North Clare

A NORTH Clare man has just released an EP to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the Christmas Truce, which took place in World War I. Jerry Lynch from Kilfenora recorded Requiem For a Soldier, which he co-produced with Don Mullan to honour the remarkable 1914 event.“I decided to make this recording to commemorate the 95th anniversary of the Christmas Truce in 1914 which is coming up this Christmas. I had heard a few songs I felt would make a nice themed package for this occasion and I think anyone who has heard the album has been impressed. The two duets with Sarah Dolan, and Liam Lawton’s The Cloud’s Veil combined with my own song make a lovely mixture. John Condon is a very moving song which reminds us of all the men who were only boys and suffered in this awful war,” Jerry told The Clare Champion.Jerry is from a well-known family in North Clare, many of whom are involved …

THIS year, the Christmas market in Ballyvaughan Community Hall will run on two weekends before Christmas, this Saturday and Sunday as well as the following Saturday, December 19 and Sunday, December 20.   As well as many familiar faces from the Ballyvaughan Farmers’ Market, a number of other food producers from North Clare will take part in the Christmas events, offering an unrivalled variety of quality food produce, much of it with a festive theme. Among the products available will be seasonal vegetables and fruit, traditional home baking including breads, cakes, biscuits and confectionary, locally produced cheeses, honey and fruit wines, handmade preserves such as jellies, pickles, chutneys, flavoured oils, jams and sauces, quality olive oil, wines, food hampers, along with mistletoe and plants and flowers for both inside and outside the house specially suited to the winter season.  There will also be a wide selection of meats and fish available each day.Alongside the food produce will be a varied selection …

  A NORTH Clare food company has picked up one of Ireland’s top business awards at a ceremony in Dublin. The Burren Smokehouse, Lisdoonvarna, was presented with the Seafood Exporter Award 2009 at the 2009 Exporter of the Year Awards held at the Concert Hall at the RDS in Dublin last Thursday.The Seafood Exporter Award 2009 recognises companies in the seafood sector that have made significant progress in securing and building export markets for Irish seafood.Burren Smokehouse outshone companies like Glenmar Shellfish Limited and Ummera Smoked Products Limited to win the title. The North Clare company was acknowledged for its success in exporting 60% of its smoked organic and premium salmon, trout and mackerel to the USA, Europe and Japan.Birgitta Hedin Curtin, proprietor of the Burren Smokehouse, said, “This was a particularly sweet award to get. It took me a little while to realise we deserved this. I always thought we were only a little place on the west coast …

The National Tourism Conference, which took place in Ennistymon at the weekend and generated tens of thousands of euro for the local economy, will be held in the town again next year, organisers confirmed.

FORTY full-time jobs are to be created by The Atlantis Group after a decision by An Bord Pleanála to uphold the granting of planning permission for the development of park and ride facilities to the Cliffs of Moher.

ONE of the joys of a small business is that it can reinvent itself at short notice and without huge costs. The same can be said for small towns – in Ennistymon businesses are working to do just that.

THE role members of Kilnaboy Youth Club play in society and in adopting a partnership approach in the care of the elderly within their community was key to the club receiving a major award in this year’s Co-operation Ireland’s annual Pride of Place competition.

LOCAL businesses in Ennistymon are hoping to take advantage of the influx of tourism professionals generated by the National Tourism Conference, which takes place next weekend.There will be music in a number of licensed premises as publicans attempt to generate business by attracting delegates into the town. “Traditional music will be played in pubs in the town during that weekend to encourage people who attend the conference to make the most of the town and not to confine themselves just to the hotel. There are so many people coming and we want them to see the town and what it has to offer,” explained Ennistymon and District Community Organisation committee member Caroline Hueston. This is the 21st year of the conference but according to Caroline, this is the first year a series of events have been organised to coincide with it. “It is an opportunity that we perhaps missed in other years. There are extra people around, you do notice …