Ballymena believes it will have the first decorated and lit Christmas tree in the entire UK when it lights up this week. The tree, set in front of the Braid Ballymena Town Hall, Museum and Arts Centre, was due to be lit on Tuesday, with the switching on being performed by mayor Maurice Mills. According to arts and events development officer Rosalind Lowry, it is usual for the Ballymena Christmas tree to go up early, although the lights will be switched off on Remembrance Sunday as a mark of respect.

 

When Mona Martin’s husband Bertie sent to a local photographer a photo of his wife and her class at Hart Memorial Primary School in the 1950s, it set off an unexpected chain of events. One of the then Miss Kennedy’s former pupils, Gordon Mullen, saw the photo on a website and contacted Mona. Recently, when Gordon and his wife, who live in Australia, were visiting family in England they met up with Mona and Bertie at the Seagoe Hotel and enjoyed reminiscing about their years in Hart Memorial.

 

Nine-year-old Molly Parmeter and her seven-year-old brother Jim were browsing the Chic and Cheerful shop on Burrin Street in Carlow, where their mother Trish works as a volunteer, when they made an unusual discovery. Searching through recent donations to the shop in an upstairs room they found a large tarantula, fortunately no longer living, inside a glass case. According to Sam Poynter, who runs the store, the tarantula is to be presented to the Natural History Museum although it will be on display in the shop window for a week.

 

Arooj Imtiaz has just set up her own business in Cavan town, at the tender age of seventeen. With financial backing and encouragement from her father, local GP Dr Ali Imtiaz, and her mother Shehnaz, Arooj opened up The Shake Shop on Ashe Street last month. The shop sells milk shakes and smoothies, coffee and confectionary, and also has a room for parties and other functions. The Imtiaz family live in Butlersbridge and Arooj is studying for her Leaving Certificate in Dublin. It was there that the idea for the shop took root and she eventually hopes to open a chain of similar shops.

 

Adrian Rynne from Inch, Ennis has just been awarded a Higher Diploma in Art at Limerick Institute of Technology. What is special about Adrian’s achievement is that he is profoundly deaf and he was accompanied throughout his studies by signer Dymphna Hehir. Adrian will now be able to teach fine art to deaf students. Following the conferring he went out for a celebratory meal with his mother Annmarie, brother James and sister Sinead, and included in the group, naturally, was Dymphna.

 

A new strategy devised by the West Cork Islands Interagency Group will aim to improve lives for the residents of Cape Clear, Bere, Whiddy, Dursey, Long, Sherkin and Heir islands. Among the projects will be the possibility of developing the Lonehort Battery site on Bere Island, the creation of a looped walk on Cape Clear, and the promotion of a seafood festival on Bere and Whiddy Islands. The new strategy was launched last week on Bere Island by Minister Pat Carey and is looked on by the islanders as a positive focus on their environment.

 

Schools all around the country hold reunions from time to time, but one meeting up of four old friends from a Derry school chose an unusual location. Veronica Deehan, Dolores Scanlon, Maria Deehan and Margie Strain grew up on Ann Street and all attended St Joseph’s Convent in Artillery Road in Derry in the 1950s and have met up ever since. This year, however, they decided to take advantage of the fact that Maria now runs her own beauty business in Hawaii, and the reunion venue was Waikiki beach.

 

Two major awards in the recent Associated Craft Butchers’ Sausage Competition of Ireland went to butchers in Donegal town. Ernan and Diarmuid McGettigan took two awards, the national champion prize for their traditional butchers’ sausage and a supreme award for their garlic and leek pork sausage. Ernan has been Supreme Champion on five occasions and is the only Irish butcher to have won the title more than once. Meanwhile a second set of brothers, Edmund and Liam Walsh won a gold award for their venison and redcurrant sausage.

 

Tiffany Brien from Ballyholme, Bangor, who is studying sports studies at the University of Ulster, has just completed a fundraising campaign to provide a boat to the disabled sailing charity Belfast Lough Sailability. The twenty-year-old, who is an Olympic sailing hopeful herself, began her campaign by sailing solo across the Irish Sea two years ago and has raised a total of £18,000, enough to purchase the Skud 18 and to pay for insurance. The boat will be used by the Irish Paralympic team in the 2012 Games.

 

The work of twenty years and more than three hundred volunteers has culminated in the opening of a forty-three kilometre walking trail known as the Dublin Mountains Way. Running from Shankill to Tallaght, the route takes in forests, mountains, open parkland and the Bohernabreena reservoir and the path is suitable for all standards of walkers, according to the Dublin Mountains Partnership. The trail begins beside Brady’s Pub in Shankill and finishes near the Luas station at Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght.

 

Katie McKechnie from Enniskillen, a daughter of David and Rita McKechnie, is taking part in a medical study of a disease which many people have failed to accept as genuine. From the age of fifteen Katie began to suffer from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome while she was a student at the Collegiate Grammar School in her home town. Now studying at Heriot Watt University in Scotland, Katie was told about the study taking place in Dundee by her GP Dr Ann White in Enniskillen and she is one of twenty-five young people taking part in the study.

 

Caroline Heffernan from Tuam entered a radio competition during which she was asked to give three reasons for singer Daniel O’Donnell to perform in her house. Caroline suffers from cystic fibrosis and has beaten statistics by recently celebrating her fortieth birthday. And the celebrations were crowned by the arrival of the Donegal singer to her home, where Caroline had invited friends, relatives and neighbours to share in the event. She used the event to thank all those who had supported her fundraising for cystic fibrosis over the years.

 

Padraig O Dalaigh from Caherciveen was undoubtedly the oldest competitor at the Oireachtas na Samhna Festival taking place in Killarney last week. At ninety-two years of age Padraig says he had no time for festivals until he retired from farming, but now competes in both the public speaking and sean-nos singing categories. For the last ten years he has been travelling to festivals, accompanied by his daughter Pauline, and two years ago in Letterkenny he took second place. The last time the festival was held in Killarney was the year of Padraig’s birth.

 

James and Susy Mahon from Prusselstown, Athy, have been growing pumpkins for the past three years, with their largest specimens increasing from sixty kilograms to a two hundred and thirty kilo giant this year. While this was not big enough to win them first prize at the recent International Pumpkin Festival in Virginia, Co. Cavan, their produce took sixth and seventh places. However they did achieve a first for their gourd, which measured one hundred and sixty-one centimetres and won them the title of National Champions.

 

Members of the county council’s joint policing committee have been asking questions about the delay in opening the new garda station in Mooncoin. According to Superintendent Kevin Dolan, the delay has been caused by the need to install a kitchen, and confirmation is awaited for the work to proceed. However he told the committee that, once begun, the installation work should take only about a week to complete. The station is expected to be open by the end of the month, when it will have a staff of fourteen gardaí and will be open on a twenty-four hour basis.

 

 Laois: Laois centenarian is still singing

In addition to celebrating his one hundredth birthday, Laois man Archie Holmes has become a web hit after a newspaper in Wellington, New Zealand recorded him singing one of his favourite songs, Danny Boy. Archie left Laois fifty-three years ago, though he has been home on four occasions, and claims that since he arrived in New Zealand he hasn’t bought a single vegetable. Instead he grows all he needs in the garden of his wooden cottage. Archie has been a member of the Wellington Irish Society for many years and is well known for his singing.

 

Leitrim: Greaghnafarna, Drumshanbo man addresses Leinster House

A meeting of Dáil deputies and senators from the three main political parties at Leinster House last week was addressed by a Leitrim man who is now based in New York. Jospeh McManus, a native of Greaghnafarna, Drumshanbo, was appealing to the members of the Oireachtas on behalf of the undocumented Irish throughout the United States. Joseph, the son of the late Francis and Margaret McManus, is President of the United Irish Counties Association of New York. He was making the appeal in light of the increasing numbers of young Irish people seeking work in the US.

 

Desiree Purchell, who has run the High Voltage School of Dance in Leila Street, Limerick for the past eighteen years, has described her star pupil, Tony O’Halloran, as a boy whose “whole world is just dance”. At just eight years of age Tony, from Farranshone, took fifth place out of a total of two hundred entrants in his category of hip-hop at the World Dance Championship in Germany. A dancer since he was three years old, Tony was the highest placed Irish dancer at the event.

 

An ornate chair which was designed by George Ashlin at the end of the nineteenth century to celebrate the consecration of St Mel’s Cathedral is now to have a permanent home in Athlone. The Bishop’s Chair was part of the design of the pre-Vatican II sanctuary of the cathedral but from 1975 it was replaced by the limestone Bishop’s Throne. The George Ashlin chair spent some time in the Diocesan Museum before being removed to the home of Bishop Colm O’Reilly three years ago. Now it has found a new home at St Mary’s Church in Athlone which has been nominated as the new venue for Diocesan celebrations.

