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AN INTERNET posting that invites people to take a trip down memory lane has become a huge hit with 30 somethings from Ennis.

‘You’re a true 30-something from Ennis if you remembet…’ has so far attracted comments from 814 users of the social networking site Fa- cebook. Users are asked to submit their recollections of life growing up in Ennis. The thread, first posted in early January, catalogues the events, buildings and people that made up the social scene in the county capital throughout the ‘80s and ‘90s.

Many of the comments posted on- line refer to former shops, pubs and fast food outlets.

One user recalls “Buying a blank video tape in Hurdy Gurdy’s for £13, taping the Friday night movie on RTE, watching it the following day and wondering, in awe, if technology like this could ever be equalled…”

Another writes that “you’re a true 30-something from Ennis if you re- member when the Queen’s disco gave a dinner of roast chicken, chips and peas, and gravy, and all for a fiver”.

Discos at the Cloughleigh Commu- nity Centre, Chapel Lane are also re- called, as is the Little Theatre Café, which one Facebook user says had the “best ice-cream in the world with the sweets on top”.

Another comments that true En- nis 30-somethings will remember “Smyth’s on Carmody Street and Broderick’s and Arthur’s on Parnell Street where you could buy loose eye N | Rae

Knox’s supermarket, Crubeens and a chip shop in Chapel Lane, Layden’s Pub in the market and Denis Moran’s — “the only place where you could buy net curtains and a bra at the same time” – are among the other old

Ennis businesses recalled.

One post remembers, “When Cheers (pub) first opened and they had the Cheers Ennis logo on all the pint glasses and the ashtrays, everyone had one! Place was robbed of glasses and ashtrays every night haahah.”

The price of fast food is a popular topic, with one post wistfully recall- ing when a bag of chips in Enzo’s cost SOp and another noting that a bag of chips in Oodles, formerly located at

Drumbiggle, cost 30p.

The heyday of bands like Bitter Harvest who made up the local mu- sic scene in Ennis is also remem- bered with one user commenting that “You’re a true 30-something in En- nis if you remember The Big G (Gen- erator) on bank holiday Monday’s in Henry J’s.”

Another person recalls, “Taking that long dark road to the rugby club to hear Bush Plant… and then trying

to find your way back.”

School memories also figure prom- inently throughout the list with one person recalling former principal of Ennis National School “Gary Stack giving a free for stupidity against you on the hurling field in the “Nash.”

THERE’S a great thirst in Tulla for cups of tea, coffee and, later in the day, something a bit stronger.

Friends and neighbours will be drinking up on Friday, February 12 when local women, Kay Madden and Lavender Wright have their an- nual ‘open house’ serving cuppas in a good cause.

Kay and her friend and neighbour, Lavender, have been hosting a coffee day in Main Street for 12 years now in aid of the Clare 250 Cancer Cen- tre to raise funds to send patients to Lourdes.

Kay is modest about the amount raised last year because the pair don’t like anyone calling to feel un- der pressure to donate any specific amount.

‘“Let’s just say it was a significant amount and it sent a good number of people to Lourdes. We just put a box by the door and people can donate any amount they want. We just keep the tea and coffee coming. We want it to be another great community day,” said Kay.

Friends, neighbours and the wider community are all invited to call to number 23, between 10am and 10pm, for a hot cuppa, soup, lovely home baking and even an Irish coffee.

The two women are no strangers to the seriousness of cancer, having both walked that road ten years ago.

“I was nominated back then to go to Lourdes and I really believe that the strength I got from that trip and all the support and help I got were what turned me around,” said Kay.

Over the last twelve years, Kay and Lavender, with the support of neigh- bours and friends, have raised money every year through the coffee days, car boot sales and donations.

“T really want to thank my neigh- bours and friends. They have been SO supportive to us. They come along and help us set up in the morn- ing, they make the tea and coffee and Irish coffees and at ten at night they help me wrap up. They’re wonderful. They have me where I am today,” said Kay.

Both Kay and Lavender have had to confront dealing with the terrify- ing disease so they know how im- portant care, research and the moral and emotional support offered by the people who take part in the Clare 250 is. Apart from the good cause, the day is an occasion where neigh- bours and friends come to call, sit down and take time out.

“One of the highlights of the day is when the children get off school and they come in. It’s great for the younger people to be part of this

community day.

“We have everyone – older people coming after they’ve collected their pensions and children coming after school – it’s a real community day, a team effort and that’s why it’s so special,” explained Kay.

THE NUMBER of companies in Clare to find themselves on the rails has more than trebled in the last four years.

