1. science
2. medicine
3. surgery
4. transplants

SPECIAL
FEATURE
5 pages
of SPRING
GARDENING
West Cork
Martial artists
honoured
Waiting for an
organ transplant
– life on dialysis
page 50
page 3
www.westcorkpeople.ie & www.westcorkfridayad.ie
March 6 – April 2, 2015, Vol XI, Edition 154
FREE
Old Town Hall, McCurtain Hill, Clonakilty, Co. Cork. E: [email protected] P/F: 023 8835698
Pictured at the official sod turning and naming of Skibbereen Community School are John Fitzgibbon, Cork ETB, Michael McCarthy TD, Laura Ryan,
Mercy Heights Secondary School, Liam Bohane, Rossa College, the Minister for Education and Skills, Jan O’Sullivan T.D. and Niall Seymour, St. Fachtna
De La Salle. Construction is already underway at the 19 acre site at Gortnacloughy, Skibbereen, which will cater for 900 students.
Pic: John Allen
Education Minister turns sod on Skibbereen Community School
n February 12, the Minister
for Education and Skills,
Jan O’Sullivan TD, performed the official sod turning on
the site of the new community
school at Gortnacloughy,
Skibbereen. Construction is already
underway at the 19-acre site, which
will cater for 900 post-primary
school students on completion in
May 2016.
Representatives from Mercy
Heights Secondary School, Rossa
College and St. Fachtna’s De la
Salle, the current three post-primary schools in Skibbereen were
O
on hand to welcome the Minister to
West Cork, and presented her with
a Fuchsia tree, the symbol of the
Region, to be planted on the site
when the building work is finished.
Speaking at the sod-turning ceremony, the Minister said: “The
multi-million euro investment in
this region by the Department of
Education and Skills and with
BAM Construction, as the Private
Sector Partner, ensures that West
Cork is served with a state of the
art learning facility, that will benefit the Region for generations to
come.”
Officially named Skibbereen
Community School at the ceremony, the new school will house 900
pupils providing modern classrooms, several science laboratories,
technology and multimedia rooms,
arts and graphics areas over the
9,800 m2 building. Extensive
sports facilities, both indoor and
external hard courts and playing
pitches will also form part of the
school development, as well as a
fully specified Special Needs Unit.
“The new community school in
Skibbereen will ensure that students in this area have every
opportunity to excel in their chosen
subjects,” said John Fitzgibbon,
Education Officer, Cork ETB.
“We have been working on this
new school since early 2000 and
the land was purchased in 2009,
and we are delighted to witness the
turning of the sod by Minister
O’Sullivan here today,” he added.
The site was blessed by Bishop
of Cork and Ross John Buckley,
who is also a Trustee of the school.
Also in attendance were representatives of the other Trustees,
CEIST and Cork ETB.
2
March 6 – April 2
John B. Keane's son to deliver talk
on his father for Clonakilty Dúchas
illy Keane, son of famous
playwright John B.
Keane, is guest speaker
at the March lecture organised
by Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage.
The event titled ‘The Life and
Times of John B. Keane’, will
take place at The Parish Centre,
Clonakilty on Thursday March
12, starting at 8.30pm.
One of Ireland’s most prolific
literary figures, John B. Keane
lived most of his life in Listowel,
where as a publican he was provided with a rich source of inspi-
B
ration for his humorous and passionate plays, novels and short
stories. Kilmeen Drama Group
has staged some of his most popular plays over the years to great
acclaim, including ‘The Field’,
‘Sive’, ‘Many Young Men of
Twenty’ and ‘Big Maggie’. He
also wrote many fine novels.
A member of Aosdána and a
founding member of the Society
of Irish Playwrights, John B won
many awards for his literature,
including a Gradam Medal, the
Abbey Theatre's highest award,
in 1999.
John B’s son Billy Keane is
himself a well-known broadcaster and journalist and like his
father is also a publican and novelist. He too possesses a fountain
of knowledge on the colourful
characters of his native Listowel.
This event is organised by
Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage and
all are welcome to attend. People
are advised that arrive early, as
seating is limited.
Kinsale Pink Ribbon
Walk raises €50,000
and counting for Action
Breast Cancer
n Sunday March 1,
almost 1,100 walkers
and runners raised
over €50,000 (and counting)
on the fourth Kinsale Pink
Ribbon Walk, to benefit
Action Breast Cancer, a programme of the Irish Cancer
Society.
After a very wet start,
divine intervention happened
and the sun came out, allowing a sea of pink to flow
through the town with each
participant wearing a Pink
Ribbon Walk t-shirt and
Kinsale businesses having
‘turned pink’ for the weekend
O
to heighten breast cancer
awareness.
Brand Co-Ambassador
Tara Flynn spoke of Ireland
having an ‘orange weather
alert’ but Kinsale had a ‘Pink’
Alert as she welcomed participants from all over the country
and then Sharon Crosbie, CoAmbassador sang as the motivated crowd prepared to stride
off through the town on the
10k route, that started and finished on the Pier Road.
“We are delighted with
such fantastic support and are
thrilled with over €50,000
raised to date and counting as
the Pink Ribbon Walk is a big
physical and financial commitment,” said Fionnuala
McCarthy, Chairperson
Kinsale Pink Ribbon Walk.
“We sincerely thank participants for fundraising such a
huge amount in sponsorship
and thank everyone for their
most generous donations. We
encourage those participants
who registered late to return
their sponsorship cards to
Finishing Services, 71 Main
Street, Kinsale or to lodge
monies in AIB Kinsale with
their name and registration
number during March.”
Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce
making students of today aware of
the opportunites of tomorrow
lonakilty Chamber of
Commerce is arranging ‘FutureStore’, a
careers event for students in
the Clonakilty and
Rosscarbery area, which will
be held on Thursday, March
12 from 7pm to 9pm in The
Clonakilty Hotel.
Schools are currently
working with students to
identify career areas of interest to them; ‘FutureStore’
organisers will then liaise
with Clonakilty Chamber
members to match members
of various professions with
students who have expressed
interest in that area. The
members have already
C
received questions and have
had time to research and prepare comprehensive answers
to give on March 12. They
will also be available to have
a general conversation or
answer any other questions
that may arise.
Speakers from industries
around West Cork will make
short presentations over a
one-hour period regarding job
opportunities in West Cork.
Organisers also expect to
have a number of information
stands, including information
regarding the DARE scheme;
DARE aims to improve
access to college for schoolleavers with a disability or
specific learning difficulty by
allocating a number of thirdlevel places to them on a
reduced points basis.
Clonakilty Chamber of
Commerce hopes to ensure
that the students of today are
aware of the opportunities of
tomorrow in West Cork. They
are the future of West Cork
and it is in everybody’s best
interests that they stay or
return to contribute to the
local economy and community.
For further details please
contact Catherine Beamish on
087 2852325.
County Cork’s historic prison records
summarised by Bantry scholar
rank O’Donovan,
Bantry, has put together
a wonderful summary of
the historic Prison Records of
County Cork (1840 - 1870).
This is a most fascinating
insight into crimes and convictions of the mid 19th century
and with a breakdown of surnames, conveys a whole range
of different offences, which
include ‘bowling on the public
road’, ‘suspicion of stealing a
duck’ and ‘obstructing the
streets by selling cabbage’!
In his introduction Franks
says, “ While browsing
through some Prison records
for County Cork I stumbled
F
across one which ‘caught my
eye’, so to speak. It was a
Donovan man in 1853 and the
reason he was sent to prison
was for ‘Furious Driving’.
Now the motor car was not
around in that era so I can
only guess that he was driving
a donkey and cart, a horse and
cart or trap. And of course
there were no tarmacadamed
roads either. A bit more
curiosity and I saw a wide
variety of offences. These
included assaults, being drunk,
owing money and suspicion
of... It was the latter which
surprised me in that clearly
people were imprisoned based
only on a suspicion.
I decided to note a selection of offences and I kept
going until I reached a total of
5,179, covering the period
from 1840 to 1870 inclusive.
To get a balanced picture I
took a selection of surnames
and for each I took a sample
of offences for that name for
each year, with a few exceptions. Thus I believe I got a
representative sample in the
survey.
This great piece of work
and is available to read in full
at bmdnotices.com/
Prisoners.pdf
3
March 6 – April 2
The greatest
gift you can
leave behind
There are over 600 people in Ireland awaiting lifesaving heart, lung, liver, kidney and pancreas transplants. Worryingly, the number of organ donors in
Ireland dropped by a quarter last year, making 2014
one of the worst in recent years for organ donations.
Preliminary figures from the Organ Donation and
Transplant Ireland (ODTI) shows that there were 112
kidney transplants from deceased donors in 2014
compared with 147 in 2013. The total number of
organ transplants was 251 in 2014 compared with
Organ Donor Awareness
Week also serves as a
fundraising exercise for the
Irish Kidney Association.
Throughout the week (March
28 – April 4, 2015), the
Association’s volunteers will
be out on the streets, and in
shopping centres throughout
the country, selling 'forget-menot-flower' emblems,
brooches, pens and shopping
trolley discs. All proceeds will
go towards the Irish Kidney
Association’s aid for patients
on dialysis and those patients
fortunate enough to have
received a kidney transplant.
The Irish Kidney
Association charitable activities include the provision of a
13 double bedroom free
accommodation facility for
patients and their families in
the grounds of Beaumont
I
n January 2014, Mary’s
condition became life
threatening; both her kidneys failed and she had to go
on emergency dialysis. She is
now on the live and deceased
kidney transplant list.
Today, family life in the
Egan household revolves
around Mary’s dialysis
machine, which since last
October, she is fortunate to
have in her own home. For
four hours, four days a week,
Mary hooks the line in her
chest up to the machine for a
session of haemodialysis,
which removes toxins and
excess water and cleans her
blood.
“When something like this
affects you, you appreciate life
so much more,” says Mary.
“You realise what you have to
be grateful for…and it’s the
simple things like being at
home and spending time with
my husband Tadhg and the
kids and having the support of
family and friends.”
“I’m quite a positive person so
the hope of getting a transplant
and having to be
there for my kids
keeps me going.
I’m on call 24/7
and I have my
bag packed.”
Éabha (9), Leah (6) and Ben
(2) chat to their mum about
their day, do their homework
or simply sit in companionable
Mary Egan would like to encourage everybody in West Cork
to carry a donor card and to have a conversation with their
family regarding their wishes.
silence while Mary is on the
dialysis machine. “I think it’s
made us stronger as a family,”
says Mary. “And my hope is
that my children will be better
and more empathic people in
the future from going through
this experience with me.”
Chronic Kidney Disease is a
major life change that can
cause a great deal of stress.
Fatigue, loss of appetite,
insomnia and dietary restrictions (high potassium and high
phosphate foods have to be
avoided and there is a daily
fluid quota) is all a part of
daily life. “I’m quite a positive
person so the hope of getting a
transplant and having to be
there for my kids keeps me
going,” says Mary. “I’m on
call 24/7 and I have my bag
packed.”
The focus of Organ Donor
Awareness Week (March 28 –
April 4, 2015) is to raise
awareness about the ongoing
and ever increasing demand
for transplantation, which
relies entirely on the public for
organ donation.
“I’ve always been a believer
in organ donation but it’s not
until it comes to your own
door that you really sit down
and talk about it. And it is
something you need to discuss
with your family, as at the end
of the day, whether you carry
an organ donation card or not,
it’s your next of kin that have
the final say,” explains Mary.
Families need to talk
amongst themselves and keep
the reminders of their willingness to donate visible by carrying the organ donor card,
downloading the Smartphone
App and permitting Code 115
to be included on their driver’s
license.
St Broganʼs tops the list at Enterprise competition
At the recent regional finals of
the Student Enterprise
Competition, three students
from St Brogan's College
Bandon won the top prize in
the intermediate Enterprise
category.
Lucy Hayes, Julia Chromick
and Leah Crowley set up a
company called 'Little Treats',
which produces and markets
high quality confectionery
products, as well as catering
for parties.
The judging panel was highly complimentary regarding all
aspects of their business. The
girls and their teacher Mrs.
Shaughnessy will now go to
represent Cork in the ‘All
Ireland School’s Student
Enterprise Competition’ which
will take place in Croke Park
Dublin on Wednesday, April
22.
294 in the previous year.
Approximately 1,800 people are on dialysis. Mary
Egan (38) living in Ballinascarthy, a little village
near Clonakilty in West Cork, is one of them.
After suffering with kidney problems for years, the
mother of three young children was diagnosed with
chronic kidney disease in 2012, the same week she
found out that she was pregnant with her third child.
She talks to Mary O’Brien about life on dialysis
and her hope for a future transplant.
Hospital and holiday centres
located in Tramore and Kerry,
together with patient advocacy, advice, financial aid and
rehabilitative, health promotion and the provision of kidney patient information and
education.
“I’m hopeful,” says Mary
“I’m also very aware that there
will be an element of sadness
too when I get that call, as our
family’s gain will be another
family’s loss. There really is
no greater gift.”
Organ Donor Cards can also
be obtained by phoning the
Irish Kidney Association
LoCall 1890 543639 or
Freetext the word DONOR to
50050. Visit website
www.ika.ie.
4
March 6 – April 2
Out and about in West Cork . . .
The Crossmahon
Bandon Macra team
who won the Carbery
region 5 aside indoor
competition soccer
held recently in
Rosscarbery.
Members of Cork West
Civil Defence are currently being trained up
as Swift Water and
Flood Water First
Responders. From left;
Tom Collin, Garry
Minihane, Paddy Rose,
Peter Losberg and
George Vladisavljevic.
(Pic Kieran Minihane)
Kilbree Instrumental Group placed second at Scor na bPaisti West Cork which
took place in Ballydehob last month. Kilbree Hurling Club had three acts that
qualified for the final. The instrumental group was made up of Mary Murphy,
Rachel Deasy, Caoimhe Murphy, Sinead O’Sullivan, and Orlaith Kirby.
Paula Carter, Saran
and Jenny Crosbie and
Alice Tallent from
Kinsale pictured at the
2015 Kinsale Pink
Ribbon Walk where
over a thousand participants raised over
€50,000 for Cancer
Research.
Pic. John Allen
Kinsale Macra members being presented with the Regional Shield at the
Seandún Final of Club Question Time
Skibbereen Library Knitting and Crochet Group were very busy during 2014.
They knitted for several charities throughout the year alongside their own knitting projects. These included baby caps and blankets for the neonatal unit in
C.U.H., little hats for the Innocent Big Knit for Age Action Ireland and an
assortment of knitted items such as socks, hats, scarves and teddies for the
Christmas Shoebox Appeal. The group meet every Wednesday morning from
10.30 am to 1 pm in Skibbereen Library. All are welcome.
Bantry Macra na Feirme's Dinner Dance in the Westlodge Hotel last month saw a huge crowd in attendance. Pictured are: (Back l-r) James Levis, Denise Kingston, Mary O'Sullivan, Amy Harrington, Ann
Buckley, Susan Kingston, Elaine Johnston, Vicki Murnane, Dermot Cronin. (Front l-r) James Murphy,
Jason Griffin, Killian McCarthy, Kenneth Kingston, Conor O' Mahony and Aaron Harrington.
Send your pictures of people events in West Cork to West Cork People’s Out and About page:
email: [email protected]
5
March 6 – April 2
Major new tourism initiative
for Beara Peninsula
Members of the new Promotion Beara group whose remit is to build Beara as a tourism
destination by working collectively to market the region and in doing so strengthen the
sustainability of businesses and communities. L-R Clockwise: Paul Harris, Darren
Lynch, Raymond Ross, Colman O’Sullivan, Barry Hanley, Tadhg O’Sullivan, Cecile
Thevenet, Tara Hanley, Connie Torpey Downey and Jim Larner.
romotion Beara is the new
title of the original
Kenmare Beara Tourism
Cluster that was established in
2010, under the Collabor8
Programme.