 

The only festival of baroque music to be held in Ireland takes place in the middle of this month. The Ardee Baroque Festival is now in its seventh year and it will begin with a concert in St Mary’s Church by the Irish Baroque Orchestra, who will give a second concert in the same venue two days later. The Church of Ireland church in Collon will be the setting for a concert by soprano Deirdre Moynihan, while harpist Anne-Marie O’Farrell will perform at Smarmore Castle. In the week before the opening of the festival the Irish Baroque Orchestra will be rehearsing in Scoil Mhuire na Trócaire and will perform for school and community groups.

 

A four-foot sailboat fitted with a GPS system, all paid for by a group of children in the US state of Maine, has washed up on Fahy Strand in Ballycroy. It was farmer Michael Cafferkey who found the vessel, which contained messages from the children who had launched it. He emailed them to say the boat had been found and now their teacher, Mary Bagley, has said they will raise the funds to have the boat returned to the children of Old Town Elementary School. The craft was one of five launched in June of last year and the children had lost contact with it after the GPS system broke down.

 

Celebrations to mark the fiftieth anniversary of St Colmcille’s Church in Kells have been taking place over a number of months, and the latest occasion was a special Mass celebrated by Bishop of Meath Dr Michael Smith, assisted by priests who have served in the parish. Also assisting were priests native to Kells, including Father Sean Smith who delivered the homily. St Colmcille’s replaced an older church which was in a state of disrepair when it was decided to replace it, and photographs showing both the old and the new churches were on display in the church.

 

One of two new stamps issued by An Post last week is honouring a man who emigrated from Monaghan town to South America via Spain in the eighteenth century. John MacKenna was born at Willville House on the outskirts of the town and rose to be Commandant-General of the Chilean army. The MacKenna family are remembered for donating the site for the first Catholic church in Monaghan town. A descendant of MacKenna, former Chilean ambassador to Ireland Cecelia MacKenna, was behind the move to honour her illustrious ancestor.

 

Aleck Tong from Edenderry, whose family has been involved in the planting of trees for some seventy years, was named runner-up in this year’s Farm Forestry Award. The awards were presented by Minister of State Tony Sean Connick at Russborough House in Wicklow. The Farm Forestry Award recognises farmers who have excelled in forestry for commercial use and Aleck was judged to have done so using the principles of sustainable forestry management. He was presented with a Certificate of Merit and a cheque for €1,000.

 

Willie Gacquin from Curraghboy will have the authority to conduct funerals, baptisms and weddings when he completes the three years of training required to become a deacon. Willie, who is married to Carmel, responded to an initiative by Bishop Christopher Jones two years ago to restore the diaconate, and is one of six candidates undergoing training in Sligo. He is a teacher at the CBS in Roscommon town and has been involved in the life of St Brigid’s parish in Curraghboy for many years.

 

Senator David Norris was at Johnson’s Court Shopping Centre in Sligo last week to officially launch a new Sligo brand that will see the coming together of twelve craft-based businesses. A craft trail has been established under the Made in Sligo brand, and the group of craft workers have also set up their own website, www.madeinsligo.ie, by means of which the craft trail can be virtually followed. Last week’s launch heralded a week-long exhibition of craft work at the shopping centre.

 

The sod was officially turned last week on a new shopping development in the centre of Roscrea which is due to open next July. Up to two hundred and fifty jobs are expected to be created between the construction of the development and the retail and other posts coming on stream when it is completed. Turning the sod on the site east of Main Street, south of Lourdes Road and north of Castle Street, was former minister Michael Smith. In order to make way for the new development the former Tower Bar and Restaurant, and the adjoining house, were demolished.

 

Gary Greer from Cookstown, who works at Lennon’s Accident Repair Centre in the town, recently took part in the UK Craft Awards Finals in Birmingham. He was chosen to take part in the finals of the Young Painter of the Year competition and at the event he finished in the top three car bodywork painters. The nineteen-year-old has another three years of his apprenticeship to complete and his aim is to take the top title in the UK. A previous winner at the event is Paul Lennon, the son of John and Linda Lennon of the Cookstown centre.

 

A group of eighty bikers left Waterford last weekend on the first leg of a journey round the world in memory of Alex Hood, whose grandmother came from Waterford and who died from the rare skin condition Epidermolysis Bullosa. The Waterford Harley Davidson Club and the Celtic Thunder Chapter set off with the ashes of the nineteen-year-old, which they handed over to the next group at Farmleigh House in Dublin. The journey is the idea of Alex’ father Robin, as his daughter had always wanted to travel the world, and the marathon journey will also raise funds for Debra Ireland, the charity that supports the condition.

 

A talk being delivered at the end of the week at Belvedere House in Mullingar is to have an Argentinean dimension when genealogist Helen Kelly will lecture on the best way to go about tracing one’s ancestry. A native of Dysart, Helen is the Genealogy Butler at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin. During the lecture she will have a live link with a number of families in Argentina who are of Westmeath descent as Helen has a particular interest in this aspect of the county’s genealogy.

 

When the ribbon was cut by Bishop Denis Brennan for the official opening of the extension to Cushinstown National School, principal Pauline Weatherhead made special mention of the local and voluntary contribution to the new building. She thanked the parents who had held a number of fundraising events over the years, and also paid tribute to former pupil and now building contractor PJ O’Farrell, who voluntary oversaw the building project. The school now has five new classrooms, with one dedicated to children with autism, as well as new offices and a new library.

 

At a meeting of the county council last week it was unanimously agreed that boxer Katie Taylor will be given the Freedom of the County. The title was conferred on long-time resident of the county Daniel Day Lewis last year, but Katie Taylor will be the first native of Wicklow to be so honoured. The twenty-four-year-old began her boxing career with St Fergal’s Boxing Club in Bray twelve years ago and is now one of Ireland’s strongest hopes at the London Olympics in two years’ time. The conferring of the Freedom is due to take place at a ceremony early next year.

 

Rev Ken McReynolds of Lambeg Church managed to regain his title for preaching the longest uninterrupted sermon when he spoke for six hours to eight members of his congregation. Rev McReynolds’ wife served regular cups of tea to the members of the congregation, while he himself took only occasional sips of water. Some years ago he spoke for five hours non-stop, but this feat was beaten by an Anglican priest in England. The latest attempt by Rev McReynolds has raised a four-figure sum for the Church Army Evangelist Training Fund.

 

Little did Armagh GAA star Brian Mallon and his new wife Joanne realise, when they were married a week ago, that their honeymoon journey would make world headlines. But that is what happened as the couple were on board the Qantas flight which experienced a mid-air engine failure after taking off from Singapore. The plane managed to land safely again at the airport after ditching fuel and, following an unscheduled night in Singapore, Brian and Joanne continued on to their destination the next day, when Joanne rang her family from Sydney to say they had arrived safely.

 

A group of young people from the Spotlight Stage School in Carlow have begun rehearsals for the Christmas pantomime “Cinderella” at the Olympia Theatre in Dublin. And the show is particularly exciting for the youngsters as they will be taking to the stage with X Factor sensation Jedward. The stage school’s Stuart O’Connor is the producer of the pantomime and he also has the task over the coming weeks of selecting some of his pupils to perform on the Late Late Show when they open the annual Toy Show.

 

Ireland football manager Giovanni Trapattoni was in Bailieborough last week to perform the official opening of Celtic AFC’s new grounds. The grounds were first blessed by Canon John Murphy and Reverend Sam Anketell before Mr Trappatoni cut the ribbon to open the Vale Grounds. Before this he had posed for photographs with the teams and committee members, and also had his photograph taken with the oldest player, Vincent Smith, who was on the original Bailieborough team in 1952.

 

An invitation for tenders have been sent out by Midwest Tourism for research into the feasibility of developing an interpretative centre at Mooghaun ringfort near Dromoland Castle. Thought to be the largest such structure in Ireland, the Bronze Age ringfort was the location of the Great Clare Gold Find of 1854 when three labourers found a number of gold artefacts at the site. The tender invitations have come from Obair Newmarket-on-Fergus, whose members hope to boost tourism in the region.

 

Áine Herlihy from Knocknagree has been honoured under a community-based garda awards scheme. The sixteen-year-old was minding her three-year-old sister Abby at home when she smelt smoke and discovered the upper storey of the house was on fire. After calling the emergency services Áine managed to rescue her sleeping sister, though she herself suffered cuts and burns in the process. Her quick action in calling the emergency services meant that the fire was confined to the upper part of the family home.

 

Derry City Council’s development committee are to discuss the possibility of developing a road train for the city which would carry tourists to the different areas of interest in the city. The train would have its base at the Foyle Valley Railway Museum which is at present closed for much of the year. Also under discussion will be the provision of a diesel train for the two miles of track between the museum and the river, and the transformation of the Ebrington barracks complex into a maritime museum.

