Galleries

St Francis Credit Union Clare Community Games held their Annual County Athletic Finals on Saturday in glorious sunshine in John O’Sullivan Park, Lees Road, Ennis, writes Mary Phelan. Over 600 children from 24 areas across the county participated in Relays and Track and Field events. At the opening ceremony, where all the competitors and their mentors assembled on the track, Chairperson Paula Byrne O’Connell welcomed everyone to the first proper County Athletic Finals in three years. She welcomed Mayor of Clare Tony O’Brien, President of Clare Community Games Mrs Cecilia O’Sullivan, the County executive committee, all the volunteers at area and county level who give so much time and energy for the children of Clare. Without these volunteers there would be no community games. She thanked Clare County Council and the caretaker at John O’Sullivan Park for the wonderful facility to host the finals. She also thanked the parents and children for turning up on such a warm day. She …

The Cumann na mBunscoil finals brought a riot of colour and excitement to venues in Ennis and west Clare recently. The Champion photographers were on hand, along with reporters to record the action and we present more of it here. If you like what you see in any of these galleries you can purchase pictures by contacting calling 065 6864150 or emailing sales@clarechampion.ie To see our full collection please visit: https://photos.clarechampion.ie/archive/ Photographs can be purchased via the above link. You can also contact us via Facebook.    

In the coming days we will be publishing a selection of photographs from the recent Cumann na mBunscoil finals. If you like what you see in any of these galleries you can purchase pictures by contacting calling 065 6864150 or emailing sales@clarechampion.ie To see our full collection please visit: https://photos.clarechampion.ie/archive/ Photographs can be purchased via the above link. You can also contact us via Facebook.

The historic Spancilhill Horse Fair returned on Thursday having been cancelled for the last two years due to the pandemic. It was almost mothballed permanently, due to insurance issues, but in April, an eleventh hour intervention by Clare County Council secured its future and paved the way for celebrations this year to mark the 400th anniversary of the world renowned horse fair. Thursday’s event was as busy and colourful as ever, as our photos show.

TRADITIONAL music frequently reverberates through Scoil Chríost Rí in Cloughleigh, with instruments that the school has received through an instrument appeal run by Councillor Mary Howard. The latest haul was brought to the school last Friday morning and music teacher Karen Vaughan said that the instruments received over the years have made a huge difference, giving children access to music that they wouldn’t otherwise have had. “It’s fantastic. Mary Howard set up an instrument donation scheme for us many years ago, on the back of a wonderful visit we had from the Phoenix Twinning Committee Band. “They came from America on a visit, we had a band here and when the two came together something magic happened. “Mary was here that day and she said will we set up an instrument donation scheme because there must be loads of instruments around the county not being used. “Over the years I’ve been championing traditional music here in the school and I …

THE “wonderful addition” 44 children from Ukraine have made to Ennis Educate Together school has been highlighted by principal David Quinn at the school’s recent celebration day. The event also presented an opportunity to showcase the quite literal growth of a new project which has resulted in a sunflower, the national flower of Ukraine, planted for every pupil in the school. As well as welcoming the school’s new enrolments, the day was a celebration for the entire school and offered an opportunity for families to visit for the first time since Covid-19. On the day Ennis Educate Together’s youngest pupil Oleksandr  and oldest pupil Melisa helped raise the school flag with its newly designed logo featuring new school colours, chosen with input from the children. Mr Quinn explained, “The children’s voice is very important in our school. Last year we surveyed the children in third to sixth classes to choose our schools colours and to add them to our school …

LIVE entertainment is back and the Shannon Summer Music Festival took place in the Town Park on Saturday, offering entertainment to young and old throughout the day. Organiser Chris Walshe was happy with the event, despite some less than ideal weather. “It was great, despite the weather we still had a good turnout. We had a very good turnout early in the day for the children’s entertainment, we had face painting, balloon modellers and the kiddie’s discos. We got a bad bout of rain for an hour or two, but people drifted back then for the live music. “For a finish we probably had 150 and 200 out in the Park. Everyone was there enjoyed it, the musicians were delighted and it was nice to have the opportunity to have a big production like that in Shannon and to show off the Park as a venue.” It featured a number of local musicians and he said the day was the …

U15A hurling final Clooney-Quin 2-16 Cratloe 2-11 Clooney-Quin relievedly made the perfect start to 2022 when finally holding off an obstinate Cratloe with the last four points to cement a first U-15A Hurling title since 2019 in Cusack Park on Saturday afternoon. Having agonisingly suffered championship final defeats at Under 13B, 14A, 15B and Minor A in 2021, two of which were in Cusack Park, Clooney-Quin deservedly made full amends last Saturday to further enhance their growing underage influence. In essence, Clooney-Quin possessed the better balance and having been the most consistent team in the competition throughout, there were some excellent displays in particular on Saturday from Darragh McNamara, Jerry O’Connor, Sean McNamara, Matthew Corbett, Cathal Leamy, Sean Cassidy and captain Patrick Finneran. Cratloe, U-14B champions from 2021, were greatly reliant on Marc O’Brien and it was easy to see why as the towering centre-forward possessed pace, power and an ever-present threat to favourites Clooney-Quin. Morris Ryan, Tadhg Lohan, Cian …