25 Clare companies went into re- celvership, examinership or liquida- tion in the year ended December 31, compared to seven during 2005.

The figures released by financial advisory firm, FGS show that just one in three examinerships were successful last year. One of the com- panies which rallied and stayed open with the aid of examinership was the Clare-based Lynch hotel group.

In all 1,570 Irish companies went into receivership, examinership or liquidation last year. The largest cas- ualties have been in the construction industry with 593 companies in this sector – 37 per cent of the total.

And most worrying is that the in- formation does not point to a slow- down as 28 per cent of the failures occurred in the last three months of 2009.

CLARE senior hurling manager Ger O’Loughlin has called for patience from supporters as he looks to step up the rebuilding process to make Clare a serious force in hurling once rae) Kor

O’Loughlin was speaking after his side claimed victory in their opening game of the year against college side WIT and in a frank assessment, the two time All-Star winner feels that this is a three year development plan due to the low average age and inex- perience of the current squad.

“It’s a very young panel and I hon- estly do believe that this set-up will be three years before we will actu- ally see how good they are going to be. I hope people have the patience because we have only something like five lads over 25 so you can’t expect miracles.”

Clare’s All-Ireland Under 21 suc- cess has brought renewed hope to the county after a disastrous year at senior level but despite calling up a large percentage of that Under 21 squad, assilimilating them to senior hurling will take time according to O’ Loughlin.

“There are new lads on the scene and you could see there today how enthusiastic they were. They wanted to be on there, they were trying hard, they were hooking and blocking and as I say we will all learn as we’re go- ing along I presume.”

Next up for Clare will be a quarter- final clash with All-Ireland finalists and Munster champions Tipperary in what will be a repeat of last year’s final. Clare have played the Premier on five competitive occasions over the last two years, with their only victory coming in last year’s Wa- terford Crystal Cup in Ogonnelloe; Clare’s first senior trophy in eleven years. That game will now take place next Tuesday evening, January 26th in Borrisoleigh at 8pm but for O’Loughlin, game time is still his main motivation at the moment.

‘These matches are great if the weather can improve because you could see there that this 1s what we were lacking there today. We have Six or seven sessions done on the physical side of it and you can even see that the lads were able to hold out there for the 62 or 63 minutes but we need more hurling.”

THE COMPANY behind plans to extract 4.5 tonnes of material from a site in Ruan has appealed Clare County Council’s decision to reject the proposal which was supported by a number of bogus submissions.

Last month, the Council refused planning permission to Lagan Bitu- men Ltd for the 45-acre quarry at Ardkearney, Ruan over fears that it would pose a risk to traffic safety.

The Council claimed that the com- pany did not own the land to upgrad- ing the site and consequently refused planning permission – a move wel- comed by opponents to the plan.

However, in their appeal, Lagan Bitumen state that it is difficult to reconcile the Council’s claim that the proposed upgrade represents a traffic hazard when in fact, it repre- sents a major design improvement in the existing junction.

They state that the roads upgrade will be on land registered by Ennis Supply Ltd. and landowner, Stephen Flaherty is agreeable in principle to the works being carried out on his Voce) route

Lagan Bitumen and is one of the Lagan Group of companies and the material extracted from the site will be used by another of the Lagan Group sites — the Irish asphalt site at Tulla.

The appeal states that site inves- tigations have established that the material available at Ardkearney is eminently suitable for use in the Tul- la plant as it has been rated as high quality limestone.

A decision is due on the appeal later this year.

CLARE TD and Minister for State Tony Killeen (FF) is only too aware of what benefits the National Color- ectal Screening Service can bring to potential cancer suffers in Ireland.

The junior minister who was di- agnosed with bowel cancer last year said the announcement of the screen- ing service by the minister for health was positive, “as the key intervention in cancer of any kind is early diag- nosis”.

“If I went a bit sooner I would have

escaped the trauma and discomfort of chemotherapy,” he maintained.

“If I went later the outcome would be much more negative,” he added.

Announcing the new screening service, Minister Mary Harney said, “The next and most important clini- cal priority for population screening has been colorectal screening. This is acritically important development for both men and women. Colorectal screening has two great benefits – early detection of cancer, improving treatment outcomes, and the detec- tion of pre-cancerous growths.”

The first screening programme will be for people aged between 60 and oe,

“We are starting this year with the detailed preparations, so that the pro- gramme will commence screening in 2012 for the people involved on a national basis irrespective of where people live,” she said.

Minister Killeen added, “This is one of the diagnosis that tends to be very accurate, and with early diagno- sis the recovery rate is very high.”

“When an opportunity like this (screening) is put to people they usu-

ally use it,” he said.

