Ennis

THROUGH building connections with different organisations Ennis’ new town clerk Leonard Cleary believes “we can move mountains for Ennis”.Leonard, who has joined Ennis Town Council as town clerk, says “This is a unique and interesting time to join Ennis Town Council, during a recession and with major change on the local government horizon imminent”.The Corofin father of four began his career with local government in 1997. He spent the last five years a human resources manager for Clare local authorities and prior to that worked in the Community and Enterprise Department with the County Development Board, the RAPID programme in Ennis and also Kilrush Town Council where he worked as development and marketing officer. Before working with the local authority, he worked in the community tourism sector.He has studied at NUI Maynooth, NUI Galway, UCC and just a week before joining Ennis Town Council, he graduated with a Masters in Business from DCU. He has also taken the opportunity to …

This dog is certainly one lucky pup having become the 500th to be saved from the county pound by Deirdre Ryan’s Rover Rescue.Trixiebelle, along with 18 other dogs were sent to new homes in Wales this week after being rescued by Deirdre. For the past three years, Deirdre has been working with the county pound to bring abandoned dogs to new owners in Wales, working with the UK pet rescue charity, Many Tears. Saying goodbye to Trixiebelle, she said she was delighted to see the dog go to a new home. Trixiebelle, a 16-week-old wire haired Jack Russell was found as a stray and spent two weeks in the pound. Efforts were made to find owners, with the dog’s image even put on Facebook.“Unfortunately, nobody came. It wasn’t until he came with me that we realised he was a little deaf; we thought she was just subdued in the pound. She was actually very lucky because it’s surprising that she …

WHO will host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2013 is no longer a two-horse race, with Derry back in the running alongside Ennis and Sligo.Hopes that Ennis would become the host town for the prestigious competition were given a lift when the Ulster council of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann decided to reject Derry’s bid. However, at a meeting of the Ulster council on Tuesday evening, the decision not to endorse Derry’s bid was reversed. The Derry branch of Comhaltas had appealed against the decision of the organisation’s Ulster Council not to put the city forward as host. Saturday marks the decision day for which bid will come out on top and be named the host town, with the Ennis group optimistic that the Fleadh will be brought back to the Banner.Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann delegates from across the country will gather in Dublin on Saturday for the secret ballot vote to decide on where Fleadh 2013 will go.Ennis lost out on its bid …

  THE sporting career of teenager Jane Taylor is moving forward in leaps and bounds after the young gymnast was selected for the Junior Irish National Gymnastics squad.The 14-year-old is the first from the Ennis Gymnastic Club to qualify for the national team. Jane, who trains 16 hours a week, said, “I’m delighted to have made the team. Gymnastics is a great sport and I’ve been involved with it since I was eight. It all started when I was doing cartwheels around the house. As part of the national squad I will have to go to Dublin four or five times a year for training and I expect there will be some big competitions after that. Gymnastics is a great all-round sport and I’ve made some great friends through it.”Jane, a student of Coláiste Muire, made the team following her performance at the National Team Championships. She is now set to compete in the Celtic Cup in Dublin, where Ennis …

SIGNAGE-making motorists in Ennis aware of elderly pedestrians, reduced prices for pensioners and a lengthening of traffic light times. These are just some of the innovative ideas being put forward by Coláiste Muire pupils who believe that the town has the potential to become an Age Friendly Town.Transition-year pupils of Coláiste Muire, led by teacher Finola Howard, have carried out extensive research into the needs of the town’s older population as part of their Young Social Innovators project on Positive Ageing.As well as the research, the students have also been busy providing computer lessons for the elderly in a programme called Log and Learn and they are planning other initiatives such as a grave-cleaning service, providing high-visibility jackets and a paired walking initiative. The project involves the whole of transition year and students Muireann O’Shea, Aoife Sheehan, Róisín Curran, Jenny Hansbury, Orla Bredin and Sarah O’Reilly explained what it is all about.Muireann said, “2012 is the European Year for Active …

THEY say it’s a dog eat dog world but not so for veterinary nurses Bev Truss and Nicola Kildea. The colleagues and good friends, who work at Charles Kenny’s on Carmody Street, have both been nominated in the same category for the Irish Veterinary Nurses Association’s annual Veterinary Nurse of the Year award. However, while they are both up for the award, the pair insist there is no rivalry between them.Bev explained that each month, nominations are made in three categories, veterinary nurse of the year, student veterinary nurse of the year and support staff. Each month, a nomination in each category is then chosen to go onto the finals, with the winners announced at a gala dinner at the IVNA congress in May. “We don’t know who nominated us. The IVNA just send you an email to say you’ve been nominated and there’s definitely no rivalry between us. “This is huge, we’re absolutely thrilled folk would go out of …

2011 was a great year for volunteering in Clare  with over 239 volunteers registering with Clare Volunteer Centre in Ennis. Volunteers worked over 9,342 hours in 2011 and using the average industrial wage, this work equates a value of over €204,000.Of the volunteers who signed up in 2011, the most popular areas of interest were health and disability and youth/children. The most popular reasons for wanting to volunteer were ‘free time’ and ‘give something back’.  60% of the volunteers who signed up with the Volunteer Centre last year had never volunteered before. Over 100 organisations are now registered with Clare Volunteer Centre. Last year, 34 new organisations registered with the centre.Commenting on the success of last year, Sharon Meaney said, “2011 was the European Year of Volunteering so we were delighted to help 239 Clare residents to start volunteering. It’s remarkable to see that the work of Clare volunteers in 2011 amounted to a value of over €204,000 but really, …

AS fundraising efforts kick off for the development of a new Clare County dog shelter, warden Frankie Coote has described the Christmas period as one of his busiest yet. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, local organisation Rover Rescue, led by dog trainer and groomer Deirdre Ryan, sent a number of dogs from the county pound to be re-homed in Wales, with more dogs set to leave the country in the coming weeks. Deirdre, who has helped nearly 500 dogs find new homes in the past three years, hopes a recent grant of funding will mean even more dogs can be helped in the future.According to Mr Coote, “Christmas was one of our busiest, we worked every day over the Christmas and the figures are up. What we have noticed is that people are not in a financial position now to keep their dogs and they’re ringing us to come and take them. As bad as that is, it’s …