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ONE of the most famous names in Irish fashion circles met with Ennis Rag Trade retailers for an intimate fireside discussion in the Temple Gate Hotel. Louis Copeland, Ireland’s most celebrated tailor, and by now a household name, regaled the audience with stories of his early days in fashion, bringing those gathered all the way back to his childhood, his father a tailor and his mother a trouser maker. With over 60 years of experience in retail, Louis enthralled the crowd who shared their own triumphs as well as their battle scars. The atmosphere was fun and lively; the energy of the retailers present was palpable as the audience brainstormed progressive ideas for leveraging Ireland’s Boutique Capital. The lively discussion was organised by Experience Ennis, an organisation whose aspiration is to make Ennis the best town in Ireland in which to live and the top destination to visit. The five pillars of Experience Ennis are Culture, Community, Aesthetic Impact, Business …

RAIN gives us rainbows is the positive message of a brand new colourful addition to St Anne’s School in Ennis. The school recently unveiled a new mural created by its Oak, Rowan and Willow classes along with local artist Rachel Macmanus. The project was facilitated by the Clare Artists in School Scheme 2021/2022. Principal of St Anne’s Rose-Marie Flanagan explains that before designing the mural Rachel visited them and spent time with the three classes to discuss ideas. “We discussed together what should be included in the design and why. The pupils chose to highlight the nature they see in and around their school, such as birds and animals, and we also discussed the weather we get here in Ennis, a lot of rain! But rain gives us rainbows, which became a central theme for the mural.  “We also focused on the geography of St Anne’s School, which is situated in the centre of Ennis town, and the activities and sports which happen in the school. As we …

ATTITUDES to work have changed quite dramatically since before the pandemic, and it’s one of the reasons Clare tourism is going to see a huge labour shortage this summer, Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan says. Mr Vaughan said that conversations he has had with people in other sectors suggest the shortage is quite widespread across the economy, and he feels that younger people don’t attach as much importance to work as they would have done even a few years ago. “The only explanation I can give is that there has been a reset in the mindset of a certain cohort. Certainly younger people aged from 20 to 30 seem to have reset their opinion of what the balance of work and life is. “That allied to the surplus of money that a lot of that age group might have from the pandemic payments, this year they’re not inclined to take up seasonal work or work that’d be full time. “There seems …

Following a perfect start, Clare are now focused on reaching a Munster Final as they prepare to welcome Limerick and Waterford to fortress Cusack Park over the next fortnight. That’s the view of back-to-back All-Star Tony Kelly who on Sunday became Clare’s highest ever championship scorer with 9-240 in just 45 appearances after raiding for ten points against Cork to surpass Niall Gilligan’s previous record of 21-197 (in 56 championship matches). “We’ve our eyes on the Munster Championship like every team in it so we’re not going to get away with this win. It was a great result and we’ll enjoy it but we’re fortunate to have a week to regroup and prepare for Limerick in two week’s time. “It’s in our own hands now where we want to go in the Munster Championship and it’s all about replicating those performances so far and even bringing them up a notch or two.” Having been last of the 11 counties into …

CLOONEY-QUIN 2-12 ST JOSEPH’S DOORA-BAREFIELD 2-10 Two of the current superpowers of underage hurling and football collided with serious intent to represent Clare in Dublin and Meath as Clare Féile A champions on Bank Holiday Monday. Act one was played out in Clareabbey two weeks previous as St Joseph’s aided by four goals edged Clooney/Quin for the Féile Peil title. For many in both clubs this was the blue riband to win however with James O’Connor and Francis Browne on the sideline co-ordinating their charges. The talented speedster Jerry O’Connor was up against Darragh Ball who has strong Clooney/Quin heritage in a midfield battle to savour with O’Connor sending over the opening two scores with less than three minutes played. Not to be outdone Ball hit back with a score of his own before Clooney/Quin team captain Patrick Finneran made no mistake with his sides third score. After this early surge of confident play by Clooney/Quin the impetus and control …

MOUNTSHANNON Angling Club have presented lifetime honorary membership awards to two members, Billy Hickey and Andrew Brown for services rendered to the club over the years and for their role in promoting angling and works to ensure the ongoing rehabilitation of Lough Derg as a brown trout nursery. The awards were announced at the club’s EGM last week when the schedule of competitions was confirmed and a new committee put in place for 2022. Officers elected were President; Brian Merrick; Chairman, Peter Turner; Vice Chairman, Joseph Lyons;p class=”p2″>Secretary, Brian Durack; Treasurer, John O’Rourke; PRO, Tony Hogan and committee, David Burke and Andrew Brown. The club is currently investigating ways of encouraging young members to join the club and intend to organize an event later in the year to teach them ‘how to fish’’. The club acknowledged the lack of advance notice to members but it was felt that the best choice was to go ahead with the competitions as listed rather …

CHANGING the proposed zoning designation of Spancilhill from a ‘cluster’ to a ‘small village’ in the Clare County Development Plan would help reduce speed limits and address “dangerous levels” of traffic speeding which has split the community in two, a meeting of councillors has been told. The “ongoing safety concerns” of residents due to speeding in Spancilhill was raised at the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District by Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy. She added that locals are of the view that recent road improvements and markings are “insufficient” while asking if VMS signs could be considered. While Councillor Johnny Flynn confirmed he has made a submission to the Draft Clare County Development Plan 2023-2029 seeking to change the proposed zoning designation. Responding to Councillor Colleran Molloy’s motion, Eamon O’Dea, Senior Executive Engineer stated, “The line marking contractor carrying out the sign and lining work at Spancilhill Low Cost Safety Scheme were unable to complete the line marking work due …

John Conlon is not only revelling in his new role at centre-back but Clare’s longest serving current player is also on track to reach another milestone of 50 championship appearances before the round-robin series is elapsed. Having carved out his reputation as a powerful attacking force that has totalled over 100 points for the Banner, the Clonlara stalwart has subsequently demonstrated his true class over the past twelve months by seamlessly reverting to defensive anchor. And following two victories in the space of seven days in Thurles, Conlon understandably doesn’t want Clare’s momentum to stop. “We’ve come to Thurles a lot over the years. In the 14 years I’ve been playing against Cork, I think it’s very rare that we’ve come out with a win, if any, so to come out today and bring out that type of performance is brilliant. We said we needed to back up the Tipp performance and we certainly did that today. “It was great …