The Clare People Archive

MUSICIANS from all over Galway and Clare descended on Kinvara this weekend for the launch of the debut CD of the Kinvara Area Music Col- lective (KAM).

The CD, which was officially launched at a concert in the village on Saturday evening, features a host of local talent, all of whom turned out to play at the launch ceremony.

It features a cross-genred selection of musicians and is designed to show off the wealth of musical talent that exists in the locality.

KAM was established last year fol- lowing a series of public meetings to

“IT’S hardly a week since I left Gal- way and I’m already in Donegal. Yes- terday, I had the Donegal GAA boys, Niall McCready and David Walsh, pushing me along – and a good job they did too.

“IT met this mad DJ in Bundoran who’s changed his name to Pat Mus- tard and he’s even had the gobshite’s name tattooed up his arm. There is no sign of Daniel yet but I’m living in hope.

“Last week I was taken in by the guards in Castlebar. Lovely fellas they were too and all of them going onto cyberspace to look at me on my website.

“So far I’ve had pushers from Bos-

find ways in which local musicians could help each other and the local community.

“We started talking about how dif- ficult it was to find places to do gigs and places to see gigs in Kinvara. We realised that Kinvara, which has al- ways had a great reputation for trad sessions, had changed, something had happened,’ said musician John Martin.

“The gigs just didn’t happen as of- ten. Besides the music, we were los- ing out in a social way too. People were not meeting up in the pubs any- more, the community spirit was suf- fering as a result.”

After hosting more than 12 concerts

ton Scientific and Western Fire in Tuam and, Jesus, those Polish fellas can push a milkfloat!

“I can’t wait to get back to Clare though, back to my real home in Kil- fenora. Just 21 days to go!”

On ‘Tuesday, February 26,

last year, KAM decided to celebrate the years anniversary of the organi- sation by launching the CD.

“Kinvara is saturated with musi- cians of all different kinds. Part of the idea of this was to try and find a way that musicians could help each other out instead of being in compe- tition with each other,’ said KAM member, Rosaleen Tanaham.

‘The musicians featured on this CD are really only scratching the surface of the talent that is out there.”

Besides running gigs and making CDs, KAM would like to involve as many local people as possible in whatever music-related activities that they can dream up.

“Organising concerts and making CDs is only one part of what KAM can be doing. We would like to see more and more people get involved in the group and hope that it will evolve along with the interests of these people. Whether that means more gigs, music workshops for youngsters, talks or more CDs,” continued John.

“If people want something to hap- pen, then we say go ahead. Talk to us and we will help you as much as possible, but you will have to be will- ing to do the work.”

The CD is currently available from most shops and pubs in Kinvara and from www.openear.ie.

THE memory and music of Crush- een’s Joseph Browne will be the cen- tral focus at the second annual Joseph Browne Spring School of Traditional Music.

The school, which takes place in Gort from February 14 to 17, is or- ganised each year in memory of Joseph, who lost his life tragically in 2006.

“Last year was a great success re-

ally, maybe because Gort is such a central location. We had people here from Clare, Galway, Tipperary – we had people here from as far away as Mayo,’ said organiser Maire O Ke- BTR

“The concerts were great but the school itself was phenomenal. I re- member us sitting in the foyer and we could hear the strains of music from every different classroom. There was just a lovely feeling of passing on the music and the tradition to the next

generation.”

This year’s event will include a number of new elements, including a Special evening of music in Crush- een.

“We have extended it this year a little bit. The whole thing began be- cause Joseph died very tragically and he was such a great musician. It was first put together as more of a project. We applied to the Arts Council for funding and they were fantastic to us and helped us get it off the ground,”

continued Maire.

“But we did always intend to ex- tend it. So this year we have a project called Bridging Traditions. We have the West Ocean String Quartet, who marry classical and tradition music, and they are going to do a concert in Crusheen Church. This was Joseph’s church and I think this concert is go- ing to be really special.

“They are also going to do a col- laboration with the children who are learning at the school. The children are going to work on three tunes and come together with the quartet.”

A whole host of musical talent will be in Gort for the school with the likes of Nollaig Casey, Arty McG- lynn, Paddy Keenan, Maighread Ni Dhomhnaill, Tommy O’Sullivan, Brock Maguire Band featuring Paul Brock, Manus McGuire, Enda Sc- ahill, Denis Carey and the Kilfenora Céili Band.

Traditional session will take place over the weekend in Hennelly’s Pub in Gort, the Highway Pub in Crush- een and the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort.

Se oer Duome- AVNET: lo) (om Oke) O GIN AYARS in Ennis or, for more information, call 087 0674335 or visit joseph- browne.org.