 

Glenswilly National School near Letterkenny has, for the past six years, undertaken a drastic move to highlight the need for a school extension, but to no effect to date. For the past six years the school has been known as “Seeking an Extension Since 1992 Glenswilly National School”, the name appearing on a billboard outside the school. It is also used on the school’s official writing paper, with the agreement of the board of management. Now, led by principal Liam McGowan, they have decided to go ahead themselves as they already have planning permission. With the parents having raised €60,000, a JCB has been moved on to the site.

 

Last week a meeting was held in Rathfriland, attended by up to fifty people, who have gathered together to ensure that the village will have a celebration when the lights are switched on for the festive season. Switching on the lights will be Katie McKnight, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, and she and Santa will be transported to the event by a fire engine, courtesy of Rathfriland Fire Station. A Santa’s grotto is to be set up in the Market House, while a number of stalls manned by community groups and charities will be set up in The Square.

 

Dublin City Council is to introduce bylaws which will affect those operating horse-drawn carriages in the city. In line with regulations laid down by Killarney Town Council, such carriages will be obliged to fit their horses with dung-catchers or face a fine of up to €1,900. In addition, drivers will need both a driver and a carriage licence and can ply for hire only from two designated sites, St Stephen’s Green and a site adjacent to the Guinness Hop Store. The new laws will also apply to drivers who hire their carriages out on a private basis.

 

Kenneth Cooke from Melbourne was in Enniskillen last week to follow the trail of his great-grandmother, Catherine Riley, who was one of the ‘Famine Orphans’ sent to Australia under the Earl Grey Scheme. Kenneth, with the help of local expert Frankie Roofe, found information which has left him fairly certain that, when Catherine was placed in the workhouse from which she emigrated, her parents were still alive. Although he does not know her exact birthplace, Irvinestown and Derrylin were two areas which at that time had inhabitants named Riley. Now Kenneth is hoping that he can find some of Catherine’s branch of the Rileys still living in the county.

 

Aiden Berry, originally from Middle Street in Galway, came up with the idea of a Galway Jamboree as a reunion for people who grew up in the city, and he and his wife Patricia organised an event which took place last weekend. Hundreds attended the event which included a five-course meal at the Salthill Hotel and entertainment from a number of old Galway people including Eamon Shevlin who gave a rendering of Francis Fahy’s “Galway Bay”. King of the Claddagh Michael Lynskey retraced his journey from his home to the Old Mon, chronicling the changes that have taken place in the city over the years.

 

A polar room at the Dingle Oceanworld aquarium will be home to some dozen breeding penguins, in homage to Kerry Antarctic explorer Tom Crean. Coming from British and Irish zoos, the penguins will be mostly the gentoo and rockhopper species. These are smaller breeds than the better-known Emperor penguins. The €1m facility will replicate Antarctic conditions and will employ one full-time minder for the penguins in addition to at least two part-time staff. The aquarium has received a capital grant of €100,000 from Údarás na Gaeltachta.

 

The St John of God Kildare Services have nominated Maureen Bagnall from Ardrath for an Ireland Award. Maureen has been working as a volunteer for the past twenty-six years as a riding instructor, fundraiser and organiser for St Raphael’s Special Needs School in Celbridge, attending sessions at different riding schools each week. She first became involved while helping her mother, and the nuns at St Wolstan’s where she went to school also encouraged her to volunteer.

 

During a presentation in Rothe House in Kilkenny last week by thatcher and archaeologist Jimmy Lenehan, he struck an optimistic note when he announced the introduction of two new thatchers. Brothers Danny and Lee Shanahan from Thomastown have both recently completed a fifty-two week course in the art of thatching and are now embarking on their new careers. Mr Lenehan’s lecture was organised by Kilkenny Archaeological Society and he told the assembled gathering that much of his work revolves around thatched houses used in films.

 

At the beginning of this month Simon Rogers from Blackhills in Abbeyleix set off to walk to Ballybunion in Co. Kerry, relying on the generosity of strangers en route to supply his needs. With no money, food or booked accommodation, he walked to Urlingford on the first day and took seven days in all to complete the journey. Simon said he was humbled by people’s generosity, and spoke of the woman who drove some distance to bring him a bag of food, and then repeated the journey to give him a voucher for a hotel. His aim was to make people more aware of the need to show compassion to passing strangers.

 

 

The final of the Bachelor of Gortletteragh competition is taking place in the Community Centre, as part of a Barn Dance to be held next week. Compere for the evening will be Eugene Murphy of Shannonside Radio and among the contestants for the title are Pat Bohan, Joe Campbell, Declan Doyle, Niall Duffy, Jim Duignan, Derek Kelleher and Ollie McGowan. In addition to this competition, there will also be a prize for the best dressed cowboy and cowgirl, while music for the night will be provided by Tom Moran and Seamus Farrell.

 

Our Lady Queen of Peace parish in Limerick city has been the first recipient of a pilot project by the Limerick City Care & Repair service which will help the elderly and disabled with repairs of their houses. Costs of labour will be entirely free, with the householders having to pay only for any materials used. Age Action Ireland has undertaken the training of twelve volunteers who have started work on houses in the areas of Janesboro, Rathbane, Kennedy Park and Glasgow Park and it is hoped it will expand to take in other areas of the city.

 

A discussion arose at a recent meeting of the County Council over the naming of the roundabouts on the N4. Mayor Paul O’Connell pressed for a literary theme, and Director of Services Ciaran Murphy told the meeting it was proposed to name the two roundabouts on the Edgeworthstown bypass after Maria Edgeworth and Oliver Goldsmith. However Councillor Frank Kilbride pushed for the second roundabout to be named after General Seán MacEoin, and Councillor PJ Reilly called for former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds to be honoured.

 

Aoife Collins returned from England to settle in Drogheda and found she was unable to secure employment in the construction industry, where she had worked previously. However her habit of taking homemade cakes to her colleagues on construction sites led her to change tack and set up her own shop on West Street in the town. Now Cake Couture offers unique designs of cakes and also stocks a range of baking accessories to cater for the increase in home baking since the recession hit.

 

A total of six thousand Irish women entered for the chance to be the Simply Be Curvy model and it was a commercial artist from Claremorris who won the prize. Karen Forde, a size fourteen, graduated from the National College of Art and Design in visual communications and became irritated at the models always being ultra-thin. Now the twenty-eight-year-old will feature on the cover of the Simply Be spring-summer 2011 fashion catalogue and on the company’s website. Karen, who is at present working towards a Gaisce President’s Award, celebrated her win in her parents’ pub in Claremorris, the Country Club.

 

Bookings are already coming in for this year’s Navan On Ice at the Racecourse, which opens next week and will be open every day except Christmas Day until January 9. Manager Ciaran O’Brien reports that some thirty people will be employed to run the ice event, and Navan On Ice has also linked up with Tony O’Reilly of O’Reilly Coaches. They will be running a shuttle service to include Navan, Johnstown and Blackcastle. Market stalls will also be open around the rink to provide refreshments and a chance of some Christmas shopping.

 

Local people were both saddened and angered at the malicious burning last weekend of Hope Castle in Castleblayney. Extensive damage was caused to the interior of the eighteenth century building and Lough Muckno Park had to be closed to pedestrians and motorists until the structure had been made safe. The castle, built by Lord Andrew Thomas Blayney, was bought by the Hope family of Hope Diamond fame before serving as a military barracks, a county hospital and home to the Franciscan Order. It is now owned by the county council.

 

On All Souls Day, last Tuesday, people gathered at Lloyd Town Park in Tullamore for the second annual Anam Cara “A Balloon to Remember” event. Anam Cara is an organisation which provides support for those who have lost a child, and the patron is Mary Cowen, wife of An Taoiseach. Thousands of pink and blue balloons were released, each representing a family’s bereavement. Also in attendance at the event was RTE presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, who lost her sister fifteen years ago.

 

It was appropriate that a particular book launch took place at Roscommon Library last week as it is the location of one of the works of the subject of the book. Jack Harte from Lanesboro, who attended the CBS school in Roscommon town, has written a biography of his cousin, sculptor Fred Conlon whose works can be seen in many places around the country, including a work at Strokestown Fire Station. “Unravelling the Spiral” is the title of Jack Harte’s latest book. A previous book, “In the Wake of the Bagger” has just been translated into Bulgarian.

 

For the second successive year St Aiden’s National School in Monasteraden has won the Aileen Mac Keogh award for film-making at this year’s national FÍS film Festival. The pupils were presented with their award, for their film “Awful Arabella”, by President Mary McAleese. In addition to this award the school also won an award for another film, “Direction”. Principal of St Aiden’s David O’Gara said the school had been involved in the film making competition for the past six years, and he stressed that all the work on the films was carried out by the children themselves.

