Lifestyle

THE search for Miss Clare 2022 is now on and organisers of this year’s Miss Ireland competition are urging the women of the Banner to shine like a diamond and get involved. This year marks its 75th Jubilee of the Miss Ireland competition and the search has officially begun for Miss Clare 2022. Selections will run all over the country to find contestants from each county with beauty, poise and personality to take part in the Miss Ireland 2022 competition next summer. The winner from each county will represent their county at the most spectacular ever Diamond Jubilee Miss Ireland show. The winner of each of the county crowns and sashes also enjoy representing their county and title throughout the year at various events, awards and appearances. Full details on how to enter Miss Ireland 2022 are available on www.miss-ireland.ie or on the Miss Ireland App. The finalists of Miss Ireland this year will be put through their paces in a challenging competitive …

GAA manager Davy Fitzgerald is making a second series of Davy’s Toughest Team with Animo TV for RTÉ in 2022, and applications are now open for those who want to take the challenge. In series one, Davy met a group of young men aged 18 – 22, who found themselves at the crossroads of an uncertain future. Many of the group had battled with issues such as crime, unemployment, addiction and mental health. Over the course of a number of months, Davy guided and mentored the group as they tackled their issues and trained for an intense physical challenge – climbing Carrauntoohil. The seven young men who took part in the first series have since spoken publicly about the lasting impact the programme has had on their lives. Animo TV and RTÉ are now making a second series of ‘Davy’s Toughest Team’ and are currently looking for a diverse new group of 18 – 22-year-old men to take part. Davy …

AN iconic Coca Cola advert was inspired by events at Shannon Airport 51 years ago this month, writes Owen Ryan. The advert, which features a song with the famed lyrics ‘I’d like to teach the world to sing’ came about after Bill Backer, creative director on the Coca Cola account for the McCann Erickson advertising agency was flying to England to meet with Billy Davis, a music director, to write radio commercials with British songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenway in January 1971. On Coca Cola’s website, it states that Bill’s flight to the UK was forced to make an unscheduled stop in Clare. “The heavy fog in London forced the plane to land in Shannon, Ireland. Passengers had to remain near the airport in case the fog lifted. Some of them were furious about their accommodations. By the next day, Backer saw some of the most irate passengers in the airport cafe. Brought together by a common experience, many …

A CLAREMAN who has been testing the resourcefulness of the Irish Postal Service with vague addresses for the past five years has reported another successful delivery. Gearoid Kelly and his friend, Tony McTigue, eschewing things like eircodes and actual addresses, have set an annual challenge for An Post with their correspondence. The pair have been sending postcards and letters with the likes of the following written on them: “That lad who studied commerce in NUIG who used to be in TradSoc, played in the Crane on Tuesdays, lives in Dublin now for the past few years, see him on Facebook a lot with dinosaur costume, Tulla…. or perhaps Feakle? Anyhow, just get this to East Clare and they will know who I am on about, Ireland” Even that level of obfuscation failed to stop An Post successfully delivering the letter. This year’s effort, however, needed a second sending, before it found its target, having first been sent in November 2020 …

A GROUP that has been working to capture the fabric of County Clare will feature on tonight’s edition of Nationwide on RTE1. The Clare Quilt Project has drawn in women from all around the county in a co-operative effort over the past six months. Members of the group each contributed a square to the patchwork quilt that artfully represents the best of the Banner. The group was initiated by Valerie Larkin who was involved in the project to make the largest knitted blanket in the world for a Guinness Book of Records attempt four years ago. One of the contributors Bernie Callinan told The Clare Champion, “That project was done in The Showgrounds in Ennis, it measured about 21,000 square feet, through that record has been broken since. “It was knitted squares that came from all over the world, they were all put together. It took about two to three years and actually the pope came to Ireland the day it …

A group of Doonbeg residents organised a special commemoration ceremony recently for the 80th anniversary of the crash landing of an RAF flying boat in Doughmore Bay. Dan Danaher chronicles this fascinating tale involving the tragic death of nine airmen, the heroic rescue of two colleagues, an eye witness account of the wreckage, salvaged items such as a 1940 aircraft tool kit box, and relatives’ accounts of the extraordinary bravery of those who risked their own lives to help save the lives of others. HISTORY hung heavily in the Doonbeg air recently as Colm Gowran commemorated the loss of nine airmen following a tragic crash-landing 80 years ago. A hush descended on the crowd gathered on Doughmore Beach during a minute silence after the Ennis Brass Band member played “The Last Post” on his trumpet, marking the end of a soldier’s day. This signalled the finale of a poignant ceremony organised by a local committee remembering the 11 airmen involved …

THE Clare Champion’s photographer John Kelly has been capturing the life and times of the Banner county for over 30 years. Last year was another successful one for John, adding Local Ireland photographer of the year 2021, to his ever growing catalogue of awards. Here he selects his favourite images from the year just gone by. We look forward with great anticipation to what he produces in 2022.

Fiona McGarry speaks to former Flannan’s teacher Liam Ashe whose NGO’s school in Kolkata is changing lives AT 76 years of age, Doonbeg native Liam Ashe is a great advertisement for what he describes as “late adulthood”. A teacher with four decades of experience, Liam is the driving force behind an NGO that is currently teaching 320 children in one of the most deprived parts of Kolkata in the Indian state of West Bengal. He describes psychologist Maureen Gaffney as his “guru” and lives her precept that if you are active in retirement, you are still in late adulthood. That, in part, explains the huge energy which the long-timer Ballyea resident puts into Balo Children Ireland which he set up after a visit to India over 15 years ago. Liam is known to several generations for his work at St Flannan’s College, Ennis, where he taught History and Geography for 40 years. “I idolised those subjects,” he told The Champion. …