THE past and future of Ennistymon basketball came together in Dublin last weekend as a group of young players from the Clare Cascaders Club met with one of the leading lights of the Claremont Admirals in the 1980s.

More than 40 young boys and girls travelled to Dublin to watch the fi- nals of the National Senior Mens and Ladies Cup. After two hugely enter- taining matches, the youngsters from north Clare got to meet Ed Randolph, former Claremont Admiral and play-

er coach with Killester who won the senior men’s final.

Randolph, played basketball in En- nistymon in the 1980’s and has a long and happy relationship with north OE

“This was our first year heading off to the finals. We had two really good games. The ladies’ final was a great match,” said Vincent Leigh of the Clare Cascaders

“Of course, we have the connection with Killester through Ed Randolph. After the game, he gave loads of time for all the kids with the cup. He talked to them and posed for pictures

e100 He loi80 ae

The club has been going from strength to strength in recent years and is attracting hundreds of local young people back into the sport. The increase 1n participation is start- ing to yield some success for the club orm aetemee)loue

‘In the last week we have had a few of our players called for trials for the north Munster boys team, that’s Michael Leigh and Ian Cuddihy. We have also had two girls called for trials, Jenny Canavan and Mairead Healy,” continued Vincent.

“As well as that, we have Ciaran

Devitt, who has been called for a trail for the Irish U-15 boys team. We have good hopes of him getting onto the main Irish panel and ever repre- senting his county.

“It’s great to have players who are making an impact on Munster and even Ireland teams. It gives great en- couragement for the younger players to see where they can get. In terms of matches the U-17 boys got to the final of an U-17 tournament in Cork just before Christmas. They beat a few Cork teams along the way and did very well. The U-12 and U-14 teams played two games each last week.”

TRANSITION-Y EAR students from Ennistymon VEC have proven that pollution from the town is disturbing the ecosystem of the Inagh riven and could actually be responsible for the disappearance of the otter locally.

As part of the school entry for the Eco-Unisco Project, the students un- dertook a series of test to determine if pollution from the town was dam- aging the local river.

“We have entered the Eco-Unisco project for two years in a row now. The first year we built a solar panel and the second year a windmill,’ said teacher, Mary Joyce.

“So I asked the students what they

wanted to do. They started talking about the river, and wondering where the otters in the river had gone.”

This led the students to undertake research on the otter, and to discover that pollution is one of the main fac- tors which drive otters out of certain areas. Not content with this, howev- er, the transition-year students took to the river last Thursday, attempting to prove beyond all doubt that pol- lution from the town was damaging the river.

“We went down to the river with large nets and started collecting the insects that were in the water. We were trying to find out whether the bugs in the river were mostly ones that needed high oxygen or low oxy-

gen. High oxygen insects is a sign of good quality clean water and the presence of low oxygen insects is a sign of polluted water,’ said student, Michael McCormac.

“We caught more than 20 speci- mens altogether. There was much more high oxygen insects in the wa- ter before the town than we found after the town. This, we think, is be- cause sewage from the town is pol- Leiseetem atom eAiole

“We have brought the insect back to the school now and we are going to study them and see what else we can learn from them. After than we need to put together a 3,000-word re- port on our findings.

“The whole reason for this work

is to see why the otters have left the river. They like clean water and they used to be very common around here but not anymore. If we could treat the sewerage better before it goes into the river then we might be able to get the otters back.”

When they have completed their work, the transition-year students plan to bring their findings to the at- tention of Clare County Council.

EAST Clare people who are wonder- ing whether their carbon footprint is a neat size four or a massive size 12 can now find out.

A special ‘Carbon Clinic’ in Killa- loe can even tell people who are not in the ecological know how to reduce their footprint and save money into the bargain.

Energy management expert, Vin- cent Carragher, who hosts the clinic at the Family Resource Centre says he has been asked advice on every- thing from saving on the heating bills to how to future-proof new homes.

“People can be conscious of the need to reduce their carbon footprint,

but they may not know or be just too busy to research how to do that. If they come to the clinic, I can work out what size that footprint is, based on things like car usage or how well a home is insulated. Or sometimes, people just want to know if there is a grant for things like solar panels and who is a good supplier for them. If someone is building a new home and wants advice about conserving energy, I can talk to them about bet- ter insulation. Any of these issues that people want to know about, I’m qualified to talk to them.”

The clinic is becoming busier as time goes on, with the price of oil soaring and as a result, the price of fuel for home heating and motoring.

‘Fuel is so expensive now that it’s being measured by the milligram. By reducing their fuel consump- tion, householders can save money as well. We try to give them the best advice we can in whatever situation they are in and with whatever their issues are.”

There are advice leaflets available during the week from the centre and Vincent is available on Friday after- noons but will also try to accommo- date queries outside that.

