Regional

THE Australian Ambassador to Ireland His Excellency Mr Gary Gray will visit Ennis this week, giving a talk on Tuesday, October 11 at the Old Ground Hotel. The event, organised by the Clare Labour Party, will be held at 7.30pm in the Ennis hotel. The special guest is an experienced Australian Labour Party member having served in the Bob Hawke and Paul Keating Governments, going on to become a minister. He also worked in the energy sector in Western Australia. Denis Vaughan, chair of the Clare Labour Party says all are welcome to attend this Tuesday’s talk. “In 1985 it was calculated that a third of all Australians were of Irish extraction and coincided with the first Irish state visit to Australia by President Paddy Hillery. This met with widespread acclaim including front page coverage in all the major newspapers and TV coverage. “Australia and Ireland have many cultural and sporting links. You only have to mention Ned Kelly and …

A DECISION to rename an Ennis laneway ‘Shepherd’s Lane’ following a ballot of local residents has been described as “positive news” by the Mayor of Ennis Councillor Clare Colleran Molloy, as well as being welcomed by other members of the Ennis Municipal District. As previously reported in The Clare Champion the residents of St Flannan’s Terrace had called for a proper name to be given to a back lane which had been known locally as ‘The Laneway’ and ‘The Car Road’. A residents’ association was formed earlier this year and a ballot of all 46 houses in the area was undertaken to determine a suitable name for the site. The results of the ballot saw Shepherd’s Lane come out as the favourite by the majority of the people who responded to the survey. Prior to 1912 the site on which the houses were built was known as the Shepherd’s Field. This month’s meeting of the Ennis Municipal District was told …

‘THE difficult second album’, a remark that’s often made about artists and the challenge of following up on strong first releases. The opposite is the case for the second album of Miltown Malbay musician Shona Blake who has delivered with ‘A Woman Knows’, her stunning new album. In it, she reveals huge growth as a person and as an artist and it’s no surprise that the plaudits are coming her way.  “This is everything I ever wanted in an album,” she says from her home in Miltown Malbay. “I knew I wanted to take my time and I knew how I wanted it to sound. It started in 2018 exactly one year after my mum passed and we continued to record once a year around her anniversary. She was there, her spirit a guiding light throughout”. Shona’s husband Paul McCabe is her longtime collaborator and he was very much part of the journey. “Everything between myself and Paul was live. …

THE weather is changing and the days are shortening, but the Shannon Tidy Towns group is still active. “We’ll still be doing litter picks, that’s important because you’re never free of rubbish in any town or village, group secretary Derek Clune told The Champion. “It’s important to keep the River Walk tidy because it’s very well used, the Town Park is the same. When the Town Park was developed the Council introduced this Leave No Trace, the idea is that everyone takes away everything, and it’s great in theory but in practice it doesn’t work I’m afraid. “If that wasn’t done two or three times a week it would look bad. It’s very well used, families use it,  you have the pump track there, the River Walk is the same, even people from outside Shannon use it.” The group is also hoping to complete a long-planned project this month. “We have a big project in the pipeline for a long …

TEXTILES inspired by summer days in the South of Italy will bring some welcome sunshine to Kinvara this month, in a new exhibition at the Courthouse. Kinvara Area Visual Arts (KAVA) presents ‘Vitae Rurale’ by Isabella Florio. This ten-day exhibition will open on Friday next, October 7.  Isabella is an Italian designer and textile artist who completed her honours BA in Design at the Atlantic Technological University (ATU) earlier this year. She first became interested in art and design as a young child, a hobby she also enjoyed throughout her teenage years. After secondary school, she chose to pursue a creative career, moving to Dublin in 2016 to join The Grafton Academy, where she studied Fashion Design for over a year. Here, Isabella gained skills in pattern drafting and garment construction. After deciding to expand her knowledge and explore a new avenue of education, she enrolled in ATU to study Fashion and Textile Design. Her work there was centred around …

A MEMORIAL site dedicated to Clare’s war dead has been damaged and littered in recent days with one “disgusted” local councillor describing those behind it as “cowards”. One of four stone benches which have been installed at Clare’s World War 1 memorial in the Clare Peace Park near glór has had a piece broken off in recent days. Rubbish left in the area has also become “an ongoing issue” according to Dr Keir McNamara of the Clare Peace Park Committee. Efforts are now being made to repair the damage to the stone bench ahead of the annual remembrance service for those who lost their lives in World War 1 this November. Fortunately the glass memorial itself was not harmed. Councillor Mary Howard, a member of the Clare Peace Park committee, hit out at those behind the damage at a meeting of the Ennis Municipal District this week saying she felt “disgusted when this happened”. She continued by describing the culprit …

AFTER 18 years of helping the homeless in Ennis and throughout Clare Josie O’Brien has revealed that this will be her last year cooking Christmas dinner for the county’s most vulnerable. Over the years Josie has invited people to her home for Christmas and Easter dinner, as well as preparing food to be delivered to people in need. Covid-19 meant that the dinners at her home were stopped, but Josie and her team continued to supply hampers and meals. However, the 69-year-old says this Christmas will be her last time taking on the mammoth endeavour, telling us she is “burned out” from years of campaigning, fundraising and supporting those living on the streets as well as others in difficulty. Josie is hopeful that someone else may step in to help keep the annual Christmas dinner going, saying she feels the homeless situation is “getting worse” however she has done all that she can at this stage. “I’m doing this for …

A PLAY focusing on one of the most intense and dramatic incidents in the War of Independence in Clare comes to Miltown Malbay, on Saturday night (October 8). The drama, entitled Two Days in September, secured prestigious funding support from Clare County Council through the Decade of Centenaries Arts Project Awards. The drama, which has great local interest, premiered in North Clare in June.  Written by Doolin-based playwright Dermott Petty, Two Days in September tells the story of the Rineen Ambush. The drama unfolds, in film and theatre form, and traces the events of autumn, 1920, when a British Army convoy was ambushed by the Mid-Clare Brigade of the IRA. It follows the aftermath of revenge and the sacking, looting and burning of the villages of Ennistymon, Lahinch and Miltown Malbay by the Black and Tans on September 22 and 23, 1920.  “West Clare in 1920 was recovering from a land war, famines, World War 1 and Spanish influenza,” said …