Lifestyle

People with disabilities or reduced mobility can now fully enjoy everything the Cliffs of Moher Experience in County Clare has to offer courtesy of two electric buggies.  Operated by trained staff, the Burren Buggy and Wild Atlantic Shuttle provide visitors with a guided tour of Ireland’s most visited natural attraction from the viewing platforms overlooking the majestic cliffs to the iconic 19th century O’Brien’s Tower. “The Lifts of Moher are proving to be hugely popular, particularly for individuals with mobility issues, those with disabilities, the elderly, their families and carers,” explained Geraldine Enright, Director of the Cliffs of Moher Experience. She continued, “This service is offered to those who are in need and the beauty of the experience is that users get to see and learn about the Cliffs in a way that they wouldn’t have otherwise.” “The buggies are electric in keeping with our sustainability ethos and are widely accepted by onlookers recognising the care and service offered by the Cliffs …

NUMEROUS destinations in Spain and Malta are proving popular with almost 40,000 people expected to travel through Shannon Airport this August Bank Holiday weekend. The figure is indicative of the continued resurgence in airport traffic, representing 87% of the numbers that travelled for the same period in 2019. Sunny locations like Malaga, the Canary Islands, Alicante, Barcelona and Malta are popular this weekend, while those looking for a city break are jetting off to the likes of London, Edinburgh, Budapest, and Marseille on last-minute getaways. Shannon Airport’s Operations and Commercial Director, Niall Maloney said: “We are delighted to welcome passengers through the airport this weekend and can see the demand out there for those well-deserved breaks. This is the largest number of passengers for this period in three years. “We are focused on making travel as easy as possible for our passengers and growing their travel options from Shannon Airport. In addition to our popular traditional routes, we have a …

LAHINCH Leisure Centre was spending up to €120,000 just to heat its swimming pool a few years ago. Now, as part of a major €6 million retrofit the complex has been transformed into a Near Zero Energy Building (NZEB). In an interview with the Clare Champion, John Hayes, Senior Building Services Engineer with contractors Tipperary Energy Agency recalled the centre was spending €120,000 on oil just to heat the pool and half the building. Mr Hayes estimated the centre will now spend €85,000 annually to heat the entire building. “Now the heating system is heating all the building at a fraction of the cost. Lahinch Leisure Centre is a great example of what can be achieved in public buildings. “A lot of swimming pools are still putting in gas boilers. We had an option to keep the old oil boiler as a back-up but we decided to go fully green. “Lahinch Leisure Centre is a flagship project to show this …

AS a 17-year-old boy Pat Conway was behind the first Lahinch to Liscannor swim in 1972, and he will complete it for the 50th and last time, on August 7.  While different charities benefited from the swim in its early years, for a long time now all of the proceeds have been going to the Burren Chernobyl Project. That will be the case again this year, and while Pat won’t be directly taking part after 2022, he plans for the event to continue and his favoured charity to continue to benefit. In the summer of 1972 Pat was a teenage lifeguard in Lahinch, and was one of a small group that organised the first swim, but he could hardly have thought it’d still be going 50 years on. “It’s something we started as a fun challenge, going from the lifeguard box over to Liscannor. Then we said we might as well do it for charity. It kind of built from …

EMIGRATION stories from East Clare parishes to the United States will be the focus of a talk at Waterways Ireland Building in Scariff on Bank Holiday Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31 during the local Harbour Festival. It will be followed on both days by free individual genealogical sessions to assist people in creating their family backstories or guiding them through stages of that journey. ‘An Epic Journey – from East Clare to Ellis Island’ is a story told through the eyes of professional genealogist, Jane Halloran Ryan, who will explore the reasons why a cross section of East Clare emigrants made the journey through Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century. “I will be telling the story of what brought people from parishes like Scariff, Mountshannon, Whitegate, Tuamgraney, Ogonnelloe and Killaloe, to board a ship for Ellis Island, looking into whether they remained in New York or went elsewhere and what they ended up doing,” said …

THOUSANDS of people from all over the Mid-West will flock to participate in and watch competitions to mark the 30th annual South-East Clare Show at Bridgetown Showgrounds on Sunday, July 24. Some new additional activities have been introduced for families, children and patrons both in the leisure and competitive capacity as the Show celebrates three decades. With a total prize fund of €20,000 and more than 2,500 equestrian, cattle and horticultural entries expected, the 2022 Show will draw thousands of people to watch feature classes such as Champion of Champions in the Limousin Pedigree Cattle and a newly introduced Angus Section. According to the organisers, this show will provide a guaranteed enjoyable day out for families and their friends. The Show has once again chosen Milford Care Centre as its charity of choice, and the committee looks forward to presenting a donation after this eagerly-awaited event, considering Milford touches the hearts of so many people. The Show is chosen venue …

THE €6 million redevelopment of Lahinch Leisure Centre will attract thousands of visitors to this North Clare hotspot and create in the region of 100 jobs. That was the confident prediction of Rural and Community Minister Heather Humphreys before she officially unveiled the new state-of-the-art leisure facility this week. Minister Humphreys said the spectacular view of the Atlantic Ocean from the centre reminded her of Seamus Haney’s poem Postscript where he urged people to drive out West to the Flaggy Shore. As part of the government’s Our Rural Future, she outlined old buildings were receiving a new lease of life to regenerate rural towns and villages. In February 2019, she recalled the centre secured €2.9 million from the Rural Regeneration Development Fund, which was one of the first in the country to receive money from this fund and also received €250,000 from the LEADER programme. Funding from the RRDF also provided improvement for the public realm, car park, promenade and …

A RETIRED school principal and wife of the last lighthouse keeper at Loop Head Lighthouse has described her time living at the edge of the ocean as “heaven”. Located at the mouth of the Shannon Estuary with its origins dating back to the 1670s, the lighthouse was first opened to visitors in 2011 and has since become one of West Clare’s most popular attractions. The lighthouse also is one of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland and is one of two “Signature Discovery Points”, as identified by Failte Ireland, in County Clare along the route of the Wild Atlantic Way. Kitty Garvey, who attended the recent reopening of Loop Head Lighthouse for the first time since 2019, is thrilled with the major investment that has provided running water, refurbished buildings and a proper access road to this popular visitor attraction. Following her retirement from St Cuan’s National School, Kilbaha, she taught in various schools throughout the county on a part-time basis …