Lifestyle

A new resource, www.Eatright.eu, designed to help Early School Leavers learn skills in healthy eating and food safety, has been launched by safefood. It is the first free online resource specifically designed with early school leavers in mind. With up to one in five teenagers leaving school early, this can impact negatively on their longer-term health, as limited knowledge around healthy eating and physical activity is a contributory factor to the growing problem of obesity on the island. Gerry Griffin, national coordinator of Youthreach, said “This website is a great opportunity for our staff to deliver life skills training around food and hygiene, in a way that is engaging, empowering and relevant to the needs of young people in society.” Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, director, human health and nutrition, at safefood, added, “We know from speaking with early school leavers that their diets and levels of physical activity are of real concern to them. “Eatright.eu was developed with the input of …

A group from the UK are the latest inbound tour operators to visit Clare and the West of Ireland in order to help grow Ireland’s share of the huge, worldwide tourism market. One of the highlights of the tour operator’s time here was a visit to the Cliffs of Moher. Jim Paul, Tourism Ireland’s head of Australia and developing markets, said, “The majority of our overseas visitors come from the core markets of Great Britain, North America and mainland Europe, and while this will continue, it is important that we expand our focus beyond these markets and look to the long-term opportunities presented by ‘new’ tourism markets, which we believe will play an increasing role in the future of the travel and tourism industry. It is therefore crucial that influential operators working in these markets get to experience Clare and Ireland, and the high standard of our tourism offering, at first-hand.”

Shannon  Councillor Gerry Flynn  raised the possibility of running in the next general election. An independent, he is a former member of Fine Gael and has been a member of Clare County Council since 2004, while he served on Shannon Town Council from 1999 until it was disbanded earlier this year. Speaking to The Clare Champion, he was very critical of the county’s six Oireachtas members (TDs Pat Breen, Joe Carey, Michael McNamara and Timmy Dooley, as well as senators, Martin Conway and Shannon’s Tony Mulcahy). “I feel that the six Oireachtas members aren’t really representing the people, that they have been mute in the Dáil and that’s not the type of representation the people of Clare want. “I said that if they don’t buck themselves up and represent the people of Clare, I would consider running in the Dáil election, basically to replace one of them. “ I don’t think they are representing the people and you need somebody …

THE Ink it Pink campaign begun by Ennis teacher, Carmel Kelleher has gone from strength to strength since its launch at the start of October. Tattooist Dave Donnellan is busy tattooing the tiny pink ribbons on supporters and has now decided to designate a full day, next Wednesday, to keep up with the demand. Dave will also bring in another tattoo artist to help him with the bookings in his studio on Barrack Street on Wednesday. “The publicity from The Clare Champion article was great to launch the campaign and the response has been terrific,” Carmel explained. “Ink it Pink is a novel idea and it is generating great interest. All age groups have already tattooed and donated for a myriad of reasons,” said the Gaelscoil Mhichíl Cíosóig teacher. Carmel, who had breast cancer in 2009, launched her campaign in response to the deaths of three of her friends this year and had her own wrist tattooed on impulse in …

ENNIS-born artist, Mick O’Dea has been elected the 23rd president of the 193-year-old Royal Hibernian Academy (RHA). Mick’s election was confirmed at the annual general meeting of the RHA at Ely Place, Dublin, on Tuesday, and he takes over from architect Des McMahon, the designer of Glór in Ennis, among many other noted buildings including Croke Park, for a term which can vary but is usually five years. “There was an election, there was a number of candidates and I was successful,” the 58-year-old celebrated landscape, portrait and historical painter, who is also a member of Aosdána, told The Clare Champion. “I’m very proud to represent the RHA, a diverse selection of outstandingly talented people. That’s the biggest honour of all really. “It’s humbling. A lot of the members are, in my eyes, venerable people who have been practicing their arts through thick and thin for all their lives, into their eighties,” the newly elected president said, adding, “They were …

Large and small-scale video installations by Shelagh Honan will be exhibited in the Courthouse Gallery in Ennistymon from this weekend. Aperture – Where The Light Gets In, was opened by Maria Finucane of Limerick School of Art and Design. The exhibition will run until November 12. Shelagh’s body of work is rooted in time, history and place and brought to life through the media of video installation. The show by the Ennis-based artist was conceived especially for the Courthouse Gallery and features visual imagery, as well as the video installations. The inspiration for the exhibition is drawn from a range of contrasting sites, stories, histories and objects that have found their way in to Shelagh’s studio. Places like Ennistymon and Coole Park and their associated narratives are intertwined and woven to create a series of short video pieces that hover between the realms of fact and fiction. In Wood From The Trees, a video from the woodlands in Coole Park is …

A HARVESTING For Profit information morning, hosted by the Clare Wood Energy Project, will be held in the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis on Wednesday next from 10am-12.30pm. A joint initiative between Teagasc and Clare Local Development Company, the Clare Wood Energy Project (CCWEP) has been working in Clare since 2005. Michael Somers, Teagasc forestry development officer for Clare, who has been working with clusters of farm forester owners, highlights that there is in excess of 23,000 Ha of private forestry in the county. “A lot of this forest is at or approaching harvesting. The CCWEP has encouraged thinning over the past decade. Some of these sites are approaching second and subsequent thinning, while more is at clearfell stage. Every year, new forest-owners are coming into the thinning cycle. With this in mind, CCWEP, along with Teagasc, plan to look at some of the issues affecting private forest owners in the county.” Mr Somers said, in many cases, forest-owners do not know …

THE giant Irish passport presented by Kilrush-based barber, James Coughlan, at Thomond Park in July 2013 is to be included in the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection at Monmouth University in New Jersey. The presentation was made to the American singer in front of a 30,000-strong crowd at a concert in the stadium. “The director of performing arts at Monmouth University contacted me recently and said they are honoured to have the generous donation included in Bruce Springsteen’s collection, after many offers from people wanting to purchase the original signed passport,” James Coughlan explained. “I am happy to donate it to a place where it will be seen forever and become a part of history. What this means is this collection is going to be preserved and accessible to future generations of fans, educators, students and researchers,” he explained. The Kilrush barber said the collection is the largest in the world of Bruce Springsteen memorabilia and is where the singer has …