Lifestyle

AROUND for the last 30 years, the GOSHH provides a range of services to LGBT people across Clare. It also provides testing for STDs and is led by its CEO Verena Tarpey, who says the organisation has been active in the Banner County for decades. “The first time we went into Clare was in 1995 and we did training and development in a number of places like YouthReach, Rice College, Ennis Women’s Traveller Group and Ennis Youth Service,” she said. “As part of Europe Against Aids we went to Shannon Knight’s, Durty Nellys and Fibbers and to Lahinch and Liscannor.” It is still working hard to reach the community in the Banner. “In Clare, at the moment we have an outreach worker and a community development worker,” she said. “Our outreach worker would do a lot of one to one support with adults from more rural, isolated areas, and she would do a lot of travel to them. “We go …

CLARE man Declan Meaney will lace up his running shoes this weekend for his first-ever marathon in Dublin, raising crucial funds for the Irish Kidney Association. Declan’s motivation stems from a personal connection – his mother Lynda Meaney was diagnosed with chronic kidney disease (CKD) twenty one years ago and has been undergoing haemodialysis treatment for the past three years. Lynda, whose birthday is this weekend also, travels fifty minutes each way three times a week to receive dialysis treatment at the Fresenius Medical Centre on Dock Road in Limerick, which lasts nearly four hours per session. Despite her determination, the toll of chronic kidney disease has forced her to scale back her role in the playschool which she has owned and managed since Declan was a child. 39-year old-Declan from Ballyea explained, “Her energy is drained by the long hours of treatment, the demanding travel, and the fatigue and nausea that accompanies kidney failure. She has been on the kidney transplant …

If you’ve ever come across a dozen adults laughing uncontrollably while running around an empty field, chances are that you’ve stumbled upon laughter yoga. Developed in India in 1995, the practice has many proven health benefits, but is hardly known about in much of Ireland. Kinvara woman, Jenni McGinley, is aiming to change all of that and has been getting the people of Clare and Galway to laugh themselves healthy for the past six years. And like many great ideas, Jenni came across laughter yoga while walking around the Body and Soul area of Electric Picnic. “I discovered it by chance at Electric Picnic about seven years ago. I saw a sign that said laughter yoga and I immediately wanted to know where it was on and what it was about,” she said. “It was in a marquee in the Body and Soul area and I went down and signed up straight away. I couldn’t wait to see what it …

Clare clinical psychologist, Dr David Coleman, is aiming to help parents and those working with children to develop a toolbox for the growing problem of anxiety. David will be in glór early next month to kick off a nationwide tour entitled ‘Helping Children and Teenagers Cope with Anxiety’ in which he aims to reframe anxiety as a normal part of the lives of young people that can be regulated rather than something to be eliminated. He hopes that this new tour will help those living or working with children to understand anxiety better, as a feeling rather than an illness or mental health issue. He says that we all need to be able to get anxious to stay safe, but sometimes teenagers and children can get so anxious that it prevents them from doing regular things in their everyday lives. “I’ve long realised that anxiety in this age-group is a problem that only ever seems to be growing. In recent …

We had such a wonderful time during our first week in Scotland that I couldn’t wait to see what the next part of the holiday would bring. Bidding a fond farewell to our little cottage in Golspie, we headed off for the west coast, where I looked forward to seeing a Heilan Coo or two. There were a few little detours on the way, first to Black Isle Brewery, where we bought some of their organic beer. Scotland is dotted with small breweries and distilleries and even though my tipple of choice is a dogguccino, it would have been rude not to visit. Driving on, we came to Rogie Falls and had a nice stroll through woods until we arrived at scenic waterfalls where if you’re lucky, you can see the salmon leaping. They were fairly invisible when we arrived but it was really pretty and well worth the visit. It was a long drive to the coast and for …

Well the whole thing started with a competition run by Stena Line, the ferry people. Herself entered a picture of little old me gazing at London Bridge on my last visit to London and would you believe it, I won! The prize was a return trip on any of their routes to Britain. As it was my picture, I felt I should decide the destination and nothing would satisfy me but to visit my homeland of Scotland. And so the preparations began – accommodation booked, places researched and we were off to do the North Coast 500, a road that circles all the way around the highlands of Scotland. I couldn’t wait. I’m a Westie after all. I even got on the world wide woof and ordered a tweed collar, lead and NC500 dog tag from The Highland Hound. I had to be properly dressed for my holidays. We set off on a Thursday and stayed that night at Bellinter …

A former Tipperary goalkeeper has recalled the lifelong friendships forged playing hurling with an East Clare chipboard factory that provided vital employment for hundreds of workers for more than 50 years. Tipperary netminder, Séamus Shinners, was an intercounty opponent of legendary Clare custodian Seamus Durack. However, the two Chipboard Limited sales representatives united outfield to help the company capture a coveted All-Ireland Interfirm Hurling title in 1975 and became friends. Within 24 hours of lining out in opposing goals in the 1974 Clare versus Tipperary Munster SHC on a Sunday afternoon, they were back on their travels for All-Plast the following day. Chipboard Limited, Scariff, participated in the Shannon League against companies in Shannon in the sixties and seventies. After winning a few Shannon League titles, Chipboard Limited won the Munster SHC inter-firm title in 1974 and the All-Ireland crown the following May. Chipboard Limited used to train in Dr Daly Park, Tulla as Scariff didn’t have a senior hurling …

HE grew up in England aware he was adopted, but Simon Edwards never looked into his origins until after his own children were born. When he did he unearthed an incredible story, as he was the result of Clare liaison between Rosemary Ruane and the legendary US boxing commentator Bob Sheridan who died last year. Sheridan, also known as the Colonel, was a boxing Hall of Famer, who called over 1,000 world title fights in an amazing career. He was at ringside for nights like the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla in Manilla and was in Tokyo for Buster Douglas’s sensational KO of Mike Tyson. Younger boxing fans may have heard his commentary on fights involving present-day stars like Tyson Fury, Canelo Alvarez and Anthony Joshua. For a period in the 1970s and 80s, Sheridan, himself the son of Irish emigrants to the US, lived an incredible double life. He would spend much of the week farming in …