East Clare

SLIABH Aughty Drama Group will be going for the hat-trick this week having just been awarded first place for their production of Michael Carey’s Thy Will Be Done in the confined section at the Claremorris Drama Festival.

The minister for Education and Skills has given the green light to St Joseph’s Secondary School in Tulla to go to construction in 2015/2016 on its new school development, a project the community has been waiting on for more than a decade.Minister Ruairí Quinn announced this week that St Joseph’s Secondary School is one of 43 new school developments at second level, which will begin over the next five years as part of a €2 billion capital investment programme. Speaking about the announcement, principal Margaret O’Brien said, “we are delighted to be included in the list but we would hope to beat that deadline if we can get everything in place beforehand. I suppose we were disappointed we weren’t included a year earlier. It will mean a whole brand new school with state of the art facilities and playing facilities and hopefully facilities that we can share with the local community.” Ms O’Brien explained that together with the board of …

Sliabh Aughty Drama Group has scooped the top accolade in the confined section of the Mountmellick Drama Festival for their production of Michael Carey’s Thy Will Be Done. In addition to the top drama award, the group were also honoured in two other categories, with director/producer John Allen being awarded best producer and Noel Hogan named as best actor. The East Clare group took to the stage in Mountmellick on Monday March 5 marking their first appearance on the drama circuit for 2012. They have followed this with performances at the Claremorris Drama Festival and continue on the circuit next to Claregalway this Friday night, Carnew thereafter before returning to home turf for the Clare Drama Festival in Scariff on March 22 next. Speaking about the award, John Allen commented, “We are over the moon. The last time we won anything was in or around 1995 or 1996 so it has been a long time coming as we’ve been getting …

The developers of a proposed outdoor activity facility for paintball have insisted it will not damage the environment, including a protected horseshoe bat in a nearby protected house.

Fashionistas in East Clare will get a rare treat this Friday night as some well-known locals and politicians strut their stuff on the catwalk at a fundraising fashion show in Scariff Community College.

An innovative mobile phone attachment designed by a Tulla secondary school pupil looks set to be patented and marketed on Facebook.

Scariff Community College will open this Thursday under the new stewardship of principal Angela McNamara and deputy principal, Brian Crossan as the outgoing principal, Sean Daly, and deputy principal John O’Donovan, bade farewell this week.Ms McNamara is a East Clare woman and comes to the Scariff secondary school from Ennis Community College where she had been deputy principal. She is also a past pupil of Scariff Community College and according to Mr Daly she is looking forward to coming back to her alma mater. “She has been in to meet the teachers and they had a huge warm welcome for her. She comes with a very high reputation, as does Brian. There are very high hopes that they will carry on all the good work and develop it and make it even better,” he said. Meanwhile, Brian Crossan, who is originally from Longford but lives in Kinvara, comes to the post from the East Clare Adult and Community Education Centre …

Complaints made to Clare County Council and an East Clare county councillor over the felling of five trees in Mountshannon has been described as nothing more than “a storm in a teacup”. Mountshannon Community Council and Clare County Council had identified five trees along the main street of the village, which were deemed to be “dead” or “half dead” and on the certification of the local authority work was carried out to remove them. Following the works a number of residents complained to the county council and to their local county councillor, Pat Burke. He described the complaints received as a “storm in a teacup”. Councillor Burke explained that the trees had to be removed due to “health and safety” concerns as they had been rotten and stressed that the trees are being replaced. “Some of the residents sought permission to have these trees felled because the roots of the trees were undermining their foundations and five trees in total …