Vincent, who studied biochemis- try and carried out a study of how a community in Ballina was able to reduce it’s carbon footprint and save money, believes that at a time “when more and more environmental scien-

tists are talking about Irelands three- planet lifestyle it is becoming imper- ative that people are introduced to principles of sustainability through the educational system from an early age, and that these principles are reg- ularly reinforced and built upon.”

Vincent believes that the “bottom- up” method of cutting emission, in which individuals keep watch on their own carbon footprints is the best.

Anyone who would like to talk to Vincent can reach him through the centre on O61 374741 and there’s more information available at www. ul.ie/lowcarbonfutures.

NEIGHBOURS in O’Briensbridge and Montpellier are coming together later this month to consider how they might be able to tackle global change at a local level.

The two communities are getting involved in the Kulyana Project, which looks at how small groups can make a difference by acting locally on climate change.

Kulyana is a Hawaiian word mean- ing both privilege and responsibility and the O’Briensbridge Community Group has organised two nights for local people to hear about the project and talk about how they can get in-

volved.

“Everyday, we hear about ‘climate change’, ‘global warming’, ‘care for our environment’ and ‘fossil fuel de- pletion’. How these things affect us, or even more importantly, how we can live with and possibly change these things can be answered all the more effectively when we work as a team.

“Rural communities are more likely to find the solutions required for climate change than urban com- munities because the answers le in our natural resources and most of these are rural,” a spokesman for the project said.

The meetings are being held at

Montpelier Community Hall at 8.30pm on Wednesday, February 13 and the following Wednesday, Feb- ruary 20.

Everyone is welcome with as many people as possible being asked to at- tend.

The first evening will include a short explanation of the project and a slideshow presentation and the second evening will also allow peo- ple to ask questions and make sug- gestions.

“It’s a way of seeing what we can do as a community and with the two communities so close together, there are bound to be a number of good Suggestions for how we can make

a difference,’ said Mick Murtagh of the O’Briensbridge Community Group.

“This project should be something that will benefit the majority of the community, provide a focus for en- gaging in sustainability and pro- vide inter-community support,” the project spokesman said.

The Kulyana Project is adminis- tered by the Clare Association of An Taisce and is funded by Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partner- ship Fund 2007 facilitating sustaina- ble development at community level from Clare County Council and the Department of Environment, Herit- age and Local Government.

FINDING hotel rooms for more than 100 cats is not a job most people would relish.

But for two ladies from Killaloe, it’s a labour of love. Carmel Byrne and Shirley Ward of the Midlands Cat Club have been doing their bit in staging the club’s annual show for the last ten years

Shirley is chairwoman of the club and Carmel is show organiser and, says Carmel, the show gets bigger and better every year.

“This year we have more than 100 cats and they are coming from all

over Ireland and the UK,” said Car- mel. Siamese, Ballinese, Bengals, Burmese, Snowshoes, Abysinni- ans, long-haired, short-haired, lilac brown, chocolate and plain old love- able household pets – the show has a place for all of them.

Carmel got involved with cats af- ter a friend gave her a present of a Tonkinese. “I thought I should get a little friend for him, a Ballinese and I started entering shows. Well, he took first prize and never came second af- ter that.”

Carmel still has Rossie, her cham- pion cat, who is now II years old but she doesn’t enter her own cats in

shows anymore.

“After a while I got involved in helping to oranise shows and from there I became show organiser. Peo- ple organising don’t enter their cats, it wouldn’t be seen as fair.”

On the subject of booking hotel rooms for cats, Carmel can’t say enough about the Kilmurray Lodge Hotel in Castletroy, where the show has been staged for five years now.

“They are absolutely fabulous to us and can’t do enough. They ac- commodate cats and owners and not every hotel will do that. They’re so efficient that all I have to do is to put names on the rooms.”

Carmel explained that owners do their bit to keep the good will of ho- tels by ensuring that the feline stars stay in the bathroom for the dura- nO)

The show is sponsored by Royal Canin pet food manufacturers and it goes ahead this year on Sunday, February 17. It’s open to the public from 12.30pm to 5pm and anyone interested in entering can get details from Carmel on 065 6821616.

STUDENTS from Colaiste Muire will head next week to Dublin to take part in the Irish Association of Youth Orchestras Festival.

Rehersals are already well under- way at Harmony Row, Ennis for the event which takes place on Febru- ary 9 at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

The also get the rare opportunity to receive one on one specialist tuition from the renowned American con- ductor and arranger Sandra Dackow.

An annual American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

(ASCAP), award winning arranger, Dr Dackow has generated over sev- enty published works for orchestras and is an author of the Orchestra Ex- pressions curriculum.

