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WITH Christmas drawing near, a number of high-profile artists are featured in exhibitions around north Clare this week, hoping to offer punt- ers the perfect Christmas present.

The Courthouse Gallery in Ennisty- mon is hosting a special Christmas exhibition entitled “Small Works’, which features the work of a number of well-known Clare artists.

The exhibition will include prints, photographs, drawings and sculpture from the likes of Richard Sharpe, Barbara Roder and Finola Graham.

“This exhibition is a really great opportunity for people to purchase an artwork for Christmas among the

large selection on display, which will bring joy to you or a loved one for many years to come,” said Kathryn Comber of the Courthouse Gallery.

The exhibition will continue from 12 to 5pm, Tuesday to Saturday, until December 21.

Meanwhile, Kenny’s Lahinch Art Gallery will host an exhibition by Irish artist Philip Gray until Janu- ary 10. Gray was this year’s winner of the highly coveted Fine Art Trade Guild ‘Best Up and Coming Artist Award 2007’ in the UK this year. The exhibition will include a number of recent works.

Widely exhibited in multiple for- mats, Gray captures the imagination with scenes familiar to many. The

west of Ireland and sea and land- scapes in sunrise and sunset are sub- jects which create a contemporary appeal.

Gray’s passion and insistence on perfection never wavers, as can be seen in each of his compositions, the sheer beauty and impact of his 1m- ages regularly stop people in their WRG ep

He has achieved international suc- cess as an artist and his work is a celebration of both what he sees and feels and a wish to share the beauty and diverse emotion of life itself.

The Ballyvaughan Christmas market will host its last weekend of festivities and fun this weekend. Or- ganisers are hoping for one last good

weekend before the specially made German Christkindl wooden huts get put away for another year.

Back in’ Ennistymon, Noinin, Aficionado and Crosbies in the Square are continuing to pool their resources in promoting the shop lo- cal campaign this Christmas.

Aficionado is a mothers, babies and gift boutique which provides mater- nity-wear, children’s clothes up to the age six years and a collection of nursery accessories.

Noinin fashion boutique stocks funky wear to formal wear and Cros- bies supplies a great selection of un- usual Christmas decorations, home accessories and cotton rugs, to name but a few.

THE recently held AGM of the Clare Camogie Board reinstated the en- tire out-going committee of Maura Sheedy (Chairperson), Mary Hogan (Secretary) and Michael Maher (Treasurer). Orla Hayes again takes the position of Registrar, Bridie O’Looney will continue as Munster Delegate and Orla Considine who acted as Assistant PRO takes over as PRO.

All assistant positions are also now filled with Kevin Halpin (Newmar- ket-on-Fergus) taking Vice-Chair, Mike Griffen (Clarecastle) as Assist- ant ‘Treasurer and in the bid to grow the coverage of camogie, Kathleen McMahon and Marie McDonald will

assist as PROs.

In a positive move, Patricia O’Grady has taken over as Integration Officer which will be important to camogie as it attempts to build links across the codes to ensure the full availabil- ity of all girls at all stages of each campaign. Bridie O’Looney also ac- cepted the office of Child Welfare and in a new position Kate Lynch of Kilkishen will take the position of Youth Officer, a role which will ex- press the views of young players in the county and 1s specifically aimed at those under the age of 18.

The role of Irish Officer was not filled as Anne-Marie Arthur who was nominated for the position was not present and therefore was not permitted to take the role. This posi-

tion was left over to the next meeting as Chairperson Maura Sheedy stated that it would be nice to have some- one who would be able to address the board meetings in Irish.

Fr Murray of Whitegate was again elected to the position of president in his absence to the meeting due to cir- cumstances in the parish of White- ee

The contest for Chairperson in which Bernie Ryan of Clarecastle had expressed an interest did not materialise as due to circumstances he was unable to attend the meeting. He had, however, sent a letter to the county board expressing his interest in the position and wishing that his name go forward. This was not per- mitted by the meeting though as it

was stated that to be elected you had to be present.

The Clarecastle delegates stated that they had checked this with Ard Comhairle and that it was permitted that you could run for a position in your absence. This was not permitted but Mr Ryan had not been informed of such on receipt of his letter by the County Board.

The meeting also elected a Fixtures Committee, Discipline Committee, Finance Committee and Field & De- velopment Committee. Again there were nominees for these committees who were not able to attend on the night and these were not permitted to be elected to the committees.

