Tag Archives: Woodford.

THE EDUCATION minister has said she will examine a situation whereby secondary school students in parts of North East Clare have missed out on public school transport for the current academic year. Minister Norma Foley was responding to Deputy Michael McNamara during a recent meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on Education. The Scariff TD highlighted how post-primary students in the Whitegate area, who previously held concessionary tickets for transport to Scariff Community College (SCC), did not qualify for a school bus place this year, under the terms of the new school transport scheme unveiled in July. Deputy McNamara outlined how the criteria disqualified some students in the Whitegate area from securing a bus place to SCC, as it had marked Woodford in County Galway as their closest school. He described the road from Whitegate to Woodford, which was identified, by the Department, as the shortest route as little more than a “forest track” and “not fit for school buses”. He …

Clare benefits from preferred route for Galway-Athlone cycleway TOURISM benefits for this region have been highlighted by Clare’s Independent TD, following the publication of the preferred route for the Galway-Athlone section of a leisure trail that will extend all the way to Dublin. This week, it was announced that a 140km cycleway will run through Ballinasloe, Portumna, Gort, Kinvara, Clarinbridge, Oranmore and then on to Galway City. “Route 5 will also dip into Woodford and Derrybrien,” said Deputy Michael McNamara. “Woodford is only 15 miles from Scariff which will be the starting point for the proposed new greenway to Limerick. “There are lots of clear opportunities here for the development of walking and cycling tourism and there are already very quiet routes across the Slieve Aughtys which connect Woodford and Scariff,” he noted. “What we have here is the potential to link a series of routes from Galway to Limerick, running through South Galway and East and South East Clare.” …

THE much anticipated Bullseye Wood Project will be launched on this Wednesday next as an initiative of Galway Community Archaeology Advisory Project, in partnership with Woodford Parish Development Group. The project will involve the sensitive cleaning of a small children’s burial ground within woodland and the organisers are recording it as a community archaeology training programme. The site is located over the border in Galway, just outside the village of Woodford and the aim of this project is to have the site included in the Heritage Council’s Adopt-a-Monument Scheme. The Adopt-a-Monument Scheme (AaM) aims to empower communities to become actively involved in the conservation and interpretation of local archaelogical heritage sites by providing expertise, mentoring and support. The initiative originates in Scotland, whereby the local community will be involved long term in the management and maintenance of the site. It is also planned to create a green walkway around the site as a local amenity so that the archaeology, ecology …

EAST Clare is all set to  host the inaugural Sliabh Aughty Furnace Festival  celebrating the region’s rich history with the iron industry. Hidden on the western shores of Lough Derg, in the foothills of the Sliabh Aughty mountains are the remains of four blast furnaces. These furnaces are a witness to an industry that changed the landscape here forever. They were built 300 to 400 years ago to smelt rich local iron ores together with charcoal made from the oak woodlands there. These hidden gems have recently been brought into focus again, due to the efforts of local historian, Gerard Madden and Dr Paul Rondelez. The two have been working on a publication to publish a transcription of 80 hitherto unknown letters, written between 1693 and 1701, primarily on the iron works of Scariff and Woodford. The festival also follows a very successful visit to the area by the Historical Metallurgy Society earlier this year. The festival will take place on …