Lifestyle

This year’s Clare Champion Short Story competition yielded a record number of entries, with 270 short stories received from secondary school students across the county. Speaking at the awards ceremony held in the De Valera Library on Thursday last, John Galvin, managing director of The Clare Champion, commended the short-listed entries, who he said were all winners as this year’s standards were very high. He said that in the modern age of email, Facebook and Twitter we probably write more in our day-to-day lives than heretofore, but it was important not to let writing standards drop. Clare Champion editor Austin Hobbs added, “I really enjoy this occasion as I see young writers emerge year after year. It’s rewarding for The Clare Champion that we continue to get a great response to the competition.”Winner of first place in the senior category was Keelan Cunningham of Kilrush Community School. Highly commended in the junior category last year, he said his winning entry, …

HEART-rendering scenes will be the order of the day when a young Ballina actor appears on television screens later this month.Jimi O’Bhaoill-de-Faoite (11) will play the lead role in Eoinín, which will be shown on TG4 next Wednesday at 10pm.Directed by Tom Sullivan and produced by Ciarán O’Cofaigh, this adaptation of Pádraig Pearse’s Eoinín is based around the story of a mother, Máire, who struggles to retain control when her 11-year-old son, Eoin, is diagnosed with Leukaemia.Jimi played the lead role in Eoinín at the Irish Shorts Section of the Cork Film Festival last November.Having recently auditioned for other parts, Jimi’s acting career seems to be on an upward curve.Acting is in his genes as his father, Diarmuid de Faoite, is the award-winning actor, writer, drama therapist and drama teacher from Ennis.Although Diarmuid has built up vast experience during his illustrious 25-year career, he couldn’t bear to see his son on set.“Jimi plays a child who is dying. I remember …

FORTY-two tourism businesses from around Clare are being promoted to international visitors on a brand-new app for iPhones and android devices. The app, called ‘Gathering Gestures’, has been created by Tourism Ireland specifically for The Gathering Ireland 2013 and offers a wide variety of gestures to ensure international visitors get more from their holiday here.Examples of the gestures being offered by tourism businesses around the county include complimentary tea or coffee and home baking on arrival at B&Bs like Carramore Lodge in Killaloe, Knocknagow B&B in Newmarket-on-Fergus and Highbury House in Bunratty and a complimentary souvenir, offered by the likes of Luxury Yachting Ireland and the Aillwee Cave and Birds of Prey Centre. Complimentary assistance with genealogy research, for those who want to find out more about their Irish ancestry, is being offered by Newport House in Ennis and there’s a host of other added-value experiences like complimentary Irish coffees and special Gathering value menus from restaurants like Randaddy’s in …

ESTABLISHED and aspiring writers will congregate in North Clare this weekend for the inaugural Doolin Writers’ Weekend.The event opens on Friday at 8pm with a conversation between journalist and author Henry McDonald and memoirist and founder of Good Vibrations record shop and label, Terri Hooley. Henry is the Ireland correspondent with The Guardian and has spent 25 years working for print and broadcast media. He is also the author of seven books. Terri is a prominent figure in the Belfast music scene and the subject of a recent film, Good Vibrations.A highlight of the festival is a sports writing workshop taking place this Saturday featuring GAA writer Seamus King (A History of Hurling), sports writer Trevor Keane (Running through Walls) and sports photographer John Garrett (Be Inspired, Images and Stories of Limerick Leaders).The three-hour workshop is aimed to give up-and-coming writers the tools they need to get their sports book from an idea on a notepad to a bookstore shelf.All …

PENANCE, Pilgrimage and Pleasure – The Holy Wells of the Burren, an illustrated talk by David Drew and Tony Kirby with images by Karin Funke, takes place at the Burren College of Art, Ballyvaughan on Thursday, May 30.The event is organised by the Burrenbeo Trust, as part of the Burren in Bloom Festival. Beginning at 8.30pm, the evening is dedicated to the region’s most enigmatic field monument, the holy well.David and Tony have documented the hydrology, material heritage and folklore of 20 holy wells in the region, while Karin has photographed all the monuments. The three of them will present interim findings from their research project.Other sections of the evening will be dedicated to votive offerings, circumambulation/turas, cursing stones, imprint sites, saint’s beds, well dedications, landscape context of wells, penitential stations and the richness of the Burren region as a pilgrimage landscape. There will also be a projection of the film of the poem Saint’s Bed; Rag Tree; Holy Well.David …

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TWO local women have been awarded travel scholarships, allowing them to work in developing countries for two months this summer.

PLANS are underway for the creation of a book documenting the history of local government in Ennis. A tendering process for expressions of interest is shortly to be put in place by Ennis Town Council.