Tag Archives: lahinch

By Gordon Deegan A Lahinch surfer has saved an ‘exhausted’ sheep from drowning after the sheep had fallen off a cliff edge at the Clare seaside resort. Johnny Casey was out surfing waves at Lahinch at the southern end of the beach when he spotted the ‘marooned’ sheep in a little cave on a ledge at the cliffs. Mr Casey said today that with the tide coming in, there was a real fear that the sheep would drown and he went about rescuing the female sheep. Recalling the recent rescue effort for the ewe, Mr Casey – who celebrates his 30th birthday this weekend – stated that he saw the sheep was “standing there motionless on the ledge. She ended up there after falling down the cliff”. He stated: “I paddled in when I saw the sheep. I got one more wave and off I went. I went over to her and she was quite shaken.” Mr Casey then went to the family home …

A FORMER Clare Person of the Year, who was instrumental in raising funds for Clare GAA, was laid to rest at the end of last month. Seán Hegarty was a native of Carhugar, Lahinch and spent over half a century working in Dublin, heading up Hegarty Demolition, one of the country’s leading civil engineering companies. A past pupil of CBS, Ennistymon, Seán won a scholarship to University College Galway (UCG) and graduated with a degree in Civil Engineering. In 1971, along with his wife Carmel, he established Hegarty Earthworks, a company specialising in industrial development, site development and road construction. In 1990, he founded Hegarty Demolition, in response to the huge growth in urban renewal, regeneration and conservation. When the redevelopment of Croke Park began in 1993, Hegarty Demolition was the contractor selected for the demolition of the Cusack Stand. Seats salvaged from the project were later donated by Seán to the Michael Cusack Centre in Carron. A passionate supporter …

A former Mayor of Kilkee has urged tourists and visitors to stay away from the West Clare holiday hotspot during the holiday period to minimise the spread of Covid-19. While Claire Haugh stressed holidaymakers are normally very welcome in Kilkee, she is concerned that any large influx of people into the town could result in the unwanted transmission of the virus. “It is a hugely difficult and dangerous time for everyone and the safety of people in Kilkee is paramount. We welcome visitors all year round but these are different and frightening times. “People in Kilkee are trying to mind ourselves and visitors should be cautious of their own health. “There will be good times ahead when the vaccine comes in and then there will be a thousand welcomes for people to come to Kilkee. “When things get better, the doors will be wide open to welcome them as usual. We love having visitors in Kilkee and it is great …

AS HIS book The King of the Swingers climbs the best selling Irish books chart this Christmas the veteran musician Paddy Cole has revealed that he put the finishing touches to it in Lahinch, where he has a holiday home for years. The acclaimed saxophonist also penned a poem, during lockdown, about his love of the Banner County. The memoir was written, during lockdown, with Galway author Tom Gilmore. With both of them cocooning on different sides of the country, most of the interviews were done via Skype. “However, when the first lockdown was lifted, Tom and myself met in Lahinch over a weekend and the finishing touches were put to the book at Lahinch Golf Club,” Paddy said. Known to music fans as ‘The King of the Swingers,’ Paddy has been an international star for almost 70 years and his book lifts the lid on his showbiz exploits at home and abroad. The autobiography reveals the secrets of his …

A TALENTED Lahinch-based film-maker has scooped a top national award from the Irish Professional Photographers and Videographers Association (IPPVA). Gavin Gallagher, from Barefield, and the founder of Dreamcatcher Films, had the honour of taking the title of Wedding Videographer of the Year, fighting off stiff competition from all over the country. “We won the award for a six-minute film and another for a 60-second Instagram edit,” Gavin told The Champion. “We have an amazing team here and we just can’t believe it, we’re delighted with the win.” The honours are all the sweeter because they come at the end of a very difficult year for everyone who provides wedding services. “We lost 70 weddings this year,” Gavin said. “It has been a crazy year and the award means so much with everything that’s happened. It’s really rejuvenated us and we’re looking forward to 2021. Couples who had have to defer their weddings and cope with so much uncertainty have been …

TUESDAY was exactly 100 years on from the Rineen ambush and the atrocities that followed, and the events of that day were marked at the site of the ambush and in Lahinch. Due to Covid-19, relatively few people were able to attend the commemorations of what was one of the most notable events in Clare during the War of Independence. Mary Crawford is part of the commemoration committee, which met in Rineen and raised the Irish flag at the site where the IRA engaged with the enemy, killing six RIC men. She said they had decided at a very early stage that holding a mass ceremony wasn’t a possibility. “Last March, when it started to look like we’d have a lockdown we guessed we wouldn’t be proceeding with commemorations really, so we were ready for it. Obviously we’d have something else planned in other circumstances, but we did all we could,” she said. Mary’s grand-uncle was involved in the ambush, …

AFTER an unusually warm and sunny weekend, Kilkee was overcast and somewhat autumnal on Monday afternoon. Staycationers were fewer than they had been even 24 hours earlier, but shopkeeper Donal Hayes wasn’t complaining as he said the season which is ending has been the best one for many years. While the pandemic has crippled many businesses and even some entire industries, it has actually helped his shop. “It’s been a huge benefit to us, I hate to say it, but it was. The only poor weekend was Whit weekend, I think that was the way for the whole of the town. The summer was excellent, last weekend was as good as any over the summer. You can see today it has quietened a lot so we’ll see how it goes until the October Bank Holiday Weekend, if we can get the weekends out of it we’ll be very, very happy with that.” Asked if business would have been up five …

A BOOST to hotel trade in parts of Clare has come in the form of newly-weds honeymooning at home this year. With a raft of Covid-19 related rules curtailing the size of gatherings at weddings, many have opted to defer their nuptials, but those who are tying the knot in the time of coronavirus, are providing tourism operations with a very welcome staycation boost. “I have seen a lot of Irish honeymooners coming to Clare,” said Lahinch hotelier Michael Vaughan. “My stocks of champagne are much depleted and anecdotally I’m hearing that couples who are staying in the country for their honeymoons are getting to discover what the country has to offer. I think there is a silver lining here in that people are quite surprised by what their own country has to offer.” In terms of his own business, the former Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) president said that while visitor numbers had been strong in August, he estimate that …