The group is based in the
greater Beara region traversing
counties Cork and Kerry and the
gateway towns of Kenmare and
Glengarriff. Its remit is to build
Beara as a tourism destination, to
work collectively to market the
region and in doing so strengthen
the sustainability of businesses
and communities. It is working
closely with the Three Heads
Tourism Project, which represents the Beara, Sheeps Head and
Mizen peninsulas to brand the
three peninsulas as one unique
tourism destination.
Promotion Beara is made up
of local individuals, businesses,
tourism, marketing and community groups from Allihies,
Adrigole, Ardgroom, Bonane,
Bere Island, Castletownbere,
Eyeries, Glengarriff, Kenmare,
Tousist / Lauragh and A Grand
Day Out.
When the Kenmare Beara
Tourism Cluster was initated
back in 2010, its aim was to
encourage diverse local groups to
work together on developing and
marketing their region and its
unique selling points.
This original cluster initiative
was active for quite a while and
took the opportunity to produce
and distribute a very successful
P
A3 tear-off map of the peninsula.
In January 2013, a public
meeting was held to revive the
cluster’s tourism marketing activities and link in with county
tourism supports. From this
meeting, it was decided to set-up
a project team to update and
reprint the map. With the assistance of the Rural Alliance
Programme through South Kerry
Development Partnership,
150,000 maps were distributed
for the 2014 season.
A public meeting was then
held on the November 26, 2013
in Kenmare. Over 80 individuals,
local businesses, tourism group
members, community and development group members, etc.
were invited. Attendance was
low and dominated by the easterly end of the peninsula:
Glengarriff, Bonane, Tousist and
Kenmare. However, the organsiers got in touch with community leaders from the western end
of the peninsula (Castletownbere,
Allihies and Eyeries) who gave
their full support. Whilst not able
to attend that first meeting, they
made it clear that they would be
very interested in taking part at
the next meeting. Therefore, as
the programme was rolled out,
workshops were held across the
peninsula.
Interest was expressed by
attendees to implement the
Cluster Animation Programme
and branding/logo for Beara was
identified as one of the priorities.
Another was a comprehensive
website, which would act as an
umbrella site for all tourism
providers and businesses on the
Peninsula. It was decided to keep
these workshops very practical
with the emphasis on project(s)
for the 2015 tourism season.
Feedback suggested that people
were tired of programmes and
would only participate if they
believed tangible and immediate
results would be delivered for
their businesses and region.
The development of a brand /
logo presented an exciting and
untapped opportunity for the
group in building and promoting
the Beara region as a unique destination. Ultimately, it is about
identity and being able to compete on a National and
International stage with successful areas such as the Ring of
Kerry, Dingle Peninsula and
Loop Head without compromising the existing way of life of
Beara
The officers for year one, Tara
Hanley, Paul Harris, Tadhg
O’Sullivan, Owen Johnston,
Raymond Ross and Chris
Harrington, together with all the
area representatives, are now
inviting all individuals and businesses from Glengarriff to
Dursey Island to Kenmare to join
them in building up this amazing
area and new brand. For further
details / information please contact [email protected].
6
March 6 – April 2
Free-range children
O
ne of the main reasons that I moved to
West Cork from
Brussels, over twenty years
ago, was that my eldest was
12-years-old and I wanted her
and her siblings to be able to
go out unsupervised, as I had
in my, largely suburban,
childhood. I felt that the urban
environment was too scary to
let them loose in. I couldn’t
imagine just letting her take
off on her own for the afternoon, and I knew that she had
to be able to do that. After all,
what was I going to do? Keep
my children locked up until
they were 18 and then just
push them out the door into a
world that they had never
encountered on their own?
I remember the first time I
turned up our road to view the
house that would become our
home in West Cork. As I
slowed, I saw a small boy pop
out from a low bank. He must
have been six years old at the
most. I was surprised, and
was wondering if he was lost,
when an even smaller boy
popped up tugging on a bit of
baler twine, on the other end
of which, was an over excited
puppy. They waved as I went
past, clearly not lost. They
were just out playing at the
stream. Coming from the city,
it was an incredible sight: two
small boys and a puppy, just
wandering around. Over the
years my daughters wandered
around those hills and fields. I
overcame my city fears and
accepted not that they were
safe, but that they were children whose need to climb
trees and wade streams was
greater than my need to never
let them suffer as much as a
scratch.
I was helped to let go of the
obsessive need to know exactly where my girls were at all
times (which is the hallmark
of urban parenting) by my
neighbours and friends. “Ah
sure they’ll be grand,” was
something I heard often when
A
WEST CORK
LIFE
Tina Pisco
Over the years my
daughters wandered
around those hills and
fields. I overcame my
city fears and accepted
not that they were
safe, but that they
were children whose
need to climb trees
and wade streams was
greater than my need
to never let them suffer as much as a
scratch.
I first moved. One lovely old
lady told me that when her
nephew came to visit from
America, she’d let him wander wherever he wanted as
long as he was back in time
for meals, and as long as he
took the dog. “I tell him that
if something happens to him,
the dog will come home and
fetch me, and show me where
his body is,” she explained
with a wry grin. “That dog
keeps his mind focused on
what he’s doing.”
I had my rules: never run
with scissors, or with anything in your mouth, especial-
ly not balloons. Some were
illogical: never take vitamins
at night. Some may have been
a bit overcautious: treat the
water in flower vases as if it
were teeming with Ebola.
Some were purely local:
always know if the tide is
going out or in, check fields
for cattle especially bulls.
I was terrified when they
climbed things: cliffs, trees,
jungle gyms; but I didn’t stop
them. They knew that I was
terrified and delighted in
shouting at me down below. I
would turn my back so as not
to have to look, but applauded
their bravery, even as I
thought of how I’d have to
drive an hour to Cork if they
fell on their heads and broke
something. I trusted them to
not be any more stupid than I
had been at their age, and I
trusted myself to be able to
comfort and mend them when
they got hurt.
Seven was the appropriate
age to get your first pen knife.
At thirteen you were old
enough to go to Cork with
friends during the day. Fifteen
was the age you got a tent for
your birthday. The pen knife
came with a lecture on having
reached the age of reason, but
still having to prove that you
were indeed old enough to be
trusted. The pen knife would
be taken back if you sliced
your thumb or threatened any
sister with it, or left it open on
the table. Much the same lecture accompanied the bus
ticket to Cork, and the birthday tent.
The stream where I had
seen the boys that first day
became a favourite place to
play. One day my youngest
asked if she could go “down
to the river on her own”? I
replied that you had to be six
years old to go down alone.
She replied that she was
seven. I concurred and let her
go. But I told her to take the
dog — just in case.
Bantry Bay Lions Club Diary
Letter from the Editor
Welcome to the March edition.
It’s been a month of mixed weather — fluctuating temperatures, sunshine and snow showers; brollys, rainjackets and t-shirts have all been alternated accordingly.
According to Met Eireann, temperatures are on the rise
again this weekend, so a spot of gardening is definitely
on the cards. I won’t be packing away my jumpers just
yet though!
Mary O’Brien
Editor
March is a month when things really get going in West
Cork. Families brave cold March winds on street corners
to watch and support St Patrick’s Day parades all over
West Cork. The Quality Hotel West Cork Rally, which
takes place over Saturday and Sunday, March 14 and 15,
is expected to draw huge crowds to the town this year.
West Cork also has an impromptu two-week Spring Fitup Theatre Festival running from March 4 to 15 and of
course the renowned West Cork Drama Festival in
Rossmore also takes place in March (13-22).
Sheila Mullins
Creative
Director
Don’t forget it’s Mother’s Day this month, so take time
to show your mammy some appreciation. We have a
lovely recipe for a cake and a nice wine recommendation inside (hint hint)!
There is a nice Parenting Feature inside this issue, with
some interesting articles and advice on dealing with
childhood ailments, so be sure and check it out. As it’s
the season for getting stuck in outdoors (Gardener’s
World starts on BBC this Friday), you will also find lots
of gardening tips inside this issue.
Caitriona
Jardine-Otway
Sales Executive
We also have lots of competitions. So for this and lots
more, see inside.
I hope you enjoy the read,
Mary
Dear Editor,
I am researching Shelton Abbey in Co.
Wicklow, when it was used to train foresters for
the then Irish Forestry Service in the 1950s and
1960s.
I would love to hear from any of your readers
who either taught, studied or worked at Shelton
Abbey Forestry School between 1957-1968. My
father, the late Charlie Crowley from
Dunmanway, was in the class of 1961.
I can be contacted at
[email protected], 086-456 3594 or
the postal address below.
West Cork People
Old Town Hall,
McCurtain Hill,
Clonakilty, Co. Cork.
Phone: 023 8835698
or 023 8835696
E: [email protected]
www.westcorkpeople.ie
Contributors
Kate Arbon
Karen Austin
Tony Eklof
Hannah Dare
Mark Holland
Tina Pisco
Ryan Edwards
Louise O’Dwyer
John Hosford
Anne Crossey
Patrick J Mahoney
Yours sincerely,
he Bantry Bay Lions Club presented
another batch of ‘Cuddly Lions’ to the
Ambulance Services group in Bantry and
Castletownbere on February 2. These Cuddly
Lions will be given to children who are transported to hospital in an ambulance to help ease
their stress. This is the third year of this programme, which has continued due to the generous sponsorship in 2015 of Hurley’s Garage in
Bantry. Much appreciation must also go to the
continued participation in the programme by the
Toys Unlimited shop who offer discount on the
lions and Designs and Signs who provide the
little jacket at cost and the Lions logo free of
charge. Pictured presenting the cuddly lions
(from left to right) Ernie Lewis with Teresa
Hurley, Ciaran Hurley, Diarmuid Hurley, Nora
Lynch, Tanya Goodall, Phyl Lewis and Ger
T
Sorcha Crowley
‘Knockane’,
Rathonoragh,
Strandhill Road,
Sligo.
Finn. Laura McCarthy from Designs and Signs
couldn’t make the presentation. The Bantry Bay
Lions would like to say a huge thank you to
everyone for keeping this important programme
alive.
Cockerels?
www.westcorkfridayad.ie
Get yourself a bargain today!
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WEST CORK PEOPLE
7
March 6 – April 2
Cork sports star launches ʻjust-oneʼ Trek to Nepal
Clon Access Group calls for more
awareness with impending roadworks
he Clonakilty Access
Group was originally
founded back in the
mid 1990s to promote awareness of and better access for
people with disabilities on
footpaths, in parks, streets and
other public areas of the town.
It was quite successful over a
number of years working in
partnership with the then
UDC, Clonakilty Business
Association and other groups
in the town.
After a number of years ‘in
recess’ the group was reactivated again at a public meeting last May. One of the reasons, which the public meeting was held was because
members of the old group had
been receiving ongoing and
regular complaints from people about access difficulties
on narrow footpaths and other
areas of the town.
Attendees included people
with visual impairments, a
stroke survivor and a parent
of a young child whom she
pushes around town in a
buggy. They outlined how
obstacles placed on footpaths
not just create problems of
access but are also a hazard
for some of them.
“The main issues are very
easily resolved as they are in
T
From left: Cionnaith Ó Súilleabháin, (PRO); Angela O' Brien, (Vice Chair); Anthony O'
Donovan; Declan Murphy, (founder of just-one); Seán Óg Ó hAilpín; Kieran Casey,
(Chairperson); Eithne Harte, (Secretary) and Colin Sutton, (Treasurer).
Photo: Édaín Ní Dhomhnaill
ne of Ireland's most
famous sportsmen has
thrown his support
behind a charity founded by a
Clonakilty man that provides
education opportunities for disadvantaged, homeless and street
children in Nepal.
Former Cork dual star Seán
Óg Ó hAilpín launched the ‘justone’ Trek to Nepal on February
23 in Clonakilty, praising the
work of the organisation, and
encouraging people to support
the trip, which takes place next
November.
The ‘just-one’ charity, founded by Clonakilty man Declan
Murphy 10 years ago, is inviting
hill-walkers and trekkers to take
up the opportunity to participate
in a “trip of a lifetime” to Nepal
from November 5 to 18, and in
doing so, also raise some money
for the organisation's ongoing
work.
On November 5 next, a group
of up to 18 Irish people have the
opportunity to travel to the
Nepalese capital Kathmandu,
O
where they will witness justone’s work – and also experience
the incredibly beautiful country
around it for two weeks.
Thanks to the generous support of Etihad Airways and
Himalayan Encounters, just-one
has secured the entire trip at a
cost of just over €1,100 (including return flights, accommodation, trek, etc.) for the 14-day
trip.
Based in the capital
Kathmandu, the highlight (and
challenge!) will be a five-day
trek through the nearby
Himalayas when participants
will reach an altitude of over
3,000m, enjoying some of the
most panoramic scenery on the
planet!
But there will also be the
chance to take a dip in hot
springs, visit a Monkey Temple
and experience spectacular lakes
and sunrises and many other
local attractions.
To avail of this trip of a lifetime, each confirmed participant
is being asked to raise a mini-
mum of €1,500 for just-one in
aid of the organisation's work on
the ground in Kathmandu. 100
per cent of money raised will be
spent on the core cause – the
education of disadvantaged children in Kathmandu.
“In addition to the ‘tourist’
attractions, the trekkers will also
visit just-one’s humble HQ in
Kathmandu where they will
meet the staff and children at the
facility, which is mainly funded
by donations from West Cork
schoolchildren.”
Places on this once-in-a-lifetime adventure are limited to the
first 18 people signed-up. Four
places are already gone and the
remaining are expected to be
snapped up within the next
month to six weeks.
If interested, please make
contact ASAP for details of the
14-day itinerary by emailing
[email protected] or calling 087-7642465.
Check out www.just-one.org
and Facebook and Twitter pages
for regular updates.
the main temporary items
placed on footpaths which
create real problems for the
less-abled in our community,”
a representative of the Access
Group stated.
At a recent committee
meeting, the impending roadworks going through the town
centre, which will last for several months and the possible
impact this may have on people with disabilities was discussed at length.
While everyone understands that there will be
inconvenience, the Access
Group is calling on the council, contractors and businesses
to be aware of the needs and
challenges of people with
poor or no sight; wheelchairusers and people with prams
and buggies during the works.
In particular, the ability to
access town centre pharmacies (and many other businesses) and to be able to park
cars as near as possible to
them was a point of concern.
The Access Group committee has met with County
Council and Chamber of
Commerce officials in recent
months and has asked for a
meeting with the County
Architect to discuss the final
design of the town centre
works.
In the meantime, businesses are asked to avoid placing
obstacles on the footpaths or
where unavoidable (for example beer keg deliveries), to
ensure that they are not left
out for prolonged periods.
Among items that can be
problematic are: Advertising
boards; Menu boards;
Postcard stands; Pot
Plants/Shrubs/Small Trees;
Tables; Chairs; Seats; A statuette!; Items for sale
placed/on display placed on
footpaths; Beer kegs; Rubbish
Bins; Low level Hanging
Baskets/Floral Displays.
The group also asks people
to respect the special parking
areas reserved for disabled
and parents and children.
The Access Group wishes
to be positive and constructive
but also points out that there
is legislation and rights pertaining to access. "The problem is the lack of awareness
or indifference displayed by
able-bodied people on some
occasions," said an Access
Group spokesperson.
8
March 6 – April 2
Mick O’Dea draws inspiration
Young people honoured for
from Irish War of Independence contributions to their communities
ick O’Dea’s upcoming show ‘The Tan
War’ opens in the Triskel, Cork on
March 13. As well as new paintings,
the exhibition draws inspiration from the Irish
War of Independence, which was fought from
1919 – 1921. The exhibition draws from three
previous series of works, namely his 2010
show, ‘Black and Tans’, ‘Troubles’ from 2012
and 2014’s ‘Split’.
