Tag Archives: County Laois

THE lock-down has certainly be put to good use by a eight branches of a West Clare family, whose membership extends from the Loop Head Peninsula all the way to San Francisco. Over the month of April, the Keane Family Challenge has seen more than 40 members take part in all kinds of fitness and sporting activities to raise over than €2,000 for the West Clare Cancer Centre in Kilkee. The mastermind of the fitness and fund-raising challenge is Johnny Doris of Portarlington. He is the grandson of Kathleen and John Keane, of Keane’s Pub in Carrigaholt. Their eight children include Johnny’s mother Bridget Doris, now based in County Laois, and her twin sister Mary Greene, who lives north of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco. Johnny’s uncles Dominic and John Keane live in the US where they have been immersed in the challenge, as have his godmother Kathleen Foley of Foley’s Pub in Cross, and Mags and Pakie Keane …

Following on the detection of potential diabetes in more than 600 visitors to the National Ploughing Championship last year, Lions Clubs plan to screen more than 10,000 people at the 2015 event in Ratheniska, County Laois. A team of 120 Lions and qualified nurses will be at the Lions Marquee at Ratheniska from Tuesday to Thursday next. They will offer visitors a free simple, painless blood test which is designed to identify early symptoms of diabetes. The Lions are confident that they will significantly exceed the 7,210 visitors who availed of the test last year in Retheniska. Last year 8.3% of those screened, mainly farmers, were identified as potentially diabetic and were referred to their GPs for further examination. According to Marion Conneely, District Governor of Lions in Ireland, the incidence of diabetes is accelerating rapidly in rural Ireland due to diet and lifestyle changes. “Medical experts estimate that up to 200,000 people with diabetes in Ireland are unaware of …

Thousand of Clare people will be travelling a familiar road next September. While a trip to Croke Park is always a possibility, already pencilled in is the National Ploughing Championships in Ratheniska, County Laois. Such has been the success of the event, the organisers announced on this Monday that it will return to the venue for a third time from September 22– 24 next year. Total attendance figures for the 2014 championship came to a record breaking 279,500. Speaking at a prize-giving ceremony in Portlaoise, NPA managing director, Anna May McHugh said, “Feedback from landowners, the local community and the wider public has been very positive and all were incredibly enthusiastic to see a return.”