The Clare People Archive

was launched in Kildysart at the weekend.

This is Bernie’s first recording and she is donating all receipts to the lo- cal branch of the Cystic Fibrosis As- sociation of Ireland.

The 16 songs on the album were

inspired by Paradise, a beautiful old estate, west of Ballynacally.

Bernie has a wide range of singing experiences and achievements hav- ing appeared as a guest singer at the Fleadh Nua Singers Club 2007 and at the Ennis Singers Club in 2005. She was the winner of the 2004 AIB You’re a Star competition and is a former member of the Cicilian Music Society, Limerick and of the Ennis Musical Society.

Bernie is the winner of two All-Ire- land Slogadh Sean Nos Competitions under the guidance of tutor, Johnny

McCarthy, NT (Ret) Ballynacally. She was also a winner of under age and senior singing titles at Clare Fleadh Cheoil.

The album was produced and re- corded by Michael O’Brien of the Ennis Singers Club and mastered by Frank Whelan of Comhaltas, Ceolte- oiri, Eireann.

Design was courtesy of Peadar McNamara from the Ennis Singers Club with graphics courtesy of Séan Downes, Congress Information and Opportunity Centre, Ennis.

Album photography was taken by

Mike McMahon, Ballynacally.

Cystic Fibrosis Association of Ire- land is a volunteering charitable or- ganisation, set up in 1963, to increase knowledge and awareness of CF and to give advice and support to people with CF and their families.

Cystic Fibrosis is Ireland’s most common life threatening genetically inherited disease. Approximately 1 in 20 people are carriers of the CF gene, and where two carriers parent a child together, there is a one in four chance of the baby being born with ‘oe

THE daughter of a prominent west Clare politician is set to become a familiar face among legal circles in ETc

27-year-old Marina Keane is be- coming a regular fixture in district court sittings across the county, hav- ing qualified as a solicitor at Black- hall Place last year.

The Kilkee woman is the daughter of Fianna Fail county councillor and former county mayor Patrick Keane.

While she is currently making a name for herself in legal circles, she has long been well-known in Kilkee, through her involvement in several projects.

Among those is her involvement in the Kilkee Housing Association and Friends of Regina House.

Although her work with Michael Houlihan Solicitors in Ennis is keep- ing her very busy, she still finds time to dedicate to those community groups.

Referring to her work with the Housing Association over the past seven years, which is overseeing 29 units of accommodation and a daycare centre on Circular Road in Kilkee, she said, “This will provide housing for the elderly and the disa- bled. There is very much a need for this at the moment.”

Marina, who recently got engaged to her childhood sweetheart Micheal Keane, grew up in a very busy house- hold where she and her brother D1- armuid (20) were encouraged to get involved in community initiatives.

Her mother Margaret is the local postmistress, while her father has

a deep involvement with the local GAA club, along with his endless work in political life.

“My father has always encouraged us to get involved in the community. My mum is centrally involved in the community and dad has been a county councillor since 1991. There is always something going on in our house. From Yam to 5.30pm it is the post office and in the evenings and weekends, dad deals with queries,’ she said.

And while her work life is based in Ennis, her heart will also be in her native Kilkee.

“I love Kilkee. That is where my heart is. I love going home to Kil- kee,’ she enthused.

Marina’s name was mooted as a possible candidate in last year’s gen- eral election, but it did not material-

ise. Although she has been a member of Ogra Fianna Fail in Clare since she was 19, she doesn’t have any im- mediate plans to enter politics.

“At the time, people were looking for a young professional female. It didn’t suit me at the time. I was stud- ying for exams. I am still very much focused on my career. I was never se- riously considering putting my name forward. I will certainly be backing up my father as much as I can,” she rene

For the moment, Marina has plenty on her hands with her legal work . . . along with fixing a date for her wed- ding day.

THE students of Gort Community College last week did 30,000 good deeds for the people of Africa. Last Friday, the school presented Bothar with a cheque for €1,500 – raised through the collection of more than 30,000 copper coins.

The collection was undertaken 24 student from second year who have raised enough money to send two cows to needy families in Africa.

“They started a copper collection there before Christmas. It was going well and then Bothar, as it happens, started their own copper collection

not that long afterwards. They start- ed off my collecting up any loose copper from their houses and their cars and they they started asking everyone else to do the same,” said teacher Virginia Keane.

“At this point they have four huge buckets filled with coppers. But as they were collecting people started to give them other money – they started to get fivers and teners off of people without even asking and the whole thing just grew from there. but is mainly coppers.