O’Dea is personally steeped in this period,
two uncles served in the Clare Irregulars. As a
boy in Ennis, he served Mass for De Valera. He
drew Seán MacBride (who shared a cell with
Liam Mellows). This infuses his work with
more than documentary feeling and the viewer
is shown this through his ethical scrutiny of this
period.
Mick O’Dea is the current president of the
Royal Hibernian Academy and a member of
Aosdána. His latest work has its genesis in
hours spent researching the national archives,
for images and information on this slice of Irish
History. The result is a series that highlights
both the official and unofficial record through
black charcoal and ink washed in the sepia
tones recalling old photographs.
The work has been described as “challenging and brave”. Working from historic photo-
n Friday, February 20, a
function was held in the
Munster Arms Hotel in
Bandon, where 11 young people
were honoured, all of whom
were nominees in the West Cork
Garda Youth Awards (in association with SuperValu) 2014.
Whilst they were not chosen as
Award winners for the Awards
Ceremony itself, An Garda
Siochana and SuperValu felt
that it was very important to
highlight their nomination, and
to recognise the excellent work
that is being carried out by
those nominated.
On the day, Superintendent
Liam Horgan of Bandon Garda
Station presented the
Certificates of Nomination, and
Andrew Fallon, (store manager), and Lorraine Kenny of
Caulfield’s SuperValu in
Bandon represented the Awards
sponsor SuperValu. Also present
on the evening was Garda
James O’ Mahony, Juvenile
Liaison Officer, Bandon Garda
Station, who initiated these
O
M
graphs; O’Dea brings back to vivid life the figures of this period in all their flawed and slightly sinister humanity. These are gunmen of various hues, living with and on the edge of violence.
The Black and Tans and Auxiliaries carry
themselves knowingly, presenting a confidant
swaggering image to the camera yet always
with the overt presence of violence. Guns and
holsters are everywhere: forcing the observer to
engage with them not as abstract and remote
figures, but as real people in a real time and
place.
Sophie Hurley being presented with her certificate by
Superintendent Liam Horgan, Bandon Garda Station,
along with Andrew Fallon, Store Manager Caulfield’s
SuperValu.
Awards in 1995.
Caulfield’s SuperValu also
kindly supplied light refreshments and goodie bags for those
present. Garda Damian White,
Bandon Garda Station, PRO for
the West Cork Garda Youth
Awards (in association with
SuperValu), thanked all those
present for their efforts, and
their attendance, and reflected
that these Certificates will be a
welcome addition to any CV.
Out and about in West Cork . . .
At the recent 80th Annual
Timoleague Ploughing Match is
local County Councillor Paul
Hayes with daughter Nadine.
Castletownbere ladies Katie Stevens who
was conferred with a LLM (Criminal
Justice) and Ruth Power who received her
MBS degree at UCC last month.
Deirdre Downey, representing the Children's Unit, CUH, is pictured accepting a cheque from Liz O'Regan,
Marie Forristal and boys from Scoil na mBuachaillí, Clonakilty. This money was raised by Scoil na
mBuachaillí's annual Remembrance Tree fundraiser and proceeds from the sale of 'Home - The
Clonakilty Christmas Song'. A total of €5,901 was collected, with the balance going to the Scoil na
mBuachaillí building fund. Scoil na mBuachaillí wish to thank all those who contributed and helped out
during the fundraiser.
Liam Harte, Eddie
Goggin, The Opinion,
Pat Coffey and Jim
Foley at the opening of
Tim Coffey Financial
Consulting’s new offices
in Clonakilty.
Debbie McCarthy from
Castletownsend recently
won €23,000 on the
National Lottery’s The
Million Euro Challenge
game show on RTE. She
is pictured at the presentation of prizes with
her son Shane.
Send your pictures of people events in West Cork to West Cork People’s Out and About page:
email: [email protected]
March 6 – April 2
9
10
March 6 – April 2
KNOW YOUR RIGHTS
Fuel Grant Scheme
for disabled drivers
and passengers
Question: What is the fuel
grant which has been introduced to replace the excise
relief element of the Disabled
Drivers and Disabled
Passengers Scheme?
Answer: From January 2015,
current and prospective members
of the Disabled Drivers and
Disabled Passengers Scheme will
be eligible for a fuel grant in
respect of fuel used during the
year. This fuel grant will maintain the current practice of paying the sum a year in arrears, so
that payments of the fuel grant
will take place from January 1,
2016. The amount of grant available on the fuel grant will be the
same as the relief available under
the current excise relief.
Current members of the
Scheme do not need to re-apply
to receive the fuel grant.
However, members of the
Scheme should continue the current practice of retaining receipts
on any qualifying fuel purchased
under the Scheme.
Further information is available from the Citizens
Information Centre below.
Know Your Rights has been
compiled by West Cork Citizens
Information Service which provides a free and confidential
service to the public. Address:
Wolfe Tone Square, Bantry, Co.
Cork. Weekly outreach in
Dunmanway and Bandon.
Information is also available
online at citizensinformation.ie
and from the Citizens
Information Phone Service, 0761
07 4000. West Cork Helpline:
0761078390.
Bandon secondary school hosts
Food Forum for senior students
The Home Economics
Department in Colaiste Na
Toirbhirte in Bandon is hosting a
daylong food forum and farmers
market on Monday, March 9.
This innovative, one-day event
aims to enhance learning in the
classroom and show students how
the knowledge and skills they
acquire at school can connect and
transfer to careers in the thriving
Irish food sector.
Home Economics Teacher
Linda Hall explains how the
event came about: “Being a
school at the gateway to West
Cork, we are located right in the
heart of the Irish food sector.
Many parents are involved in
farming, food production, and
food education, restaurants and
food retail.
We created the Food Forum
and Farmers Market to give students an opportunity to explore
the kinds of exciting careers that
are available in the multi-billion
Euro Irish food sector. They will
have an opportunity to hear presentations from and to interact
with a range of speakers working
at top-level in academic, technical and commercial areas of the
food sector.”
Skibb students construct
winning robot
L-R Tom Foley, Mentor, Eoin Hourihane, Doobie Ronan,
Michael Pound Tadhg O'Donovan
our Students from Rossa
College fought off competition from eighteen schools
across Cork city and county to win
the prestigious Schools Robot
Competition for the second year in
a row. The competition held in
UCC was based on the theme of
George Boole. Boole was
Professor of Maths in UCC and
this year marks the 200th anniversary of his birth. Boole developed
the mathematical logic on which
modern computers operate.
Sponsored by Logitech and run
in conjunction with the CEIA
(Cork Electronics Industry
Association), UCC, CIT and the
Tyndall Institute, schools are given
the challenge to construct a robot
from a standard kit. Once constructed, the real work begins as
the robot has to be programmed
via computer to negotiate a series
of challenges and courses. This is
a painstaking process which the
team have been working on for the
past two months. When completed, robots compete against each
other over four different challenges. The best built and pro-
F
grammed robot is the one that
completes the course in fastest
times and points are awarded
accordingly. It is a very challenging competition requiring a good
understanding of engineering and
computer programming.
The winning team was made
up of second year pupils Doobie
Ronan, Eoin Hourihane, Tadhg
O’Donovan and Michael Pound.
Each member received a Logitech
Bluetooth speaker worth over
€150 while the College was presented with a laptop.
School Principal, Stephen
Gilbert praised the team and said
it is a great achievement to win
the competition once but to win it
a second year in a row was fantastic proving that success breeds
success. It was an excellent experience for students to compete
against some of the top schools in
the city and county and come out
on top. He also praised their mentor and Deputy Principal Tom
Foley who had encouraged and
guided the team throughout their
preparations.
11
March 6 – April 2
From Tralibane to far-flung shores:
The musical efforts of Chief O’Neill
THE
HISTORY
CORNER
Patrick J. Mahoney
Patrick J. Mahoney studied
cultural history at NUI
Galway's Centre for Irish
Studies, and now teaches in
the department of history at
Sacred Heart University,
Connecticut. He is interested in the study of emigrant
narratives, and the Irish
historical experience as it
relates to those in the
United States and Britain.
This column will highlight
the stories of significant
people and places with
West Cork connections,
throughout the world.
ave for the summer
months, during which
time the Fleadh Cheoil,
as well as summer schools and
festivals across the country,
monopolise the calendars of
Irish traditional musicians, no
other time of year draws
demand for Irish music such as
that of St. Patrick’s Day.
However, the sets that fill the
air during sessions this season
might sound quite different if it
weren’t for the preservation
efforts of one Irish-expatriate,
musician, and cultural revivalist, originally from the townland of Tralibane, in the Parish
of Caheragh near Bantry.
Born in 1847 at the height
of one of the darkest periods in
Ireland’s history, Francis
O’Neill would eventually
become one of the guiding, yet
often overlooked, lights in
bringing about a resurgence in
traditional culture in the
decades following the Famine.
Despite the hardships that
plagued the island in his formative years, the young O’Neill
was immersed in the rich musical tradition of his native area
from an early age. The
youngest of five sons and two
S
1913 Feis Poster Chicago
ND
daughters born to John and
Catherine ‘Kit’ O’Neill,
Francis later described the
house in which he had been
raised as an ‘Irish traditional
atmosphere’. He recalled that
his parents often sang melodies
in both Irish and English while
going about their daily routines
and neighbourhood musicians
regularly called over for a
social song or dance. During
his mother’s upbringing in her
native Drimoleague, her father
had established a reputation for
keeping an ‘open house’ for
travelling musicians. This everrotating cast of different performers, all with their own
unique repertoire of songs and
stories to present to their receptive hosts, had an indelible
effect upon the young
Catherine who years later,
relayed many of the songs back
to her own children.
After leaving home at the
age of 16, O’Neill embarked
on a journey rivalling that of
the mythical Odysseus in
Homer’s Odyssey. After
procuring passage by boat to
Sunderland in northern
England, he signed on as a
cabin boy on an English vessel.
In the years that followed, the
young Corkman would travel
to ports in Egypt, Russia, the
West Indies, Mexico, South
America, the United States,
Hawaii, and Japan. In one particularly harrowing incident,
O’Neill and his crewmates
were shipwrecked on Baker’s
Island in the middle of the
Pacific. After nearly succumbing to starvation on the small
coral island, the crew was rescued by a passing ship, and
brought to Honolulu, and later
San Francisco. As a result,
O’Neill became one of the
nearly half a million Irish
immigrants to enter the United
States in the 1860s. After a
brief stretch as a shepherd in
the Sierra Nevada Mountains,
he returned for another brief
stint at sea, sailing around Cape
Horn en route to New York
harbour. With that journey,
O’Neill had completed the feat
of a global circumnavigation
Chief Francis O’Neill
before his twenty-first birthday.
Having satisfied his appetite
for sea travel, he made his way
to the Midwestern United
States, first to Missouri, and
then to Chicago where he eventually settled.
In 1873, O’Neill began a
career as a member of the
Chicago Police force. His intellect, bravery, and practicality
allowed him to quickly rise
through the ranks, and by 1901,
he was named General
Superintendent. Of the 3,300
men under his command, 2,000
of them were said to have been
Irish, a fact that led some to
humorously remark that
O’Neill had recruited his countrymen to the city’s ranks in an
effort to bolster the resources
for his undying passion of Irish
music. One such officer who
had entered the force during
the 1870s was another Irishman
with the same surname but no
relation, James O’Neill, a
County Down native who was
reared in Belfast. Together, the
two O’Neills undertook a vast
personal project to document
the rich sounds and stories that
surrounded them in the émigré
music community of their
adopted city. Unlike their contemporaries in Ireland, their
location within a bustling city
that contained musicians from
all thirty-two counties in close
proximity to one another provided them with a unique
opportunity to collect a wealth
of material that reflected the
many diverse regional musical
traditions of their homeland.
Beginning with the melodies
from his youth in West Cork,
Francis would play tunes from
memory, which were then
recorded by James, who was
musically literate. The two officers’ homes quickly became
havens for fellow musicians,
eager to become involved in
the project. Regarding one such
recording session, O’Neill
noted, “on a recent occasion, to
the astonishment and delight of
a score of Irish musicians who
prided themselves on their
comprehensive knowledge of
their country’s music, a violinist who left his native valley
over forty years ago played
dozens of excellent tunes, then
heard for the first time by his
audience. And this was but one
of many instances.”
Reflecting the oral tradition
in which their work was rooted, the collected tunes often
underwent variations to serve
for gaps in the participants’
memories. To make them more
easily accessible to others, the
O’Neills and their collaborators
invented song titles where none
existed, pieced together fragments of tunes into a single
piece, and composed new segments of songs to fill gaps.
However, their revivalist efforts
were not relegated strictly to
the world of music. Seen within the wider context of the
Gaelic revival of the period,
Francis, a keen supporter of the
Gaelic League from its founding in the 1890s, arranged for
the translation of thousands of
song titles into Irish for publication. Additionally, he played
a major role in welcoming
League president, and future
president of Ireland, Douglas
Hyde to Chicago in 1905, and
served as a key member on the
planning committee for a widely hailed Gaelic League Feis,
that was held in Chicago’s
Comiskey Park baseball stadium in 1913. Amongst the many
fruits of his labours were the
releases of the widely
acclaimed source books for
performers, ‘O’Neill’s music of
Ireland’ (1903), and ‘The
dance music of Ireland: 1,001
gems’ (1907). Although
O’Neill would release a number of other publications, it was
the latter which became a valued resource among traditional
musicians in the years to come,
many of whom came to refer to
it as ‘the book’, or ‘the thousand and one’.
Today, O’Neill’s works
remain popular with a readership spanning a range equal to
that of his youthful travels.
Through the various songs and
titles, enthusiasts are offered a
glimpse into both the Ireland
which, years after their departures, remained enshrined in
the minds of O’Neill and his
associates, and the sounds and
scenes of their adopted
Chicago. As you enjoy the
many songs of the season, take
a moment to appreciate the
efforts of the man from
Tralibane.
12
March 6 – April 2
Social Innovation in Scoil Phobail Bhéara
coil Phobail Bhéara is taking part in this year’s
Young Social Innovator programme, co-ordinated by Marie Murphy (Chaplain) and Caitriona
Murphy. Young Social Innovators (YSI) believes that
young people are a powerful and largely untapped
force for change in their local communities and in
wider society. Promoting and leading the way in education for social innovation in Ireland, Young Social
Innovators encourages, motivates and creates new
opportunities for young people to actively participate
in the world around them.
Each year, thousands of young people are supported to explore social issues that concern them, explore
and come up with a variety of responses to these.
Below are the projects by Scoil Phobail Bhéara students;
‘Wipeout the Burnout’ is a project to promote
awareness of burnout in sport. Fourteen transition year
boys (Luke O’Sullivan, Conor O’Sullivan, Aed
O’Shea, Jack Shea, Joseph Sheehan, Alan
O’Donoghue, Conall Kane, Patrick Daly, Cillian
O’Shea, Rory O’Driscoll, Eoghan Power, Cormac
Whelhan, Andrew Murphy and Andre Brouges) all
play GAA for their local teams. “We see the devastation around the county from young players our own
age suffering from serious injury. We see players
burning out due to the workload being too much. Our
main aim is to promote proper strategies for managers
for dealing with the issue. We also have got in touch
with some inter-county players with serious injury
such as Colm O’Neill, Ruairi Deane, Colm Cooper
and Brian Corkery.”
‘Disability Accessibility’ is a group made up of
nine Transition Year students; Darragh Crowley,
Conor McQuaid, Ciara Crowley, Eimear O’Neill,
Ciara O’Sullivan, Brian Collins, Matthew Martin
Sullivan, Tommy O’Sullivan and Simon Harrison.