The fear with this is that people who are interested in helping out and

getting involved might not wish to do so in the future as in the past officers and committee members have been elected without being present at the eVGA E

The meeting went on to discuss the motions for the AGM these were some 59 in number but not all were dealt with on the night as the meet- ing was adjourned after |!lpm with- out having the matters of the meeting finished.

The meeting was also to attend to the matter of team management for 2008 which the meeting was in- formed would come up under AOB. As the meeting did not get this far, the issue was not dealt with and will now have to wait until the reconvened meeting in January.

WATCH your wallets folks, there’s pickpockets about as the staff and students of Mary Immaculate Sec- ondary School in Lisdoonvarna make final preparations to host their first musical.

The ultimate pickpocketers’ tale, Oliver! opens today in the school with two matinée and three evening performances taking place. With a long tradition of Christmas pan- tos in Mary Immaculate, this year the school decided to go one step further.

“This is our first musical at the school, usually we do a Christmas panto but this year we said we would

try out the musical and see how it Lele

“We have got a couple of first years who sing with the Lismourahaun Singers and we have a bit of talent in the senior classes, so we thought Ol- iver! would be a good show to look at because it has such a good mix,” said teacher Mark Mulqueeney.

“The idea is to establish it this year and maybe take it on then every second or third year. It’s a fairly big undertaking so we wouldn’t do it every year.

“We had been getting requests from parents to put on a show and when the talent is there you have to go for it. There is a great mix of male and female characters in Oliver! so it was

a really good show for us.”

The show will star Brendan Schol- und, Peter Lynch, Mark O’Donnell, Aishling Clancy and Evelyn Linnane in a production which combines tal- ented students from every age and class in the school.

“T was involved in our panto last year, when I was in transition year, and I got roped into auditioning this year because of that. It’s a good thing to do, a lot of fun,’ says Aisling Clancy from Kilfenora, who plays Fagan.

“Fagan looks after the runaway pickpockets, he trains them in what to do. They steal stuff for him and he sells it off. He’s a rogue but he’s a bit of a likeable rogue.

“IT feel grand about playing a male character. I played one last year for the panto so I don’t mind — you just have to wear a beard. I’d love to car- ry on with musicals beyond this, it’s something I’m interested in.”

The show takes place over three nights from Tuesday, December 18 to Thursday, December 20 in the school hall from 8pm. To book, you can contact the school on 065 7074266.

MARY Hogan outgoing county Sec- retary in her address to Thursday’s Camogie AGM told delegates of her privilege in having been involved with the county set up and how she was disappointed that Clare had yet again failed to win the Junior All- Ireland at the third attempt. She re- marked on the progress of the U14 Coilte Development Squad and the U16 Munster Title while the U16 and U18 teams also did quite well at national level. Deirdre Murphy and Claire Commane were congratu- lated on their All-Star nominations and all those who were chosen on the Gael Linn Inter Provincial team with manager Fintain McNamara. Congratulations were also conveyed to Vera Loughnane on the individual skills award and Denise Lynch who won the Long Puck. To all teams who won county titles notably Sixmileb- ridge who represented the county at the Feile Finals and Kilnamona who won Munster Club title. She noted that the difficulties with the fixtures is the most pressing problem for the Board and the secretary thanked all GAA clubs and referees who had as- sisted in the running of games during the year. She also thanked her fellow officers for an enjoyable year, and the sponsors of all club competitions and County teams.

Treasurer Michael Maher presented a detailed account of the Boards fi- nances which he is glad to report are in the plus after the year on end. The Board ran several fundraisers during the year and had an extremely posi- tive response to the All-Ireland final fund. The dog night in Galway pro- vided a profit to the board of €7,020, while the flag day earned €3,399, the bag packing €940 and the All- Ireland fund €15,340.

It cost the board €28,734 to look af- ter all teams in the county U14, U16, U18 Junior and Intermediate which is not too bad considering that they played in three Munster Finals, the U16’s reached the semi-final stage and the Juniors played in an All-Ire- land final. The board did have other

day to day expenses and medals etc to provide but at the end of year there was a surplus of €4,872.91 for year on end. The Treasurer thanked all gate collectors, fundraisers, clubs and GAA clubs for their support dur- ing the year and thanked Pat Fitzger- ald for his commitment to Camogie.

The Chairperson Maura Sheedy also congratulated all club win- ners for 2007 and recounted on the county teams exploits of the year. She expressed her disappointment at the Junior Teams loss at the All-Ire- land final stage, also the U16 teams loss at semi-final stage and the U18 loss at quarter-final stage which she stated was related to Kilmaley’s fail- ure to release players and the Junior Teams involvement. She expressed her disappointment at having to ask the County Junior management and some players to have to leave the November meeting of the Board and finally wished Deirdre Murphy well in her role as Munster Development Officer.

