Month: May 2007

which has been compiled by Gerald Kennedy to mark the 40th anniver- sary of the club.

Superstars of Irish football such as Ronnie Whelan and Packie Bon- nar were in north Clare earlier this month to help mark the historic day for the club.

“We started off about five years ago with the idea of putting this book together. An awful lot of work

was done back then in gathering old match reports, photos and any kind of memorabilia together. As the 40th anniversary began to come closer, we decided that we really should get moving and put the book together,’ said Gerry Kennedy.

“We didn’t realise how much work would be involved in doing it. The collection is fairly comprehensive, but there were one or two things that were difficult to find. I remember taking some photographs myself in the early days but the quality was so poor in those days that not a lot of them survived. Older photographs were one of the hardest things to

track down.

“We were getting lots of bits and pieces all the time and while there was some few things that we weren’t able to include, I’m not sure we could have made it any bigger or more comprehensive. We were lucky in the early days that soccer was treated as a bit of a novelty sport and, because of that, it got a lot of coverage in the media at that time.”

The books track the evolution of the club since its foundation at New- town United in 1967 up until its latest incarnation as Corofin Harps.

“We have got great feedback from old members of the club. It brings

back great memories for them. But equally for the young people, they get to look back and see where the club has come from and how it has developed into what it is today,” con- tinued Gerry.

“In fact, there is really something in the book for anyone who has an interest in sport in Clare. The club has had a lot of ups and downs over the years and it has not always been smooth sailing.”

The book is available at a cost of €15 from O’Callaghan’s Newsa- gents in Corofin. Alternatively, you can contact Gerry Kennedy at 086 3478050 for more details.

LAHINCH’S reputation as Clare’s Mecca for new and original music continues to grow with the news of a band who are taking an original slant at performing and making music.

The Navigators are a local four- piece who have taken up residence in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch on Wednesday evenings. The band fea- tures a mountain of musical talent in- cluding famed uilleann piper, Davy Spillane, who plays electric guitar, Ogi Doyle on drums, Mark Farrelly on keys and synth and Blendi Kras- niqi on precession.

They play a mixture of jazz, blues and funk with the inclusion of a few contemporary electronic sounds.

The original thing about them, how- ever, 1s that they do not write songs; instead, they improvise their music each night.

“We are friends and neighbours who live here. We’re not here just for the summer, we are here for a long time. We’re almost like a social club. We love playing the kind of music that we play. We’re not doing it to impress people, we are doing it to impress ourselves. It’s unrehearsed but it’s deliberately unrehearsed,” said Davy Spillane.

“There is a real thrill 1n it. There 1s a great journey to go into a night of three hours of music when you don’t know what you are going to do. There is a real fear, it’s fantastic. Really challenging. The crowd are looking

at us and we are looking back, not re- ally knowing what to do.”

While the music is unscripted, a great deal of work goes into mak- ing the three-hour gigs happen each week. Every performance is record- ed, listened to and discussed by the band who strive to make each night better than the previous one.

This process of making music al- lows the audience the chance to wit- ness, and even effect, original music as it is being made.

“We try to avoid learning music but instead navigate ourselves through the music. That’s why we are the navigators,” said Mark Farrelly.

“We have a theme as a band. We have bits and pieces of music that we like and they develop naturally, but

we don’t rehearse. We are trying to get away from the structured, framed music.

“We respond to the crowd. When the crowd start cheering and are into it, we do tend to push it farther. As the people start getting into it and the energy rises, the music starts to get aul elome

The Navigators play in Flanaghan’s Bar in Lahinch each Wednesday aneeaal

STUDENTS at Ennis Community College have been doing their bit to raise money for some of the world’s poorest people.

The school recently handed over a cheque worth almost €3,500 to Tro- caire after taking part in the organi- Zation’s annual 24-hour fast.

The students join the 15,000 other students nationwide that take part in Trocaire’s RTE 2fm 24-Hour Fast every year. This year’s fast helped raise essential funds for Trocaire’s long-term development projects in the world’s poorest countries.

The fast focused on India this year, where millions of people live in pov- erty, with little or no access to educa- tion or healthcare.

Despite the economic expansions of India in recent years, an estimated

27 million people still live in poverty in the two regions where Trocaire works. Many of the communities Troécaire supports are living without a clean water supply, without access to education and without the chance tO go.

Last year about 20,000 people over- all, raised over €lmillion through the fast for Trocaire’s long-term de- velopment programmes worldwide.

Teacher Catriona McNicholas said the students were eager to take part in the fast.