“The main purpose of our project is to help improve
accessibility for all, but in particular we hope to help
improve accessibility for those who may have physical disabilities. We aim to carry out a number of surveys and projects to increase our knowledge about
wheelchair use as well as organise a number of exciting events to raise awareness in our local community.”
‘Feel Good Fitness – Live Good, Feel Good' are
S
raising awareness and promoting the importance of a
healthy lifestyle for teenage girls. There are six girls
involved in this group project; Karen Crowley, Shauna
Doellken O’Shea, Mary-Kate Harrington, Amy
O’Sullivan, Clodagh O’Sullivan and Natasha Lyne.
“We aim to raise awareness on the declining rate of
teenage girls involved in any forms of exercise when
they enter secondary school, and to promote a fun, fit,
and healthy lifestyle for teenage girls today.”
‘Are you my type?’ Cian O’Shea, Micheal
O’Driscoll, Ciara Hanley, Siomhriabh Murphy,
Danielle Murphy, Denise O’Sullivan Jack O’Sullivan,
Oisin Murphy, Paudie O’Leary, Brendan Duggan and
Andrew O’Neill set out to learn about blood and
blood donation in Ireland and around the world. “We
want to change attitudes and improve knowledge in
the community of blood and blood donation. We are
raising awareness and knowledge of the eight blood
types and creating materials for schools. Our ultimate
aim is to organise a blood donation clinic for Beara by
encouraging local people to donate blood regularly.”
‘A Step in the Right Direction’ (Meidhbhe
Harrington, Debbie Power, Muireann Murphy, Kevin
Dwyer, Eoghan Hurley, Yvonne Harrington, Ciara
O’Brien, Danielle Kelly, Keelan Lynch and Megan O’
Driscoll) sets out to promote good posture, foot care
and proper shoe choice. “We looked at the foot health
of teenagers today to determine how many students
have issues with their feet, and what are the issues.
We investigated the link between good posture and
shoe choice.”
‘Sing a Song Soothe the Soul’ (Robin Clancy,
Rachel O’Sullivan, Orla Harrington, Una Hegarty,
Aine Fenner, and Bryony Van den Berg) hope to raise
awareness about the way in which music and singing
can affect your health. “We aim to help people understand the way in which different types of music can
have different effects on their mood. The team is
made up of six Transition Year girls, all of who have a
keen interest in music and singing. We want to educate our peers and society on the positive effects
music has on health, and raise awareness about how
you can use music as a tool to deal with depression,
stress and anxiety.”
Tracking the trains
In part one of this eight-part series,
Vincent Allen begins his journey tracing the legacy of West Cork’s railways.
This series of articles is not intended as a history of railways in West
Cork. Instead, the aim is to follow the
dismantled lines and highlight the surviving infrastructure of the rail network — the viaducts, bridges, tunnels,
station houses and level crossings. The
trains have stopped running, but much
of the architectural and engineering
history still dot the landscape and can
be enjoyed today.
Albert Quay
Terminal building
lbert Quay (Victoria
Road is close by, making up the royal couple) was the terminus and
headquarters of the Cork,
Bandon and South Coast
Railway (CB&SCR). In its
heyday it was a large, busy
station, but today the most visible reminder of the station is
the attractive terminal building, now housing three separate companies. To the left and
right of the building are two
sets of fine granite pillars —
these were the entrance to the
station proper. Until last year,
three empty stone structures
stood to the east of the terminal building, but unfortunately
have recently fallen victim to
the wrecker’s ball. Other
reminders of the station are the
nearby Railway Cottages and
two signs for Old Station Road
— the contrasting styles of the
two signs are quite interesting.
Look closely and you will see
other, smaller reminders of the
A
Elysian tower block
station. Very short sections of
track emerge, phoenix-like,
from more recent road surfacing. Apart from these items,
nothing survives, and the
immediate area has changed
completely. The disused station has been replaced by
restaurants, apartments, an
Aldi store and dominating all,
the eighteen-floor Elysian
tower block. Part of this complex contains a car park, the
first of many examples I came
Readers are asked to note that some
of the buildings and structures mentioned are privately owned or on private lands. Please do not enter or take
photos without permission.
Spellings of all placenames have
been taken from the Ordnance Survey
Discovery Series of maps.
Comments and clarifications are
welcome at [email protected].
Part 1. Albert Quay, Cork City
to Ballinhassig Station
Abbreviations/Glossary
abutment: supporting structure at either end of bridge
or viaduct
CB&SCR: Cork, Bandon &
South Coast Railway
CoI: Church of Ireland
parapet: low wall on bridge
rail overbridge : where train
travels over a road or river
rail underbridge: where train
goes under the road
RC: Roman Catholic
spandrel: triangular-shaped
space between two arches
voussoir: wedge-shaped
stones creating an arch over
door or bridge
across where trains were
replaced, literally, by cars.
The old quayside pubs and
early houses (Albert Quay was
deliberately selected to provide access to the Port of
Cork) have become gentrified
and fashionable. Where burly
stevedores and dock-workers
once sank the locally-brewed
stouts, cappuccinos and double
lattes are now the drinks of
choice. GAA fans and music
fans will be familiar with this
part of the city as they make
their way to Pairc Ui Chaoimh
and the Marquee, respectively.
Look out also for the small,
well-maintained Shalom Park.
This area was once home to
Cork’s ‘Little Jerusalem’, but
the small, tightly-knit Jewish
community has long since disappeared.
From Albert Quay, the line
made its way due south, to
where the Kinsale road flyover
now stands. Today it is possible to drive along this stretch
of the old railway line, as it
was converted into the busy
South City Link Road in 1985,
another example of cars
replacing trains. The approach
to the Link Road is marked by
two bronze plaques, on opposite sides of the dual carriageway, one in English and the
other ‘as Gaeilge’, both giving
the history of the road.
From the flyover it headed
due west, close to today’s
South Ring. This was open
countryside at the time of the
line’s construction and so
progress from here was easy.
Approaching Bishopstown, it
swung south and headed for
West Cork.
Chetwynd
Viaduct
Chetwynd Viaduct
After clearing the city, the line
immediately came to probably
the finest engineering achievement on the entire West Cork
rail network, Chetwynd
viaduct. The viaduct and the
immediate area take their
name from a Welsh family
who settled in the area in the
16th century. Everything about
this viaduct is on a grand
scale. Three monumental
masonry piers carried the line
not only over the CorkBandon road but also across
Chetwynd valley and over the
Glasheen river. Designed by
Charles Nixon, a protégé of
the great Victorian railway
engineer, the biblically-named
Isambard Kingdom Brunnel, it
was built between 1849 and
1851, and was strengthened in
1901, to carry the increasing
weight of more trains as the
network expanded south and
westwards. The extra 350 tons
of iron were added with no
loss of life and almost no disruption to the regular
timetable. The reconstruction
became a mini building site,
with its own water and power
supplies, travelling gantry,
forge, and temporary accommodation for the workers.
Since much of the work was
carried out on Sundays, it
became a day-trip for the
city’s residents, protected from
possible injury by large nets
underneath the viaduct.
Further repairs were carried
out due to damage caused during the Civil War. Following
the closure of the railways, the
continued on page 13
13
March 6 – April 2
cont’d from page 12
decking, which supported the
sleepers and tracks was
removed. Today, it is possible
to stand near the viaduct and
admire the magnificent iron
arches and the three spandrels.
It is easy to forget that this
product of the Industrial
Revolution and Victorian railway engineering was completed just seventeen years after
the opening in 1834 of
Ireland’s first railway, the
short, sea- level Dublin to
Kingstown/Dun Laoghaire
line.
Old rail line at
Inishkenny, Waterfall
The Blind Bridges
After the viaduct, the line then
came to two interesting features, the skew or “blind
bridges”. The first of these is
at Waterfall, just off the L2230
on the road to Ballynora and is
the larger and ‘less blind’ of
the two. Between the two
bridges, it is easy to follow the
disused line, as it travelled to
the right of the road. Here I
came to one of the many ways
in which the disused railway is
being put to new uses.
Travelling on his quadbike,
Con Lynch of Waterfall uses
the old line to access parts of
his farm. Some of the old
mile markers are still ‘in situ’
along this stretch. The second,
smaller and “blinder” of the
two bridges is at Ballyleigh on
the L2230 (Waterfall to
Killeady road) and is known
as Abbey Bridge. It takes its
name from Ballymacadane
Friary, which was founded as
an Augustinian nunnery in
1450 but became a Franciscan
abbey in 1539. The ivy-covered ruins of the abbey are just
two fields away to the north of
the bridge.
Ventilation shaft
Gogganshill tunnel
Gogganshill Tunnel
After the blind bridges, the
line came to another major
engineering challenge, a tunnel built in 1851 through
Gogganshill. The tunnel is
approached on the city side
through a long, deep cutting
and the entrance is completely
faced with attractive red
bricks, including a red brick
voussoir. From both entrances
the tunnel is brick-lined to a
distance of one hundred yards
and the roof was later bricklined to cope with falling
rocks. The heavy tunnelling
was carried out by miners
from Allihies copper mines
and Welsh coal miners, aided
and abetted by explosives
from The Royal Gunpowder
Mills in nearby Ballincollig.
The curved tunnel is 906 feet
in length. An interesting
aspect of the construction was
the use of ventilation shafts. In
all, six of these shafts were
built and served two purposes,
to provide ventilation and for
the removal of ‘spoil’ (excavated rock and debris). Three
of the six shafts have survived
and are in excellent condition.
The most prominent of the
three sits in the middle of a
field on high ground, and
looks like a medieval castle
guarding the surrounding terrain. But these aren’t just functional creations — they are
perfectly designed and built
circular stone structures,
topped off with unusual and
attractive coping stones.
Following the closure of the
railways, local children used
the tunnel as a playground,
navigating their way by running sticks along the sides of
the tunnel. An often overlooked feature of this section
of the line is the remains of a
footbridge just before the
entrance to the tunnel, which
crossed both the line and the
Rearour River. Local children
used this footbridge on their
way to school.
Remains of footbridge
near Gogganshill tunnel
Thanks to Barry Murphy
and Frances Rice for allowing
access to their lands.
The tunnel passed under
the Bus Cross Roads and came
up for air at Ballinhassig station. The old station house is
now a private residence. Bus
Cross Roads is so called (the
name is still in use today)
because the BandonBallinhassig section of the line
was built first and a bus service was provided for passengers to complete their journey
to and from Cork city.
Annual World Day of Prayer Service
The Clonakilty Annual World
day of prayer service will take
place this year in the
Methodist Church, Kent
Street, Clonakilty, on Friday,
March 6, at 8pm. Everyone is
welcome to join in this
Ecumenical Service of praise
and worship. Women from all
denominations in the Bahamas
have prepared this year’s service. The theme of the service
is ‘Jesus said, “Do you know
what I have done to you?”’ As
always, the service, which
lasts for 45 minutes, will be
thought provoking and very
meaningful. Light refreshments will be served afterwards.
14
March 6 – April 2
Coffey Financial Consulting
plans for the next 10 years
in business
Last month Coffey Financial Consulting held an open day to celebrate
both 10 years in business and the opening of its new office in Harte’s
Courtyard, on Clonakilty’s Casement Street. Tim Coffey speaks to Sheila
Mullins about how he is seeing a recovery from the financial crisis of the
last eight years, as people now have the confidence to plan for a secure
future.
A
fter a decade in business, Tim Coffey has
seen highs and lows,
“very few businesses escaped
the crash and financial brokers were no different. Fear
led to people being wary of
making long-term decisions
but I now see a lot more confidence in my clients. We’ve
been really busy for the last
12 months with lump sum
investments. Falling interest
rates, increased DIRT tax and
PRSI on deposit interest has
people realising their money
is not holding its value in a
deposit account. There are
really good options available,
which still offer investors full
capital protection.”
“Pension Planning had also
dropped down people’s priority list but they now have
more confidence in their
income, allowing them to
plan for their future.”
Coffey Financial
Consulting’s aim is not product selling but providing
service to its clients – establishing a relationship that
looks after their long-term
need, as their circumstances
change. These services
include personal financial
planning, life cover, serious
illness cover, income protection, savings, investments,
deposits, pensions,
wealth/portfolio management,
and inheritance tax planning
and trust advice.
“People now realise the
value of keeping their banking and financial planning
needs separate. Our role as a
Clonakilty
Dúchas
AGM
wellattended
financial broker is to be
impartial; to search the market for suitable options for
each individual client, be it
for the purpose of investment, pension or protection.”
Protection is something
that people can put on the
long finger, but should something unexpected happen,
being under protected can
cause a lot of hardship and
heartache for those left
behind. Individuals can protect themselves and their
families with proper life
cover, income protection or
serious illness cover, but
businesses also need to think
about what would happen
should one of the principles
become seriously ill or pass
away.
“Succession planning for a
business is vital to protect
both the business and the
deceased partner’s family,
especially those families
whose income was dependent
on that business. It’s an area
where we find people have
been under-advised and are
unaware of the simple and
non-expensive options available.”
Even if you feel you have
enough cover, it is worth
making an appointment for a
review with Coffey Financial
as costs can be reduced by
getting the most competitive
rates in the market and using
products which have tax
relief, where possible.
Tying in with protection is
inheritance tax planning,
“Reduced inheritance tax
he AGM of Dúchas
Clonakilty Heritage was
held recently in O'
Donovan's Hotel with many
members present on the night.
Cathaoirleach John Loughnan
extended a welcome to all,
summarising the busy year
since the last AGM. As well as
many successful and wellattended fieldtrips, lectures and
a packed Heritage Week programme, a sub-committee had
also successfully organised the
Mayoral Council election,
T
thresholds in recent years
means appropriate advice in
terms of estate planning and
investment trusts is important
if your wishes are to be effectively carried out,” says Tim.
Assisting Tim is his office
manager (and sister-in-law)
Maeve McCarthy, who for
the past nine years has been
responsible for the day-today operation of the office,
including co-ordinating meetings, setting up client’s
investment, pension and life
policies and updating existing
client reviews. Maeve has
acquired huge experience in
all areas of financial planning
and is currently completing
her Qualified Financial
Advisor exams.
A native of Ballinascarthy,
Tim Coffey was a student at
Farranferris and UCC before
he began his career in FDC
Financial Services, where he
became Regional Manager in
Limerick before returning to
West Cork in 2005 to establish Coffey Financial
Consulting. The Coffey’s are
a well-known local family
(Tim’s brother Pat has a veterinary practice just two
doors down from his new
office) and Tim had always
planned to return home.
Many friends and loyal
clients joined Tim, his wife
Susan and Maeve for the official opening of their new
office on February 6, with
official duties performed by
Cork Footballer Thomas
Clancy, which was no surprise as Tim and Susan, who
count and installment of the
first and only directly elected
Mayors in the whole of Ireland.
He thanked all members and
fellow-officers for the ‘teamwork’. Looking forward to this
year, he said that the group
looked forward to the upcoming centenaries of the death of
O’Donovan Rossa, the sinking
of the Lusitania and the Easter
1916 Rising next year.
Rúnaí Marian O’ Leary outlined a very detailed review of
the year past, which saw eight
Above: Tim Coffey and Maeve
McCarthy in their new office
in Harte’s Courtyard,
Clonakilty.
hails from Waterfall, have a
long association with the
GAA. Representing Cork in
both hurling and football,
Tim won an All Ireland
Minor Football medal in
1993, whilst Susan received
many honours during her
years playing Junior
Camogie. The couple are
now involved in coaching
underage teams at Clonakilty
GAA, including their own
children, son Ben and daughter Nyah. Their youngest son
Mattie is eager to join in the
family pastime as soon as
he’s old enough.
There is no charge on initial consultations so seize the
day and book a consultation
with Coffey Financial on 023
8859888 or email [email protected]. You
can also find further information at
www.coffeyfinancial.ie.
lectures; nine field trips and
many other events. As well as
that, the general committee
held several meetings with the
various sub-committees also
meeting regularly during the
year.
