Tag Archives: clare champion

IT’S certainly good ‘nudes’ for four local charities following the amazing success of the Ennis Players production of Calendar Girls. A fantastic €31,000 has been raised over the play’s four-night run in Glór, with the amount expected to rise even further. Ennis Players are the donating proceeds to Cahercalla Hospice, Sláinte an Chláir Cancer Centre; the West Clare Mini Marathon Cancer Centre and the Alzheimer’s Day Care Centre in Ennis. [doptg id=”6″] According to Ennis Players, the show was such a success that they have not ruled out returning their 40th anniversary production to the stage.  Chairperson Jackie Scanlan said, “The cast and crew need a much-deserved break but, who knows, we might just look at running it for two nights in October or November. In the meantime, we will be concentrating on our annual supper theatre in The Old Ground Hotel. To those lucky enough to get tickets for the Calendar Girls, we thank you for your continued support …

EASTER Saturday, April 19, is the date that one lucky Banner lass will become the 2014 Clare Rose at a gala selection event in the Inn at Dromoland and it’s not too late to take part. The 2013 Clare Rose, Marie Donnellan, urged, “I have had the most wonderful year of my life and I would encourage women from across the county to fill-in an online entry form at www.roseoftralee.ie as soon as possible. I have made so many wonderful friends and enjoyed my travels to Belarus and New York City. The Clare Rose Selection event in itself is a life-changing experience while being selected to go forward to the Regional Festival in Portlaoise and ultimately the International Festival in Tralee were a bonus.” Deputy general manager of The Inn at Dromoland, Claire Coughlan, commented, “We are delighted to welcome the Clare Rose Centre to the hotel for the first time ever. It is a testament to the quality of …

THE children of Clarecastle came together last weekend to prepare the ground for the new playground in the heart of the village. They agreed that many hands make light work and that they would do what they could to get things moving in advance of the big machinery arriving on-site on Monday. It has been a long road but Clarecastle Community Development Ltd (CCDL) is delighted to see the physical work on the Clarecastle community playground commence at last. “There were a number of unforeseen problems with the project, which caused major delays,” said Marie Clare Gorman, spokeswoman for CCDL, “but with the support of Clare County Council, Leader and the local community, we have overcome the difficulties and a playground is in sight.” The playground is expected to be completed and in full use in June, just in time for the school summer holidays. Most of the finance required from the community has been raised and it is hoped …

A HUGE amount of old photographs, postcards, articles from newspapers and other memorabilia is going on display at SuperValu in Miltown Malbay from March 30 to April 6. Most of the material comes from the late Kathleen Kelly and her son, Cyril and daughter-in law-Patsy now have her archive. “Cyril’s mother Kathleen used to take an awful lot of photographs so we have all of those and we decided to let the public see them,” said Kathleen. One magazine article from the 1930s will be on show. “Malachy Hynes was a journalist from Miltown Malbay and he wrote an article for a travel magazine. He wrote about four places and I have a picture of the four of those. It’s laminated and there’s the writing in the middle and the four photographs around it,” said Kathleen. There is also a programme from the 1945 West Clare Show, at which there were 663 entrants and one from the Clonbony races of …

JESSICA QUINN THERE’S ‘barely’ a ticket left for the Ennis Players performances of Calendar Girls, which opened on Wednesday to a packed house at Glór. A “phenomenal” surge in ticket sales has taken place in recent days, with those involved in the charity production crediting the boost to the play’s exposure in last week’s front page of The Clare Champion, media sponsors for the project. The brave ladies of the cast were photographed by award winning photographer John Kelly with just a few Champion’s to cover their modesty. And their daring move even hit the national airwaves. In the run up to Wednesday’s opening night, Cormac O’Sullivan of Ennis Players said, “We’ve been averaging ticket sales 150 a day for the last four or five days, which is quite phenomenal and it was really down to, I think, the front page of The Clare Champion. It was the talk of the county and it made national radio on Friday when …

THE history behind one of the oldest areas in Ennis has been explored in the newest booklet to be launched by the Clare Roots Society. On Thursday, April 3 at 7pm at the Junction in Cloughleigh Mayor of Ennis, Councillor Mary Coote Ryan, will launch Clare Roots Society latest booklet on Cloughleigh. The book entitled Old Cloughleigh Road has been edited by Kathleen Barry and Nora Shanahan and gives the historical background to the area. The booklet shows that the original 33 Cloughleigh houses consisted of a mixture of thatched and galvanized roofs with two rooms and two windows and were subject to annual flooding. These were replaced in the mid 1950s with a new scheme of 24 houses costing £37,000 to construct, consisting of three bedrooms, with two bedrooms having fireplaces and a separate front sitting room, which had the advantage that it could be used as an additional bedroom for the larger families. The major advantage of these …

ON Friday, Rice College Secondary School will host a fashion extravaganza dubbed ‘Shop & Style’ at Treacy’s West County Hotel at 7pm. Proceeds from the fashion show will go towards the provision of additional facilities and classrooms in the newly acquired school building. The event has already garnered plenty of support locally, according to organisers at the school with a host of local fashion outlets set to showcase their upcoming collections in the show. A spokesperson for the school said, “Local businesses and community groups have all rallied to sponsor the show, which promises to be a fantastic evening for all fashion-conscious ladies and gents featuring spring/summer collections from many stores.” Professional models will assisted by some of the Rice College teachers, who have sportingly agreed to participate.  MC for the evening is Ciana Campbell. And if all that style isn’t enough, there will also be a very special guest, which is sure to draw in the crowds. The Liam …

MAUREEN Cronin, whose poetry appears regularly in The Clare Champion, will be featured on RTÉ’s Nationwide on Monday evening next, immediately after the Six One News.   The slot follows Maureen on her usual Thursday trail in Ennis, which includes collecting the parish bulletins for distribution to neighbours, delivering her poem to the ‘Champion, and on the library to talk to Coláiste Mhuire students. The programme has been packaged by RTE reporter, Teresa Mannion and cameraman, Jim Wylde from Ennis.