Shannon

THE Shannon Parish Mission is starting this Sunday with the theme of Sharing the Good News.Sister Briege McKenna OSC will lead the parish mission. Sister Briege was born in Armagh and entered the Sisters of St Clare at the age of 15.

THERE was criticism of road markings and traffic management around Shannon Town Centre at the May meeting of the town council.

CHOPPING down approximately 150 trees around Shannon has left a sour taste with many locals and several members of the town council called for a replacement programme this week.At Tuesday’s town council meeting Independents Patricia McCarthy and Gerry Flynn both put down motions calling for a replacement programme to be arranged.In a report to the meeting, senior executive engineer Eugene O’Shea defended the decisions taken regarding the removal of trees and he also acknowledged the need for a replanting programme. However, he indicated it is still months away and would be done in phases.“The council is very conscious of the importance of trees from environmental, amenity and visual aspects. We are also very mindful of the high value placed on these resources by the Shannon community. As such, the felling that has taken place has been carefully considered and planned to ensure that only those trees that required removal in the interest of public health and safety, which must always …

WITHIN weeks, pupils who completed all their secondary education during recession will sit the Leaving Cert.Ciara Guinan and Meadhbh Halton of St Patrick’s Comprehensive and Aislinn Keogh and Gearóid McMahon of St Caimin’s Community School are among the tens of thousands who are going through this rite of passage.Three of the four started secondary school in September of 2008, just weeks before the ruinous bank guarantee, while another had just one year of second level done at that stage.All four are planning to go on to third level and with finances under strain, they are conscious of the cost of further education. The money Gearóid earned last summer, cutting silage and working for a builder, has been left largely intact and set aside for his education, while Meadhbh says she is thinking about taking a year off to work, before going on to further study.Gearóid hopes to study engineering at UL and after speaking to people working in the field, …

  HAVING called time on his own boxing career, Marty Hannan established the Shannon Boxing Club late last year and the next Katie Taylor or Bernard Dunne may be training in Smithstown under his direction. Having been involved in amateur boxing for many years in clubs in Ennis and Limerick, Marty finally turned professional but couldn’t make a living because the crowds buying tickets for fights were way down. “Within six months, four shows were called off. When you’re a professional boxer, you’re self-employed, your work is your training and you’re relying on the fight night to get paid and if it’s called off, you get nothing. That happened so many times and to be honest, I fell behind in bills,” he says of his abortive pro career. He is now self-employed, running a company that works with fitness instructors and personal trainers. And since last year, he has been working on bringing boxing to Shannon. “Marie Rowland would always …

SHANNON has been awarded the European Diploma of the Council of Europe in recognition of the town’s efforts to promote the ideal of European unity.

AN extension of planning permission is being sought for the demolition of two houses and the construction of an industrial development in the townlands of Caherteige and Drumgeely.

THE Clare Crusaders are set to benefit from this year’s Mayor’s Ball, which was launched on Wednesday afternoon.