Tag Archives: Clare library

A ‘World of Welcome’ has been extended to local primary schools as part of a new inclusive arts and education programme launched by Clare Libraries. The programme consists of a five-week course that encourages children to celebrate diversity through the arts. Pupils will visit their nearest library branch each Monday to attend interactive workshops with arts practitioners, where they will explore the topics of diversity and inclusion through puppetry, drama, music, creative writing, and podcasting. Arts practitioners include children’s author Debbie Thomas, musician Niamh O’Brien, podcaster Oisín O Cualáin, puppeteer Sarah Fuller, and actor and theatre maker Zara Starr. The participating schools are Flagmount National School in Caher, Doonaha National School in Kilkee, Ennis Educate Together National School, St Conaire’s National School in Shannon, and Ballyvaughan National School. All participating students will come together for a special celebration in glór, Ennis on Wednesday, October 19, where storyteller Niall de Búrca promises to deliver a “hooley of tales” guaranteed to captivate his …

HIGHLY acclaimed aerial dance troupe Fidget Feet are coming to Scariff Harbour this weekend, as part of Crinniú na nÓg.  The national festival of youth creativity, which takes place on Saturday next (June 11), is supported by Clare County Library, the Council and Creative Ireland. This year’s event will see the spectacular ‘Flutterby 2’ performed on the shores of Lough Derg. A magical show for children aged four to 12 and their families, there are two sessions per day, each lasting 90 minutes. The sessions are hands-on and will be made up of three parts.  The first part is called ‘Make’. This is an active arts and crafts session. Families can join in the fun to make caterpillars, moths and butterflies together with the Fidget Feet team.  Then, it’s time to ‘Walk’. This part of the session involves meeting Bláithín. Bláithín loves caterpillars, moths and butterflies and you are invited to follow her on her adventurous journey with Uncle Rusty …

CLARE’S libraries are to introduce a twice weekly ‘accessible hour’ from next month. The slots on Tuesdays and Thursdays will be from 11.30am to 12.30pm with Helen Walsh, County Librarian, explaining, “These times have been chosen as they are quieter times for library usage. “During this time children/adults with additional individual needs are encouraged to visit the library to avail of library services.” Details of the new service were unveiled at the monthly meeting of Clare County Council where Councillor Ian Lynch requested that banded times be allocated in the library for users with additional sensory and communication needs. He said this would be in keeping “with the council’s excellent work providing inclusive services for all”. As well as outlining details of the new ‘accessible hour’ Ms Walsh added in her reply that parents with children on the autism spectrum and those children who require introductory information on what a visit to the library consists can view social stories on …

THE full programme for the 15th Ennis Book Club Festival was announced this week. This year’s festival will be a hybrid of online events in March with live events taking place in April and September. As always Ennis Book Club Festival 2021 will offer opportunities to engage with favourite authors and features an additional programme of events for younger readers. While the festival cannot welcome book lovers to Ennis this March as ever, it will provide plenty of events to stimulate discussion and inspire reading, from the comfort of the couch. Commenting on the programme for the 2021 Ennis Book Club Festival, Artistic Director Dani Gill, says, “We have had to re-imagine the festival several times this year with the changing circumstances, and while people are having to remain at home, we hope that at least, there have been some good books on the go, and that people will engage with our online offerings next month. “A lot of work …

Recently appointed consultants for the design and delivery of the new county library in Ennis visited Áras Contae an Chláir to meet with representatives of the Municipal District of Ennis and key stakeholders in the flagship project. Clare County Council hosted the meeting which represents the commencement of the stakeholder consultation stage of the project. The process of consultation will continue up to the final design later in 2016. The proposed €8.6m project will see the new library building developed at the site of the existing Glór facility on The Causeway Link providing a new county library for Clare to replace the existing De Valera Library on Harmony Row. Earlier this year, Clare County Council was allocated a €3 million capital grant towards the cost of the proposed project under the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government’s Capital Funding Programme for Public Libraries. An additional €1 million in EU funding was also allocated from the Southern Regional Assembly’s …

FROM inspiring the babies of tomorrow to exploring transgender issues, this year’s Clare Champion Short Story Competition winners were diverse and progressive. While some looked to the past for inspiration, particularly with the 1916 commemorations, others were firmly rooted in the present. This year’s senior winner was Faye Curran from Coláiste Muire, Ennis, who is no stranger to the competition. Faye’s story 16 Years/16 Lessons was about passing on words of wisdom to the next generation. “It’s basically a letter to every baby that will be born this year about 16 things I’ve learned,” she said. Inspired by a Róisín Ingle novel, Faye thought it would be a good idea to explore it further. The story aims to steer them away from embarrassing themselves, like she has in the past, while she also talks about issues her friends are dealing with and how they can stay positive. Transgender issues was the theme of the next two winners in the senior …

TO commemorate the centenary of the 1916 Rising, Clare County Library has developed book promotions on the theme for both children and adults. More than 800 books have been published on the subject, with almost 500 currently in print. The two reading promotions feature selections of the best of the currently available books on the Rising. The adult books selected are non-fiction and include general introductions, biographies of the individual leaders, first-hand accounts of particular battles, details of the rebellion in particular parts of the country and accounts of the civilian experience of the insurrection. Historical fiction is the perfect way for young people to get inside the skins of children of the same age from other times and give them a real understanding of major events in the past. The collection of books specifically chosen for children and teenagers will introduce them to, and immerse them in, one of the most important events to ever happen in our country’s …

IN 1860, over 1,200 volunteers from Ireland travelled to Italy to fight for the Papal States in the Papal Wars. An appeal was made throughout the country for funds to support the volunteers. Twenty-three Catholic parishes from Clare published lists of subscribers in newspapers of the day and, now, members of Clare Roots Society have undertaken to transcribe the names of these subscribers, resulting in a database of over 4,000 names. This week, members of Clare Roots Society handed over the Papal Army database to county librarian, Helen Walsh. In recent times, staff at the library’s Local Studies Centre came across extensive lists of subscribers names published in The Clare Journal, the local newspaper of the day. The subscriptions were in response to an appeal for funds to support the Irish volunteers to the Papal Army in the summer of 1860. Peter Beirne, Local Studies Centre librarian, immediately saw the value of these lists to genealogy researchers tracing Clare families. …