She is active as a guest conduc- tor, adjudicator and clinician across the nation and Canada, in England, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ukraine, South Africa and throughout Aus- tralia and Ireland

The event is part of the annual youth orchestra festival that features the best ensembles in the state. In a unique collaboration, Colaiste Muire will play with two schools from Lein- ster in an all Mozart programme.

The orchestra has a busy time in February as they will host a visit by guest conductor, Malcolm Greene, director of Limerick Choral Union and cellist with the Dolmen String Quartet for an afternoon workshop at Colaiste Muire

The Colaiste Muire’s orchestra is growing rapidly. Its ranks were boosted this year with the addition of a bank of cellos and double basses as part of the Board of Management’s and principal Jean Pound’s policy of investment in music.

Orchestra director Cathy Des- mond has initiated a novel cello & double bass programme to enhance

the orchestra and to encourage more students to experience ensemble playing.

The orchestra members range from prize-winning music students to be- ginners. It is open to students of all Ao ise

The orchestra plays at a range of events in the school and recently received an enthusiastic reception from residents and staff at Carigoran House nursing home in Newmar- ket-on-Fergus. Future plans include a chamber music workshop to en- courage ensemble playing in smaller eroups and a collaboration with the school choir.

STUDENTS from Ennis Commu- nity College proved to be the bright sparks at the 2008 National Elec- tronic Engineering Quiz.

Rebecca Murphy, Victor Aku- jobi, Shona Ni Meachair and James Philips came first in the regional round of the 2008 National Elec- tronic Engineering Quiz in GMIT before narrowly missed out winning the overall prize.

The annual quiz took place in si- multaneously in University College Cork, Dublin Institute of Technology and Waterford Institute of Technol- ogy and the Galway Mayo Institute

of Technology on January 26. The quiz attracted schools from across Ireland and this year the standard of entry was again very high

Having won the regional round in GMIT, the Ennis team was tied with a team from Cork for the national wa Con

It came down to one question; what was the record time for winning the Dublin City Marathon?

The closest answer deciding the BUONO Coe

Unfortunately for Ennis Commu- nity College, their opponent’s answer was closer and the Ennis team had to settle for second place.

All teams from the four simultane-

ous events were competing for the national title and a national prize worth €2,000 donated by MIDAS Ireland to the winning school.

MIDAS Ireland (Microelectronic Industry Design Association) is a joint industry and academic organi- sation, which defines and develops the future direction of Integrated Circuit design in Ireland.

MIDAS as an organisation was launched in February 2001 by the Minister of Enterprise, Trade & Em- ployment Mary Harney TD.

It is a national cluster consisting of the microelectronics design com- panies and third level institutions in Ireland, building on the already-

strong relationships between them.

The quiz success is just the latest for Ennis Community College. In 2006, Victor Akujobi, who repre- sented Ennis Community College in GMIT, won a gold medal at the Irish Science Olympiad. Victor qualified for the competition based on his ex- cellent results in junior certificate maths and science.

IRISH language group, Glor hInse has won first prize, €50,000, in the annual Glor na nGael awards.

Comharchumann Rath Cairn, County Meath, won the second prize of €12,500, while Cumann Forbar- tha Ghaoth Dobhair, came in third place, winning €7,500.

Praising the work of Glor na hInse, Glor na nGael director, Lorcan Mac Gabhann, described the commit- tee as an example for Irish groups throughout the country.

“The committee enjoys broad rep-

resentation from the community and uses an effective planning system. The adjudicators were particularly impressed its strategic plan and the work arising from it,” he said.

Mr Mac Gabhann said the win re- flected the strong gaelic movement that existed in Ennis. He said

‘“T congratulate the people of Ennis and Clare for this Glor na nGael win, achieving first place in the competi- tion for the third time, a feat achieved only once before.”

“Ennis enjoys a strong Irish gaels- coil movement. As well as that, the committee manages to exert influ-

ence on all the schools in the area through drama, debating and other major events.

“There has been significant growth in participation of Ogras. From the start of the year till the end, young people are supported through Féile na hInse, schools’ drama and a sum- mer camp.

He praised the large number of events organised by Glor na Gael throughout the year. He said, “A large number of events are also or- ganised for adults such as a reading circle and public lectures.

“The Irish language is central to

other cultural events such as an Flea- dh Nua. The committee received particular praise for organising Fili an Chlair.

“The committee is working suc- cessfully with the state sector, par- ticularly with Clare County Council and has achieved much. A demand for state services in Irish 1s advanced and encouraged.”

In total, Glor na nGael announced awards to the value of €141,950, giving recognition the work being carried out by many committees to promote the Irish language at home ~NOlemr-lesKers(en