Tag Archives: London

Well here’s where my adventure really begins. I was off to London, at least I would as soon as himself had finished looking at cars across the road in Hampton Court. He spent the morning at the Concours of Elegance, while herself and I mooched around Hampton Court village. We had a lovely morning visiting shops and having coffee but around lunchtime, we met up with himself for a little drink in The Mute Swan, the pub next door to our hotel. Soon, it was time and I couldn’t suppress a shiver of excitement as we crossed the bridge to the train station, where we hopped on a train to Waterloo. Well, I’ve never seen such a busy place. People were rushing everywhere and to be honest I was happy to get outside the station and into a taxi. It was my first time in a London cab and I really enjoyed looking at the sights rushing past the window. …

Well, I was rudely awakened very early one Monday morning and after a flurry of activity, found myself in my new doggie seat in the back of the car. We seemed to have a bit of luggage with us so I was wondering where we were off to. It seemed a bit more than a weekend’s worth anyway. After a bit of a snooze, I woke up and herself left the car outside Kildare to meet a friend, while himself and I continued on to Dublin. We arrived at a big hotel and parked in the underground car park. Himself had a meeting and as the meeting rooms were underground he tried to sneak me in. Unfortunately, we were spotted and I hadn’t even settled myself in the room before the management came in and asked if I was a registered assistance dog. Now, I’m Ireland’s only roving reporter but unfortunately I don’t even have a press card, so I …

THERE is still a sense of shock in Ennistymon today, following the murder of 87 year old Thomas O’Halloran in London. On Thursday morning, Senator Martin Conway said, “The community of Ennistymon, the people I’ve spoken to in the last number of hours, are just bewildered. They’re so shocked, they can’t make sense of it, all they want to do is reach out to the family and support them in whatever way they can during this difficult period.” Two of Mr O’Halloran’s brothers still live in the North Clare area, along with a number of other relations, and Senator Conway said the family wish to have their privacy respected at this time. “His children and grandchildren in the UK are dealing with this as well and they are also in our thoughts. The O’Halloran family are a large family, Thomas had a number of siblings who are sadly no longer with us, but there are a lot of nieces and …

AN elderly Clare man has been stabbed to death while on his mobility scooter in London in what has been described by investigating police as “a shocking act of unprovoked violence”. Thomas O’Halloran, an 87-year-old grandfather was living in the Greenford area of west London but was originally from Ennistymon where he still has a large number of family. The community of Ennistymon have been rallying around the O’Halloran family at this tragic time local Senator Martin Conway has said. Mr O’Halloran was a popular figure in Greenford where he was well known for entertaining locals with his accordion and on the day of his killing it is understood he had been busking to raise money for charity. Police were called just after 4pm on Tuesday to Runnymede Gardens, at the junction with Cayton Road, Greenford to reports of a man with stab wounds. Officers responded and gave emergency first aid until the arrival of the London Ambulance Service and …

Aisling Drennan found a new audience for, and engagement with, her work online after the pandemic struck THIS time last year Clare artist Aisling Drennan was facing into an uncertain future with all of her scheduled exhibitions were cancelled due to Covid-19. However, the Lisdoonvarna born, London-based abstract painter has managed to turn this setback into an opportunity and is now showcasing her works all over the world and expanding into new markets. Recalling when her shows were cancelled last year she says, “I just felt that everything had fallen apart and I didn’t know how to pick the pieces up and mend them back together. “I don’t think I’ve ever felt like that – a pure sense of loss of control. Of course, countless people also felt the same in the face of uncertainty.” However, it wasn’t long before she decided to take positive action. “There are times when you have to stand back from a situation and assess …

AN Ennis man living in London has been using his talents to ensure frontline staff at a hospital and care homes have access to protection against the spread of Covid-19. Eoin O’Sullivan, originally from the Golf Links Road has transformed his attic into a workshop where he has been making protective faceshields on 3D printers. He has been donating the much sought after equipment for free to a number of care homes and London’s St Helier’s hospital. The physics lecturer, a former pupil of Gaelcholaiste an Chláir, has been living in London for nearly four years and currently teaches at the University of Surrey. He explains that the idea came about when a friend of his, Jerry Naiker, told him about the shortage of protective faceshields at a local care home. “Jerry had a 3D printer at home but he knew I had a couple and asked if I’d be interested in producing them.” Since then the word has got …

MORE than one-third of Shannon’s passengers last year were people going to or coming from London. New figures from the CSO show that Heathrow was Shannon’s busiest route in 2018, with 276,236 travelling to and from what is one of the world’s greatest hub airports. Another 203,000 travelled to and from Stansted and another 117,326 to and from Gatwick. That adds up to 596,562 travelling between Shannon and London. Overall, Shannon had 1,677,661 passengers over the course of 2018, meaning 35.5% of the passengers were going to and from London. With another 85,000 travelling to and from Manchester, it is very clear that a relatively good outcome for Brexit is very important for Shannon. While the CSO figures for Shannon are somewhat different from others released earlier this year, this is because these statistics do not include passengers on transit flights. The busiest transatlantic route was New York, with more than 118,000 travelling to and from JFK. January and February …

IN London since 2002, 37-year-old Flan Vaughan of Doonbeg has been successful in business and runs both a haulage company and a plant hire company. The West Clare man said the vote to leave the EU has hit business quite hard. “I’d say our turnover would be down 25% over the last 18 months; it’s been winding down gradually. We were turning over five million, we’re back in the threes now.” He spoke to The Clare Champion on Wednesday, after Theresa May’s deal had been comprehensively rejected by parliament. Flan had hoped it would get through, while in the absence of an agreement, he would like another referendum. “A no deal is catastrophic for me anyway, absolutely catastrophic,” he said. The impact of the UK crashing out would see most of his business disappearing, he feels. “It’d be massive. I think it would take 75% of my work away. We would have to liquidate a lot of equipment and re-evaluate.” …