North Clare

MEMBERS of Ennistymon Choral Society will tread the boards next week bringing The Merry Widow to the stage in Lahinch. They began work on the musical back in October with full rehearsals beginning in January for the four-night run, which kicks off next Thursday.  

REPRESENTATIVES of Government departments should form a strategy group to promote the long term health benefits of organic food, according to an award-winning North Clare producer.Siobhán Ní Ghairbhith, who runs St Tola Organic Goat Farm believes Government departments such as health, education and agriculture and other agencies should play a more proactive role marketing and promoting organic food.Situated in Maurice Mills between Inagh and Ennistymon, Inagh Farmhouse Cheese has won a number of awards including a World Cheese Awards Bronze medal last year. Acknowledging the Department of Education organises National Organic Week in early September, Ms Ní Ghairbhith insists more work could be done promoting this important event by getting the multiples such as Dunnes and Tesco on board.While An Bord Bia produced a very good national organic conference last year, she told Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Shane McEntee, small producers need more marketing support, during his visit to the farm on Friday last.“We need marketing …

A NORTH Clare man has been elected president of the national body representing hotels and guesthouses.

NEARLY 100 people will take to the streets of Ennistymon on two wheels this Friday as part of a Green Schools initiative, which could see the convoy becoming a regular occurrence.In the biggest event of its kind in the county, 90 pupils and staff of Ennistymon Vocational School will undertake a 12km cycle around the North Clare town in an effort to find a safe route to cycle to school. “This is the biggest event we have done with teenagers. Studies have found that they are the least active of every group in society and there are huge issues around fitness and teenagers, so this is one way of tackling it,” explained Róisín Ní Ghairbhith, green schools travel education officer. The idea behind the cycle is to show pupils safe routes to school, the cycling possibilities in the area around the school, show them their ability to cycle some distance, encourage them to get fit and show them the bike …

THE North-West Clare Family Resource Centre is calling on people and voluntary groups in the area to help shape its future.The centre, based in Ennistymon, is seeking submissions to help it prepare its new three-year plan.Since last year, the company is based in its new headquarters in An Grianán Resource Centre, Ardnaculla, Ennistymon.The FRC works in co-operation with voluntary groups and statutory agencies to address social inclusion, community development and family support issues in North-West Clare. It operates a number of national programmes, the main one being the Family and Community Services Resource Centre Programme. This is overseen by the Family Support Agency, which gives it core funding. It also operates community childcare, a counselling service and is a co-sponsor of community employment programmes.The contract with the Family Support Agency is based on three-year work plans and funding for the 2012 – 2014 period has been approved, subject to a new work plan being submitted shortly.Manager of the FRC, Gary …

CLARE County Council this week cleared the way for the construction of a playground in the village of Crusheen.The local authority granted permission on Tuesday for the development, which will consist of the construction of a children’s playground with play equipment, four car-parking spaces, a boundary fence, parents seating and associated site works.The Crusheen Playground Committee submitted the application in December to build the facility at Stonepark in the village.The committee stated as part of the planning file that its aim is to build a playground “on the Iarnród Éireann site and provide car parking and fencing around the playground”.In July 2011, Iarnród Éireann received full planning permission for a railway stop, car parking and a proposed green area in Crusheen.When this happened, the committee contacted the landowner, John Galvin, of John Galvin Construction, Faunrusk, Barefield and following a meeting with him, Iarnród Éireann and Clare County Council, it was agreed that a playground could be built on the site, …

NORTH Clare man Tommy Fahy will travel to Dublin next week to watch himself on the big screen as part of the 10th Jameson Dublin International Film Festival. Tommy will appear in the documentary Silence, which is showing next Thursday at the Lighthouse Cinema, Smithfield, Dublin and is already sold out.The energetic 78-year-old was filmed last April as part of the documentary that follows Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde, a sound recordist, who is returning to Ireland for the first time in 15 years. The reason for his return is a job offer: to record landscapes free from manmade sound. His quest takes him to remote terrain, away from towns and villages. Throughout his journey, he is drawn into a series of encounters and conversations, which gradually divert his attention towards a more intangible silence, bound up with the sounds of the life he left behind.Tommy spent some time showing Eoghan how to catch lobsters and talks to him about growing …

FUNDING has to be secured to provide a footpath and public lighting in Doolin to safeguard its status as an international tourist attraction, local county councillors have warned. Councillors predicted at a recent Ennistymon Electoral Area meeting that Doolin’s tourism appeal would be hindered unless a footpath and public lighting is provided in one of its tourist hot spots.Councillor Richard Nagle urged Clare County Council to provide a footpath and public lighting between Roadford and Fisher Street adding that the current situation is causing “severe difficulties and severe safety hazards for pedestrians”.In response, Clare County Council is to investigate the possibility of land purchase and to look at where the council has sufficient space to provide a footpath that does not require the purchase of land between Roadford and Fisher Street.Councillor Nagle recalled locals were previously assured that these facilities would be provided once a new sewerage scheme is put in place. However, since the small sewerage schemes for rural …