Lifestyle

I proudly admit to firmly believing in my guardian angel. It is important to state, though, that my belief is in the old-fashioned guardian angel we were taught about as small children.

There is a stone in Birr which is traditionally said to mark the centre of Ireland. It was missing for over 100 years and was only restored in the latter part of the 1900s. When not in Birr, it was at Cullane House, between Tulla and Kilkishen. Daniel O’Connell used Cullane as his base for

THE fifth generation of a well-known business family will celebrate 150 years in business on the shores of Lough Derg on Friday, July 16.McKeogh’s supermarket and hardware stores in Ballina have reached a milestone that few businesses in the Mid-West have managed to achieve.

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KEITH Connellan had everything going for him. Everything that mainstream society would approve of. Armed with a Green Card and working as a self-employed electrician in Boston, the Connolly man had the money, the houses and the lifestyle. What he also had was a malignant brain tumour. Not what you would expect to be told at 29 years of age – but so it was and he was diagnosed in January 2008. That was bad enough but Keith’s father, Patsy, had been diagnosed with lung cancer the previous summer and passed away in August 2008. “The day he was dying, I got in that morning (from the US) and I said a couple of things at the bed. I said a couple of things and fathers know, at the end of the day, you don’t need to actually say anything. I suppose that’s what I’ve learned from it, there was no need. He knew we were all there, his kids …

BRENDAN O’Regan defied the explicit orders of government officialdom when he set in train the American agenda that would create a Shannon powerhouse and turn the tide for the West of Ireland. He was probably the only person in the country who could have done so.It was 1950 and the previous year had set a new milestone for transatlantic aviation. For the first time, numbers crossing the Atlantic by plane had exceeded those travelling by sea. It marked the beginnings of mass air travel with the GI generation of Americans returning to get to know the Europe that had been their theatre of war. To acquaint key travel and tourism elements in Europe with what American visitors would expect, a six-week tour of the facilities and standards that Americans were used to was organised under the Marshall Plan blueprint for European regeneration. Brendan O’Regan was one of an Irish contingent of four picked for the 16-strong party’s tour to the …

EUROPE between 1875 and 1914 was a period of great peace and prosperity. Prosperity was based on the marketing of iron, coal and steel as countries traded with each other. Diplomatic compromise was always found to settle disputes between the great powers but the fear that one of these great powers might use force, meant huge armies were raised in defence of what each country held. None of the countries had foreseen the scale of violence; all believed the war would end before Christmas 1914.As we approach the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War in which as many as 10 million soldiers and five million people of all nations lost their lives, it would be most honourable to remember the dead of Ireland. It was a war to end all wars, initially seen as a European conflict between Germany and its allies on one side and Britain, Belgium and France on the other but soon became a …

THE support given by Bishop Willie Walsh to the Travelling community of County Clare over a long number of years was acknowledged at an informal gathering at his residence in Ennis recently.Ennis man Brian McDonagh came forward with the idea to bring Travellers, friends, teachers, agency and advocacy workers to Bishop Willie’s home to express their appreciation for his unstinting support and practical help.Bishop Walsh, often in the face of strong criticism, defended Travellers on various issues and will always be remembered for allowing families to park their caravans on his grounds when there was no place else for them to go.Event organiser Brian McDonagh is in the centre of the photograph. From left, Mary Sherlock, Patrick McDonagh, Liam Jones, Anne Walsh, Tim O’Neill, Helen O’Sullivan, Patricia Clancy, June Barratt, Sr. Margaret, Bishop Walsh, Brigid O’Mahoney, Anna Ryan, Eileen Jones, Brian McDonagh, Greg Duff, Willie Sherlock, Pat Galvin, Fr Joe Hourigan, Nicky Brennan, Mary Sherlock, Nora Flynn, Pat McDonagh.  Photograph …