“We had around 61 students from Ennis Community College and the Gaelcholaiste taking part. They came from first year to sixth year, basically anyone who wanted to take part.”

She explained the school had been involved in a number of other fund- raising projects.

“They raised €550 for Daffodil

Day. One of the students went to Chernobyl! with St Joseph’s and some of the students raised €1000 for that nana

Meanwhile, a former student of Ennis Community College has won one of the most prestigious awards in Irish science.

In April, Iris Choi was the winner of the inaugural Rosse medal for graduate research in physics.

Iris won for presentation of her work in Quantum Cryptography. She is a member of the Tyndall Institute and University College Cork.

Ms Choi, originally from Hong Kong, gave details of her work, which seeks to securely encode and transmit information at the quantum arial

The medal commemorates the third Earl of Rosse (Sir William Par- sons KP, PRS) and his contributions

to science. The presentation of the medal was made by the seventh Earl of Rosse, Sir Brendan Parsons.

During the 1840s and starting from virtually first principles, the third Earl of Rosse, Sir William Parsons, designed and implemented the build- ing of the mirrors, tube and mount- ings for a 72 inch reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world at that time and remained so for three quarters of a century.

THE HUGE cost of gas bills to peo- ple living in local authority homes has to be tackled, Shannon council- lors have warned.

Councillor Tony Mulcachy called for alternative heating systems to be used in council homes in the future after hearing from Shannon residents who are “being savaged” by bills of €200 a month and up- wards.

Speaking at a meeting of Shannon town councillors, that by virtue of qualifying for local authority hous- ing “many of these people are on low incomes. They are being cru- cified, seriously struggling to pay these bills. As the local authority which built these houses, we have to come up with ways to ease this”.

He called for the council to con- sider using alternative heating sys- tems such as wood-chip boilers or solar energy in homes which are

built in the future.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy said that in older estates, heating systems were of the dual variety, where a fire could be lit and backboilers used to heat the home.

“When natural gas came along, people were told it was a cheap al- ternative to oil and they assumed that was the case. People assumed that the price of oil was going up, but they didn’t necessarily realise that so was the price of gas. People

need to be educated in the most eco- nomic and efficient use of the gas systems,’ she said.

Town manager Ger Dollard said that with the publication last week of the national energy strategy, lo- cal authorities will be funded to provide energy efficient homes.

He added that the current thinking in designing local authority homes is towards making use of energy sources such as solar power to bring down the cost of energy bills.

ELECTION candidates who park vans festooned with their faces and publicity on double-yellow lines and no parking areas around the county have come in for a hammering from a Shannon town councillor.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy told a recent meeting of the town council that the vans are a menace, the way some of the election workers park Weloeee

“When they are carelessly parked, they are a hazard and there’s no mis- taking that,’ she told the meeting.

“T want to know is the council em- powered to tow them away or do we

contact the gardai or what? There can’t be one rule for parking for some people and another rule for others.”

Cllr McCarthy said that in Shan- non, she is also concerned about the way trucks and cars advertised for sale are parked.

‘“There’s one car for sale parked in a yellow box. I had to go to the petrol station recently in Shannon and there was a big articulated truck parked in the feeder lane. The time before that there were three trucks there – I couldn’t see a thing,” she told the meeting.

Cllr McCarthy said that to the best of her knowledge “these are offenc-

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Cllr Gerry Flynn said that the road to the front of the Oakwood Arms “is a very busy road. We need a filter lane on Bothar Mor. There’s the fill- ing station, the Oakwood and now the recycling centre will be coming on line. I think this is something the roads department can do”, he said.

Shannon’s mayor, Tony McMa- hon, said that he 1s concerned about small, broken areas left on the mar- gins when roads are done.

The areas are uneven and unsight- ly, he said, asking whether finishing these areas could be included in road works. During the roads discussion, members were shown a letter from a resident in Shannon, complaining

that the council had put double-yel- low lines to the rear of his house without consulting him.

Roads engineers told the meeting that no parking spaces were sacri- ficed to the double yellow lines.

Cllr Tony Mulcachy asked wheth- er it be possible to have some form of consultation when these type of changes are being made, possibly by having a leaflet drop.

But Cllr Gerry Flynn said that it would not be practical to do leaflet drops for every double yellow line.

“Where we do address problems by widening roads, then we see people parking in the area, it just makes it ridiculous,” he told the meeting.

GARDAI in Shannon welcomed a delegation from Canada including a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to County Clare on Friday as part of a scheme to pro- mote a transatlantic literacy pro- eramme involving dozens of schools and libraries in Ireland and Canada.

