Tag Archives: Tuamgraney

AN avid sportsman in his formative years, Sam Slater tried every sport available to him in the small-town rural setting, where he grew up in East Clare. He tried traditional sports, like hurling, rugby and soccer, which was his main sport, but having discovered mixed martial arts by playing a computer game, he thought this sport was too good to be true. “We were on a holiday in the UK for three weeks and me and my brother were playing UFC 2009 Undisputed on X-Box and we were loving it. There were loads of little real video clips but we were saying that it couldn’t be real – it’s probably like pro wrestling, it’s not real. We did a bit of research and we realised this sport is actually real, so, from then, I had to try it. I was just 15 at the time and living in East Clare so there was nowhere to try mixed martial arts (MMA),” …

THE 80th anniversary of the death of the legendary Dr Tommy Daly from Tulla was recalled last weekend, when a memorial was unveiled in Tuamgraney at the spot where he was tragically killed in 1936. According to the inquest, he died following a single vehicle collision, after he swerved to avoid a cyclist on the road between Tuamgraney and Scariff. Harry O’Meara, the winner of two senior championship medals with Scariff, came on the scene of the accident. He was 10 years of age at the time and he was present on Saturday when the unveiling took place. Speaking at the unveiling, Denis Corry (Tulla), who wrote a detailed article on the great goalkeeper for the Tulla GAA history book, The Claret and Gold, recalled the achievements of the man after whom the GAA park in Tulla is named. An All-Ireland junior medal winner with Clare in 1914, Dr Daly won three championships with Collegians in Dublin and six Fitzgibbon …

East Clare based charity CELT, has received €14,000 in funding for a project which aims to provide skills and create employment in the local community. An environmental organisation located in Tuamgraney, CELT were approved for the financial aid to fund their woodland management and skills training programme. Part of  a £2.5million Skills & Opportunities Fund from Ulster Bank, RBS and NatWest, €14,000 was awarded to five Irish organisations, including CELT, to enable them support disadvantaged communities by helping people to learn new skills, get into the world of work or set up their own business. Organisations were required to submit a project proposal which had a special emphasis on helping their communities to develop new skills. CELT’s Woodland Management Skills Training programme will run over a six month period providing eight one-day workshops which will each cater for 25 participants. Speaking about the organisations success, Bob Wilson of CELT said: “With the help of Ulster Bank’s Skills and Opportunity fund …

CLARE TD Michael McNamara has called on the State to acquire Drewsboro House, the birthplace of acclaimed author Edna O’Brien, with a view to turning it into a writer’s retreat and museum. In a letter to the newly appointed Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys TD, Deputy McNamara highlighted the cultural significance of the house, which is located in Tuamgraney. The property, which consists of 7.025acres, failed to sell at auction earlier this month and the Clare TD believes if the State were to acquire the property it would represent “good value for the State”. “The primary importance of Drewsboro is cultural. Readers of The Country Girls and many other Edna O’Brien novels are very familiar with the house. In her memoir Edna describes her childhood home as ‘a large two storey house with bay windows, and could be approached by two avenues an old and a new’,” he stated in his letter to Minister Humphreys. He …

THE birthplace of renowned author Edna O’Brien has failed to sell at auction after the guiding price of €300,000 to €350,000 was not reached. The property went to public auction on Tuesday in the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis. The highest bid placed on the property was €200,000 and came after approximately six bids from two separate bidders. On this basis Noel Corcoran Auctioneers, of  Tipperary town withdrew the house from auction. They remain open to offers on the property and it has not been withdrawn from the market. By Carol Byrne

TUAMGRANEY’s community weekend attracted record numbers to the East Clare village this past bank holiday weekend, as the festival elected a new mayor, and celebrated the life and times of Brian Ború. After a hotly contested election campaign the new Mayor of Tuamgraney was announced as Frank O’Meara, representing Hassett’s Bar. A first time candidate, Frank beat off competition from Michael Daly representing Teach Uí Bhrian, Mary Hogan representing East Clare Equestrian Centre, and Louise Carey representing Ryans Fuels. With 2,200 votes cast across the whole weekend, it came down to 49 votes separating the mayor from his nearest rival, Louise Carey. The new mayor was announced at an event on Sunday night and the chain of office was presented to Frank O’Meara, by Councillor Joe Cooney, who knows a few things about poll topping, on Sunday night to a gathering of approximately 700 people in the Marquee at Hassetts. Frank’s first official duty as Mayor was on Monday when …

CELT, the Centre for Environmental Living and Training is running three events as part of Biodiversity Week, which is focused on recording and identifying mosses, lichens and liverworts. On Wednesday they will hold a Raheen Oakwood event with students from the ALFA project, Active Learning for Adolescents, which is based in Tuamgraney. The surveying is being held to raise awareness of this microscopic world, which is part of our biodiversity. “Native woodlands are the richest land based habitat for biodiversity, Irelands authentic landscape is Western Atlantic temperate rainforest dominated by Oakwood, this habitat is rich in bryophytes and epiphytes (mosses, lichens, ferns, liverworts) due to the high moisture content and unique adaptability of the Oak woods through time,” Andrew St Ledger, native woodland specialist and CELT biodiversity co-ordinator outlined. The event involves recording mosses, lichens and liverworts in Irish oak woods, with separate identification sessions using a microscope as well as manuals the results will be compiled and then shared …

Nine East Clare community and Tidy Towns groups have benefitted from a once-off funding allocation, totaling €34,000, under the Public Area Enhancement Scheme, to improve their own locality. The Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government is providing 75% of the finance, with the remainder being matched by Clare County Council. Scariff Community Council’s project to carry out improvement works to Riverside Park, and Sixmilebridge Development Association/Tidy Towns’ proposal to develop a Slí na Sláinte Walk Route have benefitted from most of the funding available, each receiving €6,000. Further to this, two East Clare groups will receive €5,000 under the fund. They include Kilkishen Development Ltd, which aims to develop a Kilkishen Castle Bog Walk, while Tuamgraney Development Association will also benefit from this funding, which will be used to carry out improvement works to the approach road to Tuamgraney from Bodyke. Aistear Iniscealtra Mountshannon have been awarded €3,000 in funding to upgrade the public park, while, in a …