This article is from page 14 of the 2013-04-02 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
THOSE of us who have endured years of the “hilarious” comments of “You’re Claire and you are from Clare” or other derivatives of this hilarity, can now have our ultimate revenge; there is a full weekend dedicated to us and we get lots of free stuff and discounts for a week.
Claires and Clares from all over the world are to gather in the Banner County for the weekend of June 23 as part of the ‘Welcoming Claire to County Clare, Ireland’.
Not only will the Claire/Clares be welcomed to their name sake county with a special discount card for businesses around the county, they will also be part of a world record attempt – to gather the most people of the same name in the same area.
The Mohammads of Dubai currently hold the record of 1,096, but they have yet to gather in a place called Mohammad making the Clare record attempt unique.
The quirky Gathering event is not just about encouraging support in numbers for all the Claire’s who have endured years of unfunny amateur comments, it is also a chance to promote the county on a worldwide stage.
One family from North America have already been in touch with organisers to say they will be bringing their daughter Claire to the event.
They want her first trip on as plane to land on Clare ground.
A group from Manchester are also planning to travel to support their friend Clare and benefit from the many discounts being provided through Ennis Chamber of Com- merce.
Leading the project is the Clare Volunteer Centre.
“You don’t have to be from County Clare, you may not have even heard of County Clare but you may know someone whose name is synonymous with being ‘clear, bright and famous’”, explained Sharon Meaney, Manager of the Clare Volunteer Centre.
“We hope it will encourage people to come to Clare. It will showcase the county and all it has to offer,” she said.
A special Youtube video – featuring Clare Daly from Clare – was also launched last week to promote the event and can be seen on http://www. youtube.com/watch?v=MIyn2jCxw6 w&feature=youtu.be. Information is also available on facebook and twitter. Tue2April13