She thanked the various
speakers during the year, An
Súgán for providing a venue for
meetings and Kevin O’Regan,
poster designer.
Treasurer Anthony Brennan
detailed his report, which saw
the organisation healthy but
The official opening was performed by Cork Footballer
Thomas Clancy.
Tommy Murphy, Susan Coffey and Maura McCabe.
slim, and PRO Cionnaith Ó
Súilleabháin expressed his
thanks to the local and national
print, broadcast and web media
who have publicised Dúchas
events during the year and
encouraged members and the
general public to join the
Facebook and Twitter pages.
A number of interesting
motions were passed, among
them to publish a journal and to
offer membership concessions
to students and families to
encourage younger members to
join.
The outgoing officers were
all re-elected to their positions,
with an invitation to the membership to volunteer for the
position of Asst. Secretary.
Anyone wishing to join
Dúchas Clonakilty Heritage
should contact any officer or
check out the website,
Facebook or Twitter pages.
Membership is €10 for individuals with concessions for
students and families.
15
March 6 – April 2
West Cork woman has a life changing experience
whilst witnessing the resilience of Haitians
On January 12, 2010, a devastating earthquake
with a magnitude of 7.3 struck Haiti. More than
220,000 people were killed and over 300,000
injured.
The massive earthquake, the biggest the
region had seen in 200 years, left more than 1.5
million people homeless, and resulted in an
immense humanitarian crisis. Heather Christie
from Clonakilty was part of a team of 13 volunteers working in Haiti for the first two weeks of
January with Methodist Missionary Society
Ireland. Here she shares her experiences.
at the next three clubs (only
our leader Rev. Laurence
Graham speaks Creole) but
also by the numbers.
Children keep coming and
coming – the largest group
has over 240 children. Each
one eager to participate, to
learn more about God. They
come in their Sunday best
clothes, the girls with ribbons in their hair. Many at
our last club, high up in the
beautiful mountains at
Furcy, have walked hours
along the mountain tracks.
The children's club in Duplan.
n arrival in Haiti’s
capital Port au
Prince on December
30, my first impressions are
of heat, dry air, vibrant
colours, streets bustling
with people, vendors balancing baskets of wares on
their heads — selling anything from vegetables to
school equipment. Women
squat on the pavements
under umbrellas, arranging
piles of oranges or other
fruit, selling live chickens
or cooking whole ones on
charcoal braziers precariously balanced on street
corners. Taptaps (covered
pickup type buses) and
moped taxis carrying two or
three passengers, horns
blowing not to complain but
to warn that they were coming ¬– noise and stifling air
laden with fumes. Yes, we
have arrived in the
Caribbean, to the poorest
country in the western
hemisphere with a winter
temperature of 34ºC.
Smiling faces warmly greet
us, hearts overflowing with
kindness – we soon come to
realise this is the Haitian
way.
Less than 24 hours later
we are clearing rubble on a
building site by bucket and
wheelbarrow, sweat dripping off us. No mechanical
help here. No health and
safety regulations. Men are
working in flip flops or bare
feet, their one pair of better
O
shoes (if they own one) are
taken off when they arrive
at work so that they last
longer. No gloves, very few
hats and certainly no suncream to protect from the
searing sun. We are assisting the Haitians at our base,
the Methodist Church
Complex ‘Freres’, to refurbish chalets that have fallen
into disrepair and adapt dormitories by adding bathrooms. Walls demolished by
sledges and hammers; septic tanks dug with pick
axes; sand sieved to get the
finest grains for plastering
walls; a flat roof made with
concrete measured by
‘wheelbarrow fulls’ and
mixed by hand before being
carried in buckets up homemade ladders.
During the two weeks we
run seven children’s bible
clubs, the first two at a
home run by the Methodist
Church for 15 boys from
various parts of Haiti, who
are either orphans or severely disadvantaged economically. Delightful boys hug
us and wish God’s blessing
on our families, our
Churches and us. This is so
humbling from boys, who
are well cared-for, fed and
educated only by Haitians
standards – standards that
we think of as just basic.
The following five clubs
are held in churches. The
first two are with 80 children, where we play games,
Haiti is the same size as
Munster with a population
of 10.32 million. With 70
per cent unemployment, 56
per cent live in extreme
poverty on less than $1 per
day. All the medical sup-
Items such as rice and washing powder (sold by the side of
the street), are available by the cupful, as that is all many
can afford.
The National Earthquake Memorial, two miles outside of
Port au Prince, stands in front of the homes of some who
fled the city after the earthquake. Many still live in tents or
corrugated iron huts without running water or electricity,
surrounded by unproductive land.
do crafts, sing songs, and
learn bible memory verses
and prayers. The glitter and
stickers are new and exciting to the children and are
plies and building materials
used were paid for from
funds raised by the team
members in Ireland (team
members funded their own
travel, Insurance and
accommodation costs).
used to decorate not only
their craft but their faces as
well.
We are challenged not
only by the language barrier
The Haitian people are
proud, hardworking and
resilient, living in poverty
without a social welfare
system but not complaining
nor begging, just thankful
for what they have. They
She says simply,
“Help me see”.
Dense cataracts
cover her eyes
and I gently
explain there is
nothing I can do;
knowing that here
in Ireland, minor
procedures could
have restored her
sight. I stroke her
cheek and tell her
she is precious.
The three nurses on our
team assist local doctors
and a dentist with pop-up
clinics. Again lots of people
come and many have
walked for hours to get
here. As 50 per cent of the
population is malnourished,
vitamins and mineral supplements are given to every
patient, along with worming
tablets. Children are measured and weighed. It may
be months before some
have access to another clinic so these records are vital
are joyful and full of faith,
in spite of their difficult circumstances. They may be
poor materially but spiritually they are rich indeed.
Almost $56,000 was
raised for this work by the
to check growth rates.
At the clinics, many sick
and anxious people come
seeking help, often clutching empty bottles of various
kinds…washing-up bottles,
drinks bottles, even old
glass jars. These are for the
liquid vitamins, paracetamol
or antibiotics if prescribed.
Each is charged a nominal
amount and is prepared to
wait for hours to be seen.
There are many different
aliments and Mel, one of
the nurses, shares a
poignant moment with me,
centered on an old lady,
obviously blind, who has
walked for miles. I kneel
beside her, and through the
interpreter ask how I can
help. She says simply,
“Help me see”. Dense
cataracts cover her eyes and
I gently explain there is
nothing I can do; knowing
that here in Ireland, minor
procedures could have
restored her sight. I stroke
her cheek and tell her she is
precious.
A girl is so determined to
get medication that she
appears no less than three
times, reporting three different illnesses – no doubt
hoping the crazy Irish nurse
won’t notice! But it is
sobering to realise that
many of our minor ailments
would not be so minor if we
lived without basic medications. What a joy to use
medicines bought with our
fundraising money! Even
digital thermometers are so
precious; recording a dangerously high fever in a little one who probably has
typhoid or a new mum with
an infection following a traditional home birth.
Thankfully we have medications that will help. I am
so thankful to experience
nursing in this beautiful
land.
…continued next month.
13-member team, who
came from all around
Ireland. Thank you to all
who supported the fundraising in West Cork.
16
people A FLAVOUR OF WEST CORK
March 6 – April 2
Farm Restaurant cooks up a storm
ettling in to their new surroundings, husband and
wife team Jason and Aoife
Smith at the boutique casual
dining 'Farm Restaurant' in Ashe
street, Clonakilty, admit it's been
a whirlwind experience. Jason
has been cooking up a storm in
the kitchen with his ever-changing menus and almost four
S
months in, the Farm will see its’
fifth menu change at the start of
March. Main staples tend to
remain but with tweaks to
accompaniments. The atmosphere of the restaurant is fun
and lively. The décor is chic
with touches of baroque style
using mirrors balanced with the
rustic industrial look of the
exposed beams and stone wall.
Aoife's stove popped popcorn
received on arrival complements
the projector showing silent
black and white movies. The
movies add to Farm’s unique
and novel interior without being
distracting from the experience
of good food, drinks and company. Footage currently being
worked on includes local attractions, businesses, suppliers and
events.
Customers have been delighted
by the simplicity and yet diverse
range of the tailored menu, with
'something for everyone'. Jason
feels very strongly about finding
the best local ingredients for his
chosen dishes. Food is cooked
to order and it's a practical
approach that appears to be well
received.
Produce such as the beetroot in
the warm Carrot Tart starter
sourced from John and Sara
Devoy’s Organic farm in
Rosscarbery have hit a high note
and with not just the vegetarians
opting for this dish! The silky
mousse type texture of the carrot balanced with the savoury
pastry marries so well with the
beetroot and deliberately chosen
herbs. “It's great to be able to
walk a couple metres down the
road into Peter Shanahan's fish
shop and pick up some fresh
fish,” says Aoife.
The silky mousse type
texture of the carrot
balanced with the
savoury pastry marries
so well with the beetroot and deliberately
chosen herbs.
Accompanying sauces such as
Chive Butter Sauce or
Lemongrass and Coconut Sauce
have been favourites for many.
The Beer Battered Fish and
Chips dish on the menu has
been a huge seller and it's no
wonder with techniques Jason
picked up from the many
Michelin and Hat restaurants he
worked in over the years coming into play with the batter.
Jason and Aoife continue to
develop their menus and champion local produce at the Farm.
Juggling the early stages of the
restaurant and with two young
boys aged one and just turned
three, they are a very busy couple. They would like to thank
everyone for such great support
and understanding of what they
are slowly trying to build up.
These grassroots stages are
exciting and of course daunting all at the same time.
The website www.farmrestaurant.ie. will be finalised shortly.
Handmade Vouchers are now
available for purchase online.
There are plenty of opportunities to use these over the coming
months to include Mother’s Day
in March with Easter to follow
shortly and many Communion
and Confirmation outings that
the lunch menu lends itself so
well to. Enquiries welcomed on
023 88 34355.
Ireland's first Fairtrade bean-to-bar
chocolate factory launched in Clonakilty
fter a busy year of
research and growth,
founder Allison
Roberts and the team at
Clonakilty Chocolate is celebrating the official launch of
it's new Fairtrade bean-to-bar
factory this week in conjunction with Fairtrade fortnight,
which runs until March 8.
Thanks to the tremendous
support by the people of
Clonakilty through a crowdfunding campaign ran last
summer, the small local business has expanded — purchasing supplies and machinery
needed to take a great leap forward, creating a garden chocolate factory within minutes
walk of the town centre. Now
a team of four, Clonakilty
Chocolate is delighted to
unveil its brand new artisan
bars, which are both gluten
free and diabetic friendly.
Among the artisan flavours
to be launched are: 'Milky
Milk' — a goat's milk bar with
coconut sugar; 'Decadent
Dark' — a 72 per cent sweetened with Xylitol and
Peruvian Lucuma Fruit;
A
'Totally Minted' — a 75 pc
sweetened bar with Low-GI
(diabetic friendly) coconut
sugar and; 'Wild West' — with
a pinch of Irish Salt and
Seaweed.
Allison Roberts
Being a supporter of
Fairtrade — where farmers
and workers receive a fair
price and wage for their product — ensures that when
Clonakilty Chocolate is purchased, farmers in Ghana also
get a sweet deal for their hard
work, something Allison and
her team at Clonakilty
Chocolate are hugely proud of.
Speaking of the launch,
Allison Roberts said, "I am
CLONAKILTY CHOCOLATE
UPCOMING EVENTS:
Thursday 5th March, 7:30pm –
MOLLY'S WINEBAR, Chocolate Tasting
& Tapas Event;
Sunday 15th March, 3pm– Mothering
Sunday, Mother & Daughter/Son
Chocolate Making Workshop;
thrilled to finally launch our
new bars, which have been in
the making since last Autumn.
The new flavours are really
exciting and it's fantastic to be
doing something completely
unique, which also makes a
difference to the farmers from
where we source our beans. In
2013, I had the opportunity to
visit Ghana see first-hand the
positive impact my small business is able to have on the
lives these farmers so when I
came back I was even more
committed to growing
Clonakilty Chocolate. I went
Saturday 21st March, 4pm Chocolate
Making from the Bean; Saturday 4th
April, 2pm, Kids Easter Egg Workshop;
Saturday 25th April, 7pm, Raw
Chocolate Making from Home; Saturday
9th May, 4pm, Chocolate Making from
the Bean;
from making regular milk,
dark and white chocolate bars
to getting focused on doing
something different placing
Clonakilty Chocolate in a
niche space as local, ethical
and alternative chocolate company. My mission is always to
come up with flavours that are
exciting and new and of
course, healthier. I am also
delighted to be able to offer
workshops for adults and children from our new garden
workshop, something I have
never had the space to do
before!"
Sunday 21st June, 2pm, Fathers Day,
Father & Son/Daughter Chocolate
Making Workshop
Further details can be found at www.clonakiltychocolate.com.
17
March 6 – April 2
people A FLAVOUR OF WEST CORK
A family that’s been tackling fish for over 150 years
A card from the Adrian Healy collection showing a marketday scene on George Street, Clonakilty (now Connolly St).
Selling fish through the generations (l-r): Lar McCarthy's Great-Grandmother and Great-Grandfather who sold fish from a
wicker basket; his Grandfather Paddy; Lar’s mother Rose McCarthy; Lar carrying on the tradition today.
As far back as 1821 fish has been sold on a
Friday morning at Harrington’s Corner, at the
bottom of McCurtain Hill in Clonakilty. Lar
McCarthy of ‘Atlantic Catch’ carries on that family tradition today, trading fish at the very corner
where his mother, grandfather and great grandmother all stood before him.
A
lthough he always
expressed a keen
interest, Lar only
entered the fish industry in
2012. “I can remember sitting
in my grandfather’s van at this
very spot as a five-year-old
boy,” he recalls, “and also
helping my mother Rose tidy
up many times after trading on
a Friday.”
“My mother often tells me
stories about her father going
by horse and cart to Kinsale to
buy fish fresh off the boats,”
says Lar. “He’d load up the
cart in Kinsale and travel all
the way down to
Castletownbere, selling fish
house-to-house along the way
and sleeping in farmers’ sheds
at night. Wet bags placed over
the fish kept it cool during the
long day. He would then buy
more fish off the boats in
Castletownbere and work his
way back to Clonakilty. Those
were difficult times but he was
an amazing man to do all this
and provide for his family,”
says Lar proudly.
Today life is easier, with
Atlantic Catch enjoying the
advantages of different types
of refrigeration, walk-in
chillers, refrigerated vans, ice
machines and so on. In fact,
this is how the company has
the best quality fish available.
“I’m very serious when it
comes to temperature control,”
explains Lar. “The key in providing top quality fresh fish is
keeping the fish between certain temperatures at all times.”
Recently a customer asked
Lar if he’d consider opening a
fish shop. “I wouldn’t rule it
out but I would never leave
this corner here in Clonakilty
either, as the tradition means
so much to me and my family.”
Atlantic Catch has two
mobile refrigerated vans covering West Cork bringing the
freshest of fish right to your
door. Lar is often asked how
this type of trading works so
well. “It's a matter of punctuality — always arriving at the
right time and supplying a
The mobile stall selling fish is not a new concept in West Cork The wonderful selection of fish available from Atlantic Catch.
as they photo shows.
superior product. We go to
great lengths in preparing our
fish properly, from filleting it
to trimming off all the excess
and removing all the bones
(especially important if you’re
feeding the fish to a child).
The majority of fish sold by
Atlantic Catch is collected
fresh off the boats in Union
Hall. “We pick the best of it
then bring it back to our professional filleting unit, where
it’s all prepared.”
Atlantic Catch also has a
line of cooked seafood products, including fish cakes,
seafood pastas and seafood
chowders.