Constable John T Kennedy of the RCMP, or Mounties as they are affectionately known, met with members of An Garda Siochana at Shannon and later with some of the participants of “The Reading Chal- lenge. Cst Kennedy was accompa- nied on his visit by Eric Stackhouse, Chief Librarian, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

The visit is the culmination of a link forged last year between Clare County Library, An Garda Siochana, Canadian Libraries, the Royal Cana- dian Mounted Police (RCMP) and 21 National Schools in Co Clare aimed at promoting reading among chil- Clone

‘The Reading Challenge’ forms part of the ‘Adopt-a-Library Literacy Program’, which was established ten years ago in northern New Bruns- wick by the RCMP. The police act as the ‘bridge’ between the commu- nity and the library, and in return the library develops programs and ac- tivities that directly impact literacy amongst children.

Explaining how the Challenge works, Patricia Fitzgerald, Assistant Librarian, Children’s Services, Clare

County Library said, “Gardai and public library staff visit participat- ing schools where they explain the importance and fun of reading to the children and encourage them to use their local library. Once a month, a designated teacher in each school counts the number of books read before registering the tally on ‘The Reading Challenge’ website.

The Reading Challenge began in late 2006 and has proven to be hugely successful. The participating National Schools are Tubber, Bur- rane, Clouna, Carrigaholt, Doonaha, Lackyle, Killaloe Boys National, En- nis Educate Together School, Coore, St. Senans National School Kilrush, Moy, Mullagh, Corofin, Flagmount, Crusheen, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Cratloe, Moyasta, Feakle, Doora and

Inagh.

At the end of the school year, the school that has read the most books overall will receive €2100 worth of books, sponsored by Scholastic pub- lishers. Clare County Library is also awarding the school who reads the most with €2000 worth of books.

County Librarian Noel Crowley said, ““We are delighted to have been able to partake in such an important and unique program. The Library Service looks forward to further developing the initiative in county Okan

WORK on the new playground in Sixmilebridge is due to get under- way within two months and a major fundraising drive will be launched locally next week.

Planning permission for the project was secured from Clare County Council five months ago. However the council did not grant permission for the area to be fenced off. The committee behind the project felt DOE NOON ECMAY’c-RN Rol O1UUDKCLO MEDI MEBOCCMN DOI) te ests of security, and appealed this condition to An Bord Pleanala.

This appeal was successful last week and now means that the eroup’s full plans will get the go-

ahead.

Funding, to the tune of €110,000, has been granted by Clare County Council and various Government agencies, while locals have also raised money for the project.

Now that the start of the work is in sight, a major fundraising drive is to get underway in the local area. A public meeting will take place at Teach Cuirte on Thursday, May 10, where the fundraising plan will be made public.

“Donations are more than welcome. We are looking to raise €14,000 to complete the construction and we will have to raise €3,000 to €4,000 every year to fund the insurance. Local businesses have been excel-

lent and we will now start a big ap- peal,’ said chairperson of the com- mittee Gwen Bowen.

“We will be moving forward from then. We would be hoping to start building within eight weeks,’ she added.

The boundary will consist of a two-metre high green-coated steel fence, at the site, which 1s located at Cappagh Lodge. To offset the visual impact of the proposed boundary treatment, the committee has been asked to submit a revised landscaping plan, indicating trees and shrubs, which are to be planted along the perimeter of the site.

In its ruling, An Bord Pleanala stated that the boundary was neces-

sary “in the interest of ensuring the facility 1s secure out-of-hours and does not present a threat in terms of damage or injuries to unsupervised users.”

“The playground will be located in the middle of a green space and will be surrounded by a cycle track. We have been on the road for a while. The hiccup was the planning condition, which we had to appeal. We have been ready to go since last Summer,’ said Ms Bowen.

When completed, the facility will be run by the local community and will be a huge asset for the people of Sixmilebridge, where the popu- lation has grown hugely in recent years.

A LITHUANIAN man who falsely imprisoned and threatened to kill a 40-year-old woman in Ennis has been jailed for three years.

Ennis Circuit Court heard yesterday that the attack was “unprovoked” and the woman was “in the wrong place at the wrong time”.

Arturas Kupriscenka (22), of Hol- land’s Place, Liscannor, also admit- ted assaulting the woman and steal- ing her handbag in the early hours of October 15 last year.

Garda Trevor Sheehan said the woman was walking towards Sand- field Place when the accused pulled up alongside her in his car. He jumped out of the car, grabbed her and forced her into the car. He then locked the door and drove off at speed in the di- rection of Galway.

