Tag Archives: Ennis

THE hardwork and dedication of people who are working to make Ennis look its best has been honoured by the local Tidy Towns group. Ennis Tidy Towns annual Local Awards recently took place, with awards presented to residents for their voluntary efforts in keeping the town tidy. The usual awards night could not be held due to Covid-19, however Tidy Towns committee members visited the award winners to present them with their prizes. Cormac McCarthy, chairman of Ennis Tidy Towns said, “Even though our local awards night could not take place this year, we had the wonderful job to go around to each of our category winners with Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council Mary Howard and present them with their awards in the winning gardens, green areas, approach roads and shrines. “In a year that shook us all to the core it was a lovely way to end 2020. A huge congratulations to all our entrants.” Along with the overall …

COLOURISED images of key moments in Clare’s revolutionary history have been included in a new book on the period between the East Rising and the foundation of the State. Among the pictures that author Michael Barry has included in An Illustrated History of the Irish Revolution (1916-1923) is a photograph of Eamon De Valera at Ennis Courthouse after the by-election of 1917. Other shots include scenes of tanks in Clare and an armoured car at the RIC barracks in Ennis. There is also a picture of De Valera’s arrest in 1923 at a Sinn Féin gathering. The latter appeared in the Illustrated London News just after the outbreak of the Civil War.   There’s also a photo of De Valera in America in the period 1919-1920. During a visit to the Chippewa Reservation Reserve in Wisconsin, he was famously made honorary chief of a Chippewa tribe, and the colourised image shows him wearing a Native American ceremonial headdress. “I specially …

ENNIS students with a passion for fashion have made it to the finals of a nationwide competition where their stylish looks will be judged by celebrities Michelle Visage and Louis Walsh. Rice College fifth year students Carla Griffin, Eunice Boateng and Caitlin Mc Allister will be taking part in the Junk Kouture 2020 grand final, which will be broadcast on the RTÉ Player this month. Their entry is titled ‘Do Your Own Sting’ and has been inspired by bees. Their art teacher Lorraine Hogan explains, “They used a variety of recycled materials to make it, the skirt is inspired by a beehive and hundreds of cardboard hexagon shapes. Plastic cups were used to construct it. The bodice is woven using the core of toilet rolls and beautiful handmade flowers were fashioned from food wrapping. Real beeswax was used in the beautiful headpiece.” The students had been due to showcase their creation at the grand finals last spring, but Covid-19 meant …

A PRIZEWINNING artwork, entered by Ennis student Cillian Boyd, is one of 13 artworks selected from the archives to illustrate the 2021 Texaco Children’s Art Competition Calendar just published. Amongst artworks drawn from the past 16 years of the competition, Cillian submitted his entry entitled ‘Gulls, Autumn Morning’ in the 51st year of the competition, held in 2005, as a pupil at Gaelcholáiste an Chláir, Ennis. Winning third prize in the 14-15 years age category, his piece appears during the month of September in the new calendar where it will be seen in thousands of homes throughout Ireland during the coming year. Commenting at the time, a competition adjudicator said that Cillian’s piece was “one of a number that perfectly reflects the artistic talent and creativity that many young people in Ireland possess and the essential role schools play by encouraging and inspiring their students through art education”. A multiple winner, Cillian achieved further success across a number of years …

WITNESSES are being sought after the homes of elderly people in Ennis and Clarecastle were targetted by burglars last week. Both incidents occurred on Friday night, December 4, with gardaí in Ennis appealing to anybody with any information to contact them. The first burglary took place in a house in the Crescent on St Senan’s Road Ennis. At approximately7.40pm an elderly couple were downstairs in their home when they heard a loud noise upstairs. The elderly man went up the stairs and saw that a lock on a bedroom had been opened and that a hall window was open. When he looked out he saw a male wearing a peaked cap sitting on a flat roof of the house. This male then made his escape. There was nothing taken in this burglary, gardaí have confirmed. The second burglary occurred around 8.45pm in a house in Manusmore, Clarecastle. An elderly man who was in bed heard a loud bang in his …

THE Lions Club of Ennis are ‘branching’ out their annual Remembrance Tree fundraising project, with people from all over the world now able to get involved. For the past ten years the Lions Club have partnered with the Ennis Municipal District to host their fundraising campaign for Cahercalla Hospice, placing yellow ribbons containing special messages of remembrance on a Christmas tree in Ennis’ market area. The popular fundraiser has become a firm tradition of Christmas in Clare, raising on average €13,000 for Cahercalla over the years. This year the club will be continuing that tradition, however Michael Neylon of the Ennis Lions tells us that Covid-19 has resulted in challenges with footfall not expected to be as large as it has been in previous years and fears this will result in fewer donations. In a bid to ensure that the charity receives as much funding as possible, the Ennis Lions have initiated an on-line fundraiser, meaning not just locals, but …

DECEMBER 1 couldn’t come quickly enough for hundreds if not thousands of Clare men whose hair had grown feral since the beginning of lockdown. Ennis barber Micheál Malone has been welcoming customers back and says business has been quite brisk. “It has been very busy, it’ll be very busy for this week, people are getting Christmas haircuts as well.” Customers are very happy to finally get tidied up and get a part of their routine back. “They’re delighted to get back and to see us as well, it’s a bit of normality as well. Six weeks is a long time with people getting a haircut every four weeks.” In business for the last 25 years, he says this has been by far the strangest and most difficult one. “We’ve only worked for six months of the year really, to be honest about it. It has been strange for the staff as well, you’re not seeing them. The first lockdown was …

BUILDING work on the new Ennis Scout Hall is hoped to be complete by March 2021, however it has been confirmed that the Ennis scouts still have a shortfall in funding for the development and need to raise €115,000. The Ennis Scouts 1st and 4th have recently been successful in securing a community grant from the Ennis Municipal District of €10,000 with Fiona Staunton, chairperson, saying, “We are very grateful for this and also for the recognition by the town councillors in the asset this development will be to the community. Building work is moving along and we hope to be finished by March 2021. However, we still have a shortfall.” The scouts have now launched an appeal to businesses in Ennis to support the development saying, “We cannot achieve our goal without the continued support of the wider community”. According to Fiona, “We are acutely aware that many businesses are struggling at the moment but believe this project has the capacity to …