There are three people
employed by Atlantic Catch
and Lar’s feet are set firmly
on the ground when it comes
to talk of expansion. “Our
Clonakilty has a long recorded history associated with the fish industry. The settlers of the early
l600s established a Fish Palace in the town to salt and barrel the pilchard, which was abundant at
the time. When the prosperous town of Cloghnikilty minted its own money in 1678 they used a
coat of arms on one side of a penny depicting three fish and three escallops.
An account of women in Recorder’s Alley (which ran from today’s O’Donovan’s Hotel to the
river) preparing fish for sale is recorded in the 1790s.
The fish trade was so prosperous in the early 1800s that the Corporation was compelled to build
a dedicated Fish Market to accommodate the many dealers who were dispersed around the town.
It was built in 1820 at an expense of £600 on the site now occupied by the Fire Station.
There were many Clonakilty families associated with the Fish Trade going back over the centuries. Today only one of these Fish Trading families survives. Lar McCarthy’s ‘Atlantic Catch’
keeps this tradition alive. He carries on a tradition, which goes back in his family for six generations. When you call to Lar’s fish stand at The Cross on Fridays or the market on Saturdays you
will be partaking in a tradition that goes back proudly to the foundations of the town itself. Long
may it continue.
Tomas Tuipéar
main aim for the future is
building up the Atlantic Catch
brand, developing more customers on our routes and continuing to service Clonakilty
Fluoride Free confectionary now in
Dunnes Stores and SuperValu
A
West Cork confectionary producer has
become the latest business to be awarded fluoride
free status as part of The
National Fluoride Free Towns
Project.
The award winning ‘Mella’s
Fudge’, based at Lisavaird near
Clonakilty, is into its tenth year
in business. Its product is cur-
rently stocked in over 70 outlets around the country, supplying Dunnes Stores and
SuperValu and also exporting
to the UK, continental Europe
and the US.
Mella McAuley says, “I’m
delighted to be making my artisan fudge with fluoride free
water and proud to be supporting the fluoride free campaign.
We pride ourselves on using
the finest, purest ingredients
and to this end, using fluoride
free water seems like an obvious and logical business move
which I’m in no doubt will also
benefit sales of our growing
product range in Ireland and
abroad”.
This latest fluoride free business with national and interna-
tional sales joins over a dozen
other businesses in Clonakilty
and Bantry who installed
reverse osmosis water filtration
systems in the past year to raise
awareness of the issue and to
ensure their customers were
able to purchase fluoride free
food and beverages in local
cafes and restaurants throughout West Cork.
at our traditional stall.”
Local designer and signwriter Tomas Tuipear designed
the ‘Atlantic Catch’ logo,
illustrating the old fish market
in Clonakilty in the centre and
helping keep the tradition
alive as the business moves
forward to create its own
story.
18
March 6 – April 2
people A FLAVOUR OF WEST CORK
Enjoying your glass of wine
THE
WINE
BUFF
Tony Eklof
Tony Eklof, originally from
New England, has settled
in Clonakilty after a career
as a librarian at University
College Dublin. His knowledge and passion for wine
has been inspired by frequent visits to the wine
growing regions of
the continent, particularly
Italy and France.
T
Deirdre McCarthy is a
West Cork based food
blogger and all round
food obsessive. As well
as training at the
Ballymaloe Cookery
School, she also studied
Speciality and Artisan
Food Production in
UCC. Deirdre documents
her favourite recipes and
musings about food and
life in general on her
blog www.seasoned.ie.
March is upon us and
besides celebrating the
arrival of bobbing daffodil heads it is time to
whip out the baking
tins in honour of
Mother’s Day. Do
yourself a favour and
make the most important woman in your
life’s day by baking
this truly feminine
cake.
Pistachio & Lime
Yoghurt Cake
Ingredients:
8oz plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
3oz ground almonds
3 1/2 oz caster sugar
2 medium eggs
1tbsp honey
9oz yoghurt
2oz melted butter or olive
oil
zest 2 limes
4oz chopped pistachios
here are so many traditions, do’s and don’ts,
relating to the enjoyment of your glass of wine, it
was refreshing for me to read a
leading wine writer saying
something to the effect of
“there are no rules and regulations about wine, only recommendations”. Of course he
might be the same writer who
says dry white wine should be
drunk at exactly nine degrees
centigrade, but I take his point,
namely that wine is to be
enjoyed and not made hard
work of.
The increasing detail on
wine labels is a case in point.
Hugh Johnson says he doesn’t
really want to read about the
subsoil, the temperature of fermentation or even the exact
blend on a wine bottle.
“Tell me something about
this bottle we plead, that doesn’t make me wish I’d stayed
awake in chemistry!”
However a little bit of
knowledge about what Oz
Clark calls “making the most
of wine” can greatly enhance
your enjoyment. Serving temperature guidelines is one
example. Overheated red wine
loses some of its aroma and
tends to taste flat. Thus they
should be stored in a cool place
even if they are for imminent
drinking. Leaving a bottle of
red on a sunny windowsill
even for a few hours before
opening can ruin the wine. I
once ordered a bottle of
Chianti in a pizzeria in Pavia
near Milan and the wine was
unpleasant because it was overheated, probably due to storing
too close to the wood fired
pizza oven! I remember wondering at the time why everyone else was drinking beer!
Over-chilling white, a faux pas
committed by many restaurants
can kill off any delicate
flavours, which is why I am
not a big fan of the ice bucket.
Having suitable glassware
is important. Large tulip
shaped glasses for red, with a
tapered mouth to concentrate
the aromas and smaller glasses
for whites to help keep the
wine cool while sipping is
usual practice. If you want to
go further down this road there
are, for example, different
glasses for Bordeaux and for
Burgundy, designed to maximise enjoyment of the relevant
grapes involved.
Having some knowledge of
the best way to ‘taste’ a wine
will among other things,
impress your fellow restaurant
diners, although I haven’t actually reached the ‘aspirating’
stage myself, when one purses
their lips draws in air and then
exhales through the nose! I
would however appreciate the
value of tilting, swirling and
checking the viscosity of the
wine.
Decanting wine can help
the flavour blossom and in the
case of older fine wines can
help separate the wine from
any sediment. Some wine
experts will tell you that pouring and then leaving your glass
of wine for ten minutes will
improve the flavour, especially
in the case of bottles with
screw caps. Never fill your
glass more than halfway in
order to allow room for the
aromas to rise. (Oops, that
sounds a bit like a rule!)
Vintages! This is not a difficult one unless you are a collector. If you want to ensure
that the wine you are buying is
from a good year, any pocket
wine guide will provide a chart
of good and bad vintages. You
can easily ascertain for example that the 2004 Margaux
rates eight out of 10 and is
ready for drinking but has not
yet reached its peak! One tip,
you might consider the merits
of buying, let’s say a
Bordeaux, from a good grower
in a bad year. Most of us
would not notice that much difference in the vintage if truth
be told and you are probably
getting a great value wine.
Finally, food and wine
matching is a subject that
deserves a full article itself.
You may believe that roast
pork can only be enjoyed with
an Alsace Pinot Gris, or you
might, like Oz Clark, get so fed
up with all the rules about
which wine to drink with
which food that you will get a
‘burning desire to slosh back a
Grand Cru Burgundy with my
chilli con carne!’
Those of you who remember ‘Sideways’, the excellent
film about wine snob Miles
and his adventures in the Santa
Barbara growing region, might
recall that (spoiler alert) he
ends up drinking his precious
1961 Cheval Blanc from a
paper cup in a cheap burger
joint.
RECOMMENDATION:
Tommasi, Valpolicella —
delicious light Valpolicella,
from one of the best growers in the Veneto. New
into Next Door, Clonakilty.
€13.99.
A cake to make any mammy proud
(reserve a small amount to
sprinkle over the cake)
1fl. oz of milk
Drizzle
3 1/2 oz caster sugar
4 fl. oz water
juice of 2 limes
*Optional: Add 1 tbsp of
rosewater to the drizzle with
the lime juice.
Method:
Preheat oven to 170c, grease
and line a 9-inch loose-bottomed baking tin. Sift flour,
baking powder into a large
mixing bowl. Add ground
almonds and sugar.
In a measuring jug mix
yoghurt, eggs, honey and
lime zest. Add this to the dry
ingredients adding some of
the milk to loosen the mix
slightly.
Stir in pistachios and
pour cake mix into tin and
bake for 40 to 45 mins or
until a skewer comes out
clean.
Remove cake from oven
and allow to cool slightly in
tin. Make the drizzle.
Place sugar and water
into a saucepan and simmer
until all the sugar has dissolved. Allow to cool slightly and add lime juice. Pierce
cake all over with a skewer
and pour the lime syrup over
the cake. Sprinkle with
reserved chopped pistachios.
Once cake has cooled
remove from the tin and dust
with icing sugar to serve.
If you used the rosewater
then you could also decorate
the cake with dried rose
petals.
19
March 6 – April 2
people A FLAVOUR OF WEST CORK
A good and green recipe
Upcoming Cooking Classes
RECIPE
Karen Austin
T
he longer days mean the
green things are kicking
back into action in the
garden. I even found enough
nettles last week to make a soup
— admittedly I had to search —
which is a funny thing to do
with nettles, as come another
month and we’ll be tripping
over the bloomin things.
Nettles apart, some green
things soldier on through the
winter here. The kale, spinach
and chard have managed to quietly survive the colder months
and now that there is more daylight the growth is taking off
and we are out picking leaves
again.
We put kale in soups, salad
and stir-fries, it’s a very versatile, it’s also one of those ‘feel
good’ vegetables, so wonderfully green that you know it’s
good for your nutrition
My new favourite way to eat
kale is with some pasta. My
pasta cooking skills have come
along way since I left home. It
was one of the first things that I
cooked; spaghetti buried in vegetables and sauce. The first time
I went to Italy I thought they
were very mean with the sauce
and even meaner with the
Parmesan cheese. I’ve since
learnt to dress the pasta and use
one or two key ingredients
rather than everything that’s in
the vegetable basket.
I have used orecchiette in this
recipe, which look like little
ears and scoop up the sauce
beautifully but you could use
other pasta shapes.
Try to co-ordinate cooking
the pasta with making the
sauce.
Put a big saucepan of water
to boil, blanch the kale and then
use the same water to cook the
pasta, just add more salt. The
pasta cooking time varies from
brand to brand and also from
shape to shape so check your
packet for cooking times.
The fried breadcrumbs are
known as ‘pangratto’, which
translates as breadcrumbs but
it’s also known as Poor Mans
Parmesan. They are easy to
make and give an interesting
flavour and texture to the dish.
Orecchiette with Kale,
Chilli and Garlic
Ingredients:
500g kale, stems removed
3 cloves garlic
6 anchovies from a can
1 tap fennel seed
1tsp chilli flakes
2 slices old bread
200mls olive oil
25g butter
500g orecchiette
150g grated Parmesan to serve
Method
Put a large pot of water to boil.
When it’s boiling, add 1tsp salt
and the kale. Submerge the kale
with the back of a spoon and
when the water returns to the
boil drain the kale and refresh
under a cold tap.
Squeeze any excess water
from the kale and slice into thin
ribbons. Season with a little salt
and put aside.
Remove the crusts from the
slice of bread and buzz to
crumbs in a food processor.
Heat a frying pan, add 25g
butter and 25mls olive oil, when
the oil and butter bubble up
throw in the breadcrumbs and
toss well. Cook the breadcrumbs on a medium high heat
until golden and crispy. Put
aside.
Peel the garlic and slice thinly, chop once or twice and put
aside.
Bring the large pot of water
back to the boil. Add 1dsp salt
and the orecchiette. Give them a
good stir.
Heat the frying pan, add
50mls olive oil and the garlic,
fennel seeds and chilli flakes.
Cook on a medium heat for a
few minutes then stir in the
anchovies. Stir the pan until the
anchovies break down then stir
in the shredded kale. Cook gently until the kale is heated
through.
Strain the pasta into a colander. Tip the pasta into a bowl
and then stir the kale through.
Drizzle over a little extra
olive oil and sprinkle the crispy
breadcrumbs over the top.
Serve with freshly grated
Parmesan.
Spring greetings
Karen
Please contact us if you are
interested in our cooking classes. You can drop into the shop,
Tuesday-Saturday, between
10am and 6am, and we would
be happy to give you details.
Lettercollum Kitchen Project,
22 Connolly Street, Clonakilty
or email [email protected].
www.lettercollum.ie.
Seafood retailers enjoy a cookery masterclass in
Seafood Development Centre
L-R: Derrick Rose, BIM New Product Development Chef, Peter
Deasy, GlenMar Shellfish; Michael Geary, Seafood Cuisine;
Gloria Corcoran, BIM; Dave Scully, Scully’s Butchers & Deli;
John Sadlier and Michelle Sadlier, GL Sadlier Seafoods and
Tomas Cooper, BIM.
B
ord Iascaigh Mhara
(BIM) hosted a seafood
cookery workshop for
seafood retailers on February 11,
in the agency’s Seafood
Development Centre (SDC) in
Clonakilty.
Led by BIM’s graduate New
Product Development Chef,
Derrick Rose, the attending com-
panies were treated to an extensive cookery demonstration with
step-by step instructions on how
to prepare a range of seafood
dishes from chowder to seafood
fajitas to fish pie.
The aim of the workshop was
to provide retailers with the
knowledge to prepare ‘ready to
eat’ seafood meals in their own
Fish Cooking with Con
Saturday 7th March
As we have some of the best seafood in the world at our
doorstep we will spend our day learning how to fillet fish,
make stock and grill, bake and poach fish and shellfish and
of course make delicious accompanying sauces.
Vietnamese/South East Asian Cooking with Karen
Saturday 28th March
We’re off to Vietnam and Thailand for a mosey and will
share the recipes when we get back – not quite sure what’s
on the menu yet but we’re doing the research!
Low GL diet or Eat all You Fancy
but Just Need to Know How
Saturday 18th April with Con
Losing weight and /or balancing your blood sugar to gain
energy and improve your health is a matter of learning how
to eat properly without the constant battle with food craving
(especially sugar and carbs), energy dips and dieting.
Middle Eastern Cooking with Karen
Saturday 25th April
Enjoy the wonderful fresh Mezze, Pilafs and Salads of the
Middle East and learn how simple they are to put together
Healthy Vegetarian with Con
Saturday 9th March
At this time of the year the garden is beginning to produce a
bounty of fresh vegetables and salad ingredients. Spend a day
learning some new recipes to inspire you to eat healthier and
more in tune with the seasons.
Salad, Herbs, Summer Food with Karen
Saturday 6th June
This idea of this class is to inspire you to tend a herb and
maybe salad garden – even if it’s in a window box and then
how to use these seasonal ingredients to make delicious salads and summer meals
The classes cost €95 including recipes,
tastings and a large lunch
If you are interested or would like to book a class pop into
our shop to see us or drop us an email.
22 CONNOLLY STREET, CLONAKILTY, WEST CORK
TEL: 023 8836938 [email protected]
www.lettercollum.ie
premises to boost sales and
attract new customers or simply
to gain more knowledge in terms
of seafood cookery to advise
their customers. The best part of
the day was tasting all the delicious dishes at the end of the
workshop!
Irish consumers are leading
increasingly busy lifestyles and
are looking for ready to eat
seafood dishes from their local
fishmonger or seafood counter.
More and more seafood retailers
are meeting this demand and
providing a one stop shop with
wet fish counters, marinades,
crumbs and ‘ready to eat’ options
for on the go lunches or family
meals.
20
March 6 – April 2
W H AT ’ S H A P P E N I N G I N W E S T C O R K
SUICIDE BEREAVEMENT
West & North Cork. If you have been affected by a family member's suicide and would
like support do contact us on 085 1562112
or go to www.loinnir.com.
