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Tag Archives: Kathleen McNamara

Youth Club Cook up a Storm for Christmas

CHRISTMAS comes but once a year but in the lakeside community of Flagmount, young people get to celebrate it twice, as each year they create from scratch their own Christmas dinner, complete with turkey, Brussels sprouts and carols. The Lough Graney Youth Club members, from the ages of 12 to 20, design the three-course menu and prepare starters, cook a turkey and bake desserts for up to 25 people. As team leaders, Rebecca Smyth from Killanena, Louise O’Connell from Flagmount and Ella MacNamara from Caher, explain, this is the one time of the year when the whole group comes together. “We’ve been doing this for six or seven years, since we all went into secondary school,” Louise said. “It’s nice we all make the food together and we all have different parts we look after. Some people will be on the apple crumble and some people will be on the turkey and then we all come together to eat it …

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50 years of swimming lessons at Lough Granery

FOR 50 years, children have been learning to swim and lifesave in Lough Graney, thanks to a community initiative supported by Irish Water Safety Clare. On Saturday, July 29, the thousands of people who learned to swim will be invited back to the shores of Lough Graney to celebrate this milestone. To mark the occasion, the community will run a number of free, water-based activities. On the day, two locals who both participated in the swimming lessons, Ken Collins and John O’Mara, will take to the water to show off their skills, as part of a charity swim, in aid of Raheen Hospice. Each year, the swimming lessons take place over the last two weeks in July and between 50 and 60 children partake each week. People come from all over East Clare and South Galway to join in and learn how to swim. This annual event has been made possible by a team of dedicated local volunteers, including Kathleen …

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Lough Graney centre to open doors

AFTER more than 10 years waiting, the doors of the Lough Graney Community Centre are set to open. Ahead of opening for public viewing on Saturday,  Kathleen McNamara, secretary of Loughgraney Community Development Association, acknowledged, “There is no way we would have a community centre in Flagmount without CLDC.” The community development association received LEADER funding of €230,000 to build this centre and, subsequently, received€45,000 under Sports Capital funding to equip the centre. “CLDC have been brilliant. I know they are fighting this struggle about keeping LEADER funding administered by CLDC, but we have seen first-hand what it can do. If we didn’t have CLDC administering the funding, then a small community like ours would never have got it. I think it is vital for LEADER funding to be left with CLDC and our small rural parish and community is a case in point for it. CLDC have a great rapport with communities and they give you backup and support. There …

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