Lifestyle

Time Line The press coverage leading up to the US Masters Golf Championship in Augusta, Georgia, dealt more with Tiger Woods and his reappearance in a golf tournament than on the tournament itself.  

ON December 8, 2009, three-year-old Kate Naughton from Kilrush was diagnosed with clear cell sarcoma (cancer) of the kidney. Since then, Kate has had her kidney removed and has undergone intensive chemotherapy treatment.

He’s come a long way from selling penny apples on Moore Street but, writes Dearbhla Acheson, Bill Cullen is still the same man he always was. HE’S come a long way from the days his mother made him get trousers that were too big for him so he’d get more value out of him but renowned entrepreneur and latter-day TV star Bill Cullen still holds on to his basic values and morals.

Peadar McNamara looks back at the story of Clare’s National Volunteers during one of the most tumultuous times in Ireland and Europe’s history. The Irish Volunteer Force in Clare in August 1914 had 5,200 recruits in 60 companies. Following the Irish Parliamentary Party’s break from the Irish Volunteers, the overwhelming majority, 5,000 men, transferred their obligiance to the National Volunteer Forces.

A FREE CD featuring some of the highlights of last summer’s Riches of Clare lunchtime concert series is being launched next week.

As April showers show their consistency, The Clare Champion takes a look at stylish ways to avoid the drenching they bring. From shape to colour and ways to wear them, an Ennis boutique owner gives advice on the best ways to bring back the mac. Olivia Claffey opened Alibi in Ennis in June 2004 to cater for women of all shapes and sizes from eight to 28. She recently showed some of the shop’s fashions at the Boutique Chic event in Glór. Among the stand-out pieces were a selection of macs and trench coats ideal to keep spring showers at bay.

Timeline Looking back over the last century, fascism was one of the great disasters to befall Europe. However, in its early years it was seen as an attractive form of government. When Mussolini first came to power, most of the British press looked on him very favourably. His brutality was tolerated because in that stiff upper lip kind of way, they could not expect Europeans to abide by British standards. The monarch even awarded him the Order of the Bath.

Comment PJ Francis, a native of Ballyvaughan living in the US, offers a stateside view on modern Irish politics. I recently boarded an airplane in Chicago and travelled to Dublin. After a short wait I boarded another airplane that brought me to Shannon. I have never been able to take the sheer wonder of being able to do this for granted.