 

Director Thaddeus O’Sullivan and members of the film crew have been visiting the town of Fethard over the past few weeks to choose locations for the film “Stella Days”, which stars Martin Sheen. Shooting is due to begin in the coming week on the film, which centres around a parish priest’s attempt to introduce a cinema to a small Irish town in the 1950s. To date the venues chosen as locations include McCarthy’s Bar, Holy Trinity Church and the town hall. The local ballroom has also been earmarked for holding auditions for local people who wish to be extras in the film.

 

The greylag goose which had a discarded beer can caught in its beak has finally been rescued after four weeks of attempts. Many people had tried to catch the goose on Black Lough in order to remove the tin, as it was feared it would hinder his feeding. Last week police cordoned off the area and members of the Northern Ireland Environment Agency Conservation Team, which is based at Peatlands Park in Dungannon, managed to rescue the bird. After the can was removed the goose was taken to Peatlands Park to recuperate before being released onto the lough once again.

 

Just under an acre of the land used by the Bilberry goat herd is to be licensed by Waterford City Council for the development of a horticultural project. Orla Foley, secretary of the Bilberry Goat Heritage Trust, has voiced the Trust’s concerns about the reduction in grazing land for the herd of goats, which have had a presence in Waterford for more than three hundred years. The council is planning to fence off the area over the next few weeks but the Trust maintains that to interfere with the habitat of the goats is to interfere with the herd itself.

 

Athlone Towncentre was the venue last week for the Wall of Inspiration, an initiative of the Big Brother Big Sister mentoring initiative. Shoppers were invited to place a brick on the wall and to write on it the name of a person who had influenced their lives in a significant way. The wall was thus constructed brick by brick, while those who helped in the construction, and those who were unable to attend in person, were able to enter the names of the people who had inspired them on a Virtual Wall of Inspiration.

 

In Killarney at the weekend Father Michael Sinnott from Barntown was presented with the 2010 Hugh O’Flaherty Humanitarian Award, presented to an Irish person working overseas with a non-government organisation. Father Sinnott was held captive for a month last year when he was kidnapped by rebels in the Philippines where he is based but, according to his Columban Fathers colleagues, his only thought after his release was to return to the school for special children which he set up. He was nominated for the award by the Columban Missionaries.

 

The company which organised the Christmas event at Clermont last year is to repeat the exercise this year, but at a different venue. Christmas at the Coach House, over two weekends in December, will take place in association with Wicklow County Enterprise Board and the Wicklow Town and District Chamber. More than thirty craftsworkers will present their creations in pottery, art, jewellery and designer fashions, while there will be an Artisan Food Hall on the last weekend of this month to coincide with the switching on of the Christmas lights.

 

The Hillhead Hut community group in Ballycarry is behind the unveiling of a new piece of public artwork which has taken the place of a paramilitary mural. A combined community effort, led by artist Janet Crymble, has seen the £5,400 mural placed on West Street. The project was co-ordinated by Rev Gabrielle Farquhar, who stressed that the mural belonged to the people of Ballycarry. The artwork, using the image of an ecosystem in a meadow, represents the way in which everything works together to create a community.

 

Brett Hannam has written a new book about the parish of Mullavilly to celebrate the two hundredth anniversary of the consecration of Mullavilly Church. Serving the village of Laurelvale near Tandragee, the parish has had a chequered history and this is chronicled in “Mullavilly – Portrait of an Ulster Parish”. Suffering during wars and rebellions, the parish was also particularly affected by the Famine of 1847, and the author gave an illustrated lecture on this latter aspect at the launch of the book by Rev James Mahaffey, former Bishop of Londonderry and Raphoe.

 

The ten ton organ of Carlow Cathedral has been restored over a period of eighteen months at a cost of €675,000 and it has now been returned to its place in the organ loft where it has rested since the 1940s. The restorers managed to retain ninety percent of the organ’s more than two thousand pipes, according to Bernard Geraghty, manager of the Carlow Parish Centre. Although the official launch of the restored organ will not take place until March, a concert will be held this weekend featuring the Carlow and Kilkenny Choral Societies.

 

At an award ceremony held in the council chamber of Cavan County Council last week the village of Ballyhaise was to the fore. Woodlands Estate took first prize in the ‘Best Larger Local Authority Estate’ category, with Paddy Walsh accepting the award on behalf of his fellow-residents. On the day of inspection the judges said they had failed to find a single piece of litter on the estate. Meanwhile in the ‘Best Local Authority Smaller Estate’ category the award went to Bothar An Portaigh, also in Ballyhaise, and the award was presented to Rose Fox and Ann Reilly.

 

The county council has given its approval to a scheme to prevent coastal erosion at Doonbeg golf club. Under the plan the fourteenth green will be relocated, as will tee boxes at the sixth, fifteenth and eighteenth holes. In addition, works will take place in front of three other greens. The club had warned that, at the present rate of erosion, between sixty and ninety feet could be lost over the next forty years. An option to relocate holes had to be ruled out as it would have impacted on the habitat of a protected snail.

 

In this year’s All-Island School Choir Competition, which took place last weekend at the Waterfront in Belfast, the winning choir was named as that from the Presentation Secondary School in Ballyphehane in Cork city. This is the second year that the competition has been held and it was attended by President Mary McAleese and Secretary of State Owen Paterson; it was also broadcast live from Belfast. The all-girl choir was under the direction of Anne Dunphy and the school received a trophy and a cheque for £5,000.

 

Rivers Agency supervisor Mark Quigley and three members of his team came to the rescue of a Clydesdale yearling that was almost immersed in the icy waters of the River Roe last week. Having spotted the horse, Mark entered the water to effect a rescue, helped by Jordan Cargill, Aaron McGrotty and Richard Dickson. They had to use a water pump hose to make a noose and eventually managed to pull the terrified and exhausted animal from the water. The horse’s owner, Raymond Scott from Drumsum, was full of praise for Mark and was particularly grateful for the rescue of Bess and she is the last of her line.

 

Iain Miller, a Scot now living in Annagry, is highlighting the importance of the country’s sea stacks by scaling them and promoting them among the climbing community. According to Iain, who comes from Orkney Island, at least one of Donegal’s sea stacks is equal to the famous ‘Old Man of Hoy’ stack. He has become the first person to ascend more than fifty of the sea stacks, and his exploration of the county’s coastline has earned him a place on the shortlist for an award in the Berghaus Adventure Challenge, the only Irish person to be included.

 

A new restaurant which has been opened up at the Old Inn in Crawfordsburn has been named Lewis, after the author of the Narnia series, C.S. Lewis. The name commemorates the fact that the author spent his honeymoon at the Old Inn more than fifty years ago. The restaurant, formerly the 1614 Restaurant and Churn Bistro, features a stained glass window dedicated to Lewis and also allows diners to watch their food being prepared. Already a holder of two AA rosettes, the Old Inn is now hoping to add a third.

 

The snug at The Palace Bar in Fleet Street is in contention with a pub in Co. Meath for the top prize in a Powers Whiskey competition to find the best snug in Ireland. A total of one hundred and ten pubs from around the country have made the shortlist and the winner will be chosen by public voting. To encourage people to vote, all will be entered into a draw for a trip to Banff in the Rocky Mountains. Powers Whiskey will be announcing the winner of the Ireland’s Best Snug contest during the week.

 

John Carney from Enniskillen has taken the unusual step of setting up a childminding service, an area usually dominated by women, with only two men among the two and a half thousand childminders registered with the Northern Ireland Childminding Agency. John has been a classroom assistant for the past eight years and also has experience working with children with special needs. His service will be based in Tempo but he has said he will be available to pick children up from schools in Enniskillen.

 

Kinvara Organic Smoked Salmon, a company set up thirteen years ago by Declan and Aoife Droney, has been praised consistently and it has now received the royal seal of approval. The salmon was served at the Irish Embassy in London when Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visited last week. Declan Droney heard from head chef Patrick Finn that the prince had enjoyed the smoked salmon. The salmon has previously been voted Number One in the UK by the BBC Good Food Magazine, and has won the Bridgestone Guide’s ‘Best in Ireland’ award every year since 2001.

 

When it was found that there were major leakages from the pipe system at the Presentation Monastery Boys National School on the New Road in Killarney, the staff and parents decided to take the green route to rectify the situation. Emergency works funding from the Department of Education led to the installation of a rainwater harvesting system which is used for the toilets in the school. According to principal Colm Ó Súilleabháin the only water now taken from the mains supply is that used for drinking.

 

Film star Maureen O’Hara was in Newbridge last week for the official launch of the Princess Grace Jewellery Collection at the Newbridge Silver premises. Among the many fans who came to Newbridge to meet the Hollywood star was Marie Bowden Leary, a life-long fan who was granted extra time with Ms O’Hara. As a child she had been taught by the actor’s sister, Sister Fitzsimons of the Sisters of Charity in Milltown in Dublin, and she was often given letters to post to Ms O’Hara by her teacher.

