AN art exhibition entitled Horizons, featuring work by members of Shannon Men’s Shed is going on display in the Library on this Thursday. It is part of Creative Places Shannon, an initiative of Clare Arts Office, which saw a six week art course run with participants from the Men’s Shed. Working under the guidance of artist David O’Rourke, the group has produced magnificent vibrant landscape paintings. David has exhibited nationally and internationally and has also been involved in almost all aspects of art locally, from setting up artists’ collectives to working with community groups and as an educator in local schools. Derek Clune is a member of the Men’s Shed and is one of those that has been taking the art classes over the last number of weeks. He says that all those participating have got a lot out of it. “It’s great for the men. There are people who would never have thought of art and wouldn’t have painted …
Read More »“It showed us how important it is to get out and meet people”
THE weather is changing and the days are shortening, but the Shannon Tidy Towns group is still active. “We’ll still be doing litter picks, that’s important because you’re never free of rubbish in any town or village, group secretary Derek Clune told The Champion. “It’s important to keep the River Walk tidy because it’s very well used, the Town Park is the same. When the Town Park was developed the Council introduced this Leave No Trace, the idea is that everyone takes away everything, and it’s great in theory but in practice it doesn’t work I’m afraid. “If that wasn’t done two or three times a week it would look bad. It’s very well used, families use it, you have the pump track there, the River Walk is the same, even people from outside Shannon use it.” The group is also hoping to complete a long-planned project this month. “We have a big project in the pipeline for a long …
Read More »Make A Difference: reducing waste and upcycling
In our most recent Make A Difference article here Bridget Ginnity explored how we can control our consumerism and waste generation. Here she profiles a group and an individual tackling waste in different ways Christy Collins, Shannon Men’s Shed We pick up old stuff from the recycling centre and do them up, bikes, old timber and so on. We use wood we get to build outdoor furniture of the primary schools, buddy benches, picnic benches, bug hotels and so on – maybe we need buddy benches in parks for adults too. We upcycled old steel seats from Shannon park for the new wetlands area, and they’re like new. We are lucky to have a premises in the industrial estate, with three workspaces and a meeting room. The meeting room is the best part of it, it’s great to see men talking, an alternative to the pub We make all kinds of thing. We have a woodturning lathe that is great …
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