to day running of the centre. All the arrangements we made are somewhat provisional as things will change once the temple reopens next year but we all agreed that starting now will give us the chance to get comfortable at doing what needs to be done so we can aim for a higher level of service to temple visitors once work is complete.

Here is a review of the meeting:

ATTENDEES

Balaji, Egor, Eshwar, Janmastami, Magda, Nidhish, Praveena

OVERVIEW

- Four distinct but complimentary departments are to be set up within
ISKCON Dublin:
 - Patron Department
 - Guest Care Department
 - Records Department
 - Cleanliness Department
- Manager's are sought for each of these roles, all roles are to be
assigned on a provisional basis subject to continual review and in
particular a review when the centre reopens when the nature of these
departments and their needs may change.

PATRON DEPARTMENT

- The Patron Department exists to attend to the needs of both existing
and future donors whether they contribute money, time and/or something
else of value as well as to encourage others to contribute within
their means to ISKCON Dublin's activities. This department will seek
acceptable ways to promote this contribution and implement them, and
in particular the direct debit patron programme will be promoted.
- It was resolved that Nidhish Prabhu (volunteered, supported by
Janmastami, seconded by Eshwar) take on the role of manager of this
department.

GUEST CARE DEPARTMENT

- The Guest Care Department exists to ensure that all visitors to the
centre receive a suitably high and consistent standard of welcome and
that their needs are met. This includes ensuring that they are
greeted, provided with further information in accordance with their
needs (first time visitor, from another yatra etc) and that their
details are recorded in the new guest book so that they can be stayed
in contact with even if they do not visit often.
- It was resolved that Magda Mataji (volunteered, supported by
Janmastami, seconded by Praveena) take on the role of manager of this
department.
- Praveena Mataji and Egor Prabhu volunteered to assist in this role.

RECORDS DEPARTMENT

- The Records Department exists to keep track of the various databases
of ISKCON Dublin - financial details and contact information - and to
make this information available to various other departments such as
the Patron Department and Guest Care Department for the purposes of
keeping in touch with contacts as well as statistical analysis. A
central database with multiple user access is to be established for
this department and the guest book will be regularly updated to this
computerised database.
- It was resolved that Praveena Mataji (volunteered, supported by
Janmastami, seconded by Egor) take on the role of manager of this
department. This role will be held by her in addition to her existing
role of Treasurer.

CLEANLINESS DEPARTMENT

- The Cleanliness Department's purpose is to ensure the order, safety
and cleanliness of all public parts of the temple building and their
contents such as furniture and mats as well as to implement waste
disposal. Initially this department also includes care of the altar
area, although this will become a separate department upon reopening.
- It was resolved that Eshwar Prabhu (volunteered, supported by
Janmastami, seconded by Balaji) take on the role of manager of this
department.

MAINTENANCE DEPARTMENT

- John Prabhu, who was unable to make it to the team meeting, later
volunteered to become manager of the Maintenance Department. This was
supported by Janmastami.
- The Maintenance Department exists to ensure the safe working order
of the temple building, equipment and facilities and their upkeep.

Sri Sri Radha Govinda

Recently, in order to secure much needed funding for the Dublin centre, we had a fundraiser in Govinda's 3 on Merrion Row. The highlight of this event was the visit of Their Lordships Sri Sri Radha Govinda from Govindadwipa, County Fermanagh.

Their Lordships were also joined by His Holiness Bhaktimarga Swami. The programme consisted of kirtan, a talk by Maharaja, reports on Rathayatra and ISKCON Dublin Temple progress and an amazing prasadam feast.

During the fundraiser some extra-special contributions were made by the following devotees whom we are all very grateful to. Please thank them personally if you see them!

Janmasthami : 808 euro
Gaura Nitai : 750 euro 
Nidhish : 721 euro
Medhavi : 551 euro
Praghosa : 502 euro
Shyamasundara Bhagavan : 500 stg.
Jayanta : 400 euro

Electrical storm?

It's been a strange week in terms of electrical work. In once sense we've gotten a lot done as the fire alarm wiring is now in place. It's not finished yet though as we still need to run the cable up from the basement that will power the kitchen area.

Our electrician, a local contractor who has worked on the Govinda's restaurants before, has been rather preoccupied this week and although he is a genuinely nice person to talk to he has a habit of not doing things when he says he will as well as not letting us know what's going on and as such he gets more phonecalls from me than I would like to make.

Because the plastering is starting shortly, he knows that his work needs to be finished by the end of this week and he assures us it will be. It needs to be because otherwise we will have more serious schedule problems.

Janmastami dasa

Thanks for the support

There's been a lot of traffic coming through the temple building this past week, devotees dropping by to show their support and people volunteering their time and donating money. Thanks to everyone for your support!

We still still need €15,000 to finish the work, which is okay when you consider that together we have already raised €75,000 to date. If you have any innovative ideas as to how we can gather the rest or are feeling generous be sure to get in touch!

Sri Sri Panca Tattva's Wonderful Altar

One of the most exciting parts of the soon to be launched temple design is the beautiful altar that has been custom made by hand in South India for Sri Sri Panca Tattva.

Featuring an intricate series of devotional carvings of elephants, flowers and other exotic devotional symbols the wooden altar will sit upon the marble floor of the Deity area in the new temple room.

We had some difficulties with the delivery - part of it was lost in transit from India. While this isn't unusual, still it posed to be a big problem because if the contents couldn't be found it would mean they would have to be carved all over again and this could take up to a year and mean our operning would be very delayed.