 

The Black Quarry service station on the Bennettsbridge road in Kilkenny city has had to place notices on the outer pumps to the effect that customers must first pay for their petrol before filling their tanks. According to Enda Barry, the service station manager, the drastic step has been necessitated by an increase in the number of people filling up their tanks and just driving off. He believes that up to half the people who drive off eventually return to pay, and some genuinely forget, but one recent customer filled up with €90 worth of petrol before disappearing.

 

Alf Harvey has just completed a book featuring photographs of the county in the twenty-first century. The book, “Life Through The Lens”, focuses on the Millennium year and includes more than one thousand images taken throughout 2000, laid out in a monthly format. The book features a number of senior citizens from Abbeyleix in addition to a photograph of Pat Critchley, the county’s only All-Star hurling award winner. The launch of the book takes place next week in The Castle Arms Hotel in Durrow.

 

Michael Herron, a Donegal man now resident in Dromod, has had a collection of his poetry published by Lapwing Press in Belfast. He has won a number of national poetry competitions over the years, including the Yeats prize last year, and his work has appeared in a number of anthologies. Michael, a member of the Moylurg Writers’ Group, is the facilitator of the Rooskey Writers’ Group and runs workshops for adults and children. Rooskey Post Office is one of the outlets for acquiring a copy of “The Stones of Streedagh”.

 

The boxer from Southill who claimed the EU Super bantamweight title at the University of Limerick last weekend is to be honoured with a civic reception. Willie ‘Big Bang’ Casey, one of a Traveller family of twenty-two, lives with his wife Mary and their four children in O’Malley Park in Southill. In the coming week the twenty-eight-year-old is to be accorded a civic reception because, according to Mayor of Limerick Maria Byrne, he has brought great honour to both his family and to the community.

 

An own goal scored by Ballymahon B goalkeeper Dean Reilly has become a world wide hit, and it is hardly surprising. For Reilly kicked the ball out of goal with such ferocity that it bounced off the head of his team mate Jude McLynn, and ricocheted back into the Ballymahon goal. McGlynn was knocked unconscious by the force of the delivery but eventually returned to the field of play where the team beat Melville Celtic B two goals to one. The YouTube video, at http://short.ie/2oqngq, has been picked up by the media all over the world.

 

Moya Hoey from Dundalk has been a lifelong fan of Manchester United but had never visited old Trafford. This all changed recently when her grandson Ian arranged for the pair of them to travel to Manchester, although the plans were nearly overturned as Moya discovered her passport was out of date. However this was sorted and the eighty-nine-year-old from the Red Barns Road was at Old Trafford to watch her team beat Wolves. Although she didn’t see her favourite, Wayne Rooney, Moya did catch a glimpse of Ryan Giggs in the pre-match warm-up.

 

Nashville-based songwriter Rory Bourke, who penned ‘Lion of Partry’ for the musical “On a Wing and a Prayer”, has been rewarded for his persistence in tracing his ancestors. In Ballina last week with his wife Rita, Rory met his Kilgallon and Loftus cousins from Mullauns and Rathkip, and saw where his ancestors were baptised in St Muredach’s Cathedral and where some of them were buried in Leigue cemetery. The ancestors of the songwriter, who was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame almost twenty years ago, left Ballina during the Famine.

 

After the Government introduced a ban on stag hunting in the summer, the country’s only stag hunt has managed to find a way to continue enjoying their sport. On a morning last week a stag was released in the county where it was allowed to wander for a few hours before being captured and removed to a safe place. Only then were the hunt hounds released to follow the scent of the stag at Skryne. When this method of continuing the hunt was first proposed, members of the Ward Union Hunt said it was unworkable, but they have since decided to take up the option.

 

Eighty-year-old Austin Clerkin from Monaghan is among those who have been shortlisted for their use of modern technology. In the Silver Networker category the Age Action Awards recognise people over the age of fifty-five who have used the internet for the purpose of social networking. Austin, who was given a laptop as a Christmas present two years ago, has his own Facebook page through which he keeps in touch and exchanges messages with family in Ireland and overseas. He also uses Skype to talk to family in England and the USA.

 

Bernadette Flynn, who runs the Flynn O’Kane Academy of Dance in Birr, has received an invitation from Michael Flatley to rejoin his show in Dublin later this month. Bernadette performed with Flatley for fourteen years, in his shows “Lord of the Dance” and “Feet of Flames”, and she will be the only original cast member to join the current tour. A graduate of the Browne Academy of Dance, Bernadette won six World titles, seven All-Ireland titles and nine Munster titles during her dancing career before being chosen to dance the lead role in “Lord of the Dance” in 1996.

 

For the eighth time Kathleen Murray has received a commemorative medal from President Mary McAleese, marking the fact that the Crannagh, Summerhill native has just celebrated her one hundred and eighth birthday. Now resident at the Sacred Heart Hospital in Roscommon, Kathleen held a variety of jobs during her lifetime, the longest time being spent as a priest’s housekeeper. A cigarette smoker into her mid-nineties while still living in her own home, she also enjoyed gardening and taking long walks in the countryside.

 

In the run-up to the famous Sligo Rovers victory last Sunday the football club and Sligo Chamber of Commerce organised a competition to find the Best Dressed Window Display in support of the team. The winner was named as O’Hehir’s Bakery on Grattan Street and they received two tickets to the match and a night’s accommodation for two in a Dublin hotel. The Chamber also commended a number of other premises for their displays, including Sligo County Library, E.J’s Menswear, and Simones.

 

A mother from Mullinahone has been named as National Carer of the Year, at a ceremony in Dublin. Anne McGrath, a mother of six, has lost two children, David and Mark, to a rare neurological disorder, Canavan disease. David died when he was eighteen months old, while Mark reached the age of six before succumbing to the disease. Now Anne and her husband James look after Mark’s twin sister, Tamara, who is now ten and who has the same condition and is unable to walk, talk or take food in the normal way.

 

Ian Lowry of Lowry Bros Ltd on the Drumquin road in Castlederg has received four nominations in the search for the “Best Builder in Britain” competition. The title is part of the tenth Master Builder of the Year Awards and Ian will now be hoping to be chosen to represent the North at the awards, which will be held in London next March. The national category winners will enjoy a weekend for two in a luxury hotel, while the winner of the overall title will be presented with a Nissan light commercial vehicle.

 

The people of Fenor thanked both God and the Gardaí last week when their prayers were answered and the Gardaí returned to the parish a number of chalices which had been stolen from the Church of the Immaculate Conception. The two chalices, a monstrance and two ciboriums were found by a man walking on the beach in Annestown and he put them in the boot of his car. When he heard about the search going on for the missing items he contacted the Gardaí to ensure their return. The safe which had contained the items was found in the sea.

 

The orchestra at Athlone Community College has celebrated six years since its foundation with “A Celebration of Orchestral Music”. The celebrations also saw the launch of a new woodwind and brass ensemble, in association with the county council and the Vocational Education Committee. The orchestra, directed by Natalia Gorovence and Kim Magee, has thirty members. The performance also included Spanish students on clarinet, guitar and recorder, while Aidan Mannion played a Beethoven piano sonata.

 

Pat Furlong from Ballinlow, who won this year’s All Ireland Three-Furrow Senior Class event at the National Ploughing Championships, was honoured on home soil last week. Friends and family gathered in Sean Óg’s Hotel in Kilmuckridge to make a presentation to Pat, while George Walsh, chairman of the local Ploughing Association, spoke of his contribution to ploughing and to the community. Unusually among champions, Pat is notbj a farmer but has a plant hire business, but he said his neighbours have been generous in allowing him to practise on their land.

 

It seems that Blessington is blessed with literary talent, with the publication of two books recently. A souvenir book, “Crosschapel Through the Years”, is on sale in the town at a number of outlets. Meanwhile Mary Ascough from Lacken is the author of the first book to be published by a new company, Clonmacnois Press which is based at the Aran Centre in the town’s business park. Both “My First Holy Communion” and the souvenir book are on sale in the Blessington Parish Office.   

 

The Armistice memorials at Whitehead and Carrickfergus are the location for three unusual sculptures. At the Marine Gardens in Whitehead and at Prospect Gate in Carrickfergus there are larger than life size pairs of bronze military boots. The bronzes were created by sculptor John Sherlock, who used authentic military boots to form his moulds. These were then enlarged to one and a half times their size before being sculpted individually and from these the final sculptures were made.

 

Two hundred people are being offered the chance to dine in a jail when Armagh Gaol becomes a five-star restaurant for one weekend only. One hundred diners on each night of the coming weekend will enjoy a meal provided by the Yellow Door catering company under chef Simon Dougan. The company has to bring in its own kitchens, water and heat as the cell blocks to be used are derelict, and the diners will enter the gaol through the garden where some prisoners are buried in unmarked graves.

