Arts & Culture

A festival exhibition will feature portraits of Mountshannon people, one of whom has a tale to tell Dan Danaher LIAM Waterstone still has a glint in his eye when he is asked about the intriguing story behind the stuffed trophy fish, which hangs proudly in a framed glass case at his Moutshannon home. Back in 1997, the 66-year-old father-of-three prompted a manhunt when he decided to spend nine hours in the dark battling with a huge trout before it was eventually brought ashore on a light fly rod. Oblivious to the consternation in the background, as local gardai, friends and neighbours searched the lake and pubs for his whereabouts, Liam explains he would have spent a fortnight in the boat trying to land this “fish of a lifetime”. The well-known fisherman, publican, postman, and bed and breakfast operator, is one of the 12 members of the Mountshannon community, who are part of a photographic exhibition by Clare Champion award-winning photographer, …

CHRISTMAS came early to the streets of Ennis when filming for a new Hallmark movie took to Abbey Street. Familiar buildings on the thoroughfare were decked out in festive flair for the filming of the movie starring Mean Girls’ Lacey Chabert alongside Irish actor Stuart Townsend. Details of the movie have yet to be released but it is understood that the working title is ‘Christmas at Castle Hart’. Earlier this year West Coast Casting, who do casting calls for productions in the West of Ireland sought extras for the film shooting in various locations in Clare and Limerick. The call specifically looked for men and women aged 50 and up to take part in a ballroom scene with other roles including hotel staff, diners, villagers and pub patrons. Filming has also been done in the Old Ground Hotel while Bunratty, Dromoland and Kinvara are also said to be among the locations for the shoot. As well as the major stars, …

A HISTORY project of exhaustive research and work spanning 17 years will culminate with the launch this Saturday of Tomás Mac Conmara’s seminal book on the Scariff Martyrs. A well-known figure around the county, Tomás, who has done a huge amount of work to record Clare’s oral history, has long been fascinated by the fate of the martyrs and the time they lived in. “Only since the release was confirmed my mother found a photograph taken in April 2004 with Paddy Gleeson. That would have been the very first interview that I did relating specifically to the Scariff Martyrs. “It really makes you think back, I was 23 then and I’m 40 now, there were 17 years of research in different ways. “Obviously you’re not working solely for 17 years on it but for those 17 years you’re observing, taking any opportunity to find more information or to deepen your understanding. That photograph really brought it home that it’s been …

Culture Night will be celebrated this year with online and in-person events, and two organisations have combined efforts to remind the people of Clare that there is far more than just Irish culture in the county, writes Conor Clohessy. ‘Many Cultures of Clare’ is a showcase celebrating diversity that will bring together music, song and dance from a variety of participants of different ethnicities, living in or connected to Clare and its surrounds. This online event will be accessible on September 17 from 4pm to midnight and is organised by the Inisowiacy Polish Folk Group and the Clare Immigrant Support Centre. Anna Scanlan, in charge of the event on behalf of Inisowiacy, explained, “With the folk group I am part of, we focus on music and singing, since 2015. Over the years, we observed the similarities between the Irish and Polish cultures, and soon we had members from Bulgaria, Spain, the US … all wanting to join in. Music makes …

CULTURE Night will be providing its audiences and participants with a grand showcase of modern Irish culture, but one short film aims to go back to the very beginning, writes Conor Clohessy. ‘Lúgh – The Prophecy’ is an independently-produced short film, written by Ger O’Malley, telling the story of how the birth of the ancient Gaelic god Lúgh was predicted and witnessed. Ger says that he has always been fascinated with Irish mythology, noticing how often Lúgh would be mentioned and paid homage to – a simple example would be that he is linked to the festival of Lughnasa, which is also the Irish word for August. “I started looking into who he was and started writing stories about him years ago, but the stuff I was writing seemed very visual. I was talking to my brother Martin, who owns Malbay Studios in Miltown Malbay and has a lot of knowledge on how to put such things together. We brought …

CLARE FM is to broadcast a documentary to celebrate the life of Lahinch native Míchéal “Mick” Ryan who was posthumously awarded Humanitarian of the year in December 2020. The documentary, airing Friday at 11am, looks back at Mick’s life from his early years and has been produced by Clare FM’s programme director Padraic Flaherty with support from Mick’s family. Mick dedicated his life to helping others through his work with the United Nations World Food Program. During his life Mick helped the most vulnerable and most in need, and during his career he travelled to Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Liberia, and the world’s largest refugee camp in Myanmar. On March 10, 2019, Mick was travelling from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, when several minutes after take-off the Boeing 737 Max Aircraft crashed killing all people on board. Upon hearing the documentary for the first time Mick’s wife Naoise says “Padraic seamlessly weaves Mick’s story through conversations with people who knew Mick, …

CULTURE Night makes a welcome return this Friday and glór has a couple of contrasting events that will keep everyone entertained. To get the ball rolling at 5pm, Cracking Light Productions presents My Nature, a film for young people, by young people; showing us the things in Nature that mean the most to them in their own words and through their eyes. This unique and heart-warming film will lift anybody’s spirits and remind us of the bond we have had with nature since we were little kids. Following this gorgeous film screening, glór presents something completely different. At 9pm The Latchikos take to the stage for a wild night of trad! The Latchikos are fronted by well-known storyteller and musician Aindrias de Staic on fiddle and vocals. Spanish multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Gonzalez on Guitar and Mayo Percussionist Dominic Keogh on bodhrán and percussion. They will be joined especially for Culture Night by special guest dancer Siobhan Butler. The Latchikos’ blend a …

A HANDBALL alley in West Clare might not seem like the obvious place to showcase artistic talent, however this weekend at Querrin Pier the local sports facility will play host to a visual workshop for teenagers. The workshop with artist Ruth Wood is just one of many events taking place in the county as part of this year’s Call & Response youth music and arts festival presented by Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board’s Local Creative Youth Partnership. The festival, which kicks off on Culture Night in Clare, will bring a host of free creative events to the young people of the county including the launch of a new pilot theatre project in Kilkee. Monica Spencer, Creative Youth Partnership Co-ordinator with the Limerick and Clare Education and Training Board tells us that Call & Response is all about encouraging and engaging youth voices. “The name of the festival came from the call and response term in music, but really …