![\"1\"](\"http:\/\/www.anfocal.ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/15-570x342.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
By Aisling O\u2019Connor<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Students from Raheen have won the star award at the 2016 AONTAS Adult Learner\u2019s festival due to their work with the Limerick Soundscape project.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Soundscape project, set up by the University of Limerick and Mary Immaculate College, seeks to capture the sound of Limerick by creating an online soundmap.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The students from Limerick\u2019s National Learning Network centre were delighted to win with one participant, Suzanne Goodison saying: \u201cWinning the award was fantastic, the day was brilliant. I\u2019m thrilled with my group and my instructor Carmel Hanley, who\u2019s been absolutely brilliant\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The Raheen group\u2019s project was created by collecting the sounds of the daily lives of the members. This entailed using digital recorders to capture to noise emitted from areas such as shopping centres and the members\u2019 own back gardens.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Dr. Aileen Dillane of the IWAMD, UL and \u00a0Dr. Tony Langlois, Media and Communication Studies, MIC, described the Limerick Soundcape Project as an initiative about hearing local people and also congratulated the group on their success saying the NLN were a delight to work with.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cThey recorded some unique and very interesting sounds that make a great contribution to the soundmap we\u2019re building. Both UL and MIC are enthusiastic to be working in partnership with local communities in this way,\u201d they said.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
According to NLN group leader Carmel Hanley, not only was the competition a great opportunity for the Raheen group to contribute their own voices to the soundmap, but also provided a way to hear to sounds of others too.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The sounds the group collected have been edited and uploaded to the Limerick Soundscapes website, allowing Limerick to be heard on a world stage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
To listen to the Limerick Soundscape project visit –\u00a0http:\/\/www.limericksoundscapes.ie\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n