Regional

CONSTRUCTION workers have moved onto the site of a former country hotel near Killaloe bridge, to start work on a new regional respite centre for Alzheimer patients in the Mid-West.Contracts have been signed to convert the former Waterman’s Lodge Hotel, Ballina, Killaloe into a state-of-the-art short term 10-bed centre. It is expected that renovation work will take about nine months and the branch hopes to open the new facility by the middle of 2010.The Limerick branch of the Alzheimer Society announced their plans over three years ago to convert the hotel into a specialist Alzheimer respite centre but lack of government funding delayed the start of building work.The society will provide a three-night and four-day short term respite service to 10 clients weekly, without any daycare facilities, following a commitment from the HSE of €517,000 in annual service funding.Although the HSE also agreed to provide €517,000 in capital funding, this only represents one third of the €1.5 million required to …

KILKEE Community College hosted a conference of teachers from three European schools, Vlaardingen, Holland; Saarbrucken, Germany and Nantes, France as part of the Comenius Teachers’ Exchange Programme. Nine visiting teachers spent four days in Kilkee and they included two French teachers, three Dutch teachers and four German teachers. The exchange programme focused on the teaching of languages and a review of a selected aspect of life in the host school, Critical Friends Review. The European teachers spent time in some language classes and also had a formal meeting with parents, students and teachers in the school. Mrs Theresa O’Donnellan, principal Kilkee Community College, greatly appreciates the co-operation of students, parents and staff that contributed to the success of the conference. Niall Williams, author and teacher of English at Kilkee Community College, conducted a workshop with the language group in the school. The French teachers availed of the fine weather on the Tuesday to spend time on the Cliff Road and …

As part of the 21st National Tourism Conference, held annually in Ennistymon, delegates attending the conference will visit East Clare as part of an organised trip showcasing the county’s tourist destinations. This conference will see tourism industry officials and members of local authorities, County Enterprise Boards, partnerships, and all public and private bodies involved in the promotion of tourism in Ireland, descend on the county this week. This is the first time East Clare has been chosen as a visiting destination for the tourism conference delegates and Lorna Moloney, vice-chairperson of East Clare Heritage, explained that it was extremely positive for the region to have the delegation visit the scenic area. It is understood that the delegation will visit the East Clare Heritage offices at St Cronan’s Church in Tuamgraney this Friday at 10am in advance of the national conference. The delegation will be given a rundown of the operations there, a history of the Westropp Collection and they will …

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 …

CAPPA playground in Kilrush had to be closed for a few days from last Friday due to safety concerns.At last Thursday night’s meeting of the town council, Councillor Paul Moroney produced pictures showing the playground in a state of some disrepair and he was critical of how expenditure on the playground had been used. Councillor Moroney put forward a motion requesting a breakdown on how much was spent on upgrade works at the playground. In the report from clerk, John Corry, it showed that a total of €45,124.96 had been spent, with the largest payment of €19,550 going to Cavanagh Playground Equipment.Councillor Moroney said he was “staggered” that so much had been spent on playground equipment, as the pictures he presented showed a number of serious faults.He said that the state of the playground was “absolutely disgraceful” and he asked if there had been any proper monitoring of the work. “Did anyone go out and view it after it was …

YOUNG people in Gort are once again showing their social conscience. This week students at Gort Community School along with local No Name Club members as well as adult volunteers, school staff and the Brazilian community in the area, have joined forces to host an intercultural event celebrating One World Week 2009.The intercultural event will take place on Friday, the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child.The One World Week intercultural event will feature music, dance, singing, food and artwork as well as traditional Irish and Brazilian food and will take place at Gort Community School. One World Week is a week of youth-led awareness-raising, education and action during which young people learn about local and global justice issues and take action to bring about change. One World Week is led by the National Youth Council of Ireland and takes place throughout Ireland during the third week in November every year. This …

  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 …

SINGLE men and women from all over Clare will be coming together to unlock the secret to relationship bliss at a singles event in Ennis on Saturday, November 21.Organised by the daughter of renowned matchmaker Willie Daly, Gráinne Daly and Dutch native Sophie Heusy, the lock ’n’ key singles night was arranged to meet local demand. The event takes place in Tom Steele’s Bar from 9pm. Sophie explained that following on from the matchmaking festival in Lisdoonvarna earlier this year, she and Gráinne were quizzed by singles who wanted to know how to meet other singles and where to meet them. On the back of this, they decided to organise a singles night with a difference. “We didn’t want to do the regular singles night and put a load of singles together in a room and just see what happens. “So we went online and came up with this lock ’n’ key event. What happens is we will give out …