The Clare People Archive

A WOMAN whose running career began in Shannon is returning to the town to encourage others to take to the track.

Deirdre Daly-Cahill, has, over the past three years, encouraged doz- ens of women to take up running, through her Meet and Train sessions in Ennis.

She selflessly gave of her time and organised weekly meetings on a vol- untary basis, since 2006. Now, under the auspices of the Clare Sports Part- nership, Deirdre takes a Meet and Train running group in Ennis every Monday night. The Ennis group started five weeks ago and there has been a phenomenal response, with more than 60 women attending every week. Given the resounding success of the Ennis initiative, Clare Sports Partnership co-ordinator John Sweeney decided to organise a pilot project in Shannon, starting tomor- row, Wednesday, at 8pm.

The group will meet at the Shan- non Development office at SkyCourt and will walk/run a one-mile loop, passing St Patrick’s Comprehensive School, the garda station and back to the starting point. The route is fully lit.

Deirdre emphasised that women of all ages and fitness levels are wel- come to attend.

‘The Meet and Train caters for all levels of fitness, from the walker that wishes to progress to jogging and to the jogger who wishes to run a 10k without stopping,” she said.

While she lives at Roslevan, Ennis, Deirdre is no stranger to Shannon. Her mother Christina hailed from Coolmen and her father Michael originally came from Ballyea, just outside Ennis. The family lived in Shannon for a period, when Deirdre was in school.

“History has come full circle. My mother was involved in the running craze in the 1970s and jogged that very same route when a group got to-

gether to keep fit,” she recalled.

While living in Shannon, Deir- dre attended St Conaire’s National School and was taken running by one Ger Loughnane, who taught at that school then. That was when her love of running was born.

“I do remember Ger Loughnane taking us out running. [ also ran with Shannon Athletics Club,” she said.

Although Deirdre gave up running for a number of years while living in London, her passion for the sport re-ignited when she moved to Dublin more than 10 years ago.

“One evening I saw a group of peo- ple out running in Chapelizod. It was the Donore Harriers Meet and Train Group, run by the famous Jim McNa- mara (former Olympian),” she said. Deirdre quickly joined that group and never looked back. Indeed, Jim was her inspiration when she began coaching three years ago. Along with her coaching, Deirdre also runs competitively with Ennis Track Club and ran the Dublin City Marathon

with Clare Crusaders two years ago. Deirdre is also a personal trainer, where she provides one-to-one train- ing from the proverbial couch potato to the fitness fanatic and is available for appointments.

She is optimistic that Meet and Train will take off in Shannon, given the huge interest in fitness among people of all ages.

“Shannon is a progressive town. I believe there would be sufficient in- terest,’ she said.

Anyone interested in joining Deir- dres Meet and Train group should contact Catherine Ryan at Clare Sports Partnership by calling 065 6865434.

A NEW gift card, similar to that which exists at the prestigious Dun- drum Shopping Centre in Dublin, will be launched at SkyCourt in Shannon this week.

In an effort to entice customers to spend their money at SkyCourt, management has designed its very own new gift card scheme, specifi-

cally for use in all of it’s 60 retail outlets in the Shannon complex. It will be launched at a fashion show at SkyCourt food court on Thursday at 7pm.

The gift card is similar in appear- ance to a credit card and is backed by MasterCard.

“It is really simple to use. You buy the card at the SkyCourt service desk, prepay what ever amount you

like and then offer it as a gift for use in any of our stores accepting Mas- terCard/Maestro,’ said SkyCourt manager Pat Kelly.

“We are really pleased to be the first in Munster to introduce this Gift Card Scheme which is currently operating very successfully in Dun- drum Shopping Centre,” said Mr Keath

“Tt helps solve the difficult decision-

making people have at Christmas and birthdays. It allows the receiver of the card to enjoy a shopping ex- perience and purchase exactly what they want,” he said.

An information and purchase point desk will be open in the shopping centre to coincide with Thursday’s fashion show launch. Complimen- tary food and light refreshments will also be available.

SHANNON will play host to the celebration of a major festival by the Indian community in the mid-west, this weekend.

An Indian cultural programme to celebrate Diwali festival is poised to attract some 200 people to the Oakwood Arms Hotel, on Sunday evening (starting at 6pm).

Diwali is also known as ‘The Fes- tival of Lights’ and is India’s biggest festival. Diwali, a religious and cul- tural festival, celebrated by Indians worldwide. Its celebration date is

today, October 28, but the special event in Shannon will be marked on Sunday.

The event is being organised by the Midwest Indian Irish Society (MIIS). One of the organisers Paramyit Neote said there are up to 80 people from India currently living in Shannon.

