Lifestyle

THE Limerick School of Art and Design, LIT is hosting its annual fashion show this Thursday night.Twenty of Ireland’s future fashion designers will showcase their unique collections and compete for the coveted AIB Graduate Business Development Award, which includes a bursary of €2,500 and a year’s mentoring programme with retail and fashion consultant, Eddie Shanahan and AIB’s SME specialist, Julie Lawton.Two Clare women will be among those showing their creations. Karly Hodge from Shannon and Katherine Ramsay from Cratloe are both hoping to take the top prize at the event.AIB is supporting graduate business development for the third year. Last year, Clare woman Sarah Melody from Bunratty launched her fashion career by winning the coveted prize and she will join Mr Shanahan and Ms Lawton on the judging panel this year.The Miriam Mone Commemorative Award is a special award worth €1,000 and is presented to the collection that displays exceptional excellence in tailoring. The LIT award for the best use …

FOR the first time, the world’s most creative stylists will descend on Dublin to compete at the OMC European Championships in Hair and Beauty on May 29 and 30. They will sculpt, tease and style hair into amazing works of art and ahead of the event, Ennis hair stylist Bridget Haren, who will compete at the championships, has compiled tips on hair trends and how to maintain healthy hair throughout the summer months.“Keep your hair well-conditioned. Everyone loves sleek, shiny locks,” says Bridget. “Treatments are key to the maintenance of healthy hair; find out what type of treatment your hair needs. For example, if you have dull, brittle hair, you need a protein treatment to restore strength and vitality. If you have naturally dry hair, you need a moisturising treatment. Joico’s humidity blocker spray comes highly recommended for protecting hair and only use hair straighteners and products occasionally,” she continues.The Irish Hairdressers Federation will host the OMC event alongside the …

UNUSUALLY, for a boxer, the late Henry Cooper will probably be remembered for a bout he lost, rather than for any of the bouts he won. He fought 55 times as a professional and he won 40 – 27 of them by knock-out but the fight that mostly comes to mind is when he fought the then Cassius Clay in Wembley in 1963. They fought twice and at each, when it was said he was ahead on points, the fight was stopped because of cuts to Cooper’s eyes.Cooper was born in London in 1934, where he started to box with the Eltham Boxing Club. He won 73 of his 84 amateur contests and represented Britain at the Helsinki Olympics, where he lost on points to a Russian opponent. After Helsinki, he was called up for his national service, following which he turned professional in 1954. He won British, European and Commonwealth titles and was the first person to win three …

WATERWAYS Ireland has released revised navigation guides to the Shannon Erne Waterway and the Erne System, as well as two free guides; the What’s On Guide 2011 and Publications Catalogue.The Shannon-Erne Waterways Charts have been updated to take account of the upgrade works that have taken place in recent years along the navigation. The revision of the navigation guides for Lough Erne have been facilitated by the survey work undertaken recently on the lakes by Waterways Ireland in joint partnership with OSNI. Staff from operations and the inspectorate have also been closely involved in the revisions.The What’s On 2011 is a free guide to all the events taking place along the waterway corridors in 2011. The free Publications Catalogue highlights the publications Waterways Ireland has for sale and for free with navigation, history and activity sections covering a wide range of interests. A photographic book for Lough Erne has just been published and is also for sale through Waterways Ireland.All …

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THIS year’s Clare Champion Short Story Competition featured a wealth of talent and a myriad of topics full of adventure and intrigue, mystery and mayhem, which were rewarded at a ceremony in Ennis recently.The competition, now in its fifth year, was described by Clare Champion editor, Austin Hobbs as akin to the tradition of The Arabian Nights, as the stories continue to flow presenting new ideas fresh from the imaginations of secondary school pupils across the county and South Galway. In the short history of the competition, The Clare Champion has received more than 1,000 stories from young writers and has broadened to include readings by the winning authors at the Ennis Book Club Festival.This year’s competition was judged by former county librarian, Noel Crowley and storyteller and writer Eddie Lenihan along with Clare Champion journalists, Jessica Quinn and Nicola Corless, who chose the 12 finalists from a bundle of 200-plus entries. Chosen as this year’s winner in the senior …

Senior, 1st prize Orla Hennessey, Rice College, Ennis I’M walking on a tightrope. Completely alone, I stand suspended above the abyss. Sweat beads on my forehead, my palms are slick and clammy as I clench and unclench my fists. A tentative step forward, then a flash. Another and another until nothing but images of death and destruction surround me. Scoot, Matlock, Smith, Derriere, Nathan, Jones, O’Reilly, to name but a few. The images of the dismembered and disfigured corpses of my comrades, my friends, flash before my eyes. I want to shout and scream, but in this strange world of stagnant air and perpetual night, I have no voice. Cracks appear in the fabric of this morbid reality, as my disjointed thoughts implode. No gust of wind or sharp push has toppled me; but my mind has unbalanced and unhinged me. My resolve splinters under the massive weight of my own subconscious. Then it shatters, the pieces crumbling and plummeting …

  Senior, 2nd prize Róisín Nestor, Scoil Mhuire, Ennistymon PEOPLE have a rigid stereotype of what a teenager behaves like and everyone from the age of 13 to 19 is automatically branded with this image. It is very important that adults are able to give out about teenagers, so make sure you keep to the stereotype set out for teenagers.You’re expected to be moody at all times. Sulks, frowns, scowls and moans are all very suitable to enhance your eternal grumpy mood. You must always be bored. No matter what you get you must always keep nagging until you get more. Instead of talking to your parents give shrugs and monosyllabic answers  or better yet, ignore them completely. “What are you so happy about?” “Why are you hugging me, do you want something?” are the typical responses if you are even the slightest bit cheerful. So it’s not really worth the hassle to be happy or nice to your parents. …