Month: October 2008

A GROUP whose aim is to integrate newcomers to Shannon has just re- grouped for the winter months.

Le Chéile na Sionna was set up last year and it has focused on welcom- ing all ethnic groups to the town. It was set up in the wake of high num- bers of foreign nationals moving to the town.

Many of them had little social con- tact and the group is geared towards ensuring social networks be formed between those people.

The group has members from a di- verse range of countries, including Mauritius, India, America, France, Germany, Philippines, Wales, Ni-

geria, Poland, England, Egypt, Neth- erlands and Peru.

Le Chéile na Sionna meets on the first Tuesday of every month, at Rineanna hall in Shannon, while it also holds weekend gatherings. Its membership has grown considerably since it was set up in March of last year. Chairperson and founder of the group, Trish Fallon-Barry is delight- ed with the feedback.

“We have almost 60 email ad- dresses on our database. The average attendance tends to be between 15 and 20; usually a mixture of regular faces and new ones,’ she said.

Some of the initial members have moved on, but have remained in con- tact with existing members of the

ea cele l oF “We have made new friends from many countries who have since left Shannon, but have enjoyed the so- cial gatherings and the friendships formed while living here,” she said.

Those who attend the meetings are regularly encouraged to contribute ideas, with a view to making events more enjoyable. Ms Fallon-Barry said many plans are afoot for future activities.

‘Plans for the future include design- ing a little invitation card which can easily be given to those in the town who may not have heard of us yet, but would be interested in joining in. We also hope to organise some enjoyable social outing this coming year, pos-

sibly to the Aran islands where we can soak up the ‘Irish culture’ exper1- ence!” she said.

A special party will be held on Tuesday, December 2 next, when members will be invited to bring their extended families and friends ~NCoyetee

“Last Christmas we had a wonder- ful night where we learned all about the various customs associated with St. Nicholas throughout the world. It’s wonderful to have people in Shannon from literally all over the globe!” she added.

“Through story, song, PowerPoint photos and chat, we have all enjoyed and learned a great deal about each other’s culture’s,’ she said.

STAFF at a legal firm in Shannon have raised €4,000 for Cahercalla Hospice in Ennis, through organis- ing a coffee morning.

F B Keatings employees put their work on hold as they took time out to organise the event, at the SkyCourt shopping centre.

In the process, they raised €1,800

and management topped this up to reach a total of €4,000. The fund- raiser was organised by the officer manager at Keatings, Mary Forde, who was delighted with the generos- ity of the people of Shannon.

“From dealing with older people over the years, whose partners have died, a lot of them have got abso- lutely brilliant support from the Hos- pice,’ said Ms Forde.

“There was a great turnout. We were on such a high that so many people turned up. It is a wonderful feeling. The feedback has been fan- tastic. We had never done anything like this before,’ she added.

Given the encouragement received from those who attended, she said that other similar events may well be OD ESe TANI M DOM MOCoM RERUN UCR

“While a lot of people from Shan-

non go to Milford (Hospice), Caher- calla is in Clare and they need the support. From that point of view, we will stick with Cahercalla,’ she AYOCe (orem

A FIREWORKS display is poised to light up the skies in Shannon this Halloween. If plans to host the event get the go-ahead, it may well form the first prong in a plan for an annual Halloween festival in the town.

That was the overwhelming view of Shannon town councillors, who discussed the issue at its monthly meeting last week.

Labour Councillor Greg Duff brought up the issue and said he had received quotations for fireworks displays. He said that a display last- ing between five and eight minutes would cost €8,000.

He suggested that a fireworks dis- play would be held alongside a disco for children, which would be pro- vided by the Shannon Youth Service. He said that events could take place

in different parts of the town, to cel- ebrate Halloween.

He said that while there was some anti-social behaviour in Shannon during Halloween last year, it was relatively small. Three people were arrested, while there were five cases oem oreaca bho

“A small minority of anti-social yobs terrorise their neighbours,” he HCG

However, Labour’s Tony McMahon said he had concerns about fireworks. ‘‘T have grave reservations about fire- works in any capacity. They are quite a dangerous object to be operating with. Their effect on animals is very frightening,” he said.

Independent Councillor Mike Mc- Kee said the cost of clearing up bon- fires in previous years was €10,000. “In the last six weeks, fireworks have been let off all around the place.

Orolht (cM (ceexol merc eeeebeepionetsrl mm BKeye| residents associations to prevent fires and use the money for fireworks?” he asked.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy (In- dependent) said the fireworks were a good idea and it would be fantastic to run a display alongside a disco. She said the display should be in a cen- tral area in the town and not split into various events.