The Clare Minister admitted that men are not the best however for attending doctors for tests, but said there is usually a positive if you go pm Ansar

“There 1s no advantage of going too late,’ he warned.

Colorectal cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among men and women in Ireland.

About 2,200 new cases are diag- nosed every year and approximately 1,000 people die from it.

Free screening will initially be of-

fered to 400,000 people in the 60 to 69 age group. The programme will be operated by the National Cancer Screening Service in cooperation with the Health Service Executive and will be extended to all those aged 55 to 74 years of age “as logistics and resources allow”’.

The 60 to 69 year age group con- tains about 50 per cent of all cases of colorectal cancer in the 55 to 74 year age band, and other countries includ- ing England, Sweden and Finland have aimed their programmes on this 60 to 69 year age group also.

ST VINCENT de Paul in Ennis is encouraging people with time on their hands to join up as volunteers. As the organisation launches its an- nual volunteer drive, its president Cathal Oakes is urging people to attend its open night on Wednesday next, January 27 (Temple Gate Hotel at 8.30pm).

With unemployment rates on the increase due to the downturn, vol- unteering across the board is on the increase in Clare.

Those who get on board as vol- unteers with St Vincent de Paul are assigned to various projects. These include becoming part of the hospi-

tal visitation team or as home volun- lo ie

St Vincent de Paul also runs a hos- tel and shop in Ennis, but these are primarily managed by staff rather than volunteers.

“We have a hospital visitation team and we go into St Joseph’s Hospital once a fortnight. We also have family visitations in Ennis and surrounds,” he said.

Young people interested in getting involved have the choice of joining schools branches of St Vincent de Paul. There is one up and running in Shannon and plans are in place to set up branches in schools in Ennis and Kildysart.

He is encouraging people to attend

the open night.

“We tell them what the commit- ment is like and if they are interested in becoming a member we set up training,’ said Mr Oakes.

“Those involved are from a very broad spectrum. We find that if one person joins, they tell people at work and more people join from that source,” he said.

The organisation is expecting to hear dozens of queries from people interested in volunteering, but would be hopeful of recruiting a dozen vol- OnE

“Countywide we have about 120 volunteers at the moment. We are looking to recruit 10 or 12 commit- ted members in the Ennis area,’ he

added.

“People used to come in in dribs and drabs, but now they come in and do three nights’ training and they are volunteers as quickly as possible,” said Mr Oakes.

Those who sign up next week will take part in training over the coming weeks and this will be completed by the end of February. They then take part in the various initiatives spear- headed by the organisation. The organisation is busy, particularly to- wards the end of the year.

“December is by far the busiest time of the year. It was particularly busy in 2009 because of the floods and the lack of the Christmas bonus,” said Mr Oakes.

AS SHANNON Development pre- pares to publish its end of year re- port, it 1s being speculated that the development agency may have to sell some of its property.

The Department of Tourism said no to an application for extra funding from the Mid-West Task Force.

The alternative for the regional de- velopment agency – which is also the regional tourism authority – may well now be to sell some of its property.

Good management of the property portfolio which it holds has in the past allowed Shannon Development to be largely self-financing.

But the recession has seen a down- turn in the number of occupied prop- erties and a subsequent drop in rental income for the development agency.

The loss of the majority of activity on the Dell site means also the loss of the largest tenant in the Raheen estate, which is managed by Shan- non Development.

The same circumstance has put further pressure on Shannon Devel- opment to provide initiatives which might lead to replacement jobs.

Dr Vincent Cunnane was appoint- ed to the leadership of the Mid-West Task Force last year and the report which it produced for the tanaiste

recommends increased development of tourism across the Shannon region as one of the key moves in promoting regional recovery.

The report recommended _ that Shannon Development should get an extra €5 million for the next three years from the department to “fur- ther tourism development and inno- e1n (Oy 0 lee

It also recommended that the mar- keting budget of the development agency should be directly funded by the department. Neither recom- mendations has been acted on in the department’s tourism budget, firing speculation that Shannon Develop- ment will have to dig into their own resources.

The amount which Shannon Devel- opment will receive in subvention fro the department will remain the same as it was in 2009, €832,000.

Meanwhile, efforts are continuing to have the €3 million fund for Shan- non Airport taken out of the hands of Tourism Ireland and put into the cof- fers of more local tourism control.

It had been expected that the mon- ey would be allocated to Shannon control to promote traffic and routes at Shannon in 2010 but it remained under the control of Tourism Ireland, despite lobbying by regional tourism stakeholders.

LEADING Clare students have re- ceived special awards for their aca- demic achievements and contribu- tions to their schools and colleges during their second-level studies.

