Regional

The morning of October 26, 2010 will be forever etched in the memories of the family and friends of Declan Hayes from Doonmore, Doonbeg. That was the morning family and community man Declan was killed in a motorbike accident on his way to work at the GAA sports academy at Caherlohan, near Tulla.Almost a year on from that tragic event, the fledging West Clare Walking Club plans to perpetuate Declan’s memory by holding a 10km walk and run and a half marathon in The Long Village on Saturday, September 10. Plans are at an advanced stage for the inaugural event, which will draw people from all strands of community life in Doonbeg together, a microcosm of Declan’s life itself.   A passionate sportsman, Declan dedicated his teenage years to athletics. While he accumulated many provincial and All-Ireland cross-country titles during that time, the high point was when he was selected to wear the green singlet of Ireland at a European meet …

Loop Head Lighthouse was officially opened to the public on Monday for the first time in its 341-year history. Clare County Council has opened the doors to the 19th century building as part of a trial visitor scheme that will continue until the end of August. The 23m-high lighthouse will be managed by Stephen Rowan, while up to six people will be employed there. The first lighthouse on Loop Head was one of four known Irish stone-vaulted cottage-type lights built about 1670. These cottages accommodated the lightkeeper and his family in two or three rooms and had an internal stone stairway between two of the rooms leading up to a platform on the roof where a coal-burning brazier or chauffer was positioned. Part of the old cottage, with its battered outside wall, can still be seen near the lightkeeper’s dwelling.Mayor of Clare, Councillor Pat Hayes, welcomed the opening of the lighthouse to members of the public, which he said would …

TWO new schools could be built in Kilcolgan if planning applications submitted to Galway County Council are granted.The concurrent applications have “caused some confusion locally” according to a recent submission to Galway County Council’s planning section by Kilcolgan Educate Together National School (KETNS) chairperson, Melinda Hughes.On May 12, the local authority received an application for the development of a two-storey, eight-classroom Educate Together Primary School with indoor recreation area and associated staff room, library, meeting rooms, resource rooms and parents room, provision of external play areas including an all-weather playing pitch with perimeter fencing, as well as a building comprising a crèche at ground-floor level and medical consulting rooms at first-floor level, 55 car-parking spaces, all boundary walls, fences, signs and gates, vehicular access from the N67 together with turning circle and drop-off areas, pedestrian and cycle access from the N18, connection to the existing treatment plant and site landscaping/lighting, together with all associated site services and works.This was submitted …

THIS Sunday evening will see the launch of Malcolm Bray’s first published novel, The Noise Makers.The English-born author now lives outside Woodford and has been living in Ireland since the 1980s. He said he has been writing for the last six years and has written a number of short stories and novels.On The Noise Makers, he says. “It’s what is called speculative fiction now, basically science fiction. It’s my idea of what humanity might be like in the 24th century.”There won’t be any local references in the novel, as it is set in a different solar system. Writing science fiction offers quite a bit of latitude to the author, he says.“I’ve written crime novels, all kinds of things but this is a lot of fun. For one thing, you don’t have to do as much research, although you do have to get your science right. I’m planning a sequel to it now.”He and his wife adapted very well to life …

A CHANCE encounter with creatures of the night, heightened by the eerie atmosphere of the woods under darkness, is in store for those brave enough to take the Moonlight Walk in Raheen Woods, Tuamgraney on Friday night, July 29 as part of Scariff Harbour Festival. Joe Lillis of West Clare Walking Club will meet walkers at Tuamgraney Heritage Centre at 9.45pm before heading in to the heart of the woods close by.Christina Grisewood of the Harbour Festival committee said the moonlight walk is a new addition to the range of festival walking activities over the Bank holiday weekend. “This walk is an opportunity to explore the woods from a different, more interesting and fun perspective and we believe it will have an appeal for everyone including families,” she said.Raheen Woods is one of Ireland’s primeval oak forests made famous by the majestic 1,000 year-old oak tree associated with Brian Boru, the last High King of Ireland. Its ecology is rich …

AN independent environmental watchdog has supported plans by a community group to transform a vacant Protestant church in Kilkishen into a new cultural centre costing in the region of €500,000.An Taisce has been criticised by local county councillors for lodging objections to one-off housing and major developments such as the proposed multi-million euro Tinerana House golf resort and leisure complex in Ogonnelloe.However, in a departure from its usual practice, An Taisce has broadly supported a planning application lodged by the Kilkishen Development Association to completely renovate the Clonlea Parish Church, Kilkishen, which has been left in a state of disrepair for the last 50 years.The Kilkishen association has lodged a planning application to Clare County Council seeking refurbishment of the building and extension to the north side, provision of new parking spaces, footpath, entrance gate, disabled access ramp and all associated site works, new slate roof to existing tower, repositioning of part of existing stone boundary wall and connection to …

WITH Doonbeg hosting the village’s annual seafood festival this weekend, some of the leading chefs in the area are convinced that Doonbeg and West Clare is home to world-class seafood.

Parents of children attending a South Galway primary school will have to wait until to November to find out if plans to extend the school building can go ahead.Planning permission granted by Galway County Council for the retention of an existing classroom and the addition of three further classrooms at the school has been appealed to An Bord Pleanála. In March the board of management at St Joseph’s National School, Kinvara, applied to the council to retain a single-storey classroom at the rear of the existing school building and for permission to build a new two-storey extension to contain three additional classrooms a general-purpose room, circulation areas and bathrooms.The council decided last month to allow a classroom to be retained and a new development to take place subject to nine conditions. An appeal against the permission was made to An Bord Pleanála but subsequently declared invalid. However, The Clare Champion has learned that the appeal was relodged on July 4 …