Tag Archives: volunteers

IN 1860, over 1,200 volunteers from Ireland travelled to Italy to fight for the Papal States in the Papal Wars. An appeal was made throughout the country for funds to support the volunteers. Twenty-three Catholic parishes from Clare published lists of subscribers in newspapers of the day and, now, members of Clare Roots Society have undertaken to transcribe the names of these subscribers, resulting in a database of over 4,000 names. This week, members of Clare Roots Society handed over the Papal Army database to county librarian, Helen Walsh. In recent times, staff at the library’s Local Studies Centre came across extensive lists of subscribers names published in The Clare Journal, the local newspaper of the day. The subscriptions were in response to an appeal for funds to support the Irish volunteers to the Papal Army in the summer of 1860. Peter Beirne, Local Studies Centre librarian, immediately saw the value of these lists to genealogy researchers tracing Clare families. …

A woman in her late sixties died after falling into the water in Lough Derg in the early hours of Sunday morning, despite an extensive rescue operation. The incident happened at the marina near the village of Dromineer on the shores of Lough Derg. The RNLI based at Dromineer was tasked by the Valentia Coastguard Marine Coordination Centre at about 1.15 and were told there were two people in the water. Within about seven minutes, the RNLI crew of three volunteers were on the water and learned that only one person remained in the water. It is understood that a man entered the water with a view to saving the woman but was unable to do so. After leaving the water, he then contacted the emergency services. The Shannon coastguard helicopter Rescue 115 was also tasked to assist in the rescue operation. However, the helicopter was stood down while en route to the scene as the RNLI had recovered the woman from the water. Five …