Lifestyle

Once again, it’s time for the Clare Champion’s Christmas Window Display competition. The competition is open to all shops and businesses in Ennis and the aim is to enhance the festive atmosphere in the town in the weeks leading up to Christmas. Our theme for this year is ‘A Christmas Fairy Tale’. Entrants should choose one or more children’s fairy tales and give it a Christmas twist. The fairy tale itself doesn’t necessarily have to be about Christmas but it can be interpreted in any way to fit the theme.Entry forms will be available from next week, at the Clare Champion offices and entry is free. The winners will be announced before Christmas with prize winners receiving Clare Champion advertising vouchers. This is the tenth year of the competition, which has firmly taken its place in the build up to Christmas in the town of Ennis.

A KILRUSH man, who is now director of the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN), said he had no choice but to leave West Clare as a young man. Brian Sheehan was reflecting on how public attitudes and opinions have changed so much since the early 1980s, as he spoke to The Clare Champion following the announcement that a referendum on gay and lesbian marriage will be held in 2015. “I knew I had to leave Kilrush as soon as I possibly could. I knew I was gay from a very young age and I knew I had to get out. Dublin was where I eventually got to,” Mr Sheehan said on Wednesday. “I had thought I would have to go abroad but decriminalisation came and circumstances changed. I realised I wouldn’t be a criminal if I stayed here any longer. At the time, I always felt that it would be absolutely impossible to be myself in Kilrush. I knew …

YOUNG people from the locality headed to Guingamp in France, Shannon’s twin town, last week to discuss local democracy and how they can get actively involved in local politics. The exchange, as part of an intercultural link with Guingamp, Aue in Germany and Kadan in the Czech Republic, looked at how democracy works at a local level in each of the towns and the issues that affect young people in the area at a local level. Five young people from Shannon and the surrounding area headed up the trip, with the support and company of Mayor of Shannon Greg Duff and Clare Youth Service Youth worker Aoife Guilfoyle. In advance of the trip, Councillor Duff commented, “The emphasis will be very much on the young people taking part in this exchange as they explore their place in local politics and I want to do everything I can to facilitate their interests and learning. I see this very much as a …

SEVEN-year-old Andrew Burke from Whitegate has had his wishes come true, as he received a number of special surprises on Saturday. The Make a Wish Foundation arranged for Andrew’s wish of owning a puppy to come true. Andrew suffers from neuphratic syndrome, a condition affecting the function of his kidneys. Andrew was put forward for the wish by his play specialist in Temple Street Children’s Hospital, Olive Kenny. As part of this, Andrew had to fill out a wish book, which asked him things such as if he could be anyone in the world, who would he be or if he could meet anyone in the world, who would he meet, as well as other things such as his favourite restaurant, which he said is the Half Barrel in Whitegate. He filled out every bit of it himself and when it came to choosing his number one wish, he said he wanted a puppy. Mum, Leanne, explained what happened on …

To this day, Pat Guthrie vividly remembers the summer of 1954.  His father purchased a battery radio for the princely sum of £16. It was also the year he listened to his first All-Ireland hurling final radio commentary, leading 60 years later to his book which chronicles the careers of RTE’s radio sports commentators. IT was the first weekend in September and John Guthrie headed the few miles down the road from his thatched home in Commons North to Corofin village, to Pat Reidy’s bicycle repair shop on Church Street. It was a chore he was growing accustomed to, having the recently-purchased wet and dry radio battery charged and at the ready. That weekend was particularly special for the Guthrie family, as they tuned into their first All-Ireland hurling final radio broadcast. It was a final that elevated Ring to legendary status as he won his eighth All-Ireland medal, eclipsing the record shared in hurling by Kilkenny’s Sim Walton, Dick …

Pupils from Ennis National School came to town to celebrate Hallowe’en…   It’s called the annual Hallowe’en Hobble.

HAVING seen at first hand how fluently Cratloe played against Cooraclare, Kilrush manager Aidan Moloney knows his team will have to work exceptionally hard, defend in numbers and tackle ferociously if they are to compete with their opponents in Sunday’s Senior Football Championship quarter-final. Last year’s semi-finalists have been boosted by the return of John Moody. who could have a key role to play at midfield, where Fergal Lynch and Cillian Duggan dominated against Cooraclare. However, Moloney has identified not conceding goals as a paramount priority. “From our point of view, Cratloe looked very impressive the last day. We’d be hoping that Kilrush come with a lot of intensity. There’s no doubt but that if we’re going to go out and concede goals, we haven’t a prayer against them. “If we can stop them scoring goals and make them kick from further out, I think we might have a chance,” he suggested. Cratloe blitzed Cooraclare, largely by running at them …

VOICES of native Irish speakers from North Clare in the 1930s are being brought back to life by the Royal Irish Academy. Eighty-five years ago, a German professor, Dr Wilhelm Doegen, came to Ireland at the request of the new Irish Ministry of Education to record Irish-language speakers throughout the island. The objective was to have a permanent record of the spoken language from all of the districts in which it was still spoken. Clare men Stiofán Ó hEilíre, Máirtín Mag Fhloinn, Seán Carún, James Shannon and Liam Ó Dileáin took part in the project and were recorded at the then University College Galway between September 8 and 21, 1930. While the recordings have long been known to linguists, the Academy Library wanted to make them freely available to all via the internet and Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn recently officially launched The Doegen Records Web Project: Irish Dialect Sound Recordings 1928-1931. Recordings of stories, songs, poems and …