Regional

THE Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society is looking to the future when it comes to bringing the history of the south-Galway attraction and its link to poet WB Yeats to life. The society has taken part in an initiative which will make it easier than ever for visitors to learn more about the historic Thoor Ballylee near Gort. An app has been developed by Great Visitor Experiences with the support of the Yeats Thoor Ballylee Society volunteers. This app will allow everybody visiting the 14th century tower to discover the story of this unique place was once described by Seamus Heaney as “in cultural terms – the most important building in Ireland” due to its close association with fellow Nobel Laureate for literature, WB Yeats. The well-preserved fourteenth-century tower was where Yeats spent summers with his family and was inspired to write some of his finest poetry, making the tower his permanent symbol. As part of the initiative QR codes have …

THE Clare Branch of Birdwatch Ireland will host an outing to Kilbaha and Loop Head on Saturday next, October 2.  The meeting point is Kilbaha village at 9am. For anyone arriving a little late, they can catch up along the road from the village as the group searches for scarce and rare autumn migrants. In the past birds such as Yellow-browed Warbler, Spotted Flycatcher, Pied Flycatcher, Red-breasted Flycatcher, Willow Warbler, Chiffchaff and many other species have been seen in this area around this time of year. Later in the morning, the group will walk the headland area of Loop Head where Golden Plover, Chough, Merlin, Peregrine and who can tell what may pop up before our eyes. If time allows, the group will also look for birds at the Fodry, Claughaun Lough and Kilcredaun later in the day. According to the branch, this part of the county is a birding hotspot at this time of year, and, with unsettled weather …

AN ARTIST who works for Clarecare is putting her talents to use for the greater good, by donating most of the proceeds of her forthcoming exhibition to the agency.  Sinead Slattery has been working in the popular Clarecare Thrift Show for over 15 years and next month she will exhibit a selection of her paintings at The Clare Museum. Her aim is to donate 60% of all sales to Clarecare.  “I grew up in love with nature and art and crafts from a young age,” she said. “I was lucky to have learned many skills in the Holy Family Primary School, from crochet to embroidery. In Coláiste Mhuire I had a fantastic art teacher who used to call my love of red skies ‘Slattery Pink’. My dad taught me how to paint in a ‘domestic’ way from a very young age. “Don’t be afraid of it” he used to say. “Paint don’t tickle,” as I enjoyed painting walls back then. …

North Clare twins the only ones in school for sacrament TWIN boys from North Clare will make their First Holy Communion together on Saturday in a ceremony where they will be the only two candidates to receive the sacrament. Cian and Donnchadh Vaughan, who are nine years of age, were the only two pupils in second class last year at Furglan National School, near Lahinch. When the pandemic caused ceremonies to be deferred, the boys, like hundreds of thousands of other children around the country, faced a long wait for the milestone. “They were on tenterhooks for the summer really,” said mum Patricia, who is principal of the school. “The delay was all for the best really because now we can have all the extended family and friends and we’ll be able to mark the day. “Their big brother Joshua, who is 17, will be there and dad, Frank, as well as the uncles and aunties. “We are very lucky …

A GERMAN artist and photographer has traded life in the fast lane for the more relaxed rhythms of East Clare and is now holding his first Irish exhibition in Scariff. Claus-Eckhard Kraemer, a native of South West Germany, arrived in the county just days after the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the coronavirus pandemic. Confined, under Covid-19 regulations to a radius of between 2km and 5km, the former Formula 1 media delegate, turned his artistic interest and his camera lens to the spectacular landscape around the shores of Lough Derg. He compiled a calendar inspired by the area and is in the process of producing a second one for 2022. The easing of pandemic restrictions now means that Claus can show his work to a wider audience with an exhibition entitled, ‘Time Lapse’, running at the gallery at Scariff Library until mid-October. “I always carry a camera,” Claus told The Champion. “Even with a smartphone, it’s possible to take fantastic …

PLANNED public lighting at Ballybeg cannot be installed until after a bat survey is completed due to the presence of the rare creatures at Ballybeg Woods, a council engineer has said. However, Barry Conway, executive engineer has given assurances that the works will go-ahead with the survey needed to determine the programme of installation Details of footpath works in Ballybeg were outlined at the monthly meeting of the Ennis Municipal District where clarification on a number of issues was sought by Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy. The meeting also heard that speeding traffic is expected to slow down at Ballybeg once the new footpath is put in place. Councillor Colleran Molloy described the commencement of the works as “wonderful for the neighbourhood to see”. Funding granted in 2021 will extend the footpath from the water tower as far as the Radharc na hInse housing development and further funding will be sought to complete the remainder of the path next year. The …

SOCIAL media and its psychological impact are the themes of an exciting new exhibition which will run at the Courthouse in Kinvara until early next month. The show by Mark Keaveney is entitled ‘My Social Bubble’ and contains a number of innovative digital art pieces. The young Roscommon native’s work was spotted during the Galway Mayo Institute of Technology (GMIT) end-of-year show by Pam Fleming, chairperson of Kinvara Area Visual Arts (KAVA). After Mark accepted the invitation to exhibit, KAVA came together with Kinvara Alive, a local organisation promoting mental health, to respond to the themes raised in the artwork. “Because of the effects of too much social media on mental health, Kinvara Alive (a local group promoting well-being and mental health) is going to collaborate with KAVA on the exhibition,” Pam outlined. Kinvara Alive will have literature available on training and a range of mental health supports for the duration of the exhibition. “The exploration of the psychological effects …

AMERICAN film star Lacey Chabert spent three weeks at The Old Ground Hotel in Ennis and was quite taken with the place. Chabert, of Mean Girls fame, recently stayed incognito at the hotel while filming her new movie, Christmas at Castle Hart, according to a spokesperson for the hotel. The Hallmark production, which co-stars Irish actor Stuart Townsend, was being shot around Clare and Limerick. The hotel spokesperson also revealed that the actress stayed so long at the Old Ground, because she thought it was “so fetch”. For those of you not au fait with the lingo, ‘fetch’ is another way of saying ‘cool’. Built in the early part of the 18th Century as a private dwelling, the manor house has been a hotel since 1895 and reopened under the ownership of Allen Flynn and the Flynn Hotel Collection in September 1995. They have undertaken five major refurbishments and extensions, bringing it from 11 bedrooms to 108, and it now operates …