“We have to be mindful of the fact the town is spread out. I don’t see having one event in one place and another in another would be good for community spirit,” she said.

Referring to a display of between five and eight minutes, she said she feared it wouldn’t be big enough.

“TI don’t think we are going to stop the bonfires. It’s a tradition that has built up,’ she said. However, she said bonfires should be supervised.

Councillor Duff then said that gardai would educate schoolchildren on the dangers of crossing the road when events were taking place.

He said he would encourage fam1- lies to get involved on the night and said it would be important that secure places would be found for people to watch the fireworks.

“We could start building towards a Halloween festival,’ he said.

Shannon Town Manager Ger Dol- lard said that considerable costs were incurred in cleaning up after Halloween every year, right across the county. “We are in the lead- up to Halloween. There is evidence of stockpiling already,” he said.

The mayor of the town, Council- lor Gerry Flynn (Independent) said, ‘This is probably a first step to some- thing that is going to be good in the future.”

AS the main throng of summer tour- ists begins to die down at the Cliffs of Moher, the centre has organised a number of new ways by which the lo- cal community can use the facility.

From this month until the end of May, a number of different artistic and community events will be hosted at the Cliffs of Moher. Starting with an exhibition of paintings this week, the centre will also have children’s events, concerts and a whole host of other special occasions.

The first of these events, an exhibi- tion of paintings by local artist Philip Morrison, opened over the weekend and will run until November 30.

“This is the first exhibition but our plan would be to do a series of events like this throughout the winter. We have a great space here so we are looking at a host of different things that we can do here when the place isn’t packed out with tourists,” said Geraldine Enright, marketing man- ager at the Cliff of Moher visitor centre.

“We’d really like to bring in local people and give them an extra rea- son to come and visit the cliffs. We are very excited about the exhibition – it’s the first exhibition that we have had at the cliffs so we really hopeful that it will go well.”

The Cliffs of Moher Centre will host a number of special event for

Oi elcommshw elle (ore

“On Halloween night from 5pm to Spm we are inviting parents and kids to come. We are going to have a night of ghost-stories and games. Everyone here will be dressed up as different characters so it should be a lot of fun,’ she continued.

‘Separate from that we will be run- ning Samhain at the Cliffs of Moher over the whole bank holiday week- end. That will include face painting and all the traditional Halloween games.

“We have also been inviting groups of active retired people to the cliffs. We have a special package for them with a lecture, a guided tour and a meal.

“This year we are trying differ- ent things to see how they work out. There really are endless possibilities with the space that we have here. It’s such a great space so it’s really out aim to make it somewhere that is fully used by the local people.”

For more information or _ to book contact 065 7086141, e-mail bookings @cliffsofmoher.ie or check out www.cliffsofmoher.ie

THE life of one of Lisdoonvarna hidden musical treasures will be celebrated in a weekend-long free festival later this month. Accordion and box player Micilin Conlon never gained the same fame as the Rus- Sell brothers from Doolin, but the Lisdoonvarna musician was as well thought of locally in his own time.

Born in 1927, he spent virtually all of this 67 years playing music for the people of north Clare. From Friday October 24 to Sunday 26, a celebra- tion of his music will take place at the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoon.

“He essentially spent his whole life entertaining people, he was like a travelling troubadour. He played at wakes and weddings and everything in between. He played Irish music and that was his life,” said Peter Cur- tin of the Roadside.

“He loved having fun along with the music and he was always there mak- ing fun and entertaining people. He would have played at house dances in the old days before there was any formal pub scene for entertainment. He would just walk to a house in the neighbourhood for the sessions. He would walk from Lisdoonvarna up to Fanore for a house dance and he

could come home and then head off to the Cliffs of Moher for another dance after that.”

The festival will feature some play- ers who have become synonymous with traditional music in north Clare. People like Tommy Peoples, Michael Hynes, Davy Spillane and Seamus Hynes will all feature, along with Micilin’s own nephew Johnny Con- ren

‘He was a musician and his father was a musician. I can remember him telling me about coming into the Roadside on the day of his confirma- tion to play a few tunes. He lived for the music,’ continued Peter.

“We have purposely organised some sessions during the day. We want to get people to chill out a bit, and not to just head out at night and then be worried about getting up the following morning.

“Micilin was a chilled out man himself. I’d say his stress levels never got above zero in his whole life. So this is going to be more like a session than a concert. It’s about people and musicians coming in and getting into iW sTomen one

For more information on the cel- ebration of the music and life of Mi- cilin Conlon check out www.roadsi- detavern.ie.

