Lifestyle

EARLIER this year, Killaloe-based vintage fashion artist Avia Gurman and photographer Anna Hurkowska came together to create an inspiring project that empowers women to embrace their bodies by bearing all. Expose was launched as part of International Women’s Day 2017 in Limerick and is now reaching out to the people of Clare, with an event in Glór, Ennis on Sunday, September 17 at 5.30pm. The two women’s aim was to expose the subject of body image in women in Ireland and they showcased their photography project at a film screening of Embrace, a documentary exploring body image, which was the catalyst for the project. “Following on from this, the project is continuing to grow and we are delighted to have the opportunity to bring this event to Ennis. The goal of the project is to create a body-positive community in Ennis and the Clare area by promoting positive body image, challenging perceptions and empowering women of every age, size and life …

The way is clear for the quarter finals of the Clare senior hurling championship and the pairings will be decided on Monday evening at GAA headquarters in Clareabbey. Ahead of this weekend’s round 3 games four clubs, Sixmilebridge, Newmarket, Clonlara and Eire Og had booked their places in the last eight. When the draw is made on Monday they will be in one pot with the other pot holding the names Ballyea, Cratloe, Tulla and Clooney-Quin. Despite lining out without the injured Sean Collins and Cathal McInerney, Cratloe proved too strong for St. Josephs and ran out with a sixteen point winning margin. The first half was well contested but Cratloe’s experience saw them pull away in the last quarter on a day when teenager Billy Connors was their top scorer, finishing with 0-10 to his credit. Clare minor Diarmuid Ryan landed 0-4 as did Clare senior player Conor McGrath. Meanwhile defending champions Ballyea had to battle all the way …

CLARE county councillor Mike McKee has slammed the decision to turn down the planning application by Aldi to develop a store in Shannon. The local planning authority this week turned down Aldi’s application to develop an outlet on a site on the opposite side of Bóthar Mór to Skycourt in the town centre. The Sinn Féin representative said the decision is going down badly locally, in a town where many people have long lamented the absence of a conventional town centre. “The recent announcement by Clare County Council to refuse planning permission to build and operate a store has rightly drawn the anger and frustration of a large section of the Shannon community,” he observed. “Many are enraged that SkyCourt had submitted a seven-page document objecting to this proposed development, while shop units in the Town Centre remain boarded up due to the failure of the operators of the centre to attract new retailers,” he claimed. Councillor McKee added, “We …

TWO members of Moxie, who will play at Glór on August 20, were ironically once kicked out of the Fleadh Cheoil. Ted Kelly and his brother Jos got the red card when they showed more innovation than was welcome. Despite this, he is still broadly positive about the whole extravaganza. “We’ve (members of Moxie) been many times. We’ve qualified for fleadhs, some of us have won fleadhs. It’s gas craic. It’s a great thing, it really pushes kids to become better at music. “The only thing is there should be a little more leeway for freedom in things like duets. You’re not allowed do certain ornamentations, you’re not allowed play harmonies, it doesn’t give kids the freedom to arrange music. Then they go and hear people like Seamie O’Dowd, Mairtín O’Connor and Cathal Hayden, those three lads playing together. For me and my brother Jos, those three were a huge influence and we wanted to learn to play like them. …

RELAND’S rich musical heritage will be showcased at Clare Museum in Ennis during Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, with an exhibition of some of the oldest known musical instruments, spanning more than 6,000 years. Ancient Music Ireland will present the interactive, multi-sensory exhibition at from Monday to Friday next. Featuring reproductions of ancient horns and trumpets from pre-Norman Ireland back to the Stone Age, the collection will feature rare and historic bodhráns, with a story to go with each drum. Among the frame drums to be displayed are the oldest known surviving bodhrán and stick in Ireland (circa 1935), a drum made from the last goat on Coney Island and examples of drums made by the renowned Charlie Byrne of Thurles. Horns and trumpets are displayed to showcase the evolvement of music and ritual from the Stone Age (circa. 4,000 BC) to the Early Medieval Christian era (circa. 700 AD). A progression of musical culture is represented from cow horns through cast and …

Involved for several years with the very successful Corofin Players, James Raleigh is now bringing his own one-man show to a number of venues. He promises it will be a very funny night, revisiting the work of one of Ireland’s most renowned comic writers. “It’s a Flann O’Brien piece, The Brother. I suppose it was made famous by Eamon Morrissey back in the ’80s. The show goes on for about an hour, I’ll probably give a talk about the author beforehand,” he says. Venues incude three well-know pubs in Clare, Lucas, Bar in Ennis, Egan’s of Liscannor and Hasset’s in Barefield O’Brien’s novels At Swim Two Birds and The Third Policeman are widely praised, while he wrote in The Irish Times under the pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen. “People who go are in for a good night of comedy, it’s Flann O’Brien brought back to life. I wouldn’t have known anything about it only I was involved with Dunshaughlin Players. When …

A seminal moment in world history will be the subject of Kilkee Civic Trust’s next talk takes place in Cultúrlann Sweeney on Wednesday next. The topic is ‘Who was Margaretta Eager?’.  The talk, by historian Sharon Slater, will reveal the links between the Limerick woman, who was nanny to the children of the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and and her life in the Royal Court in St Petersburg, with Kilkee. The Russian Imperial Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina Alexandra and their five children Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei), and all those who chose to accompany them into imprisonment – notably Eugene Botkin, Anna Demidova, Alexei Trupp and Ivan Kharitonov – were shot, bayoneted and clubbed to death in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918. The talk starts at 8pm and the admission is free.

Clare 2-18 Laois 0-14 Considered a trifle fortunate to score a one point win over Laois in the opening round of the 2016 qualifier, Clare were by far the better team when the counties clashed at the same stage a year later, this time at O’Moore Park park in Portlaoise this afternoon. The visitors were full value for their ten point victory which means that their name will be in the draw on Monday morning when the round 3A pairings are decided. On a day when they were never behind, Clare had a three point advantage at half time when the score was 0-11 to 0-8. Both sides had goal chances in the opening half when Clare did find the net through Jamie Malone only for referee Jerome Henry to disallow the score and award a free to Laois, penalising the Clare man of over carrying. A major turning point came seven minutes into the second half when when Laois …