“They really didn’t want to be ask- ing people for large amounts fo mon- ey because there are an awful lot of

charities out there now. They didn’t walk to be doing walks or selling lines either – they wanted to do some- thing different, so they just hit upon the idea of the copper collection.”

Bothar officials visited the school on Friday and gave the children a presentation detailing exactly where the money raised will go.

“The class voted for who they wanted to give the money to. One of the main reasons that they went for Bothar was because they help people in a good few different places around the world. They wanted to help peo- ple in different countries and now they have enough to send two cows

to two different families in Africa,” continued Virginia.

“A lot of the children come from farming backgrounds and the idea of sending cattle or animals appealed to them more than money.

“They children get a to learn a lot through projects like this. Bothar came in on Friday and gave them a proper talk – it’s great for them to see where the money that they have raised is going to instead of just read- ing about it.

“There is a good bit of fundraising going on it the school. It is a part of the philosophy around here and the children really do seem to enjoy it.”

GIRLS from Scoil Mhuire in En- nistymon have taken their first steps into the exciting world of the music industry by setting up music promo- tion company Bannerbeats, and win- ning their way through to the nation- al finals of the Coca Cola Blastbeat competition.

The competition, which is aimed at Transition Year students, encourages young people to set up a multi-media music management company. Each company then picks a local band to promote, with the group being pitted against each other in a battle of the bands style contest.

The girls in Bannerbeats organised a local battle of the band competition

last December, with Ennis band Mar- blechips beating off stiff competition from the likes of Robot Pirates, A Star Called Henry, Septica and Chav to become the chosen group.

Last week Marblechips won the right to represent Bannerbeats at the National Final of the Blastbeat com- petition which takes place in Dub- lin’s Tripod on May 17.

Marblechips consist of five 1’7-year- olds; David O’Sullivan on drums, Eoghan McMahen on guitar, Tim Bergain on bass, singer Mathew Ca- sey and Ivan Welaratne on guitar and synthesizer.

In order to promote the band, the transition year students first sold pro- motional CD’s to raise share capital and hosted the successful battle of

the bands in Ennistymon’s Teach Ceoil in December.

The company drew on their col- lective business social networking, teamwork, conflict management, sales and marketing skills to make the project a success.

They successfully completed tasks such as submitting a business plan and learned the ropes of event man- agement through hiring a venue, bouncers, organising sound and light equipment and selecting judges for HN eae

If successful, the band could will win a record deal plus a chance to represent Ireland at the World Wide Finals later this year. The winning promotional company will also re- ceive a cash prize worth €5,000.

Marblechips came second in the regional finals in Galway on Satur- day April 12. The national finals take place in Dublin’s Tripod on May 17.

LOCAL legend, Tom McNamara, was the focus of the last Cuirt sa Cis- tin series of talks which took place in Crusheen last week. The talks, which are organised by the Heritage Inchi- cronan, invite interesting local peo- ple to come and tell their story in a relaxed and informal atmosphere. “Tom talked about the GAA and about the people who have come to the parish over the year like Father Minogue and Father Donoghue and people like that. They had a great interest in the GAA and helped it a lot,’ said Anne O’Doherty of Herit-

age Inchicronan

“He has his own inimitable way of telling a story and has a lovely turn of phrase. He told us about the early years and how things weren’t going so well at that time. About how peo- ple used to cycle to the matches, play the game and then cycle home again MAKIN EAU ROIS

“The also talked about his mother and the stories of the IRB. About helping different people on the run and escape routes and safe houses. There was a lot of spies in the area at that time to the locals had to work out some really good codes to get people into safe houses without be-

ing found.”

The Cuirt sa Cistin series has been ongoing since the Autumn of last year and in that time have welcomed a number of interesting local people for a cuirt into the Crusheen Com- munity Hall.

‘The whole point of the series was to get local people in who would give us their version of history. The ver- sion is not always the same as the official version but, of course, that is a Subjective version too,” contin- ued Anne. “In every parish their is a wealth of people who have different talents and knowledge. The point of this series is to get those people into

the kitchen, have a cup of tea, and get them say their piece about their own area of interest. The series was never meant to be academic, it was always a more personal look at history.

“We have recorded each of the evening on video we are not really sure what we will do with that. It would make a nice DVD for some- one. We will certainly run another Series in the Autumn, but wither it will be more in the Cuirt sa Cistin series or something else I’m not sure yet.”

For more information on the series check out www.aughty.org or e-mail heritageinchicronan@ gmail.com.

