Lifestyle

THE IFA has unveiled its partnership with the 2014 Special Olympics Games Ireland. IFA is a bronze partner of the equestrian competition at the Games, which will be held in Limerick from June 12 to 15. IFA president Eddie Downey and the organisation’s national treasurer, Jer Bergin, said, “We’re proud to partner with 2014 Special Olympics Ireland Games and all that they represent. IFA chose to get involved with the Games to support participating Irish farm families and our members volunteering at the Games. With their drive, determination, commitment and passion, Special Olympic athletes are incredible role-models for all’. More than 1,500 athletes will compete in the Games and will be supported by 500 coaches, 3,000 volunteers and 3,000 family members. Meanwhile, a coach company owned by a West Clare man and which recently launched an Ennis-based service, has been appointed as official transport partner for the Games in Limerick. Dublin Coach have progressed through a lengthy tender process over …

DONALD J Trump will make his first visit to the Doonbeg Trump International Golf Links and Hotel Ireland on Monday May 12. The billionaire businessman will touch down at Shannon Airport at approximately 7.30am that morning. The Trumps purchased the Doonbeg club for an estimated fee of €15m after it had gone into receivership in early 2014. Speaking to The Clare Champion in late February Donald Trump Senior said that his company intend to invest several million euro/dollars in the venture. “I’d say many, many millions of dollars. One of the things we’ll be doing, in conjunction with the council and with the town, is a ballroom. Ballrooms provide a lot of jobs. We’ll also be talking about a beautiful enhancement to the spa including an indoor swimming pool. We’ll be talking about many things like that. So we’re going to spend many millions of dollars before we have it at the level we want it at,” he Mr Trump …

GALLAGHER’S of Bunratty is Clare’s best restaurant but Gregans Castle in Ballyvaughan and Dromoland Castle took two awards each at the Munster Regional Final of the 2014 Irish Restaurant Awards. Over 400 restaurant owners and staff celebrated their hard work and achievements at the Awards held in Limerick on Tuesday, which saw many well-known Munster restauranteurs turn out to see if they had won one of the prestigious awards. Gallagher’s Seafood Restaurant in Bunratty was named Clare’s best restaurant but best chef in the county went to David Hurley of The Dining Room at Gregans Castle Hotel, a venue which was also named best hotel restaurant in Clare. The best casual dining award also went to Ballyvaughan, this time to L’Arco Italian Restaurant. Vaughan’s Anchor Inn in Liscannor was named Clare’s best gastro pub. The best wine experience was deemed to have been at the Earl of Thomond in Dromoland Castle Hotel, which also received an award for best customer …

MINISTER for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan this Monday evening launched the online Pre-1901 Census Survivals and Census Search forms for 1841 and 1851, at the National Archives. This marks the first online product of a partnership between the National Archives, FindMyPast.ie and FamilySearch.org. The records being launched feature surviving pre-1901 census fragments and census search forms for 1841 and 1851.The census search forms exist because people had to provide proof of age to qualify for the Old Age Pension, introduced in 1909. In many cases the early census records were the only way to prove that you were over 70, and people made application to the Public Record Office to search in the 1841 and 1851 census records. These search forms, where they exist, serve as substitutes for lost census records. Minister Deenihan commented, “Over the coming years, many millions of names from the Irish past will be made available online for the first time due to …

SPAYING a female cat or dog and neutering a male cat or dog is a veterinary procedure to ensure the animal can no longer breed. Some people think that this is cruel and that, perhaps, the female should have one litter first. Studies over many years have, however, proven that there are no beneficial effects on the female to have a litter. We all like to see puppies and kittens but some litters in dogs can be as large as 12, and it’s up to the owner to find loving, forever homes for all the offspring. Welfare and rescue centres all over Ireland are overflowing with unwanted cats, dogs and rabbits. Many of them are pure-bred and cross-bred and would have cost a few hundred euro to buy as a pup. One female cat can have between 60 and 100 kittens in her life. A male and one female and their offspring can be responsible for 11,606,077 cats in just …

By Jane O’Loughlin, Mary Immaculate Secondary School, Lisdoonvarna Highly commended, junior Clare Champion Short Story Competition MARY poured the hot water out of the kettle slowly, took out the tea bag and started stirring in a spoon of sugar. With her left hand she turned the notch to turn up the volume of the radio. She listened carefully, “World War Two bomb found, the army have cleared the area and are attempting a controlled explosion.” She clenched the top of her wooden walking stick and as slow as a snail, walked over and sat down on her old armchair. She took a sip from her cup of tea and grimaced at its heat and sweetness. She placed it down on a small wooden tea table beside her armchair. She closed her eyes, rocked back and forth on her chair and started reminiscing about the past. She was 19 again, with long blond locks which she always had pinned up. She …

By Sean Lyons, St Flannan’s College. Highly commended, junior Clare Champion Short Story RYAN ‘Ringo’ McGrath placed his camp chair carefully on the cobblestone pavement in front of Harry’s Café. The pavement had almost become indented from the legs of the chair as it had been placed there countless times. He opened his fibreglass guitar case, unbuckling the clips that kept it closed. From the case, he withdrew a quite ancient-looking guitar which had been adorned with scratches and scrapes picked up over the years. Any spectator would think that an instrument of this appearance would have a matching sound but once Ringo carefully gave the strings their first strum, magic filled the ears of listeners. When Ringo went busking, he was in a world of his own, taking no notice of his surroundings. Sometimes he’d smile or laugh to himself while playing if he did something with the guitar that came as a surprise to even him – a …

By Aneesha Abdalla, Coláiste Muire, Ennis. Highly commended, junior Clare Champion Short Story Competition HAVING two parents in your life is important. We need both a mother and a father figure. But sometimes things don’t turn out as you want them to be. Some people grow up with one. For me, it’s my mom. All my life I just wanted the feeling and relationship or bond with my father. Every time someone brings up their dad it just makes me feel sad because I have never known or had the chance to get close to my father. Every Father’s Day I write a letter, which I wish I could send. I write about how I feel, my emotions and everything that I would ask him such as “Do you ever think about how I’m getting on?”, “Do you have another family?”, “Why did you leave?”. These questions are always on my mind. After I’m done writing the letter, I read …