Gort

AFTER the success of last year’s All Shook Up, pupils at Gort Community School have a challenge to equal that standard again but this year’s show, Back to the Eighties, is set to be a winner.Featuring lots of popular hits from the time, including Girls just Wanna Have Fun, Video Killed the Radio Star and Kids in America, along with plenty of comedy and a great cast, set and pupil band, it is set to be a great start to the new year.Last year’s show was a sell-out and tickets for this year’s offering, available from the school office and Gort Community Centre during office hours, are being snapped up.Teacher Caroline Meagher is appealing to people to show their appreciation for the efforts of the pupils, who have spent long hours rehearsing so that everything will be on cue on the night.“It is a great opportunity to see the great talent that is nurtured in our school. It’s totally awesome,” …

FIVE pupils from Seamount College in Kinvara joined a select group of young people when they were among the first recipients of the Pope John Paul II Awards in the Diocese of Galway and Kilmacduagh.

Engineers from Kilkenny were called to South Galway on Saturday to prevent another Christmas crisis in the town.

Women’s Aid recently revealed women experiencing domestic violence are disclosing the extra stress of the festive period triggers more frequent and at times more severe abuse at home. Ahead of Christmas, Gort Family Resource Centre is highlighting recent changes in legislation which mean people in abusive relationships have more legal protection than before.“We all know how stressful it can be at Christmas and while it can be a trigger for domestic violence, unfortunately domestic violence is something that occurs all year round and it can happen to any woman, regardless of their socio-economic status, so rich or poor, it could happen to you,” said Annie Rozario, coordinator of Gort FRC.“We really want to get across to people though that there is now more protection than ever. There have been changes in the law, which came into force in August but really haven’t been well publicised,” she continued.To get this information into the public domain, the Family Resource centres in Galway …

The National Roads Authority is to begin looking for backing for the Gort to Tuam motorway, it was announced this week. Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Leo Varadkar, said on Tuesday the Government has approved a funding mechanism for multi-million euro road projects in Dublin and County Wicklow.Work is set to start next year on upgrading the Newlands Cross bottleneck on the main Dublin to Cork/Limerick road, while the N11 between Arklow and Rathnew will also be upgraded to four lanes. Funding of more than €100 million will be provided under a Public Private Partnership involving a significant contribution from the European Investment Bank and Bank of Ireland, in the first such arrangement for road projects for a number of years.Construction is to start next year on both projects and is due to be completed by 2014, at which stage the repayments will commence. Minister Varadkar said financing these projects is very welcome “at a time when PPP projects …

IT has been one of the longest running sagas in South Galway but the end seems to be in sight. Every day for years now, over 60,000 gallons of raw sewage has been discharged untreated into the bay at Kinvara, one of the most picturesque seaside towns in Ireland.

PUPILS from Gort Community School performed at the Amnesty International Human Rights Day celebration to remember the creation, 63 years ago, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

FROM private planes to Parkinson’s Disease, Peggy Casey’s move from New York to South Galway has not been what the vibrant septuagenarian expected. Dublin-born Peggy spent 25 years working in Manhattan before moving to Gort 12 years ago. Since then, cancer, shingles, knee surgery and now Parkinson’s Disease have colluded to destroy her retirement but the passionate gardener, talented artist and occasional lingerie designer remains defiant.“I moved to Gort because when I decided to return to Ireland, I was looking for a house in my budget. It didn’t matter where it was and I had no connections to Gort but when I spotted a little cottage here, I bought it and it has turned out to be a very wise decision because of the great friends and neighbours I have made here,” she outlined.Peggy moved in prestigious circles when she lived in Manhattan, though she is too modest to dwell on it. When she moved to South Galway, she envisaged …