Tag Archives: glor

FLEADH Cheoil na hÉireann 2016 is set for a ‘glór-ious’ launch on this Friday night. Senator Labhrás Ó Murchú, Ard-Stiúrthóir, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann will launch the Fleadh, which will be held in Ennis from August 14 to 21, before an invited audience in Glór. There has been much excitement and anticipation around the town and county following the decision of an Ardchomhairle last March to entrust the local Abbey Branch with the honour of hosting the All-Ireland Fleadh in 2016, after a gap of almost 40 years. Since then, chairman Mícheál Ó Riabhaigh and the Fleadh Executive Committee, in partnership with Clare County Council, An Garda Síochána, the health and emergency services, have enthusiastically set about the task of organising the event. And what a mammoth task it is, with an estimated 400,000 visitors, 4,000 competitors and 9,000 session musicians due to descend on Ennis and its environs over the course of nine days next summer. The official opening will …

A MUSIC video to accompany an original song written by a group of Clare teenagers, who just a few days ago did not know one another, could soon be seen by people all over the world. It certainly wasn’t “a hard day’s night” when eight youngsters this week got the chance to get on board the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. The bus rolled into Ennis’ Glór car park on Tuesday and in partnership with Music Generation Clare, the lucky teenagers from all over the county were able to record and produce their own song and music video. That song and video has since been taken away by the tour bus’ on-board engineers to add the finishing touches before they put it on the internet. Emer O’Flaherty, development officer with Music Generation Clare, described the teenagers’ experience as “magical”. “It was a great day and the young people were just amazing. We had quite a lot of applications from young …

FULL Fathom Theatre Ensemble and artistic director, Marie McNamara are delighted with an invitation to perform their new work Exposition at Glór for the Ennis Street Festival next Wednesday. Full Fathom Theatre began as Act Now..! in March 2014, with continuing weekly acting and theatre workshops in Glór for people with and without disability. It has evolved into an ongoing ensemble of actors in training, who have already performed two “works in progress” to invited audiences at Glór. Exposition is Full Fathom’s debut public performance; the story of a journey into the unknown and finding the freedom to enter into that risky place and discover untold riches, courage and an enthusiasm that begs to be seen; an excavation into potential and a celebration of exposure; As an experienced professional actor, theatre and arts and health practitioner and with an MA in drama-therapy, Marie is committed to the creation of quality theatre and the realisation of creative potential through equality, integration …

A Clare Peace Park Initiative to erect a First World War memorial in honour of the Clare men who served and died in the conflict has been granted planning permission. The development, which will now proceed in partnership with the council, is on 0.1 hectares of land at Causeway Link, across the road from Glór, in Ennis and will consist of three standing stones, with inscriptions, which will be surrounded by about 100 square metres of paving with pathways in and out of the memorial site. The group’s chairperson, Dr Keir McNamara, is pleased that the initiative has been granted permission and would welcome further sponsorship to ensure the project can get off the ground as quickly as possible. “If we could get in the last bit of money we need, there’s no reason it couldn’t be completed by the end of this year. If we have a slower response to the fundraising effort, we would probably be looking at the middle of …

ON foot of the hugely successful The Love-Hungry Farmer, Glór welcomes the return of Des Keogh in his new production, My Fair Ladies, on Thursday, June 25. Celebrating his 80th birthday this year, one of Ireland’s most renowned actors and performers, Des Keogh gets to fulfill a life-long ambition to play legendary Irish man of letters, George Bernard Shaw. Following the phenomenal worldwide success of his show, The Love-Hungry Farmer by John B Keane, which he also adapted, Des has written, adapted and performs in a hugely entertaining new play, My Fair Ladies, about the many ladies in the extraordinary life of one of the greatest playwrights of all time. “I’m very well, in spite of my advanced age. I’m in good form and I still have the energy to do it, thank God,” said Des. “I’ve done adaptations but I haven’t written anything original. My last one-man show, which I had a great time with, I adapted it from …

AN exciting mix of street entertainment, including circus and comedy, dance and theatre, will underpin the 10th annual Ennis Street Festival on the first weekend of July. During the three-day festival, Ennis will come alive with fun, art, culture, heritage and festivities featuring local, national and international acts and performances. There will also be a variety of workshops for children and adults, in association with Glór. At night there will be the Ennis Sounds Good music event, with 36 gigs in 15 different venues around the town. The theme of this year’s festival is Celtic Connections. “The Celtic tradition has always had a direct influence on the Ennis Street Festival. Over the last 10 years, we have created connections with a variety of local community groups, national and international artists, who celebrate a Celtic tribal influence. As a result, this year we are celebrating this harmonious co-existence and the beginning of a transition to times of rejuvenated success,” a spokesperson explained.

Corofin Dramatic Society is one of nine finalists in this year’s All-Ireland Drama Festival taking place in Athlone from April 30. Having picked up numerous awards on the open circuit, the society is returning to the stage in Clare this Saturday night in Glór and in Corofin hall next Wednesday and Thursday with its production of The 39 Steps by Patrick Barlow. “It is certainly a busy couple of weeks,” said director John Clancy. “We performed in Glór in February and then after that we did the circuit. The hall [in Corofin] wasn’t ready for us but it is open now and we performed there this week. We will be in Glór on Saturday and we are back in Corofin again next Wednesday and Thursday, before going to the All-Ireland on the May Bank Holiday weekend,” he explained. John acknowledged that it is time-consuming for the cast and crew but no more so than other hobbies. “I know a few lads …

SOLITUDE is an increasingly rare experience and one that many people don’t want. However, there are some who want nothing more from life than to withdraw from the familiar and late English man, Neal MacGregor, was one of those. He died alone, prematurely, at the age of 44, in a stone hen house that he couldn’t stand up in, where he lived without water, electricity or heating, on a tiny island off the Donegal coast. Neal left behind volumes of illustrated notebooks and diaries and his story is told in Neasa Ní Chianain’s film, The Stranger. Speaking about the film, Neasa said, “I don’t think it’s a depressing film, it’s a poignant film. It’s a story of somebody trying to find their place in the world and I think he does that in the end. It’s kind of a love story as well, about his relationship with an island woman.” Neasa lived in Donegal herself and was intrigued by the …