YOUNG Kilnaboy woman, Sadhbh Gaston, has just returned from a trip to Ethiopia with aid agency Self Help Galkoiwek- le Ceyer: Nema Wales mmole eCennitcae-l beeen! two weeks in the drought prone Af- rican country, Sadhbh is hoping to raise awareness among young people to the good that can be done in the third world.

“We went out there for ten days or so. There were eight or nine schools there – one from Belgium and the rest were from Ireland. We saw a lot of different projects out there like farms, SACCO’s that means Sav- ing and Credit Co-operatives and

schools,” said Sadhbh.

“We went out there to observe so that we could come back and work with them here. The idea is that in- stead of them having to go around to every school and tell them about it, they brought us over to see it first hand and then our job is to tell people about it over here.

“IT think young people wouldn’t be so inclined to listen to these or- ganisations rather than listening to a young person, from their same year, telling them about it. So will be do- ing interview and presentation to as many people as possible.”

Later this week Sadhbh will be sharing her experiences with the

young people of Kilnaboy Youth Club.

‘Self Help did bring us out there but we had to raise the money ourselves in the school to pay our way. We do a charity fashion show in our school each year, and this year we decided to put all of the money raised into Self Help,” continued Sadhbh.

“Self Help have been working in Ethiopia for 22 years. It’s their show country, it’s the country where they first started and they have done a lot of good work there. So we didn’t see the really really impoverished people. One think that some of the teachers noticed was that most of the children had shoes, while on other

trips to Uganda and Malawi most of the children were barefoot.

‘They have been working over there to put in drought resistant crops. So if a bad weather patch comes they are not going to be as effected as they might have been in the past.

“During the day we were complete- ly rushed off our feet while we were out there. But in the evening, while we were back in the hotel or wherev- er, we had a lot of fun with the people we met and made a lot of friends.”

THEY have four marathons under their belts, but the challenge isn’t even 50 per cent complete. Two young Shannon men, who are un- dertaking to run 12 marathons in as many months, in aid of charity, are making good progress in their mis- sion.

Darren O’Connell (32) and Alan Mullin (30) from Tullyglass have so far run four marathons out of the 12. Although they have had a few pains and aches, so far, neither have re- ported any major problems and are still vowing to complete the mam- moth task.

The duo have run marathons in Zurich, Valencia, Rome and Con- nemara and among those they will run over the coming months are Hel- sinki, Berlin, Dublin, New York, Lis- bon and a midnight run in Norway in

June. The final run will take place in Milan in December.

Alan has found that his times have improved with each run — he ran Connemara in three hours 33 min- utes — while Darren has found it dif- ficult to run the 26 miles in less than four hours. But, they readily admit, it is all about taking part and raising money for charity. “It 1s not about times,” said Darren.

The two friends are raising money for Cystic Fibrosis, after a friend of theirs died from the condition sev- eral years ago and are hoping that the people of Shannon will recognise their huge efforts in this challenge.

They found the Connemara run particularly tough, as it came just three weeks after the Rome mara- thon, but it has not put them off.

“I found it really tough, through- out the race in Connemara, but I will have a good rest now for a few

weeks. The next one is the Burren, at the end of May,” said Darren.

Darren lives in Shannon, where he trains, while Dublin-based Alan does his running in the capital. The dark winter nights were tough for training, but Darren is enjoying run- ning around Shannon, now that the evenings are brighter.

Now that the running is going well, the two are now increasing the em- phasis on collecting as much money as possible for charity.

“The fundraising is going well. A lot of people are helping us out, col- lecting money. We will organise a few table quizzes in Dublin and in Shannon,” said Darren.

Dublin law firm Whitney Moore, where Alan works, has come on board, to help them with the sponsor- ship. However they are still appeal- ing to the people of Shannon to help them with their task.

Further details are available on their website www.12marathons.org.

THE efforts of the Gleann an Oir Residents Association in Shannon have been rewarded, through its se- lection to take part in the Pride of Place competition this year.

The group is one of five projects in the county nominated to participate in the Co-operation Ireland annual competition. Pride of Place, which was first piloted in 2003, emanated from the local authority All-Island

Steering Forum, and aims to recog- nise the contributions that commu- nity groups make.

Over the past five years, several Clare communities have taken part in the competition, including Shan- non and Sixmilebridge. Along with the Gleann an Oir group, the Obair Afterschool Project in Newmarket- on-Fergus has also been chosen to Oe-Du aCe Orem NOON eet Reale tle

The Gleann an Oir Residents Asso- ciation was set up two years ago.

It was the brainchild of Michael Fleming, who felt that some im- provements could be carried out around the area, while it also gave neighbours the opportunity to get to know each other.

