Arts & Culture

A CHRISTMAS concert in Lisdoonvarna’s Corpus Christi Church is aiming to raise the roof in more ways than one. Country and gospel singer James Kilbane will be performing in the church on Sunday, December 11, with funds raised from the event going towards much needed renovations and repairs to the church. Fr Robert McNamara, parish priest, outlined that Corpus Christi Church was constructed in 1868 and now sections of the roof are in great need of repair with the replacement of slates and gutters. “There is much dampness inside the church as well, as a result. These church areas need internal sealing and dampness repair on the internal roof and walls. The church’s bell tower also needs extensive repair work. “The reality is that urgent funds for repairs are needed as well as for the maintenance of the other church buildings in the parish in Kilshanny, Doolin, and Toovahera. “All support to the event will be greatly appreciated from the …

INDEPENDENT Deputy Marian Harkin will launch a new collection of columns by author and columnist, Jim O’Brien at the Community Hall, Ogonnelloe on Saturday, December 3 at 7pm. Matters of Great Indifference Volume II is the second collection of O’Brien’s weekly musings taken from the pages of the Farming Independent. It contains a selection of pieces published between November 2020 and October 2022 and, according to the author, matters of all sorts are covered. “From the end of the pandemic to the start of a war, from the arrival of a new pup to the departure of a Queen, I have a look at everything and anything,” he said. The pieces are inspired by the life Jim is living and the context in which he is living it. “I draw on my childhood in Kildimo, and other places I have lived including Foynes in West Limerick, Rosenallis, Co. Laois and, of course, in Ogonnelloe, Co. Clare, where I now live. …

THE Kilfenora Dramatic Society return to the stage this week performing in the acclaimed comedy ‘It’s the Real McCoy’. The players are looking forward to getting back on stage in Kilfenora Hall following a break due to Covid and they will be performing shows on December 2, 3 and 4 at 8pm. The phenomenally successful play was written by Tommy Marren, a playwright and radio broadcaster from County Mayo. The action takes place over two days in the spring of 1964 in the humble abode of Madge Molloy – a woman in her mid-60s who has for 40 years wondered why her husband Tom, to whom she was married for just four months, disappeared without trace or reason. The cast of this production comprises John Howard, Paul Carkill, Willie Cahir, Mary Buckley, Lisa Carkill, Caroline O’Dea and Eileen Hegarty; the stage crew is Mary McCormack, Michael O’Loughlin, and Pat and John Lynch under the direction of Fr Ned Crosby. A …

Filmmaker Ken O’Sullivan will be sharing some of his life’s work capturing the beauty of Ireland’s underwater world next Tuesday, December 6, in the Temple Gate Hotel, Ennis. The event, which is being hosted by MEP Grace O’Sullivan and the Clare Greens, is titled “Our Wild Atlantic”, and will highlight Ken’s filmography as both a stunning piece of educational material, and a catalyst for protecting our oceans into the future. The event will take place at 8pm and all are welcome to attend – tickets are free and no booking is required.

PRECIOUS footage of some of North Clare’s most renowned singers, musicians, dancers. storytellers and characters has been gifted to the county’s oral history group, Cuimhneamh an Chláir. Excerpts of the material, gathered by piper Eugene Lambe in the 1980s, will be shown as part of a public interview with Cuimhneamh’s Coordinator, Paula Carroll, on December 1 at The Old Ground Hotel. The event, will also see the launch, by Dr Maura Cronin, of the organisation’s strategic plan and its new website (clarememories.ie). The interview with the acclaimed piper will be recorded for the very popular Cuimhneamh an Chláir podcast. Having moved to Fanore from Dublin in the 1970s, the professional botanist, realised the importance of capturing the music and the characters around him. “I was playing one night in O’Connor’s in Doolin and Dick Grant was with me and we were watching some of the local musicians and we were saying, ‘These guys are amazing and they won’t be around …

Ahead of the launch of his new book and double CD on December 10, Enda Byrt reflects on the history of the céilí and dance bands of Ennistymon from 1954 to 1970.   COUNTY Clare is closely associated with traditional music, with an audience made up of traditional purists to passing tourists, and all in between!  Sound Your A: The story of  the Céilí and Dance bands of Ennistymon: families, music and musicians tells as much of the story of the music of Ennistymon and district, not all traditional, as can be gleaned from the recordings and the accounts of the times, as well as the music that could be gathered. Sound Your A tells the stories of the individual musicians, and their families. Much has been and continues to be written about the music and musicians of Clare. The areas receiving most attention in the West of the county are often Doolin, Kilfenora, and Miltown Malbay. All have a …

A GRAPHIC designer has created coloured prints of iconic Clare lighthouses on his journey to capture every lighthouse guarding the Irish coast, inspired by his boyhood hero Tintin.  Bert DuFour has spent the last three years and travelled over 2,000km trying to capture all 80 operational lighthouses dotted around our coastline, including Clare’s Beeves Rock, Blackhead, Kilcredaun and Loop Head.  Fifty-five lighthouses across the country have so far been framed as artworks – and now his huge project will go on public show at Gifted, Contemporary Craft and Design Fair at Dublin’s RDS from November 30 to December 4. “There is a beauty to these towers, and how they stand over the ocean,” said Belgian native Bert, who moved to Clonakilty, Co Cork, in 2011.  “I am gobsmacked by how these structures were created 150 to 200 years ago. I find how they were built and where they were built utterly fascinating.”  Bert, who started design business, The Designer of Things, …

FOUR artists from Clare have been shortlisted for The Zurich Young Portrait Prize this year. The Zurich Portrait and Young Portrait Prize exhibitions 2022 opened on Saturday November 26 at the National Gallery of Ireland. The four young artists from Clare shortlisted for the Zurich Young Portrait Prize are Katie Cashin, Viktoria Kroejeva, Cathal Ryan and Aoife Sweeney. Their work has been shortlisted for the prize from hundreds of entries, and alongside 16 others is on display in the gallery. The Zurich Young Portrait Prize returned for its fourth year in 2022. Five winners (one from each respective age category and an overall winner) will be selected from a shortlist of hundreds of entries from young people aged four to 18 from across the island of Ireland. Winners will receive a bespoke art box and a cash prize. The overall competition winner will be awarded a wooden box of high-quality art materials, and a cash prize of €500. All 20 …