DOOLIN will quite literally be crawling with zombies this Hallow- een as local amateur dancers per- form one of the most famous music videos of all time.

North Clare locals of any age are being asked to take part in the largest live recreation of Michael Jackson’s Thriller ever undertaken.

On October 25 thousands, or possi- ble even millions, of people from all over the world will take part in the world largest Thrill the World event. At 7pm Irish time, in venues on every continent, people will record them-

selves dancing to thriller and stream the dancing live on the internet.

Doolin local, Liz Shannon of the Broadway Dancing School, will join Fiona Cranwell at the Micho Rus- sell Centre from 3pm to organise the dancers. The Doolin event is in aid of Cystic Fibrosis with all of the €10 entry fee going to the charity.

“I was involved in something like this last year in Dublin and Liz did something similar in Doolin. It’s great fun and the dance is so easy to learn,” said Fiona.

“It’s really a classic dance, there are videos all over YouTube of peo- ple breaking into the thriller dance,

whether they are in a prison or on a bus. It’s very funny.”

The event is open to all, but small children must be accompanied by a guardian. No dance experience what- soever is required.

“Liz 1S an expert in dance and has already broken down all of the moves that we need to learn. We will have a team there on the day to teach peo- ple from 3pm. We will teach every- one on the day – young or old, people who have loads of dance experience or people who have none.

‘People need to dress up in shabby cloths, we will put some make-up on then we are away in a hack. It will

be great craic. To be honest it really doesn’t matter at all how good you are at dancing, at the end of the day you are going to be a zombie.

“Both Liz and myself have raised money for cystic fibrosis before be- cause we both have people we know who are effected by it. We wanted the money raised to stay in Clare so it will all go the Children’s Light of Hope charity.

Anyone wishing to get involved can contact Fiona at ttwO8doolin@ gmail. com, ring Liz at the Broadway Dance School on 087-2615809 or www. thrilltheworld.com. Make up artists and photographers very welcome.

SUCCESS is being savoured by Tuamgraney-based company, Wil- de Irish Chocolates. Judges at the SHOP EXPO 2008 in the RDS went just wild about Wilde and presented them with a Commendation Award for their Artisan Chocolate Bar range in the Best Confectionery Product of the Show category.

Patricia Farrell from Wilde’s said it was “a wonderful boost to get an award for making great tasting chocolates, but it’s also thrilling to be commended by such a prestig- ious and influential judging panel as

presided over the SHOP 08 competi- ntoyn a

She said she wanted to express thanks “to Clare County Enterprise Board who’s support was crucial to our participation in the event”.

SHOP has become Ireland’s an- nual retail food, and drink event and the Product of the Show Awards are renowned for showcasing the lat- est and most innovative products in the Irish food industry. The judging panel are experts in their field and in- clude senior buyers from Tesco and Musgraves. Judging this year took place over several weeks in London, Hampshire and at the Guild head-

quarters in Wincanton. Irish entries were judged over three days in Bel- el

Wilde Irish Chocolates won the commendation for their artisan range of seven different milk, dark and white chocolate bars.

This is not the only award that the east Clare company has won this year. Wilde Irish achieved a Great Taste Gold, “the Oscars of Fine Food” for their Toasted Almond and Orange Dark Chocolate Artisan Bar. They have also again been recom- mended by the Bridgestone Guide and since this year are members of Good Food Ireland.

Wilde Irish Chocolates have been making chocolates in Tuamgraney since 1997. They have won many awards for their chocolate since then and their chocolate bars, gift collec- tions and chocolate treats are availa- ble from the factory shop, their farm- ers market stalls at Killaloe, Nenagh and Limerick and from selected out- lets in Clare and the mid-west

WHILE most people are pushing Christmas to the back of the agenda, a Tulla woman is already thinking toys and wrapping paper for children who may receive just one gift in the entire year and that gift will be from east Clare.

Jackie Vaughan has been a volun- teer with the Operation Christmas Child Shoebox Appeal for the last five years and she’s urging people of east Clare to put in a massive effort to send more shoeboxes than ever this year to children who have nothing.

“It’s such a personal thing. People pack boxes with lovely things for an individual child. Many of these chil- dren have nothing. They are cold and hungry, they may be orphans, this gift of love is more often than not the only Christmas present they will get,’ said Jackie.

This is the tenth year of the appeal itself and last year in east Clare, gen- erous souls wrapped scores of boxes for children in far-flung places from Africa to Eastern Europe.

Operation Christmas Child is a project organised under the auspices of the Samaritan’s Purse organisa-

tion but no child of any ethnic back- ground or religious persuasion 1s ever CALE Core w

The aim is to fill a shoebox with a cuddly teddy or toy, sweets other than chocolate, crayons, colouring books, and a something small to wear, like gloves, a scarf or hat.