According to Clare County Coun- cil, the projects nominated in Pride of Place “best represent” the “depth and breath of voluntary activity un- derway underway in communities across Clare.”

Pride of Place Co-ordinator with

Clare County Council, Nicola Cull- inan said, “The competition offers communities the opportunity to showcase the positive contribution that local groups make to the overall enhancement of their localities.”

The adjudication will take place in June and July and the awards will be presented later this year. The winners in each category will re- ceive cheques for €2,000, while the runners-up will be presented with cheques for €500.

SEVEN charities will benefit to the tune of €8,625.48, thanks to the fundraising efforts of a group of stu- dents at the Shannon College of Ho- tel Management.

A hard-working committee of 16 staff and students chose the charities and organised several events, over the past six months.

They chose Clare Haven, Cancer Care West, Milford Hospice, Bar- nardos, Breast Cancer Research, the Clare Crusaders, the Children’s Hospital as the beneficiaries of the money raised.

Among the fundraisers organised included a blind date competition, a quiz night, movie nights and a pan- cake morning, along with various

events in the run-up to Christmas.

The fundraising concluded last week, with a fun soccer match be- tween the staff and students. In a game where College Director, Philip Smyth made an appearance, the lec- turers (aided by fourth year students) Tore] tusl¢ mr OO ‘2 0 F

Committee member Stella Sloane said the fundraising has come to a halt, for another academic year at least.

‘The students are finishing for this year and we will start it off again next year,’ she said.

“The biggest amount of money would come from the events at Christmas. We find that people are very supportive of that,’ said Ms Sloane, who is a lecturer at the col- lege.

All 27 staff and 200 students played a role in some way in ensuring that a significant amount of money was collected. However, much credit goes to the committee, who put hours of work in to ensure the initiative was a resounding success.

Student, Des Loughrey-Grant ex- plained the idea behind choosing the seven charities.

“It was decided collectively be- tween all of us. We decided to help local and national charities as we are from all over the country,’ he said.

He said there was plenty of panic and chaos in the run-up to the Christ- mas fundraising.

“Things came to a head. We or- dered hoodies for all of the students, with the college emblem. As we were trying to organise carol signing

in Limerick and Galway, the hood- les arrived at the same time, so there was a lot of organisation involved. We were also trying to study for our exams .. .but we got through it,” he laughed.

“We are really chuffed with the amount we collected,’ he added.

The group particularly wanted to donate money to the Clare Crusad- ers, whose founder Howard Flannery was a past pupil of the college. Mr Flannery (39) died tragically in an accident last June.

SIX amateur cavers from Northern Ireland narrowly avoided disaster this weekend when they became trapped in a pothole more than 140ft under Slieve Elva in north Clare. The group, which was made up of four men and two women, became trapped in the Poul Elva pothole just north of Lisdoonvarna on Satur- day afternoon. After spending more than five hours trapped in the dark, two members of the group managed

to abseil to the surface and raise the “IE IwOOe

A 35-strong rescue team, includ- ing members of the Doolin branch of the Irish Coast Guard, Ennistymon Gardai, the Irish Cave Rescue Or- ganisation and two ambulances, took part in a mammoth six-hour-long rescue for the remaining cavers, who were all brought to the surface in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Following the rescue, questions have been raised about the suitability of the equipment used by the group.

‘The group who abseiled down into this pothole really didn’t seem to be very experienced for the type of task they were getting involved in. Their gear didn’t reflect the task. The way they were kitted out and their per- sonal protection gear wasn’t good enough; it was sub-standard. They really weren’t prepared enough for what they were trying to do,” said a spokesman for Doolin Coast Guard.

‘The guy who was leading the group had been down that pothole once or twice but the rest of the group were

really out of their depth.”

Two members of the group were brought to Ennis hospital suffering from dehydration and hypothermia but the rest were released at the scene following a medical examination.

“The cave is located at the base of the mountain, just off a road that connects the lLisdoonvarna/Bally- vaughan Road to Fanore. It’s part of the largest cave structure in Ireland in the Poll na Gollum,” continued the spokesman.

“They were in a very deep hole.

The pothole is about 140 ft deep and they had been stuck in it since 1.30 in the afternoon. It might have been quite mild above the surface yes- terday but that cave system is more than 12 kilometres long and there is a massive draft in it.

“As well as that, one of the entranc- es into the Poul Elva pothole is an underground waterfall so they were all soaked with all the water that was flying around the place down there. The waterfall itself would also create an extra draft.”