The West Cork Women Against Violence
Project Freephone Helpline, ph 1800
203136, Tue 10am – 4pm, Drop-in Centre
Skibbereen, ph 028 23607, every Friday,
Bantry Office, ph 027 53847, weekdays
10am – 1pm.
Ballydehob
Ballydehob Traditional Festival
takes place from 27-29 March.
Concert on Fri 27 with De Dannan
and Eleanor Shanley, in the
Community Hall at 8.30.
Workshops on Sat. Sean nos workshop on Sat 1030-12.30 and
2,30-4.30 with Gerard Devanne.
Ceili in Hall Sat night with Five
Counties starting at 9 pm. Plus pub
sessions, street entertainment etc.
Set Dancing Classes Ballydehob
Community Hall for Adults. 8.30 sharp.
Beginners welcome. Strictly fun and a
great exercise class.
Ballydehob Social Club open to all TuesFri, 9.30-17.30, and for educational activities
at various times. www.ballydehobsocialclub.ie. Volunteers welcome in kitchen and
for workshops and events, contact [email protected].
Two Rivers steiner based Pre- School. For
children aged 2 1/2 to 6 years. Free ECCE
childcare spaces available. Contact Lucy
0879194082
Parent and Toddler and Baby group at
Two Rivers, Ballydehob,meets Friday mornings from 10.00 to 12.00. Come and enjoy
Arts and Crafts, songs and stories, tea, food
and chat with other families. Contact Colette
at 0862649289
Bandon &
Innishannon
Food Forum & Farmers Market
for Senior Cycle Students
Students – Bandon Secondary
School, Coláiste na Toirbhirte,
Monday, 9th March 9:30am to 4pm
(Open to Senior Cycle Students at
the school). Farmers Market: 10am
to 2pm (Open to Parents, Teachers
and Students)
Gospel Message at Bandon Rugby Club,
Old Chapel, Bandon. Every Friday 8-9pm.
Everyone welcome. Speakers: David
Tubman & David Delaney 087 2409969.
Family Support & Community Wellbeing
Bandon 76 South Main Street
Social Group Wed 3.30-5pm Cluid Housing
Association Bandon; Men’s Shed Mon 1pm
Wed 11am-3pm Fri 1pm-4pm 087/7127563;
Women’s Group Thurs 11am-1pm €2
086/0253705; Zumba for Beginners Wed
2.30-3.30pm €5; Community Garden
Project Wed 10am-12 087/7519832; Tea
Dance; 1st Friday of Month 11am-1pm
086/0253705; Focus Ireland Advice &
Information on Housing last Thurs of month
10.30am-12md 021/4273646; Free Legal
Aid Clinic third Tue of month, evenings.
087/4146204; Adult Literacy, Mon afternoon
by appointment 086/0253705
Get Writing. Stay Writing with Bandon
library creative writers. Come along to
Bandon Library at 10.30am every second
Wednesday to share work, write something
new or listen to others reading. All are wel-
come, especially new faces perhaps contemplating a creative endeavour for the first
time. Check out bandonwrites.wordpress.
com for updates.
The Bandon Jobseeker Resource Centre
is located in Factory Lane (Begleys
Lane). Thurs 10am to 12.30pm. Free assistance with Curriculum Vitae, Cover Letters,
Interview Preparation and Training
Options. 0238829710 [email protected]
m. No appointment is necessary.
Innishannon Parent & Toddler group
every Wed in the parish hall 10am-12 noon.
All welcome. Mother & Toddler Group
meetings on Mon. 086 3712626
Crossmahon-Bandon Macra na Feirme
contact Claire (secretary) on 087 7498909
See facebook for upcoming events.
Innishannon Macra Na Feirme Meet 1st
Tuesday of every month at Innishannon Hall
at 9pm. 086 3447705.
Citizens Information Service every Thurs,
10am - 4pm providing information & advice
at the Bandon Voluntary Employment
Services office, Weir Street, Bandon. No
appointment needed.
Friends Together, Active Retirement
Group meets every Wed at the Parochial
Centre, St. Patrick’s Church, Bandon
between 2.30pm and 4.30pm. 023 8844827.
West Cork Transport Service.
Kilbrittain Parent and toddler group
meets every Monday in the Parish hall 9.4511.45, food and drinks provided.
Bandon Country Market, Weir Street
(opposite Garda Station). Open Fridays 9am1.30pm and Saturdays 9am-1pm.
Bandon Farmers Market every Saturday
morning 9.30-1.30 in post office car park.
Bandon Tidy Towns. Meets Tuesdays 7pm
Hartes Carpark. Looking for new helpers so
just show up on the night.
Bantry & Beara
Lehanmore Music Sessions with
Eckie Krupp: Joined by special guests
from Connemara Méaití Jó Shéamuis
and Nóra Geraghty @ Lehanmore
Community Centre, Monday March
16th, from 8pm.
Lehanmore Community Centre, Beara
Tue Night Music Sessions, from 8pm, bar
open, all welcome. Wed Nights, Bingo from
7.30pm. Yoga classes Mon and Thurs, Tel:
027 73911, Email:
[email protected] for enquiries.
Bible Meetings, Westlodge Hotel every Wed
8-9pm. Everyone welcome.
Bantry Open Water Swimmers each
Wednesday and Saturday at 5.30 pm from
the Abbey pier, Bantry for open sea swimming. Wet suits are highly recommended.
Bantry Job Seekers Resource Centre,
Open Thursday's 10am-1pm, Old Gaelscoil,
Main St, Bantry, Facebook Jrc Bantry
Citizens Information For information and
advice on rights and entitlements, call 0761
078390.
Bingo - every Sunday night at Bantry Boys
Club 8.30pm.
Bantry Parent and Toddler Group
ages 0-4, 10.30-12.30, Mon (except bank
and school holidays) upstairs in the
Fellowship building behind Cinemax.
0851092832.
Grow: Suffering from depression, anxiety,
inability to cope - we’re here to help. Bantry
Community Resource Centre, Glengarriff
Road. Every Tue 7.30p.m. Drop in or 021
4227750.
Clonakilty
Clonakilty Badminton Club every Tuesday
and Thursday nights at the Community Hall
from 8.30pm. Old and new members we
come. Competitive and social badminton.
Clon Casual Chess Club meets every Wed
in O’Donovan’s Bar from 8pm. Players of
all strengths welcome. Any enquiries 087
2165458 (Ken) or 086 2041394 (Denis).
Clonakilty Job Seekers Resource Centre,
First Floor Front, 48 Pearse Street,
Clonakilty. (Tuesdays 10am – 12.30pm,
Thursdays 10am – 12.30pm).
Indoor bowls Ballinascarthy Hall on
Tuesday nights at 8.30pm. Open to all ages.
Beginners very welcome. For information
call 087 2414787 or 023 8833648.
Clonakilty Rainbow Group. Support
Group for people who have or are suffering
Mental Distress. Parish Hall (adjacent to
Catholic church) Clonakilty. Meeting held
on the First and Third Tuesday of every
month beginning 7.30pm sharp with tea and
coffee from 9pm to 9.30pm. Supported by
Cork Mental Health.
Clonakilty Camera Club meetings take
place every fortnight on Wednesdays, at 8.30
pm in O’Donovan’s Hotel, Clonakilty.
www.clonakiltycameraclub.net or ring
Nicholas Cooper on 0851074248.
Grace Centre, South Square, Clonakilty.
Friendship club -Active retirement club for
the over 55's Monday 10 30am
Relaxation - Meditation,Friday, 9 30am
Parent and Toddler group -Wed & Thurs
10.30 am. ICA - second Tuesday of each
month 7.30pm. Keep Fit -Monday and Wed
6.15pm 087 6929024. Men's breakfast - 1st
Sat of each month 9 30am - Good food and
chat. Womens Brunch - 2nd Saturday of each
month - Tea / Coffee and chat. Mountain of
Fire and Miracle Ministries - Sunday
Services 11am. Counselling - professional,
affordable, every day by appointment
RIng - 086 1058277 or 086 3230805. The Clonakilty First Responders If you
would like to train in C.P.R and defibrillation
please contact 085 7766683.
Clonakilty Lions Club meet on the third
Wednesday of month @ 6pm The Emmet
Hotel. New members are very welcome.
more info contact Ann 087 8206908.
Clonakilty Farmer's Market every
Thursday, 10am-2pm O'Donovan's Hotel,
local Food and Craft.
The Clonakilty Market, Fridays 9am – 2pm.
Clonakilty Active Retired Group Monday
morning meetings starting 10.30am. New
members welcome without commitment or
obligation. Phone Paddy: 023 8859673.
Amnesty International meets on the second
Wed of every month at 8pm at O’Donovan’s
Hotel, Clonakilty. For further information
contact Don Pollard, 023 8840010.
Timoleague Parent and Toddler Group
every Thurs during school termtime
10.30am to 12.30pm in The Community
Centre (the room above the playschool).
Parents, Grandparents and Childminders. €3
per family. 086 3451175.
Clonakilty Breastfeeding Support: Bumps
to Tots- meet third Tuesday of the month
from 10.30-12.30 in the Grace Centre. All
mums and mums to be welcome! Contact
Claire on 087 2323 623.
The Clonakilty Market, Saturdays 9am –
2pm.
Meditation every Monday morning 9.1510.15. Heart centred meditation, drop in, all
welcome. By Donation. Call Lisa 087
2244429.
Clonakilty Grow It Yourself (GIY) group
meet on the 2nd monday of the month in
O'Donovans Hotel in Clonakilty at 8pm.
For more information or to be placed on our
monthly mailing list email
[email protected]
Clonakilty Backgammon Club now meets
6pm - 10pm Tuesdays in Casey’s Bar.
Durrus
Gospel Message at Durrus Community Hall.
Every Tuesday 8-9pm. Everyone welcome.
Speakers: David Tubman & David Delaney
087 2409969.
Dunmanway Skibbereen
& Drimoleague
Dunmanway Family Resource Centre
Community Garden Thurs 10am-2pm in garden at Tonafora. (023) 8856818; Women’s
Group every Mon at 12noon the Kilbarry
Centre. (085) 8555098; Fitline (Go for Life)
Volunteers needed for Fitline telephone support service for over 55’s to help them get
physically active; Parent & Toddler Tue
from 10.00am -12noon; Breast Feeding
Support Group 1st & 3rd Thurs of every
month. 10:30am-12 noon. (087) 9130816;
Men’s Shed Tue & Thurs from
12noon-7:30pm. (023) 8868 102; Social Day
every Thurs at Older People’s Centre 10:304pm (023) 8868110; Active Retirement
Group every Wed 2:30-4:30 (023) 8845484
Ladybirds every Sat 11am- 12:15pm (087)
6433969; Dunmanway Nutrition Club Tues
nights 7-9pm (086) 1972555; Employment
Services (Formely FÁS: 2nd & 4th Tue of
every month. Contact Bantry office (027)
50464; EmployAbility Service every Fri
9:30am-4:30pm (086) 8079953.
Citizens Information Service every
Wednesday, 10am - 1pm providing information & advice at Ross House, Main Street,
Dunmanway. No appointment needed.
Dunmanway Bridge Club meet Tuesday
evenings at the Parkway Hotel at 7.45pm.
New members most welcome
Contact Ann Bailey 023-8845627
Bible Meetings, Parkway Hotel every Fri 89pm. Everyone welcome.
Farmers Market every Thurs from 11am2pm at Healy’s Supervalu carpark.
Kinsale
Kinsale Voices meet weekly on Wednesday
evenings. Relaxed and fun. Contact: 086
8179964 [email protected]
Macroom
Music Night 8pm Wednesdays
at Goldens' Bar. Free-style
music session, open to all.
Farmer’s Market in Macroom held every
Tuesday in the Square in Macroom.The
traders sell fresh fruit and veg, home baking,
a variety of bread and chese, gluten free
cakes and bread, clothes, candles, crepes and
many more items.
Youthreach, Macroom 026 43733.
Citizens Information Centre Information
& Advice on your entitlements. Drop-in to
the office at South Square or tel: 0761
078430.
Rosscarbery/Leap
Myross Community Choir meets every
Thursday evening, 7.30-9.30, at Myross
Wood House, Leap. Contact Pamela
Marshall: 028 34395 or 086 1252004.
Taize - Come and join in an Ecumenical
Evening Prayer Service of Prayer, Song and
Contemplation on the First Thursday of
every month @ 9pm in Convent Chapel,
Rosscarbery
Enchant Ladies Choral Group. Repertoire
is enjoyable, varied, and light. Rehearsals:
Monday night at 8.p.m. Church of Ireland
Hall, Rosscarbery.
Schull/Goleen
Parent-Toddler & Baby group - every
Wednesday morning in Parish Hall from
10.00 to 12ish. All welcome. For more information call Susan on 0860859500.
The West Cork Philosophical Society
7.30pm in front of a blazing fire on
Wednesdays at Liss Ard House, Skibbereen.
Everyone is welcome, new members and
old. Please contact Anne Crossey on 085
851 6172 to register your place. €5.
Skibbereen Parent & Toddler Group Tuesday morning 11am to 1pm and
Thursday morning 10.30am to 12.30pm.
Abbeystrewry Hall, children from birth to
pre school.
The Skibbereen Jobseeker Resource
Centre is located in Ilen Street (Opposite the
Busy Bee). New opening hours are Tues &
Wed 10am to 1pm. Free assistance with
Curriculum Vitae, Cover Letters, Interview
Preparation and Training Options. 028
22711 [email protected]. No appointment is necessary.
The West Cork Philosophical Society held
every second Wednesday at 7.30pm in the
function room at Baby Hannah's,
Skibbereen. €5 pp. Please bring a pen,
paper, and lots of ideas.
Would you like to join us and learn Cúpla
Focal Gaeilge? Wednesday Mornings
11.30am to 12.30pm, The Centre for Active
Empowerment, 57c. Townshend Street
(above Noel Harrington’s Office). Teacher
on hand. Tel: 0874197330 or 0868071478
Donation towards Costs €5
Set dancing for adults and teenagers, with
Bert and Annie Moran every Wednesday at
8.30 pm in the O’Donovan Rossa G.A.A.
Pavilion, Skibbereen. All are welcome. Info.
(028) 28647.
The Friday Club Skibbereen is opened
every Friday at the Skibbereen Town Hall
from 10am to 3pm. The Friday club is a
community initiative which is open to all
free tea/coffee facilities available. There is a
different speaker every Friday giving information on local services.
Singers club every month (first Friday)
Corner bar Skibbereen at 10pm
Trad Irish music every Saturday night
Corner bar Skibbereen at 10pm.
Skibbereen Farmers' Market every
Saturday morning 10-1 in the Fair Field
Creative writing group meet Fri. nights at
West Cork Arts Centre. New members welcome. See westcorkwriters.com
Aughaville Parent & Todler Group meet
every Tuesday 10am – 12noon at Tadhg
MacCarthaig GAA Hall, Aughaville. Call
Lillian 086 3861565 or Helen 086 1953625.
Grow: Suffering from depression, anxiety,
inability to cope — Grow weekly meetings:
Thurs 8pm at Myross Wood Retreat House,
Leap.
Alcoholics Anonymous - Daily meetings in
Skibbereen, for more information, Tel 087
6114946.
Skibbereen Breastfeeding Support
Group: La Leche League meetings, 2nd
Thursday of the month in The Methodist
Centre, Skibbreen at 11am. For further
details about our meetings or for breastfeeding help at any time, tel: 028 23655 or 028
22859.
Breastfeeding Coffee Mornings: 4th
Thursday of the month in Skibbereen from
10:30am. tel: 028 23655 or 028 22859.
Email events to
[email protected]
Only non-profit, community
events for this section please.