 

St Clare’s church in Graigecullen has reopened after a seven-week period during which renovation work was carried out, and St Fiacc’s Hall and the Parish Centre were used for Mass during that time. A new floor with new carpets, a new coat of paint and a major clean-up were included in the restoration work, while the building was also totally rewired. Also replaced were the lighting and sound systems, and CCTV cameras have been installed both inside and outside the building. St Clare’s is also now complemented by a new grotto. 

 

Earlier this month a Russian Grand Master visited Cavan at the invitation of Cavan Chess Club. Alexander Baburin gave a lecture in the Orchard Pub on Cootehill Road in Cavan. Baburin, resident in Ireland for seventeen years, is the country’s strongest chess player and he became Irish champion after entering the competition for the first time in 2008. He is also placed within the top five hundred players in the world. Cavan Chess Club was founded by John Ferguson and they will have three teams in the national league this year.

 

Attempts by the Save Ennistymon Heritage Group to bring the annual horse fair back to its former glory proved successful this year when the fair last weekend attracted large numbers of traders. They were offering ducks, vegetables and turf as well as foals, mares and donkeys and, according to local resident Denis Vaughan, it brought back memories of how the fair used to be in his childhood. The amount of cleaning work carried out by council workers after the fair was also testament to the brisk trade taking place.

 

People often commented on the long auburn hair of Lily Harley from Drimoleague, but when her brothers and sisters were getting their hair cut before school started in September she decided she wanted hers cut too. However there was a difference, for the eight-year-old asked that her hair be used to make a wig for a child with cancer. Her mother Cammy found a company in Britain that would accept the hair, and it was Debbie Farrell of Kinky Afro in Drimoleague who made the final cut. Lily is now delighted with her shorter hair and happy that her tresses have gone to a good cause.

 

A Paranormal Study and Investigation team who visited Prehen House on the outskirts of Derry for a television programme believe they have identified the trapped spirit of a previous owner, Andrew Knox. He built the house after marrying Honoria Tomkins and suffered tragedy when their daughter, Mary Ann, was shot by the man claiming to be her husband, subsequently known as ‘Half-hanged McNaughten’. Team leader Andy Matthews says they have recorded Mr Knox’ spirit asking and answering questions.

 

Patrick McDevitt of Boston, who is originally from Glenswilly, has become the first Irishman to win a world title in the game of bridge. Patrick first began playing bridge at Boston University after leaving Donegal fifty years ago, though he does it only as a hobby. For the competition for the Hiron Trophy at the World Series in Philadelphia Patrick was partnered by Rich De Martino, and he also took part in the recent International Bridge Congress in Donegal town. He was home for the first anniversary of the death of his father, Barney McDevitt.

 

A councillor has called on Banbridge District Council to reduce its expenditure on flowers after it was revealed that €76,500 has been spent so far this year. Dessie Ward also pointed out what he saw as the unfair distribution of floral arrangements, with Banbridge and Scarva each having about twenty per cent of all the hanging baskets while Rathfriland, with a population six times the size of Scarva, is allocated only fifteen per cent. He would like to see flowers and hanging baskets distributed on the basis of population.

 

Dublin City Council and the Dublin City Business Association have joined forces to initiate a scheme whereby delivery vans would be replaced by bicycles while work is carried out on the Metro North system. Loads of up to one hundred and eighty kilograms would be carried on the ‘urban cargo’ bicycles for the next eighteen months while work is in progress, but would also continue into the future in areas such as Grafton Street and Henry Street. Expressions of interest have now been sought from businesses in the central commercial district.

 

Cooper Crescent in Enniskillen was the scene last week of the unveiling of an Ulster History Circle plaque to honour artist Kathleen Bridle at her former home. Born in England, the artist studied in Dublin and worked in the Harry Clarke stained glass studio before eventually moving to Enniskillen, where she taught part-time for a number of years before gaining a permanent post at the Collegiate School. The unveiling of the plaque was carried out by Kathleen Bridle’s niece, Carole Durix.

 

Santa’s castle has been set up at the fifteenth century Dunsandle Castle near Craughwell, and once again a percentage of the admission fee will be donated to the Galway Simon Community. The Santa Experience will continue for ninety minutes and will include a torchlight procession through the twenty acres of woodland surrounding the castle before a song and story session and a visit to the courtyard, which will be transformed into a Christmas market.

 

The graveyard at Ballynacourty, near Annascaul, has proved so popular with visitors that the county council has decided to carry out improvement works to accommodate them. The attraction of the graveyard lies in the fact that it is the final resting place of Arctic explorer Tom Crean who built his own tomb in the small cemetery and who was buried there in 1938. The improvement works will consist of new footbaths into the graveyard and a tarmacadam car park, and the work is expected to be completed before Christmas.

 

The Soul Searchers, claiming to be paranormal investigators, are looking for the most haunted pub in Kildare, a search they hope will be finalised by New Year’s Eve. Sam Stone founded the group three months ago and their first foray will be to the Cush Inn in Kildangan, which has a history of haunting, according to owner Anne Hickey. Sam himself says he does not believe in ghosts so he carries out investigations as a sceptic and gives his reports to mediums and clairvoyants. One of the latter group is his own partner, Deborah R.

 

In the Balcony Theatre in Mountmellick last week a DVD produced by Sean Lynch was officially launched. The film’s subject is the committee behind the town’s Christmas Tree, which has become bigger and better over the years, and their entry in the Pride of Place competition which earned them a runner-up prize. Two of the founding committee members, Brian and Ger Lynch, remember when an eight-foot tree was purchased in 1956. Over the years bigger and bigger trees were purchased and the present one is a tall steel structure incorporating a crib at the base. In addition to the tree and Christmas lights, the committee give each child in the town a present, and fuel to the elderly.

 

Among a number of places in the north west which Fáilte Ireland is planning to develop into world class international visitor attractions is the fifty-foot high Glencar Waterfall located close to Manorhamilton. With Sliabh Liag in Co. Donegal and Ben Bulben in Co. Sligo, Glencar will be part of a new inter-agency initiative which, it is hoped, will see a quadruple increase in visitors on an annual basis, to 400,000, over the next five years. Glencar was the inspiration for Yeats’ poem, “The Stolen Child”.

 

Teachers and students of St Munchin’s College in Limerick have joined forces to raise funds for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Milford Hospice in Limerick and the Clare 250 cycle. Prompted by the plight of teacher Donal Madden’s baby daughter, who was born with three holes in her heart, the group has held a coffee morning and a raffle, and they also undertook a thirty kilometre cycle to Killaloe followed by a climb of Maigh Lusa. Among the students taking part were Paul Curtis from Parteen and Ray Murnane from Shannon Banks.

 

Paddy Farrell from Newtowncashel recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday in the Rustic Inn in Abbeyshrule, with his wife Mary and their ten children, grandchildren and one great-grandson. Paddy and Mary still live in the house in which he was born and reared, the second eldest of the seven children of Francis and Mary Farrell. While his siblings emigrated, Paddy stayed at home to run the family farm and also played on the Cashel GAA team that brought the first piece of silverware to the parish, in 1942.

 

Last week saw the opening of three new looped walks for the county, all beginning at the tourist office in Carlingford and all designed to suit those with average levels of fitness. Covering both the town and the Cooley Peninsula, the three new walks have been named the Common’s Loop, Slieve Foye Loop and Barnavave Loop. The walks, officially launched recently by Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin, have been developed with the support of the county council and Fáilte Ireland.

 

Gary Leahy from Newport, who is one of only two bow-makers in the country, has been awarded a gold medal at a competition held by the Violin Society of America in Cleveland, Ohio. A feature of the competition is that any bow which achieves a certain standard is awarded a gold medal. Gary began making bows after moving to New Zealand and gaining work repairing violins. He returned to the county eight years ago after being in touch with bow-maker Noel Burke, who also has his base in Mayo.

 

The crisp dry weather matched the main player when Tayto Park opened outside Ashbourne during the week. Ray Coyle, owner of Largo Foods, has invested €8.5m in the American-themed park which comprises an Indian village, buffalo, cougars and mountain lions, and adventure playgrounds. The first of its kind in Ireland, Tayto Park has initially given employment to forty, while a further forty-five will be taken on by next summer. A Teahouse in the Tree House, in a sycamore tree, is another attraction, as is the Pet-Tayto Corner where visitors can see rabbits, ducks, hens and geese.

 

Father Pat McHugh was appointed to the parish of Muckno in September by Bishop of Clogher Dr Liam MacDaid, and he will be formally installed on Sunday. Father McHugh, a Fermanagh man, replaces Canon John McCabe who has moved to Roslea after spending nine years in Muckno. The Installation ceremony will be conducted by Bishop McDaid, while new members of a Pastoral Team will also be commissioned at the same service. Both Bishop and congregation will then meet for refreshments in the Glencarn Hotel.