He hit her with the back of his hand. He drove as far as Ballyalla and beat her to the face and body. He tried to rip her clothes off, but she fought back. He put his hand up to her mouth and threatened to kill her.

‘He told her to shut up or he would

kill her. She was terrified. She put up a huge struggle,” he said.

Kupriscenka eventually opened the door of the car and threw her out and she managed to make her way to a house in Ballyalla and raise the rUPDeOee

Kupriscenka was arrested shortly afterwards on suspicion of drink driving at a Garda checkpoint.

The court was told that the victim suffered extensive bruising and spent four days in hospital. She continues to suffer emotionally.

Defence Counsel John Edwards,

SC, said his client was not charged with abduction and was denying that he had dragged her in to the car.

‘His contention was she had sought a lift from him and he had given her a lift,’ said Mr Edwards.

He said that Kupriscenka, who has lived in Ireland for almost two years, had a difficult upbringing in his na- OAM COUNT RA

He said he had drank six pints and four double vodkas and he could not remember a lot of what happened that night. Kupriscenka apologised in court.

Judge Carroll Moran said the case was “disturbing”.

‘There was no reason for the ac- cused to attack this lady. He didn’t know her and she didn’t know him. I haven’t been given any explanation as to why he did this. . . Clearly this is worrying because this sort of thing could happen again,” he said.

He said he was obliged to accept that the accused gave the woman a lift, rather than drag her into the car.

He imposed a four year jail term and suspended one year because he had pleaded guilty.

PARENTS and pre-school young- sters are being invited to make new friends at the resurrected Parent and Toddler meetings in Scariff.

The group has started up again af- ter a year’s gap 1n the childcare room behind Brian and Jo’s café on the main street.

A few parents and their tots began meeting last week and there’s room

for lots more, says co-ordinator with the East Clare Community Support eroup, Jo Baker.

“We can accommodate up to twelve parents and if there’s more demand than this, then we’ll start up a second eroup,’ she said.

The fun meetings give parents a chance to chat and relax while the younger participants can play and enjoy each other’s company as well.

Shortly, the group will be enjoying

arts and crafts classes and story-tell- ing sessions.

“Parents can enjoy activities with their young children and it’s a friend- ly, sociable environemnt,” said Jo.

The meetings are free to anyone with a child up to school age and they are held on Wednesday mornings be- tween 10am and |2pm.

The group is just one of a number of activities organised under the aus- pices of the East Clare Community

Support organisation at Derg House in Scariff.

Currently, there is a tyranoing pro- gramme for people with disability in train and a diploma course in Com- munity development practice, which is under NUI Galway.

The support group runs various academic and community-oriented courses through the year as well as facilitating community groups and networking organisations.

THIS week sees the culmination of a long road strew with paperwork for a north east Clare group and their little Od tNaxone

Minister Brian Lenihan will be the VIP on Friday at the official opening of the Lough Graney Kids Corner community creche, childcare and af- ter-schools facility.

The facility was purpose built after sucessfully securing a building grant of €1 million and a further €94,000 for equipment.

“We started several years back in the national school, where we had a playschool in a spare room,” said Kathleen McNamara, Secretary of the childcare committee.

“We applied for and got a staffing erant, which meant we were able to expand to pre-school and after school care. That grant was a major cog in the wheel. It gave us the opening to keep going forward.”

What followed was “a mountain of paperwork”, said Kathleen. “We had forms everywhere. It was never ending but when you see the benefit to the community today, it was well worth it.”

Now the facility operates out of a state-of-the art purpose built home at the back of the school, with fifty children being catered for.

The structure is child-friendly, tim- ber framed with underfloor heating and wood floors for little feet.

“We don’t just sit around keeping an eye on them. We are very activ- ity oriented. While we do homework with the children, we also have peo- ple come in to do activities like gym- nastics and crafts. We do a cookery class for children which is very pop- ular. There are lots of things like that that parents just don’t get time to do with the children anymore.”

And the youngsters are not the only ones who benefit from the new build- ing. There are regular community classes in the activity room such as (0yeeF

“When older people come here for a class, they get to mix with the chil- dren,” said Kathleen.

The staff even offer a summer camp and a birthday party facility, where children can celebrate their big day without parents having the hassel of having to bring gangs of children to their homes or drive their own miles to a party.

Built by a local builder, to a design

by architect, Peter Sheils, the child- care centre will soon have it’s own website and open days are planned for new parents and their children. Welcoming the official opening, lo-

cal councillor Pat Hayes said the fa- cility is “a really valuable part of the infrastructure of the area and a re- source for the entire north east Clare area. We can be justifiably proud to

have an important facility like this”.