Kathleen McMahon as PRO thanked all clubs for their help and co-operation during the year and ac- knowledged the support of all media outlets in the county for their support in the promotion of Camogie in the county and wished for this to con- tinue in the coming year.

Sympathies were expressed to Michael O’Halloran of Corofin who attended the AGM. Michael is a pre- vious treasurer of the board and on the day of the AGM had the personal experience of burying his brother.

The board were told that the man- agements of the teams may be present at the January meeting to outline their wishes for 2008.

Tributes were paid to the officers on the jobs during the year and Michael Maher was thanked for his detailed report of the finances of the board and the hard job which it was to keep the accounts in the plus, which he was managing to do.

JOHN McGuire is lapping up the at- tention. The compliments are flow- ing and the man at the centre of it all smiles, shyly.

It is one year since John set up his own business and a mulled wine and mince pie reception for his friends and colleagues marks a milestone in his life.

The 37-year-old set up his own business “John’s Woodwork Shop’ at the Ballycasey Craft Centre a year ago. He specialises in assembling wood products, from rocking horses and chairs to cribs, birdhouses and purpose-built kennels.

John’s business has grown consider- ably since its inception and this is not unexpected. What stands out how- ever 1S the fact that John has fought the odds to progress in an industry he dearly loves.

The Quin native suffers from mus-

cular dystrophy, a progressive muscle wasting disease. He also suffers from mild learning difficulties and uses a wheelchair.

However his enthusiasm evidently shines through, thus ensuring his dream of operating his own business is fulfilled.

John was thrilled to have had the opportunity to display some of this fine works at the pre-Christmas craft fair, which was held at the Sean Le- mass Library in Shannon a fortnight ago.

He says that running his own busi- ness is “a dream come true” and has been working in the area of wood for 15 years. He tells me it would take him just two days to assemble a pur- pose-built dog kennel.

He was particularly thrilled to have been commissioned to do work for Eircom in Ennis.

The company sought a number of containers for monkey trees and John

designed and made the containers.

Such has been the demand for his woodwork that John is optimistic he will expand and recruit employees in the future.

John set up the business with the support of the Brothers of Charity in Shannon, where he is a Service user. While he purchases his own mate- rial, the day-to-day running of the company is backed by various bod- ies including Shannon Development, Friends of the Brothers of Charity in Shannon, staff at Ballycasey Craft Centre and ECAT (East Clare Ac- cessible Transport) which transports John to work from his home in Car- rigoran every day.

Julie Dickerson and her team at GE in Shannon gave time voluntar- ily to get the unit cleaned out prior to John setting up his business there last year.

A number of individual workers with the Brothers of Charity, includ-

ing Dermot Maguire and Trish Dil- lon also play a key role in John’s suc- IS

‘The business has really taken off in the past few months and John’s personality has also changed. He has grown in confidence as the business has advanced,” says Trish Dillon.

Brothers of Charity project co-or- dinator Helen Minogue says, “John was always interested in setting up his own business. He didn’t want to be an employee.”

Brothers of Charity team leader Tim O’Neill says, “John had a vision. He had a dream and he had people around him to help him achieve erehee

AT A WELL attended AGM of Eire Og GAA, many tributes were paid to both the senior hurling and football championship teams and manage- ment.

After 17 years without a trophy, the hurlers won the Senior B champion- ship, while the footballers who were the 2006 county champions went down at the final hurdle to a superb Lissycasey outfit.

On club development, the new pitch which has an estimated cost of €300,000 will be officially opened next May, while thanks were given

to St Flannan’s College for accomo- dating the club with pitches on many occasions throughout the year.

There was a long debate on the future of Cusack ark and the unani- mous decision of the club was to sup- port the sale.

It was felt that the further develop- ment of Cusack Park would run into millions of euros but would not be adequate for the present and future generations.

Outgoing Chairman, Pat Fitzpatrick did not seek re-election and the in- coming Chairman, Oliver Hanrahan, was selected unopposed. tributes were paid to both Pat Fitzpatrick and

Pat O’Halloran who had served his term as President and his successor, incoming President Bobby Gray.

The new Executive for the coming year Is:

President – Bobby Gray

Chairman – Oliver Hanrahan

Vice Chairman – Frank Daniels Secretary – Martin O’Donnell Treasurer – Larry Hally

PRO – Pat Daly

Registrar – George Dilger

Other members of Committee – Tony Brohan, Pat Fitzpatrick, Brian O’Connell, Kevin Brennan, Mark Fitzgerald and Alan Malone

THE Brothers of Charity set up its Shannon branch two years ago and the move has improved the lives of several people.