Fortunately it was discovered that the pieces that were missing were accessories rather than main structural parts of the altar such as the dome, pillars or platforms. This meant that we could open up regardless.

We had even better news just recently when our shipping agent called us to say that they found the lost part of the delivery - somehow it had been routed to London incorrectly. They sent it to us and it has all arrived safely. The delivery included the vyasasana (where a speaker sits while talking from scripture) and some decorative tables for placing the arati tray (the brass tray that is used for puja, or making offerings, to the Deities).

Now that our collection of devotional furniture is complete there will be no delay in opening once the refurbishment work is complete. We haven't got an exact date set yet, however we will have one soon. It's likely to be at the very beginning of next year - which is very soon! We're finally reaching a point where we have enough information to calculate a realistic date to announce and you'll hear it here first.

Coming Soon: Toilets!

As part of our complete renovation of the temple building, one of the things that we have lacked greatly in our temporary operation has been proper bathroom facilities. In response to this their finishing has been prioritised and we are also finishing them to a very high modern standard.

John and Radhaya have already done the ground work by constructing the cubicles, located on the 1st floor, and have done the initial measuring and layout. At this very moment they are working on the plumbing. The wiring will also soon be complete for the water heater and hand dryers.

Eshwar has already helped us to source the various fittings such as taps, dryers, wash-hand basins and the toilet bowl themselves and these will be fitted shortly. We're going to tile each bathroom and Joe will be doing this when he next visits.

Electrical Progress

The work has commenced on the electrics and we're off to a good start. The fire alarm system is being installed presently and the cabling is being put in place for the kitchen area. This work is due to be completed by the end of this week, paving the way for the plastering and decorative work which will follow.

Over the course of the wiring we made the decision to build nice lowered ceilings in the hallways which will conceil the cabling and greatly improve the appearance of the public areas. John and Radhaya already have the first one in place, the second one will follow shortly.

Cleanliness Is Next To Godliness

John and Radhaya are making great progress right this minute at clearing the first floor area of the temple building. As the electric work is due to resume shortly we need all the areas that are due to be wired to be completely clear.

It's pretty heavy duty work but they're doing well, dismantling the crates that the altar came in from India, removing the nails, making stacks of timber and generally sorting and tidying the place.

Eshwar is coming a little later today to remove the excess wood.

Electrics in Full Swing

The electrician was out last night - we met and discussed the final details of the wiring and he's set to get to work by 8am this Monday. John and Radhaya will also be there next week working away on the other electrical installations such as lighting and plug fixtures.

We are in the process of getting some of the brass fittings for the temple as well as the light rails that will be mounted on the beams of the temple room as well as the altar and the electrician tells us he will be able to get us some rock bottom prices.

Risk of shock

I called the electrician back and he has promised that he will commence the work on the alarm system and other electrics on Monday 6th of October and be finished by Friday 10th of October.

I spoke to him about the fact that he has also confirmed dates of completion over the past couple of months and not delivered on them and he explained that there was a particularly difficult job on that led to his missing the deadlines we had agreed upon.

As he has worked reliably with ISKCON in the past we are happy to trust that he will now meet this deadline. If for any reason this doesn't happen then we will have no other choice to get another electrician to take over where this one has left off. This is something that is best avoided, due to the disruption it causes in a project, but we will have no choice.

Please say some electric prayers that with Lord Krishna's mercy we can get this awkward part of the construction complete and move on to the more creative completion of the new temple!

Janmastami dasa

Electrical Work

One of our greatest challenges at this part of the construction project is getting the electrical work finished. Once this is complete we will be able to finish the plastering and also fit the lights in the temple room. Then work can commence on the plumbing and painting can begin.

A lot of work has already been done on the electrics and most of the cabling is complete, however in order to open the new part of the centre we must have a fire alarm system installed and tested. We have arranged with an electrician to do this but despite our setting the times and dates this still has not happened.

I last talked to the electrician less than an hour ago and he said he is available and will get back in touch with me today to confirm when he will finish the work. I'll keep you posted.

Janmastami dasa

History of ISKCON Dublin

Krishna Consciousness has been popular in Dublin for many years now. As Ireland's capital city, Dublin is a diverse and busy city and over the past few decades has had many temples. For one reason or another these temples never remained open for longer than a few years, mainly because the properties were not owned or secured by a long term leese agreement.

With the development of the Govinda's chain of vegetarian restaurant in the city a long term leese has been secured on the present temple building and thanks to the support of the restaurant devotees we now have a place we can call home. Sunday programmes have been taking place for the last few years in the Dublin temple every week at 3pm.

Over this space of time we have had a chance to develop a supportive community who have joined and worked with the core temple team to refine our vision of a thriving city centre temple with regular and varied Krishna Conscious programmes. We have also fundraised over €75,000 of the €90,000 that we estimate it will cost to complete the renovation of the present temple.

Although our Sunday programmes have been popular we are working on building a far more substantial centre with different rooms including the temple room, kitchens and a reception area. Thanks to the help of our many supporters the majority of this work has already been completed and we are now in the final stages of completing the wiring and decorating.

If you are interested in supporting the temple with your time then please either contact us by email or visit in person - you'll always find us there on Sundays from 3pm onwards. You can also donate whatever you can afford towards the fund to finish the renovations using the Paypal button below.

Janmastami dasa

Welcome

Welcome to the ISKCON Dublin Temple blog. From today onwards I'll be keeping you up to date on all the latest progress of the Dublin centre. Please add your comments and get involved.

Janmastami dasa