North Clare

  SIR Terry Pratchett OBE attended the First Irish Discworld Convention at the Falls Hotel, Ennistymon at the weekend. Sir Terry had attended an honorary function at Trinity College Dublin on Friday evening and then made his way to Clare for the first Discworld convention to be held in Ireland.Over 200 Pratchett fans attended the North Clare venue for the weekend. The event was organised by fans Nicola and Mary Ellen Murphy and Sheila O’Sullivan. Ireland now joins countries such as England, America, Australia and Germany to have such events.Sir Terry stayed at the Irish event for three nights and sent his personal assistant in his place to an awards ceremony in Edinburgh at the weekend, where a documentary on Pratchett’s life and his struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease scooped an accolade.A charity auction was also held at the function where collector’s items from the Discworld series were auctioned, with proceeds going to the Irish Alzheimer’s Association on the wishes of …

THE €1.1 million Ennistymon Enterprise Centre, which is located in Deerpark just outside the town, was opened by Minister Tony Killeen on Monday evening.The evening concentrated on opportunities for enterprise development in the Ennistymon and North Clare area, with speakers from Enterprise Ireland and Clare Local Development Committee addressing the audience on openings available to existing and new start-up businesses in the area.Local business people, including Roger Fahy from Linalla Ice Cream and Adam Coleman from HR Interventions, relayed their experiences of setting up businesses in the area.Ennis woman Sharon Malone has been appointed by Project Ennistymon as business development manager for the centre, which incorporates 12 units, four of which are light industrial units, while the remainder are offices, located on two floors.The idea behind the enterprise centre, which is supported by Enterprise Ireland and the Clare County Enterprise Board, is to provide an environment where businesses will be given every opportunity to help them to succeed and flourish.“It’s …

A seminar aimed at exploring ways of protecting some of Ireland’s rarest and oldest species of birds will take place in Ballyvaughan this Saturday.

How fitting, on the eve of Hallowe’en, traditionally the beginning of the story-telling season, that Patrick Kearney should launch his enthusiastically received autobiography, This Was My Life: I’m Here To Tell It, The Life And Times Of Patrick Kearney.  

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Brian Simpson, MEP, the EU’s Head of Transport and Tourism, will join tourism groups from across Ireland at a conference in The Falls Hotel, Ennistymon on the last weekend in November.

The Kilkee-based West Clare Currach Club has been spreading its wings of late. In fact, the club has just finished building a currach in St John’s Parish Hall in Ballyvaughan. Given its location, the North Clare village has a maritime tradition dating back centuries.

Against a backdrop of automation, decreasing demand and increasing crime, Daly’s Post Office in Belharbour closed this summer. Nicola Corless spoke to Rena Linnane, the last Daly to run the post office, about the end of a relationship that lasted for over a century  

Gerry Howard is a late entry into a volatile profession. He told The Clare Champion how he went from butcher and hotelier to Kissing Sid James.