 

Sam Keeley from Tullamore, the eldest son of Brendan and Regina Keeley, appeared on television last week in the award-winning series “Misfits”. The nineteen-year-old has already played the lead in the locally produced feature film “Killen”, which will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival next year, and has also landed a part in “This Must be the Place”, starring Sean Penn which was shot in Dublin and Wicklow. At present Sam is in Galway filming the TV series “Jack Taylor”.

 

Kevin McGarry from Callow near Frenchpark was visited in hospital in New Zealand by All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu, a friend of one of the nurses treating him. Farm labourer Kevin had lost both his legs when his motorbike crashed into an electric fence near Auckland. When the All Blacks were in Dublin last weekend Keven Mealamu arranged for them to meet up with the twenty-three-year-old the day before the match. The meeting took place at the Captain’s Run at the Aviva Stadium and Kevin was delighted to be introduced to so many rugby greats.

 

David Barrins from Collooney spent two years working in the banking sector before finally deciding to try the life of a priest. The thirty-two-year-old, who first felt the stirrings of a vocation while an altar boy, joined the Dominican novitiate and eventually became a Brother, and director of the order’s youth ministry. His ordination in the Dominican church in Cork last weekend was attended by his parents Christopher and Celine, his brothers Peter and Rory and his sister Tracy.

 

The village of Dundrum had something to celebrate last weekend when a local secondary school teacher Sherine Prendergast was named as Queen of the Land 2010 at the festival hosted in Tullamore by Offaly Macra na Feirme. A total of twenty-eight contestants took part and the announcement was made by Patricia McNamara of main sponsors Aviva. The Queen of the Land, which was held for the forty-fifth time this year, aims to find the contestant who best epitomises the modern rural woman.

 

It appears that Carricklee House on the outskirts of Strabane, home to four generations of the Herdman family since 1842, will have its sale finalised this week. It has been rumoured that the estate, in Urney, will become the location of a country house hotel. The current owners of the eighteenth century house, Penny and James Herdman, had been running the house as a bed and breakfast facility until putting it on the market two years ago. They had decided that the house on its seventeen acres was too big for their needs.

 

There is an opening for anyone who would like to live on the country’s largest private demesne, where the grounds include one of the tallest trees in the country as well as Ireland’s oldest bridge. Lord Waterford of Curraghmore House and Gardens is looking for a butler for his two and a half thousand acre estate, and has specified that no experience is necessary. Lord Waterford has also stated that the position would suit either a couple or a single person though he has given no details of the duties involved in the position. 

 

So many fans had climbed up onto the statue of singer Joe Dolan in Mullingar that it has been necessary to remove it for repair. The bronze statue, which was erected almost two years ago, had become loose from its foundations after fans had climbed up to have their photograph taken, and it has now been removed to a foundry in Dublin where it will be strengthened. The foundry, the original installation company, will add extra foundation fixings to ensure greater stability.

 

The fire at the Royal Hotel in New Ross two weeks ago left the building in an unsafe condition and it was decided that it should be demolished. A thirty-tonne excavator was brought in to take the building down floor by floor but the contractors managed to save a number of artefacts in the process. The original quoin stone bearing the inscription “Built A.D. 1790 Charles Tottenham Esq., Ballycurry” was saved, as was the Victorian post box that stood at the entrance to the hotel.

 

The final five for the title of Eurotoques Young Chef includes Keelan Higgs from Greystones. To reach the shortlist Keelan had to present a written submission and to undergo an interview and a blind taste test. The 24-year-old worked in Italy, and at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin before moving to Chapter One in Dublin city centre where he works under head chef Ross Lewis. The winner will be announced at the Patrick Guilbaud on Monday, though all five finalists will enjoy a four-day study visit to L’Ecole Gregoir Ferrandi Culinary School in Paris.

 

The Armistice memorials at Whitehead and Carrickfergus are the location for three unusual sculptures. At the Marine Gardens in Whitehead and at Prospect Gate in Carrickfergus there are larger than life size pairs of bronze military boots. The bronzes were created by sculptor John Sherlock, who used authentic military boots to form his moulds. These were then enlarged to one and a half times their size before being sculpted individually and from these the final sculptures were made.

 

Two hundred people are being offered the chance to dine in a jail when Armagh Gaol becomes a five-star restaurant for one weekend only. One hundred diners on each night of the coming weekend will enjoy a meal provided by the Yellow Door catering company under chef Simon Dougan. The company has to bring in its own kitchens, water and heat as the cell blocks to be used are derelict, and the diners will enter the gaol through the garden where some prisoners are buried in unmarked graves.

 

St Clare’s church in Graigecullen has reopened after a seven-week period during which renovation work was carried out, and St Fiacc’s Hall and the Parish Centre were used for Mass during that time. A new floor with new carpets, a new coat of paint and a major clean-up were included in the restoration work, while the building was also totally rewired. Also replaced were the lighting and sound systems, and CCTV cameras have been installed both inside and outside the building. St Clare’s is also now complemented by a new grotto. 

 

Earlier this month a Russian Grand Master visited Cavan at the invitation of Cavan Chess Club. Alexander Baburin gave a lecture in the Orchard Pub on Cootehill Road in Cavan. Baburin, resident in Ireland for seventeen years, is the country’s strongest chess player and he became Irish champion after entering the competition for the first time in 2008. He is also placed within the top five hundred players in the world. Cavan Chess Club was founded by John Ferguson and they will have three teams in the national league this year.

 

Attempts by the Save Ennistymon Heritage Group to bring the annual horse fair back to its former glory proved successful this year when the fair last weekend attracted large numbers of traders. They were offering ducks, vegetables and turf as well as foals, mares and donkeys and, according to local resident Denis Vaughan, it brought back memories of how the fair used to be in his childhood. The amount of cleaning work carried out by council workers after the fair was also testament to the brisk trade taking place.

People often commented on the long auburn hair of Lily Harley from Drimoleague, but when her brothers and sisters were getting their hair cut before school started in September she decided she wanted hers cut too. However there was a difference, for the eight-year-old asked that her hair be used to make a wig for a child with cancer. Her mother Cammy found a company in Britain that would accept the hair, and it was Debbie Farrell of Kinky Afro in Drimoleague who made the final cut. Lily is now delighted with her shorter hair and happy that her tresses have gone to a good cause.

 

A Paranormal Study and Investigation team who visited Prehen House on the outskirts of Derry for a television programme believe they have identified the trapped spirit of a previous owner, Andrew Knox. He built the house after marrying Honoria Tomkins and suffered tragedy when their daughter, Mary Ann, was shot by the man claiming to be her husband, subsequently known as ‘Half-hanged McNaughten’. Team leader Andy Matthews says they have recorded Mr Knox’ spirit asking and answering questions.

 

Patrick McDevitt of Boston, who is originally from Glenswilly, has become the first Irishman to win a world title in the game of bridge. Patrick first began playing bridge at Boston University after leaving Donegal fifty years ago, though he does it only as a hobby. For the competition for the Hiron Trophy at the World Series in Philadelphia Patrick was partnered by Rich De Martino, and he also took part in the recent International Bridge Congress in Donegal town. He was home for the first anniversary of the death of his father, Barney McDevitt.

 

A councillor has called on Banbridge District Council to reduce its expenditure on flowers after it was revealed that €76,500 has been spent so far this year. Dessie Ward also pointed out what he saw as the unfair distribution of floral arrangements, with Banbridge and Scarva each having about twenty per cent of all the hanging baskets while Rathfriland, with a population six times the size of Scarva, is allocated only fifteen per cent. He would like to see flowers and hanging baskets distributed on the basis of population.

 

Dublin City Council and the Dublin City Business Association have joined forces to initiate a scheme whereby delivery vans would be replaced by bicycles while work is carried out on the Metro North system. Loads of up to one hundred and eighty kilograms would be carried on the ‘urban cargo’ bicycles for the next eighteen months while work is in progress, but would also continue into the future in areas such as Grafton Street and Henry Street. Expressions of interest have now been sought from businesses in the central commercial district.

 

Cooper Crescent in Enniskillen was the scene last week of the unveiling of an Ulster History Circle plaque to honour artist Kathleen Bridle at her former home. Born in England, the artist studied in Dublin and worked in the Harry Clarke stained glass studio before eventually moving to Enniskillen, where she taught part-time for a number of years before gaining a permanent post at the Collegiate School. The unveiling of the plaque was carried out by Kathleen Bridle’s niece, Carole Durix.

