Lifestyle

THOUSANDS of singletons from all over Ireland and far beyond will throng Lisdoonvarna as the Matchmaking Festival returns this September. While live music will ring out from bars and venues around the village, organisers have said that live music events at the Marquee and Pavilion theatre will not be going ahead this year, due to rising operational costs. The festival goes back to the 19th Century and third generation matchmaker Willie Daly, who has made over 3,000 matches over the last 50 years, said that this year’s festival will be one of a kind, with huge pent-up demand out there among singletons.  “Love has been kind of put on hold, a lot of people have been starved for love really, due to Covid and restricted movement. This year there is great enthusiasm with people to get out there and make up for the lost years. “There were a number of lost years and at certain ages it’s serious enough. It’ll …

TEMPERATURES soared to 28 degrees Celsius on Sunday as hundreds of local and visiting revellers enjoyed a wide variety of family fun during the concluding day of the annual Féile Brian Ború. Organisers were blessed with some of the hottest days along the banks of Lough Derg compared to the corresponding days in recent years. This ensured there was a huge influx of day trippers to Killaloe and Ballina last weekend for various water and land based activities for all the family. One of the highlights of the festival was the Féile Fireworks display over the lake on Saturday night. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky as the fireworks exploded spectacularly in red, orange, green and blue fireballs, bringing gasps from the crowd who lined up along Killaloe Bridge and at various vantage points in the two twin communities. It costs in the region of €12,000 to run the festival every year and Arlene White said the organising committee …

CLARE’S coastal resorts are set for another bumper weekend with temperatures set to soar. Indeed Met Eireann has forecast uncomfortably high temperatures peaking at around 30 degrees celsius, with highs of 24, 25 and 27 also expected between Saturday and Tuesday. West and north Clare saw a bounce in business last weekend, as scorching temperatures saw far more people heading to the coast than in recent times. The weather station at Shannon Airport saw a high of 24.5 degrees on Saturday, while it was even warmer on Sunday, hitting 26.2 degrees, the warmest at any of the Met Éireann stations in the country on the day. Randy Lewis, the proprietor of Randaddy’s in Lahinch, said that the weekend had been quite hectic. “I’d say it was the busiest three days of this year, or definitely very close. There were a couple of very busy days in May and April, but those were certainly very busy days. And today (Monday) is …

WITH everything from a blissful barbecue in the Burren, to seaweed tastings by the coast, the return of the Clare Food & Drink Fleadh provides an ideal showcase for all that is good about the food and drink scene in The Banner county. County Clare is well renowned as one of the best in Ireland when it comes to producing high-quality artisan food and drink, sparking the establishment of the Clare Food & Drink Fleadh in 2019. This year’s event from July 15 to 17 will feature a wide variety of events catering for foodies and drinks connoisseurs of all tastes. Clare Food & Drink Fleadh co-ordinator Margaret O’Brien said, “It’s great to be back after the disruption of recent years. “We chose July 15 to 17 as our festival dates for 2022 to complement Skoda Ring of Clare cycle event, which is set to attract thousands of participants, their partners and families to Clare.” Clare Food & Drink Festival …

THE man who has led a fundraising swim that has raised tens of thousands of euros for local charities is set to hang up his goggles. This August, Lahinch native Pat Conway will lead the 50th annual fundraising Lahinch to Liscannor Swim and after that will call it a day. Pat started this swim way back in 1972 and has organised, fundraised and swam it for the past 49 years. This year’s crossing, taking place on August 7, will be his 50th swim and final year swimming across the bay. Pat is a well known member of the local community and fondly known by friends and family as The Whale acknowledging his love of the water and swimming accomplishments going back decades. Pat started the Liscannor Swim as a fundraiser for the Friends of Ennistymon Hospital. From here, his efforts (and stamina) increased and he started training to swim the English Channel. His training consisted of swimming over and back …

A TWENTY-YEAR-OLD student from Ennis will represent County Clare this year at the 75th Miss Ireland competition. Derinn Finnerty is 20 years of age and has just finished her second year of studying Global Commerce NUIG. She is passionate about helping others and enjoys her role as an advocate for students, as she is the class representative for her course. Derinn was diagnosed with severe scoliosis at 16 and is currently recovering from her third spinal fusion surgery to fix her spine. She is working with Straight Ahead Ireland as part of her beauty with a purpose project to help raise funds for children with scoliosis. Derinn hopes to be a role model for young people as she shows that when faced with adversity a positive attitude, determination and self-belief will help you achieve your goals in life. Selections have taken place all over the country to find contestants from each county and the winner from each county will represent …

GHOSTLY echoes of a dark time in Ireland’s history are still being felt in a home in Ballyvaughan, believed to be located on the site of a former workhouse.  The house is part of a complex that is understood locally to comprise a dispensary, a child detention unit and workhouse proper, which opened in the mid-1800s and housed around 500 people. Resident Eilís Haden-Storrie, a journalist and author with long experience working in the North in education around the peace process, bought the property and, for a time, ran a B&B. She found that, from the start, the house attracted people with a curiosity and sensitivity about its history. “The most amazing visitors came,” she said. “The house just seemed to appeal to people with an interest in history and they would often remark on the funny energy they sensed. We also found people were able to point out the place where the original front door was located, even though …

WOLFE Tones held the finals night of its Johnny Cregan Memorial Tournament last week. The hurling tournament for local national schools was organised to help promote the game with young people in the town, and to commemorate Johnny, who was a well known figure within the club for many years. After a blitz day on June 15, the finals night took place last Wednesday. Wolfe Tones Paul Hogan said, “We wanted to get the schools in Shannon engaged in hurling again, and to promote hurling within the town. “The best way to promote is through the schools and we felt that if we had a Shannon schools championship and get every school in Shannon to enter, it’d be one way of getting exposure of it into every school. “We’re going to do the same for gaelic football later on, after the Cumann na mBunscoil has taken place, but we just said that with the Clare hurlers going well we’ll tackle …