Each box is filled for a boy or girl with a specific age-group in mind.

Jackie particularly hopes that the 10-14 year olds will get lots of boxes from east Clare this year.

“It’s a group that don’t get as many boxes as the other age groups and it’s also important to remember that a

lot of the two to four year olds are orphans, living in institutions where there aren’t a lot of staff so there’s a need to be extra careful about not putting in toys that have small piec- es that children might put in their mouths,’ said Jackie.

Jackie added that anyone who doesn’t have time or who has dif- ficulty putting a box together and wrapping it can make a donation.

Jackie will arrange collection of the boxes from factories and schools. Call her on 065 6835715 for leaflets which include full details of what can be included in the box.

BOYS AND girls between the ages of six and 12 are being afforded the opportunity to play rugby in Tulla, thanks to the newest club in the area.

The East Clare Eagles rugby club was set up a year ago and since its inception it has gone from strength to strength. Currently there are 70 members signed up with the club, which caters for youths in Tulla, along with Clooney, O’Callaghans Mills, Broadford, Feakle and Quin. One of the main attributes of the club is that it 1s open to both boys and girls, with girls accounting for 30 per cent of its members.

The club’s reputation was consid-

erably enhanced as it got the oppor- tunity to play at half-time between Munster and Glasgow, during the opening of Thomond Park in Limer- ick last Saturday week.

“Prior to setting up the club, we used to play in Community Games competitions. We couldn’t get any competitive games so we decided to set up a club, affiliated to the IRFU. We did that in October 2007,’ said club chairman Daragh Molloy.

“Setting up the club enabled us to include children aged six and up- wards,” he added.

Since the club was formed, it has joined the Limerick league and has also taken part in several blitzes in- volving teams such as Kilrush, Mil- town Malbay, Shannon and Ennis.

The Eagles have also hosted many blitzes.

Along with Mr Molloy, the others responsible for running the club are John Noonan, Edmund Jennings, Ro- nan O’Reilly and Kevin Slattery.

Given that the players are so young, the assistance of the local primary school has been essential in ensuring the club is a success.

“Brian Torpey at the local primary school has been of great assistance, as have the people of Tulla. Our hon- orary president John Noonan has been the driving force in setting up the club,” said Mr Molloy.

“This is a great achievement for a village in east Clare that 1s predomi- nantly a hurling area. Now we have a rugby club that is thriving. There was

a great need and a desire to set up the club,” he added.

The green and white Eagles jerseys are poised to become a force to be reckoned with in rugby circles in Clare over the coming years. In or- der that this be achieved, the club is appealing for volunteers to help out with coaching the teams.

Anyone interested in lending a hand should contact Daragh Molloy on 087 4102510 or John Noonan on 087 2843253.

THE East Clare Community Co- op, which has been largely closed for some time for improvements and building work, is making great strides towards being up and running again.

Located behind Brian and Joe’s Café, the co-op has been the home of a myriad activities from learning boat building and getting involved in a community garden project to expe- riencing Shiatsu, taking singing les- sons and learning yoga.

The co-op closed temporarily in January so that disability access

could be installed throughout the building. However, it soon became apparent that more work was needed than had been budgeted for.

Work was needed to bring the build- ing up to health and safety standards, including a complete rewiring of the building and a fire alarm system. AI- though the refurbishment was grant- aided, the co-op ran into a number of snags along the way to unveiling the new and improved facility.

‘There were a number of things to sort out and it has taken a bit longer that anyone had originally thought but the various elements are com- ing together now and we’re moving

ahead”, a spokeswoman for the co-op said.

The Community Co-op, has been the launching pad for many initia- tives locally including the Raheen Wood School, the Grainey whole- food store, East Clare Telecottage and the Clare Women’s Network.

The co-op has also been at various times home to youth club activities, the Citizens’ Information Service, the Centre for Environmental Training and Living (CELT) the Letts Trading system, where people exchange work and skills as an alternative to cash, the Dandelion Puppet Theatre Com- pany, and Brian and Joe’s Café, sup-

ported by the Brothers of Charity.

When the co-op reopens, it will be ready to roll out four new part-time Pobail-funded jobs for a gardener, caretaker, administrator and cleaner.

A number of activities are still go- ing ahead in the co-op. Last week a group came together under the aus- pices of the Brothers of Charity to build a currach.

The community garden project is also underway each Wesdnesday be- tween | and 3pm.

New gardeners are welcome, and children are particularly welcome to come and experince the fun of plant- ing and growing.