Tag Archives: St Columba’s Church

TO MARK Lá na Cruite, Harp Day on Saturday, County Clare harper Aisling Lyons will be performing with Elaine Hogan, Cathy Potter, Alisha McMahon and Eithne Walsh in Ennis, at St Columba’s Church and at glór. Harps will chime worldwide to mark Ireland’s 1000-year old harping tradition, and harpers and people interested in the harp are invited to join in celebrating Ireland’s 1,000-year-old tradition on National Harp Day, Saturday (October 17). 2020 is the fourth year that Cruit Éireann, Harp Ireland has co-ordinated this event at home and farther afield in honour of our national instrument.  It will feature harps sounding loudly from dawn to dusk in iconic locations throughout Ireland, north and south and from as far away as Sydney, across the US, New Zealand and Japan. Closer to home, harpers in France, Italy, Switzerland and the UK join us to celebrate our vibrant harping tradition. This year due to Covid 19 restrictions, Cruit Éireann will feature the best of Irish harping online and their Harpers’ Call; where they invite harpers all over the world to …

A LOCAL heritage group have made sure Covid-19 would not extinguish their plans to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the burning of a church in Clarecastle. The Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group had planned on marking the centenary of the attack on St Mary’s Church of Ireland back in April, however the plans had to be put on hold due to the pandemic. The group have now reignited the commemoration, but instead of hosting an event they have produced an information brochure detailing the history of what has been described by local historian Dr Joe Power as a “shocking sectarian incident”. Eric Shaw of the Clarecastle & Ballyea Heritage & Wildlife Group, who compiled the publication told us, “The burning of the church is an event not known to the younger generation here or to newcomers to Clarecastle in more recent times. The burning marked a turbulent time in our local history. Nothing remains of the building. The …

ENNIS will stage a prestigious event this month when the town hosts the Association of Irish Floral Artists National Flower Festival (AOIFA). It is expected that 4,000 people will come to Ennis during the festival. The epicentre of the weekend festival will be at Ennis Catherdral and St Columba’s Church of Ireland. All funds raised from the event will be donated to the Irish Motor Neurone Disease Association. AOIFA comprises 90 clubs nationwide and has approximately 6,000 members. Every two years, members nominate a charity to lend their valuable support to. The organisation has been running for 40 years and this is the first time that the national executive has been based in Ennis. The formal festival opening ceremony will be held on Friday, June 19 at Ennis Cathedral at 8pm, with RTÉ GAA commentator and Mullagh man Marty Morrissey hosting the opening night. More than 100 floral exhibits will be on view the following day from 11.30am to 6pm …

CLARE Music Maker’s will host their 15th non-competitive festival in the Temple Gate Hotel this weekend. This event gives all Clare Music Maker’s students an opportunity to perform for families, friends and an adjudicator. Each student receives a certificate from the adjudicator. The festival, on Sunday, welcomes violinist Áine Kelly as adjudicator this year. Over her 20 years as a teacher and performer Áine has created, developed and directed two children’s orchestras, one of which received a national award during the children’s Orchestra Music Festival held annually in the National Concert Hall, Dublin. Áine is now based in Galway and performs on a regular basis with her String Quartet “Strings Serenade” and she also works as a deputy player with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Con Tempo, the Galway Music in Residency String Quartet. All members of the public are invited to ‘drop in’ to the Temple Gate at any time during the festival and hear the talented children perform. …