Prior to its establishment in Shan- non, its service users travelled to En- nis every day and worked together as a group. Now, the 11 service users from Shannon and surrounding areas are afforded the opportunity to work individually towards ensuring their

aims and goals in life are realised.

“We support people in an individual way and that fits into our plans,” says the organisation’s Project Co-ordina- tor, Helen Minogue.

In response to the changing needs of its service users, the Brothers of Charity have re-focused it priorities.

‘We have stepped away from deliv- ering services as a group to a Service focused on individuals. We have to be much more flexible now than in the past.

“Instead of having one central building, we have an office in the Re- spond building and an apartment in Ballycasey and we are in the process of buying a house for respite,” says Ms Minogue.

“In opening the centre in Shannon, the service users are not going away from their local community on a dai- ly basis anymore. Times have moved on. We use the facilities of the com- munity to facilitate the service us- ers,” she adds.

“We try to help people realise their own dreams. Some want to travel abroad on holidays, while others want to go into the workforce.”

John McGuire’s success story in running his own wood business has been a direct result of the fantastic support offered by the Brothers of Charity in Shannon. But he is not alone, aS each service user benefits through the organisation’s individual- ised system in ensuring they achieve their own personal goals in life.

CLARE GAA will be plunged into debt unless it goes with the county board proposal to sell Cusack Park and develop a new stadium out of its financial windfall of €66.4 million.

That was the stark scenario placed before delegates to Thursday’s meet- ing of club delegates in the Wood- stock Hotel.

“Refusing this would mean we have to redevelop the existing Cusack

Park, and that would means incur- ring serious debt,’ chairman Michael McDonagh told the county board gathering.

Niall Fitzgerald of Horgan Lynch Civil and Structural Engineers ham- mered home this point when address- ing delegates on the new Cusack Park proposal.

“Four or five years ago we were asked to put together a proposal for the redevelopment of the existing stand at Cusack Park,” Fitzgerald re-

vealed.

“The costing was €5 to €6 million for the stand and an administration building. That’s €5 to €6 million on a stand that would only accommo- date 3,000 people. Given how build- ing costs have gone in the meantime that would be around €10 million now.

“And, you can appreciate that there are other parts of the ground that need to be redveloped. The terrace on the far side and other works.”

Under the county board proposal for the Quin Road site, there would be €66.4 million to build a new Cu- sack Park, two training fields and carparking for over 1000 cars.

“The 32-acre site will be fully serv- iced to foundation level,’ revealed Michael Curtin of the Cusack Park Committee.

“This land is already commercially zoned and any special contribu- tions in relation to the site will be the responsibility of the consortium.

Planning applications and fire certi- fication fees and costs will also be covered by the consortium.

“The GAA will initially negoti- ate the construction contract with Michael McNamara and Co, but is free to take another course of action while we will also get a non-refund- able deposit of €650,000 to cover le- gal and professional fees. If clubs of Clare agree to this deal, the approval of Croke Park will be required,” add- ed Mr Curtin.

TWO east Clare organisations have been given grants by Environment Minister, John Gormley for their role in promoting eco-friendly practices.

The two were among a list of or- ganisations countrywide which re- ceived a total of €600,000 in pay- ments under the 2007 Local Agenda 21 Environmental Partnership Fund Grants.

The Centre for Environmental Living and Training (CELT) was awarded €1,145 for their Biodiver- sity Awareness Programme 2008

The programme provide tutors,

information and appropriate sites where native woodland species can be studied, planted and monitored.

Irish Seed Savers Association (ISSA) Ltd were awarded €1,115 for their “Celebrate Food” project.

The ISSA project aims to raise awareness of some of the issues con- cerning food security from the envi- ronmental cost of industrialised food production.

Agenda 21 is a programme which aims to promote initiatives which help build sustainable communities.

Other organisations in Clare which benefited from the grants were the Clare Association of An _ ‘Taisce

which received €1,167 for the Kuly- ana Project. Kulyana is an Hawaiian word meaning both privilege and responsibility.

The Clare Association of An Taisce with the Limerick/Clare En- ergy Agency will initially give talks and then will carry out a project in five villages or towns in the county aimed at their becoming aware of energy saving and recycling to com- bat climate change.

Another grant of €325 goes to Michele Castiaux for her geology workshop.