“There is a large community of Indians living in Shannon, Limer- ick and Ennis. The idea is to bring them together and celebrate the event together and also to promote Indian culture in the local community,” he nee

Mr Neote moved to Ireland 20 years

ago and has worked in the Shannon area since then. He was born in Ken- ya and his parents hailed from India. He lived in Malaysia with his fam- ily for some time, prior to moving to Nyat-veveteyel

On moving to Shannon in 1988, he set up Shannon Aircraft Motorworks in the Shannon Free Zone. It was later sold to an American company and Mr Neote currently works as a business consultant.

“When I moved to Shannon, at the time Tony Ryan was very active in trying to bring aviation groups here. We were very much encouraged to

come to Shannon,” he said.

“The MIIS was set up a couple of years ago. Its main purpose was to help people to settle in here. We got to the stage where we had to get a larger scale,’ he added.

‘We see there is a need to promote an awareness of our group,’ Mr Ne- ote said.

Sunday’s event will include a short prayer, a welcome speech by the MIIS and a speech from Tara Chand, the first secretary, Embassy of India. There will also be two hours of In- dian cultural events performed by lo- cal artists, a dinner and dance.

TO MARK its 20th birthday, the Shannon craft fair is set to be a much bigger, bumper event this year.

A wide array of items, such as jew- ellery, pottery, knitwear, home bak- ing and handmade cards will be on sale during this year’s fair, which is scheduled to take place at the Sean Lemass library in Shannon, between

Monday, December 8 and Wednes- day, December 17.

“We hope to have up to 20 stands this year. We are encouraging peo- ple to support it and keep it going. It will be the place to get that special present. The majority of the stands are run by local people,” said one of the organisers Tess Barry.

“We have a lot to offer this year and we expect that it will be supported,”

she added.

Since the craft fair committee was first set up, there have been many changes in personnel over the years. Bridie Halton was a key member of the committee for many years and has handed the reins over, over time.

‘Many people over the years have helped to make the craft fair a suc- cess. We have had a lot of gifted crafters in the town,’ said Ms Barry.

Last year’s fair ran for just one week and the committee has decided to extend it this year, to cater for de- mand. The next meeting of the craft fair committee will take place next Tuesday, November 4, at the library, SITU BUNTcare lig ov eeF

Anyone interested in holding a stand at the craft fair should contact Tess Barry on 061 352241 or Carmel Daly on 061364266.

THE WOMEN of Killaloe have a boast that would make Brigid Jones envious – they have all the men they F001

In fact what the ladies want is a few more women – to join the men on the catwalk. At the launch last week of the Fashion Extravaganza to raise funds for the Smith-O’ Brien minors, the lads were lining up to be super- models on the night.

“The men quite happily volunteered to model,” said Antoinette Ryan, one of the organising committee.

“The ladies are a bit more shy but we have more ladies boutiques in Killaloe than menswear so we need to persuade a few more ladies.”

The fun fashion event is to raise money to help fund the activities of the busy minors, who have 120 play- ers from under six and who have a team in every age bracket in the county competitions.

The Fashion Extravaganza, which will be held on Friday, November 14 in the Lakeside Hotel in Ballina is the first run by the committee but, they hope, not the last.

‘The boutiques and shoe shops and the businesses in Killaloe and Balli- na have given us fabulous support,” said Antoinette.

Killaloe businesses have rolled in behind the venture, and business con- cerns as far away as Nenagh, Scariff and Limerick have come on board.

“They are supporting us buy show-

ing clothes on the night and every one of them has donated a spot prize – they’ve been fantastic,’ Antoinette said.

The launch last week was spon- sored by Supervalu who provided a cheese and wine reception.

A beautician, hairdresser and two boutiques have offered their service and two €100 clothes vouchers for a make-over for two lucky people on the night.

“There will be boxes around the town in the shops and anyone who would like a makeover has to fill in a form and leave it in the box. We’ll have a draw for two names and they will have things like hair cuts and colouring done in advance with styl- ing, beauty treatments and clothes

picked for them on the night when they will show the “before and afters’ at the show,” said Antoinette. There will be plenty of spot prizes, includ- ing funkiest handbag and wackiest heels.

As well as raising money, the com- mittee are hoping that the show will prove to be a great social night and a Ke) meyas atten

“The main thing is we hope people will come along and support it and have a great time. It should be a fabu- lous night,” said Antoinette.

TWO novel new ways of raising cash for the playground in Scariff were announced at a special launch on Friday night.

Most people are happy to support raffles in a good cause without know- ing what they might win but in this case, what the punters don’t know is how much they will have to pay for the raffle ticket.

