Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)
Hi,
John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.
I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.
With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.
I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.
If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.
I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.
I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.
Thank you
Darragh Sherwin
Fish Clubs
If you haven't any direct contact, I am sure that the various LFS in Limerick would be happy to put up a poster to that effect (Underwater World, Petmania, Adare, etc.)
Posting on this website could also help. You could also post on boards.ie, there might be some fishkeepers from Limerick there.
I started a club in Galway a few years ago, but it has been dormant for the past 2 years as I haven't been able to pursue this venture lately. However, if you require any information, don't hesitate to PM me.
Valerie
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...when we had a couple of meetings in Limerick we met in a bar (can't remember exactly where) - (cue Valerie) but my suggestion would be somewhere a bit less 'frequented' as it did get a little hectic after a while....
Ooh - That's a long time ago ! :O
We met in the "Locke Bar" on George's Quay in Limerick. You are right, it was sometimes a little hectic there.
Valerie
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I haven't started an aquatic society for donkey's years (and I only recently re-joined a fish society after a mega year break from them), but I have be at the front of starting 2 national societies since moving to Ireland in recent times: The Irish Orchid Society and The Herpetological Society of Ireland.
You need to get people on-board.
For a local society, you don't need as many people on the committee as you need for a national/international society..... a chairperson, a treasurer, and a secretary is all you need for a local club.
Use forums to drum up interest. Ask advice from the existing societies.
Use local radio.
Work in the beginning can be a bit hard, and there may be times when you may feel like giving up....but a society is about determination, and so just keep ploughing through.
It all depends on how big or small or ambitious you want to make the society.
The 2 societies I started in Ireland have very big and diverse ambitions and can be a real headache, but you don't need a local society to have such big aims and so it can be quite easy to do.
One item that people often wonder is 'what is a good membership number'?
In Ireland, being a small country in comparison to UK, USA, Germany where there has been a long history of such organisations and a big population, membership numbers are unlikely to reach the 10,000 mark
So, don't be put off if you only get 20 keen members at start.
ian
Irish Tropical Fish Society (ITFS) Member.
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. 30 tanks specialise in african cichlids, angelfish and various catfish
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