The workshop is “aimed at mak- ing children environmentally con-

scious citizens who will understand the importance of our geological re- Se] I Kee

Tom Varley Heritage in Inchicro- nan, Crusheen was awarded €1,080 for his “Community Development, Landscape and Settlement” project.

The scheme aims to encourage pub- lic participation in the development of the parish of Inchicronan and the surrounding area.

The School Book Exchange pro- gramme was awarded €500.

Available on www.schoolbookex- change.ie, the programme allows families all over Ireland to re-use their used college and school books.

THE speed at which the linesman ran towards the referee at the final whistle demonstrated how much he realised his colleague was in for a tongue lashing. The Waterford of- ficial seemed to frustrate both sides over the hour but it was the con- troversial penalty decision which caused the most anger amongst the Mills players, management and sup- Oda ay

It was a bewildering decision really as it was very difficult to see what in fact the penalty was for. Eventu- ally the referee signalled that it was a foot block much to the annoyance of the Mills following. Several Mills players vented their frustration to the official at the time but he had to be escorted off the field after the game as the players and management sur- rounded him once more in an effort to get an explanation for his deci- sion.

Afterwards, the Mills players stood in a understandably trance-like state near the tunnel where manager Mike O’Brien voiced his frustration to the waiting media and inevitably referee Tommy O’Sullivan was at the top of his list.

“It was unbelieveable really. At half time, we knew we had a problem with the referee and I said it to him. We had been awarded just four frees to 16 for our opponents but he made light of it. The second half wasn’t too bad but the penalty decision was the worst I’ve seen in all my time involved in the game. From where I stood it wasn’t a penalty. I would give him O out of 10 for his perform- ance there today. At the end of the day he won it for Canovee and that shouldn’t be the case.”

It was testament to the Mills’ per- formance that the Canovee players and management all remarked that the East Clare side deserved some-

thing out of the game. That wasn’t much consolation to Mike O’Brien and his players but he did reserve special praise for his players for a superb hour’s football, arguably their best performance of the year.

“We couldn’t have asked for any- more. They really came at us in the first half. They probably settled faster but we got into the run of it and maybe we got a fortunate score with the goal. But we were unfortu- nate for a second one as well. Was it a square ball? maybe yes maybe no. Some days they are given but it was definitely as much of a goal as the penalty was but that’s the way it goes. We are very, very, very proud of what the lads have done this year and I’ll you, I couldn’t say enough in deoDumE-NZOloue

“We said we weren’t coming down to make up the numbers. We knew that we had a good team, we knew we were fit and were well capable to keep of keeping the game going for as long as it took. The defending was excellent and I think only for the penalty we had it. You can never be sure of winning but we thought we had it.”

The post-match confrontation with the referee was certainly a talking point but as the photographers rushed to take photos of the incident, Clare Champion photographer John Kelly appeared to be struck by one of the Mills players. It was a bizarre and unsavoury incident that happened in the heat of the moment but O’Brien was quick to stress that he didn’t ac- tually witness the event.

‘Well I had words with the referee after the game and I voiced my dis- pleasure with him once again. While I was talking to him, I noticed some- thing happening behind me but I didn’t see what happened. I don’t know what happened.”

Afterwards, Mr Kelly lodged an of- ficial complaint with the Gardai after

his camera was also damaged in the incident. When asked if the photog- raphers were too close to the play- ers, the Mills manager conceeded that they had been a bit too close for comfort.

“Well they were stuck in our face to be honest and there was two pho- tographers in my face straight away when I was having words with the ref. | mean you don’t have to come that close to get a photo. Now saying that, nobody deserves a belt of a fist or an assault if that’s what happened. That’s what I’m told happened but I haven’t seen it. Now if it is true, it shouldn’t have happened and I would apologise on behalf of the club if it did happen.”

It was obvious by his lowered head how much this defeat was eat- ing away at the Mills manager and O’Brien saved his final tirade for referee Tommy O’Sullivan whom he felt cost his side the Munster title by awarding the controversial penalty.

“IT don’t know how anyone could see it as a penalty but that’s the way it goes. Its gone now so we can’t do anything about it. We are county champions and we had a good run in Munster but we would have no problem being beaten by 12 point today if we were beaten fairly. Full credit to Canovee, I have no problem with them whatsoever. They played a good sporting game, they are a good team and I wish them all the very best. But as I say the performance of that ref today was an absolute dis- grace and I don’t care if I am pulled before any disciplinary committee, I will stand by what I am saying. I will take whatever punishment is going because that’s how I feel.”