“What we are asking people to do is to buy an envelope and when they open the envelope, they will get a slip of paper telling them how much their raffle ticket will cost. It can

be anything from one cent to €30,” explained Joan Crotty of the play- ground committee.

There will be 3,000 envelopes sold and the draw will take place on De- cember 28. First prize is €3,000, with ten prizes of €100 and 20 prizes of €50.

The second fund-raiser will start after Christmas and will involve peo- ple buying a virtual brick for €100 a pop.

“We won’t know how many virtual bricks we need to sell until we see how the raffle goes,” said Joan.

So far, the fund to construct a play- eround in the Riverside Park has

been boosted with grants of €60,000 from Clare County Council’s play- ground fund and €27,000 which has been raised locally through events such as the Thousandaire and the fashion show.

“There are 150 children in the na- tional school here and more in the Steiner school and in Tuamgraney, so we’re hoping that the parishes around Scariff will support the draw as well,’ said Joan.

Plans for the fabulous new facility were on show in Ryan’s bar for the fundraiser launch on Friday night.

The playground is being construct- ed by “Go Play” and will include

separate areas for older children and tiny tots, climbing towers, swings, Slides, roundabouts and wheelchair accessible play equipment as well as the super-safe and hard wearing wet- pore surfacing.

The playground will be the latest addition to the facilities in the Riv- erside Park, which has been an on- going project in Scariff to create an amenity by the river for the village.

For a chance to help boost the playground fund, Mystery Raffle envelopes can be bought from any member of the community council and have been available since the (ete Conte w

THE VOICES of 200 school chil- dren from six east Clare schools will mark the opening this Friday of a festival aimed at keeping the miseries of winter at bay for a while more.

The Féile Eile festival in Killaloe will be joined by a 25 piece Bavar- ian big band who happened to be staying in the area for Friday’s one off gig.

The fesitival centres on family and childrens’ events over the bank holi-

day weekend and will feature mu- sic, film and art shows as well as a number of interactive workshops. The festival is organised by Music in the Glen – a not-for-profit organi- sation that runs a number of music projects in the local area, including beginner strings lessons, music and drama clubs and a children’s choir. Music in the Glen founder Diane Daly said, “There are hundreds of spring and summer festivals around the area, but in the autumn, when people really need cheering up, there wasn’t anything for children

to get involved in. An Féile Eile will fill this gap and put a smile on local faces as we head into the winter.”

One of the highlights of the week- end will be a full cinematic show- ing of two rare Laurel and Hardy films, accompanied by a quartet of live musicians providing an original soundtrack.

On the fun agenda are a fam- ily friendly gig with six-piece soul sensation Hunka Burning Love, a ghostly shadow puppet theatre show, and an interactive art installation.

The festival will open at 10am on

Friday with a ‘schools song sum- mit’ in which children from Killaloe Boys, Killaloe Girls, Bridgetown, Ballina and Boher schools will come together as a choir.

“We have had a lot of support and we want to gratefully acknowledge support from the Killaloe Family Resource Centre, St Flannan’s Ca- thedral, the Lakeside Hotel, Kincora Hall Hotel, Tipperary Arts Office, Clare Arts Office, Killaloe girls, Killaloe boys, Bridgetown, Ballina and Boher National Schools,’ said Diane.

TULLA schoolgirl, Louise McCagh may seem shy and retiring but she’s a young lady muggers would be wiser not to cross.

The Kilkishen girl has just returned from Italy where she took the World Taekwon-do Cup title in the 15 to 18 black belt category as well as gold and silver medals and the Top Junior Competitor ranking.

The wins were no mean achieve- ment as Louise was just one of 1,200 competitors representing 55 coun- Woe

Louise travelled to Riva del Garda

in Northern Italy as one of fifteen Clare competitors who were part of the Irish team.

Competitors from clubs in Shan- non, Quin and Ballyea were involved in the world class competition which saw the Irish team as a whole ranked erere) NOR

“What Louise did was absolutely amazing,’ said Stephen Ryan, one of the coaching team for the competi- tion.

Stephen was also a competitor and he teaches PE and Geography at Tulla Secondary School as well as running Taekwan-do classes after school.

“We are all so proud of Louise –

she’s incredibly talented and she has worked very hard. We knew she was on form this year, winning gold in all her competitions but to take the world title is something else,’ said Stephen.

Louise has been practising her martial art for the last eight years and has been in intensive training for the world competition since last July. “She was training every day and eve- ry spare minute,” said Stephen.

