This article is from page 30 of the 2007-08-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 30 JPG
AS THE summer begins to slowly wind down, Coole Park will be a hive of activity over the next few weeks with a range of free events for all shapes and sizes.
Events kick off in ghoulish fashion tonight, when the Galway Bat Group will host a Bat Walk in the park, meeting up at 8pm weather permit- ting.
A range of events to mark National Heritage Week, starting this week- end, will follow tonight’s talk.
“We have about eight of the nine species of bats in Ireland living here in Coole. The Galway Bat Group
will be coming along on the night with bat detectors which can detect the different sounds that the bats make,” said Hilda Mac Lochlainn, Head Guide with Nation Parks and Wildlife Service at Coole Park. ‘They will tell us what the species are that we are listening to and see- ing and in what direction they can be found. It’s a really great event for children and all the family. They get to see the bats and they also get to hear the bats through the detector.” The centrepiece of this year’s Her- itage Week Programme at Coole will be a pair of multi-media exhibition. The first, a film of Lady Gregory and Coole Park and a multi-media exhi-
bition on Coole ‘through the eyes of Me and Nu’ — the granddaughters of Lady Gregory – will take place all day Sunday August 26 and Septem- ber 2. On Saturday September 1, an award winning short-film by the stu- dents of Tubber National School will also be shown.
“We try to have a mix of events for all age groups and tastes. We try to focus on the history of Coole as well as focusing on the natural beauty and uniqueness of the area,’ continued Hilda.
“It was a project where national schools are asked to make a short- film on their area and Tubber decided to look at school and education in the
past. Part of it was recorded in Tub- ber and some of it was also recorded here in Coole.
‘The entered the Clare competition which they won so we are delighted to have a special screening of the film on Saturday, September 1. We are hoping to have some of the peo- ple who were involved in making it, here so they can talk a bit about it and answer questions.”
All of these activities are free of charge and are organised by the Na- tional Parks and Wildlife Service with help from the Friends of Coole and the Heritage Office of Galway County Council. For more contact O91 631804.