 

Santa’s castle has been set up at the fifteenth century Dunsandle Castle near Craughwell, and once again a percentage of the admission fee will be donated to the Galway Simon Community. The Santa Experience will continue for ninety minutes and will include a torchlight procession through the twenty acres of woodland surrounding the castle before a song and story session and a visit to the courtyard, which will be transformed into a Christmas market.

 

The graveyard at Ballynacourty, near Annascaul, has proved so popular with visitors that the county council has decided to carry out improvement works to accommodate them. The attraction of the graveyard lies in the fact that it is the final resting place of Arctic explorer Tom Crean who built his own tomb in the small cemetery and who was buried there in 1938. The improvement works will consist of new footbaths into the graveyard and a tarmacadam car park, and the work is expected to be completed before Christmas.

 

The Soul Searchers, claiming to be paranormal investigators, are looking for the most haunted pub in Kildare, a search they hope will be finalised by New Year’s Eve. Sam Stone founded the group three months ago and their first foray will be to the Cush Inn in Kildangan, which has a history of haunting, according to owner Anne Hickey. Sam himself says he does not believe in ghosts so he carries out investigations as a sceptic and gives his reports to mediums and clairvoyants. One of the latter group is his own partner, Deborah R.

 

In the Balcony Theatre in Mountmellick last week a DVD produced by Sean Lynch was officially launched. The film’s subject is the committee behind the town’s Christmas Tree, which has become bigger and better over the years, and their entry in the Pride of Place competition which earned them a runner-up prize. Two of the founding committee members, Brian and Ger Lynch, remember when an eight-foot tree was purchased in 1956. Over the years bigger and bigger trees were purchased and the present one is a tall steel structure incorporating a crib at the base. In addition to the tree and Christmas lights, the committee give each child in the town a present, and fuel to the elderly.

 

Among a number of places in the north west which Fáilte Ireland is planning to develop into world class international visitor attractions is the fifty-foot high Glencar Waterfall located close to Manorhamilton. With Sliabh Liag in Co. Donegal and Ben Bulben in Co. Sligo, Glencar will be part of a new inter-agency initiative which, it is hoped, will see a quadruple increase in visitors on an annual basis, to 400,000, over the next five years. Glencar was the inspiration for Yeats’ poem, “The Stolen Child”.

 

Teachers and students of St Munchin’s College in Limerick have joined forces to raise funds for Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, Milford Hospice in Limerick and the Clare 250 cycle. Prompted by the plight of teacher Donal Madden’s baby daughter, who was born with three holes in her heart, the group has held a coffee morning and a raffle, and they also undertook a thirty kilometre cycle to Killaloe followed by a climb of Maigh Lusa. Among the students taking part were Paul Curtis from Parteen and Ray Murnane from Shannon Banks.

 

Paddy Farrell from Newtowncashel recently celebrated his ninetieth birthday in the Rustic Inn in Abbeyshrule, with his wife Mary and their ten children, grandchildren and one great-grandson. Paddy and Mary still live in the house in which he was born and reared, the second eldest of the seven children of Francis and Mary Farrell. While his siblings emigrated, Paddy stayed at home to run the family farm and also played on the Cashel GAA team that brought the first piece of silverware to the parish, in 1942.

 

Last week saw the opening of three new looped walks for the county, all beginning at the tourist office in Carlingford and all designed to suit those with average levels of fitness. Covering both the town and the Cooley Peninsula, the three new walks have been named the Common’s Loop, Slieve Foye Loop and Barnavave Loop. The walks, officially launched recently by Minister for Tourism Mary Hanafin, have been developed with the support of the county council and Fáilte Ireland.

 

Gary Leahy from Newport, who is one of only two bow-makers in the country, has been awarded a gold medal at a competition held by the Violin Society of America in Cleveland, Ohio. A feature of the competition is that any bow which achieves a certain standard is awarded a gold medal. Gary began making bows after moving to New Zealand and gaining work repairing violins. He returned to the county eight years ago after being in touch with bow-maker Noel Burke, who also has his base in Mayo.

 

Meath: Crisp weather for a crisp occasion

The crisp dry weather matched the main player when Tayto Park opened outside Ashbourne during the week. Ray Coyle, owner of Largo Foods, has invested €8.5m in the American-themed park which comprises an Indian village, buffalo, cougars and mountain lions, and adventure playgrounds. The first of its kind in Ireland, Tayto Park has initially given employment to forty, while a further forty-five will be taken on by next summer. A Teahouse in the Tree House, in a sycamore tree, is another attraction, as is the Pet-Tayto Corner where visitors can see rabbits, ducks, hens and geese.

 

Father Pat McHugh was appointed to the parish of Muckno in September by Bishop of Clogher Dr Liam MacDaid, and he will be formally installed on Sunday. Father McHugh, a Fermanagh man, replaces Canon John McCabe who has moved to Roslea after spending nine years in Muckno. The Installation ceremony will be conducted by Bishop McDaid, while new members of a Pastoral Team will also be commissioned at the same service. Both Bishop and congregation will then meet for refreshments in the Glencarn Hotel.

 

Sam Keeley from Tullamore, the eldest son of Brendan and Regina Keeley, appeared on television last week in the award-winning series “Misfits”. The nineteen-year-old has already played the lead in the locally produced feature film “Killen”, which will be shown at the Cannes Film Festival next year, and has also landed a part in “This Must be the Place”, starring Sean Penn which was shot in Dublin and Wicklow. At present Sam is in Galway filming the TV series “Jack Taylor”.

 

Kevin McGarry from Callow near Frenchpark was visited in hospital in New Zealand by All Blacks hooker Keven Mealamu, a friend of one of the nurses treating him. Farm labourer Kevin had lost both his legs when his motorbike crashed into an electric fence near Auckland. When the All Blacks were in Dublin last weekend Keven Mealamu arranged for them to meet up with the twenty-three-year-old the day before the match. The meeting took place at the Captain’s Run at the Aviva Stadium and Kevin was delighted to be introduced to so many rugby greats.

 

Sligo: Ordination of Collooney man

David Barrins from Collooney spent two years working in the banking sector before finally deciding to try the life of a priest. The thirty-two-year-old, who first felt the stirrings of a vocation while an altar boy, joined the Dominican novitiate and eventually became a Brother, and director of the order’s youth ministry. His ordination in the Dominican church in Cork last weekend was attended by his parents Christopher and Celine, his brothers Peter and Rory and his sister Tracy.

 

The village of Dundrum had something to celebrate last weekend when a local secondary school teacher Sherine Prendergast was named as Queen of the Land 2010 at the festival hosted in Tullamore by Offaly Macra na Feirme. A total of twenty-eight contestants took part and the announcement was made by Patricia McNamara of main sponsors Aviva. The Queen of the Land, which was held for the forty-fifth time this year, aims to find the contestant who best epitomises the modern rural woman.

 

It appears that Carricklee House on the outskirts of Strabane, home to four generations of the Herdman family since 1842, will have its sale finalised this week. It has been rumoured that the estate, in Urney, will become the location of a country house hotel. The current owners of the eighteenth century house, Penny and James Herdman, had been running the house as a bed and breakfast facility until putting it on the market two years ago. They had decided that the house on its seventeen acres was too big for their needs.

 

There is an opening for anyone who would like to live on the country’s largest private demesne, where the grounds include one of the tallest trees in the country as well as Ireland’s oldest bridge. Lord Waterford of Curraghmore House and Gardens is looking for a butler for his two and a half thousand acre estate, and has specified that no experience is necessary. Lord Waterford has also stated that the position would suit either a couple or a single person though he has given no details of the duties involved in the position. 

 

So many fans had climbed up onto the statue of singer Joe Dolan in Mullingar that it has been necessary to remove it for repair. The bronze statue, which was erected almost two years ago, had become loose from its foundations after fans had climbed up to have their photograph taken, and it has now been removed to a foundry in Dublin where it will be strengthened. The foundry, the original installation company, will add extra foundation fixings to ensure greater stability.

 

The fire at the Royal Hotel in New Ross two weeks ago left the building in an unsafe condition and it was decided that it should be demolished. A thirty-tonne excavator was brought in to take the building down floor by floor but the contractors managed to save a number of artefacts in the process. The original quoin stone bearing the inscription “Built A.D. 1790 Charles Tottenham Esq., Ballycurry” was saved, as was the Victorian post box that stood at the entrance to the hotel.

 

The final five for the title of Eurotoques Young Chef includes Keelan Higgs from Greystones. To reach the shortlist Keelan had to present a written submission and to undergo an interview and a blind taste test. The 24-year-old worked in Italy, and at Restaurant Patrick Guilbaud in Dublin before moving to Chapter One in Dublin city centre where he works under head chef Ross Lewis. The winner will be announced at the Patrick Guilbaud on Monday, though all five finalists will enjoy a four-day study visit to L’Ecole Gregoir Ferrandi Culinary School in Paris.