Lifestyle

SINCE September, I have lived with the loss of my voice.  Suddenly, with no previous experience, I became mute or nearly so.I thought I knew about disability. In the 1980s, a condition greatly restricted the use of my limbs and I have used the visible signs, walking aids or electric scooter, ever since. But this was a whole new area. How do I do my work and live my daily life without a voice?When I was first disabled, I needed to grieve as I recognised that my body would no longer work as I willed and certainly not as society expected. With my visible limitations, the chances of work, least of all in my own area, and the chances of keeping a social life seemed equally closed for good.I have witnessed two social revolutions in my life: one in the 1970s opened doors to women and one in the 1990s opened them to disabled people. As a church member, I …

ENNIS will be well represented at this year’s prestigious Local Authority Members Association (LAMA) awards, with five of the finalists coming from the local area.The synthetic running track at Lees Road Sports and Amenity Park is a finalist in the category of Best Sporting Facility; The Junction, youth and community resource centre is a finalist in the Best Recreational Facility category; Tim Smythe Park has been announced as a finalist in the Best Public Park category; Ballynacally Development Association is a finalist in the Best Public Playground Facility and local business Carrie’s Cakes has been named a finalist in the category of Best Local Business.First held in 2006, the LAMA Awards were created to recognise local projects of excellence in the areas of infrastructure, community development, recreation and national impact initiatives. The process commences with nominations being made by city and county councillors across the country followed by a formal, detailed application process and then a process of short-listing worthy …

Clare students returned triumphant from this year’s BT Young Scientist & Technology Awards at the RDS Dublin with a total of eight awards. The students, representing six schools, wowed the judges in the annual competition with their innovative ideas and scientific know-how.Two projects from Mary Immaculate Secondary School in Lisdoonvarna were among the award winners. Deirdre O’Connell, with her project exploring  Should the Junior Certificate be changed?: Young people’s perspective was awarded third junior individual in the category of Social and Behavioural Sciences.Also from Mary Immaculate, Stephen O’Connell’s Profile of lobsters caught in North Clare was highly commended in his category.Another Clare school to receive two awards was St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart. The team of Lisa Maher and Alison Garry received first place in the junior group for their project The Dark Side of Social Media and Privacy. The same project was also awarded the ie domain registry special award.Kilrush Community College’s Dearbhla Edwards-Murphy was a third place …

AT the turn of the last century, there was a great interest in the exploration of both the Arctic and the Antarctic. The race to the Poles was serious challenge to all. The North Pole is in the middle of a frozen sea so reaching it was extremely difficult  – the first person to claim to have reached the North Pole was the American Peary in 1909 but his claim has since been questioned. The South Pole by contrast is on a land mass and is comparatively easier ro reach. It is the location of a permanent science station since 1956 on an ice plateau at an altitude of 9,306 feet. The ice cap is estimated at 9,000ft thick so the actual land underneath is almost at sea level. The station is known as the Amundsen-Scott station named after the two great Antarctic explorers.Scott joined the Navy as a midshipman at the age of 13 and worked his way up …

FIGURES from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show Irish tourism performed strongly in the first 11 months of last year, according to Niall Gibbons, chief executive of Tourism Ireland.“Today’s figures show that visitor numbers for the period January-November 2011 are almost 7% ahead of the same 11-month period in 2010. However, the economic turmoil of recent months has brought increased uncertainty, affecting business and consumer confidence and in turn, international travel,” he said.He feels there are positive signs for 2012. “As we look to the year ahead, we are very much aware that the economic landscape presents a challenging environment for travel. However, Tourism Ireland will be striving to ensure that the island of Ireland increases its share of the global travel business in 2012 and beyond. It is important to remember that people around the world still want to take holidays. The trend is that people are continuing to travel but are taking shorter trips, staying closer to home …

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