Shy of her new status in the lime- light, she would say only that she is “delighted” to have won and added that it was an honour to have the op- portunity to represent Ireland on the

world stage.

Louise was given a heroine’s wel- come when she returned to Tulla Secondary School after her win.

CODES Lom Ns UDMMCCODeleKo Nee: IKommO)I mm Nloe studies as a fourth year student and will also be looking to defending her world title in two years time at the next world championships in Las Moree he

THERE are some questions in life that one never thought of asking, and for a very good reason. No one really wanted to know the answer.

Then there are those questions that one never thought of asking, but once asked stirred a certain amount of cu- riosity and an answer was necessary to avoid sleepless nights.

Such as — how hairy are Fianna Fail TD Timmy Dooley’s legs and does he wax, shave or go au naturel?

Is Fine Gael councillor Joe Arkins really in touch with his feminine side and if so could he make a Christmas cake covered in delicate icing and pretty decorations?

And who in north Clare has a stom- ach strong enough, not just to eat Cllr

Arkin’s cake and have full view of a Clare TDs legs, but to drink a pint glass of raw eggs?

The answers to all of these thought provoking questions and many more will be available in Nagle’s Lounge Bar on November | at 10pm.

The event is not just a social scien- tific experiment but a fundraiser for the Kilfenora Residents Association so that it can put its best foot forward for next year’s tidy estate awards.

Treasurer and acting secretary Margaret Keane said the association has entered the village’s two estates — An Tronach and John Paul Estate — in the competition for the last two years.

This year the association was highly commended for its work and received a nominal prize from Clare

Seria Greltiere

“We are entering again next year and we want to get some shrubberies and rockeries done. We also prom- ised the teenagers goal posts if we raised enough,” she said.

The whole community has got be- hind the event. Deputy Dooley is having his legs waxed on the night, although rumour has it that it may be his chest, and Cllr Arkins is baking a Christmas cake that will be auc- tioned on the night.

Also up for auction on the night are the services of the areas county councillors.

Cllr Martin Lafferty (Ind) is offer- ing a day in the bog; Cllr Richard Nagel (FF) is offering a day saving hay, while Cllr Martin Conway (FG) is also offering his services — which

has yet to be revealed.

Adding to the mystery of the night local matchmaker Willie Daly is also supplying a surprise.

Cheryl and Patrick McCormack are offering afternoon tea for four at “Fr Ted’s house” for auction, while Rick- ie Healy will cook a three-course dinner for two 1n his own home.

Head shaving, moustache shaving and more auctioned prizes will make up the night.

Finger food will also be served and music supplied by the bar.

ALL roads lead to north Clare at the beginning of the New Year, for the seventh Annual Sponsored Burren Walk, which takes place on Sunday, AVE ha ae

All proceeds for the popular an- nual event, which begins and ends at O’Donoghues Pub in Fanore, go to the Clare branch of The Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, who provide ex- tensive support to the sufferers and families of the estimated 980 cases affected with the disease in the coun- ty at present.

The event is organised by volun- teers, who first devised the idea in 2002 to aid the rapidly increasing

running costs of the Ennis-based branch.

“We thought of doing a fundraiser for the Clare branch and we decided on walking in the Burren as it is a breathtaking, inspirational place that is one of the main walking sites of Europe, not alone Clare,” explains Jerry Howard, one of the organisers of the walk.

“When you do things like this, they may be tough to organise but at the same time, you are pushing an open door with everybody because alzhe- imer’s and dementia has relevance to most houses and when you ask peo- ple to help you or get involved, they are very generous.

“All the money raised is sent to

the Clare branch. They provide two levels of care through day care and home care and it’s brilliant because normally, money raised goes on ad- ministration costs but they have the administration already set up at their office so everything we raise goes directly into the support of that day care or home care. I can genuinely say of all the things I have ever sup- ported or worked with, they are a re- ally, really great organisation.”

With alzheimer’s having an aston- ishing estimated growth of 9,000 per cent worldwide since 1979, Howard paid tribute to the ongoing voluntary work done by the Alzheimer’s Soci- ety in Ennis.

“People are living longer and it’s

becoming more of an issue. Years ago, there was only one person in a family working and there was one person left at home to mind a parent but now it’s a bigger issue because everybody is working.

“They are doing a great service with scarce resources because an aw- ful lot of the work they do in Ennis is all voluntary and they really are the unsung heroes.”

To get involved in the Burren Walk or find out more about alzheimer’s or the society’s services, contact the Clare branch of the Alzheimer’s So- ciety of Ireland at 065 6868621 or 065 6845835. Alternatively, call into the local office situated at Unit 17, Clonroad Business Park, Ennis.