Tag Archives: Eoin Conlan

A UKRAINIAN refugee, who was forced to flee Odessa, is thoroughly enjoying working in North Clare where her safety is guaranteed. Anastasia Hordieieva (31) is working as a swim teacher in Lahinch Leisure Centre, as part of an eight-hour shift three days a week. In an interview with the Champion, Anastasia revealed she only started to have a good night sleep when she felt safe in her new Lisdoonvarna hotel residence. “When I was travelling through Romania I couldn’t sleep properly and would wake up after just two hours. Now, I can have a good sleep. “The war in Ukraine is a horrible nightmare,” she outlined. On March 20, Anastasia arrived in North Clare on her own, having escaped the horrors of the Ukrainian war. Her mother, who is an accountant in a pharmacy company, is still living in Odessa, as she has to take care of her grandmother, who recently suffered from a heart attack. On February 24, Anastasia …

LAHINCH Seaworld and Leisure Centre will open its doors for the first time in two and a half years, after extensive input from the local community. The board of directors made the decision to close in December 2019, just before the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, to find the investment needed to enhance the facility. Eoin Conlan, manager at the centre, emphasised the importance of Clare County Council in getting the facility up and running again, as well as a range of philanthropic donations to that end. He said, “Pat Dowling and all his team, with other local councillors, made funds available for us. Roughly €6 million has gone into the facility in the last two years, and the massive community effort came as much from the local businesses and the regular people.” One feature which the local community asked for was a learning pool, because of the lack of a communal pool in Lahinch; campaigns began to surface on …