East Clare

It may have been Hallowe’en night, but there were no black cats ruining one East Clare resident’s luck as Mary Nugent from Bauroe, Feakle stepped up to spin the wheel on RTÉ’s hit game show Winning Streak on Saturday night.

CAHER volunteer Kathleen McNamara has been doubly nominated in the prestigious Ireland Involved Awards for her commitment to her community.

The East Clare Community Support group, part Community Development Programme (CDP) initiative, recently held a meeting with public representatives outlining concerns that their service could be cut by the year’s end.

Tulla’s Senior Citizens and Young Actively Retired Group is a longstanding organisation that has provided social gatherings and outings in the locality for older people, particularly those living alone. However, declining numbers attending events has given rise to a call for fresh ideas and new faces.

A Clooney-Quin hurler has turned his skills to running as he prepares to take part in the Dublin City Marathon at the end of the month and in doing so, he hopes to raise awareness for Caring for Carers.Sean Daffy from Clooney had never trained or participated in a marathon before but had always set a goal for himself to do one before he turned 30. However, in the midst of his first few training sessions tragedy struck his family and both his grandmothers died within a week of each other.

IT was plain sailing at Lough Graney last Friday as Flagmount National School pupils took to the water on a boat made out of scrap wood and milk cartons. The vessel, which is entirely handmade out of recycled material, hoisted the Clare flag and set out on its maiden voyage on Lough Graney with 24 pupils aboard.The project was set into motion arising from the green transport schools’ programme and while the school had encouraged its pupils to cycle or walk to school, it was suggested by a local couple that the children could get involved in building their own mode of environmental transport.School principal, Pat McNamara outlined that Flagmount National School had been a hive of activity at the end of last term and the pupils were now being given an opportunity to see their hard work come to fruition.Nearly all of the pupils at the school were involved in helping with the assembly and collecting the recycled materials, …

FIFTY years ago, the concept of a box that could transmit pictures straight into your living room would have awed the average person in East Clare but in 1959, plans were underway to erect one of the country’s first television transmitters at Maghera, Feakle.

PUPILS at Scariff Community College took on the roles of historians last Friday as they began their GAA Oral History Project by interviewing their teacher and All-Ireland hurling U-21 medal holder, Colin Ryan.The national project, which forms part of the 125th anniversary of the GAA, aims to record the rich, diverse and complex history of the GAA through the words of local people.It involves the chosen interviewee filling out a questionnaire and an audio recording of the interview with the person is also made. The project is being run by the GAA and Boston College.Transition year pupils from Scariff Community College kick-started their project by recording Colin Ryan, a member of the successful U-21 Clare team. Currently teaching in the school, the pupils focused in on Colin’s big day at the All-Ireland final and also asked questions about preparation and his training regimes.As part of the project, pupils will be interviewing many people in the East Clare area about their …