A scroll and silver medal were presented by Clare Vocational Edu- cation Committee to the students in each of its eight colleges with high- est 2009 Leaving Certificate results and those nominated for outstand- ing participation and contribution to their schools. The top Junior Certifi- cate students were also honoured at the ceremony at the Woodstock Ho- tel, Ennis.

Vocational Education Com- mittee Chief Executive, George O’Callaghan said it was fitting that the committee recognise, appreciate and award the students for their ef- forts and achievements.

The awards went to the following students:

Leaving Certificate – Micheal O’ Loughlin, Ennistymon Vocational School; Paulo Rouque, Ennis Com- munity College; Cormac O Suilleab- hain, Gaelcholaiste an Chlair; Maria O’Brien, St Anne’s Community Col- lege, Killaloe; Suzi O’Gorman, St Joseph’s Community College, Kail- kee; Laura McCarthy, St John Bo- sco Community College, Kildysart; Eimear McNamara, Scariff Commu- nity College, and Eimear Pilkington, St Michael’s Community College, KGiieebtente

Merit awards – Cathal Sexton, En- nistymon Vocational School; Lisa Mullins, Ennis Community College;

Caitriona Ziemann, Gaelcholaiste an Chlair; Tom Prendergast, St Anne’s Community College, Killaloe; Clodagh Brew, St Joseph’s Commu- nity College, Kilkee; Nicola Hogan, St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart; Brian Corry, Scariff Com- munity College, and Imelda Hehir, St Michael’s Community College, KGareebtavl

Junior Certificate – Ennis Com- munity College, Igor Brodecki; Ennistymon Vocational School, Kieran Roche; Gaelcholaiste an Chlair, Genevieve Ni Liodain; St Anne’s Community College, Killa- loe, Christopher Balfe; St Joseph’s Community College, Kilkee, Jim Downes; St John Bosco Community College, Kildysart, Laura Clancy;

Scariff Community College, Frank Blake; St Michael’s Community Col- lege, Kilmihil, Gearoid Johnston.

Junior Certificate Irish awards – Gaelcholaiste an Chlair: Yasmin De Blaca, Christina Ni Fhoughld-El- lis, Genevieve Ni Liodain, Cait Ni Mhurchu, Fionnuala Ni Niallghuis, Leanne Ni Ruairc, Bernadette Nic Chonmara.; Coldaiste Phobal Cull an Disirt, Laura Clancy; Colaiste Phobal Naomh Aine, Cill Da Lua: Christopher Balfe and Sarah Ann OT Es

AN EVENING of entertainment from some of Clare’s most talented musicians will help to raise funds for a charity which aims to support carers and help them cope with the stresses of the job.

The Feakle-based Ciunas Com- munity Centre for Complimentary Health has taken up residence in Feakle village since just before Oi tah aeet-ky

The service aims to help carers and their families cope with stress and to provide services which support Wetoeee

Ciunas, which is a charity, was set up by Anita Hayes, Catherine Pa- tience and Tonia Custers, three ther- apists who are themselves carers.

“Being a carer can be very tiring and what we want to do here is to provide carers – and the people they care for – with something which sup- ports and lifts them, whether that’s a massage, creative writing or sing- ing,” Anita explained.

Carers give a long-term commit- ment to looking after someone else’s needs and fatigue and depression are just some of the problems which can come with the job.

“We’re talking about preventative health care, we want to provide a bridge, an extra layer of support,’ said Anita.

Just opened in Feakle, the centre currently caters for a small number of clients but can cater for up to 100 and they hope to expand to these buss LeLSs ECR

“We are here for anyone who Is a carer, whether they are caring for someone with special needs or an elderly person and the people they care for can also come along,’ said Anita.

The centre can now call on the services of up to 15 fully-qualified therapists, from psychotherapists to massage therapists.

All of the professionals offer their treatments for €20 a session, about one-third of the normal fee.

The centre got a one-off grant from the JP McManus fund but the fees charged for treatments don’t come close to covering the costs so the mu- sical fundraising evening is vital.

“We think it will be a lovely evening and we’re keeping the cost of tickets down to €15 because we want carers

to be able to come too,” said Anita.

The concert takes place in St Mary’s Church in Feakle on Janu- ary 29 at 8pm and features Mar- tin Hayes, Mary McNamara, Mike Hanrahan, Tommy Hayes, Manus McGuire, Denis Carey and special guests. Paula Carroll is the MC.

Ciunas are located in the new building on the site of the old cream- ery and they can be contacted on 061 924837. For more information about the service, visit Www.ciunascentre. fey ene