21
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
Homeopathy for winter ailments
hat a winter it has been for coughs,
colds and tummy bugs! Most of the
coughs, colds and acute illnesses can
be treated homeopathically at home, but if
symptoms persist, do contact your local homeopath, as you or your child may need deeper,
‘constitutional’ treatment. Here are some remedies (handy to have stuck on your fridge),
W
ACONITE 30c: this is a
very useful remedy at the
very beginning of a
cold/cough. There is usually
a sudden onset, often from
exposure to a cold, dry wind.
The nose runs, with a clear,
watery discharge, and there
is often frequent sneezing. A
cough, which responds well
to Aconite is typically, dry,
barky, and spasmodic; the
first remedy to think of in a
case of croup.
PULSATILLA 30c: One of
the most outstanding characteristics of children needing
this remedy is their clinginess, very whingy, whiny,
and hanging onto Mammy!
The nose runs constantly, a
thick, yellow-green, bland
discharge. The cough is
loose, or dry in the morning
and loose in the evening; it is
better from going outside in
the fresh air, and it gets
worse in a warm room. The
person is often thirstless.
PHOSPHORUS 30c: The
Phosphorus cough is typically dry, tickling, and incessant. The person coughs on
and on with no relief, and
becomes quite exhausted
from it. Other symptoms
include pale face, thirsty for
cold water, and often feeling
chilly. There may be mucus
coughed up, which is green,
and may taste salty.
IPECAC 30c: One of the
remedies I’ve used most this
winter is Ipecac: The cough,
which responds to Ipecac, is
often a choking cough; it
comes in fits, and is worse
when lying down at night. It
is a pretty violent cough, and
the person may retch and
vomit from the coughing,
and the face is usually red
during the coughing bout. It
can be frightening, as one
may lose the breath with this
cough.
which may help in Acute Coughs/Digestive
Upsets.
Bernie Smyth has been practicing homeopathy
in Clonakilty for over 15 years. She is also a
lecturer and mentor of students at the Irish
School of Homoeopathy in Cork and Dublin
and also in Wales.
DROSERA 30c: Another
remedy for coughing fits is
Drosera. Again, the cough is
much worse lying down, but
unlike Ipecac, the cough
starts as soon as the head
touches the pillow. It is a
spasmodic cough, and also
quite violent, sometimes provoking vomiting. Hoarseness
often accompanies the
Drosera cough.
BRYONIA 30c: The
Bryonia cough is a hard, dry
cough; the chest is often
painful and sore, and the person may hold their chest
when coughing. Also, this
cough may cause the sufferer
to hold their head when
coughing, as it also causes
pain in the head. The person
is usually very thirsty for
long drinks of water, and
may be very irritable. (‘bear
with a sore head’ remedy).
Bryonia is always worse for
movement and feels better
for pressure.
SOME REMEDIES FOR
ACUTE DIGESTIVE
UPSETS
NUX VOMICA 30c: This is
an excellent remedy for nausea, a sick feeling, where the
patient says he would feel
better if he could just vomit,
but he can’t! There is constant nausea, no appetite, and
often a bitter taste in the
mouth; there may be a pain
in the stomach, typically
‘like a stone’, and irritability…Nux is our classic remedy for over-indulgence in
rich food, or too much alcohol, a marvellous ‘hangover’
remedy. But is also useful in
the nausea of the tummy
bug, where there is no vomiting present.
ARSENICUM ALBUM
30c: Arsenicum is often the
first remedy to think of in
acute tummy bugs. There are
cramping pains in the stom-
ach, accompanied by vomiting and diarrhoea; the pains
may be burning. The person
may be thirsty for sips of
water, which are often vomited immediately; they are
usually chilly, restless and
sometimes fearful.
PHOSPHORUS 30c:
Another remedy for digestive
complaints is Phosphorus.
There is vomiting and diarrhea; the patient is very
thirsty for cold water, which
is not vomited immediately,
but after about 20 minutes,
when it is warmed in the
stomach. There is a weak,
empty sensation in the
abdomen.
Dosage for the remedies: In
acute cases, give one pillule
of 30c, and wait. Repeat in
30 minutes. If the complaint
does not improve after four
doses, then you need to
reconsider your remedy
choice. If the symptoms
change, then you will need to
change the remedy.
If in doubt, contact your
local homeopath. Good luck!
Bernie Smyth LIC ISH,
ISHOM. PCHOM works at
Bank House Clinic, Emmet
Square, Clonakilty.
Telephone 023 8836704, or
email
[email protected].
22
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
Perfect supplements for fussy little eaters
aking sure your
child eats a balanced
diet and gets enough
Omega 3 every day can be
quite a challenge, especially
M
with fussy little eaters!
Luckily each kid’s sized
Cleanmarine® Krill Oil capsule is packed with a potent
form of Omega 3 known as
‘phospholipids’, which has
been shown to be highly effective, even when taking lower
levels compared to fish oils.
Taken daily, this will ensure
your little ones get the Omega
3 goodness they need but
without the dinner table
drama. Plus, there is no fishy
after-taste like fish oils.
From birth onwards, OptiBac
Probiotics ‘For babies & children’ (formerly known as ‘For
your child's health’) can be
given as a natural supplement.
OptiBac specialise entirely in
live cultures, and only use
strains of the highest quality,
with extensive research behind
them. This probiotic is com-
pletely free from sugars, artificial flavours and colourings,
which can be found in other
children's supplements and
foods containing live cultures.
Both available at Harrington’s
Pharmacy, 1 Ashe Street,
Clonakilty and Mill Street,
Timoleague.
New doula service to support
West Cork women through
pregnancy and birth
new service, which is
all about ‘Mothering
the Mother’, will provide professional birth assistance and postpartum support
from trained doulas for West
Cork women.
Originating from a Greek
word, meaning woman who
serves — in today’s society
the aim of the doula is to provide gentle and caring physical and emotional support,
information and companionship to birthing mothers and
their families during the pregnancy, labour, birthing and
post-partum processes.
Set up by West Cork mothers and professional doulas
Zoë Kingston and Heather
Pabiou, South West Doula
Services, which is affiliated
with the Doula Association of
Ireland, will provide an independent source of support to
pregnant women and new
mothers in Cork, whether they
are planning a hospital birth or
home birth.
A doula is not a midwife,
does not perform clinical or
medical tasks and does not
diagnose medical conditions
or give medical advice.
Mother of three, Zoë Kingston
of South West Doula Services
explains: “ We don’t give
advice or express an opinion.
Part of our role is to help the
woman and her partner obtain
the information they need
from the healthcare professionals in order to make
informed choices.”
A
High Chair?
www.westcorkfridayad.ie
Get yourself a bargain today!
“The other part is to provide continuous support and
reassurance to the couple
according to their birth preferences, as far as possible since
labour is unpredictable,” says
Heather Pabiou of South West
Doula Services. “We aim to
nurture the mothers’ memory
of a positive birth experience”
A woman’s satisfaction
with her birth experience and
even her self-esteem has been
shown to improve with the
assistance of a doula through
childbirth. Some of the benefits of employing the assistance of a doula include the
shortening of first-time labour
by an average of two hours; a
50 per cent decrease in the
chance of a caesarean section;
a decrease in the need for pain
medication; greater participation with more confidence by
fathers; and increased success
in breastfeeding.
Heather, also a mother of
three children, feels that the
act of giving birth, if positive,
can instill lasting confidence
in mothers to help in the journey of parenting.
The care provided by South
West Doula Services will be
tailored to meet the individual
needs of the mother and her
partner. “Doulas are highly
supportive of the midwifery
model of care,” explains Zoë
“and together with the midwives, can form an effective
team.”
Down through the ages, in
nearly every culture in history,
“I found Zoe extremely helpful from the start. She
helped me obtain information on certain things I had
concerns about, which gave me the opportunity to
make informed decisions. She calmed and reassured
me throughout the pregnancy and birth when I was
anxious and stressed. After the birth, Zoe helped me
keep my baby close and guide me in ways to care for
Heather Pabiou and Zoë Kingston are both professional
doulas.
women have been surrounded
and cared for by other women
during childbirth. A trained
doula is a compassionate,
friendly presence on the side
of the woman. “Our role is to
empower the woman and her
partner in what should be one
of the most wonderful experiences of their lives,” says
Heather. A doula is not there
instead of a partner. “Exactly
the opposite in fact,” Heather
explains. “We encourage couples to work together as a
team throughout the entire
experience. We help the partner to help their loved one in
labour.”
“Postpartum, we can provide breastfeeding support and
give practical help (even mak-
ing the dinner), reassurance
and information on how to
look after the needs of the
newborn,” says Zoë.
The birth doula package
offered by South West Doula
Services includes one or more
antenatal visits, ongoing
phone/ email support, being
on-call from 38 weeks to
birth, continuous support
throughout the labour and
birth and one or more postnatal visits.
For more information or to
make an appointment call Zoë
086 8571379 or Heather 086
8064886. Email
[email protected].
my baby and supported my decisions in a caring and
understanding way. I was so happy to have her by my
side.
Both Zoe and Heather carried out night relief for
me. This was such a relief to me knowing my baby
was with someone I had come to know and trusted.”
Maire
23
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
ADVERTORIAL Clonakilty Pharmacy
Caring for the community at all hours of the day
F
or the past five years, Clonakilty Pharmacy and its team of
highly trained pharmacists, has been committed to providing parents with the best possible advice and counselling
on dealing with childhood conditions and common illnesses.
Whatever your question or concern, the pharmacists understand
the importance of providing customers with personalised expert
care and attention.
Clonakilty Pharmacy carries a wide range of children’s vitamins and homeopathy.
Exclusive to Clonakilty Pharmacy is Avène, the number one
skin care brand in French pharmacies and number two across
Europe. Dedicated to all levels of skin sensitivity, all Avène products in the range contain Avène Thermal Spring Water, endorsed
Identity
wristbands
to help find
lost children
national representative survey of 656
Irish parents commissioned by Kooliobandz, a
company that makes identity
wristbands, has found that a
third of Irish parents have
been accidentally separated
from their child or children
under 10 years of age with
45-54 year olds being the
most likely to temporarily
lose their children compared
to the under 35s group being
the least likely and most
careful. The most common
location for this occurrence
in Ireland was during trips to
shopping centres (56 pc)
with women in the 35-44
year age bracket having the
most frequent trouble. After
A
by dermatologists worldwide
for its soothing properties. For
extrememly sensitive skin,
Clonakilty Pharmacy now
stocks luxury Swiss brand
Declaré – a comprehensive
range of high quality, highly
effective nourishing skin products, specifically tailored to a
variety of sensitive skin conditions.
Clonakilty Pharmacy is open from Mon – Sat, 8:30am - 10pm
and Sunday and Bank Holidays, 10am - 10pm.
Now available in leading
pharmacies and supermarkets countrywide,
KoolioBandz wristbands
cost just €9.95 for a pack of
two.
shopping centres, the high
street was the next most
likely place to lose a child at
11 pc whilst public parks
and trips in the countryside
were next at six pc.
Open day at all-Irish post-primary
boarding school for girls
s é Coláiste Íde an t-aon
Meán Scoil Chónaithe lánGhaelach seactt-lá in Éireann. Lonnaithe i leithinis
Chorca Dhuibhne i gCiarraí in
eastáit stairiúil le hais Bá an
Daingin, tá fócas láidir ag an
gColáiste ar fhorbairt pearsanta na ndaltaí agus cinntítear go
sroicheann gach dalta buaic a
cumais i dtimpeallacht a
spreagann féinmhuinín,
neamhspleáchais agus féinmheas. Cuireann Coláiste Íde
sár chaighdeán iarbhunoideachas ar fáil a chinntíonn go mbaineann na daltaí
pointí atá i bhfad níos airde ná
an meáin náisiúnta amach san
scrúdú Ardteistiméireachta.
Tugann daltaí Choláiste Íde
aghaidh ar an saol mar
I
dhaoine neamhspleácha,
muiníneacha agus sár oilte
agus ullamh lena n-áit a ghlacadh san sochaí. Reáchtálfar lá
oscailte ar an 7ú Márta ó uair
an mheán lae. Tá breis eolais
le fáil ach glaoch ar 066
9151211; nó seol r-phost go
[email protected]; nó tabhair cuairt ar ár suíomh
idirlinn; www.colaisteide.com
Coláiste Íde is an all-Irish
seven-day boarding school for
girls situated in the Dingle
Peninsula in County Kerry.
With a strong focus on personal development, Coláiste Íde
ensures that each student
reaches her potential in an
environment that fosters selfconfidence, independence and
self-esteem. Coláiste Íde pro-
vides a very high standard of
Post-Primary education to its
students. Dedicated teachers
and staff along with regular
daily supervised study and
study skills ensure consistently high academic results
achieving points well above
the national average. Students
leave Coláiste Íde confident,
capable, well-educated and
well prepared to enter third
level education and take their
place in society. Coláiste Íde
will hold an open day for new
students on March 7 from 12
noon. Further information
please telephone 066 9151211;
email; [email protected];
or visit our web site
www.colaisteide.com.
24
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
Give your baby a clean slate
with Cranial Osteopathy
n early childhood, any
asymmetry or abnormal
lack of movement will
effect how a child grows and
develops. Problems often
stem from the birth process
itself. Even in a relatively
normal birth the baby will be
subjected to strong compression and twisting forces,
which would benefit treatment. More difficult labours,
or those where intervention
has been needed, tend to
amplify these forces. A baby
or child balanced using
Cranial Osteopathy is in
effect given a clean slate for
future development.
Cranial Osteopathy can
solve many infant problems,
and I mean the root of the
problems – not just easing
symptoms. Here are a few
common issues in brief:
Ear and sinus
congestion/infections:
Establishing normal cranial
bone movement allows fluids to be pumped from the
ear, aligning drainage routes
between bones clears symptoms and usually prevents
recurrence. Breathing, hear-
I
ing and immunity issues
could result without treatment.
Colic: Removing compression and nerve impingement allows the baby to
relax and sleep better and the
guts to function better.
Untreated, there is a tendency towards hyperactivity,
digestive and breathing
issues, learning and behavioural difficulties.
Chest/Breathing: Can
stem from C-sections or
poor first breath. Treatment
optimises lung, rib and
diaphragm breathing
mechanics, removing shock
Bookworms
Mary O’Brien recommends some of her
almost six-year-old
twin daughters’
favourite books.
Green Eggs and Ham
by Dr Seuss
When Sam-I-am persits in pestering a grumpy grouch to eat a
plate of green eggs and ham,
perseverance wins the day,
teaching us all that we cannot
know what we like until we
have tried it!
and balancing the nervous
systems; helps minimise use
of long-term drugs or regular
antibiotics and maximises
lung capacity.
Constipation: Often
results from sacral compression eg breech engagement
or general compression.
Later can lead to period and
fertility problems.
As hinted at already,
many early childhood problems like those above, can
manifest later in childhood
in other ways, for example,
dental crowding, low immunity, balance problems,
headaches and migraines,
hormonal issues, period
problems, hyperactivity disorders, learning or developmental problems, behavioural problems, digestive issues
and chronic chest problems.
These can all be treated in
late childhood and adulthood, though easier at an
early age. Children with
more serious or chronic
problems can also be helped,
for example Downs syndrome, Autism and C.P. In
addition, any physical or
emotional trauma can be
greatly helped by this skilled
and holistic work.
Christopher Minhall is a
fully registered Osteopath. In
addition to a four-year honours degree from the
renowned European School
of Osteopathy, he has completed a three-year postgraduate diploma in Pediatric
Osteopathy.
For appointments in
Bantry and Clonakilty please
call 086 886 1007.
With his unique combination of
hilarious stories, zany pictures
and riotous rhymes, Dr. Seuss
has been delighting young children and helping them learn to
read for over fifty years.
Creator of the wonderfully
anarchic Cat in the Hat, and
ranked among the UK's top ten
favourite children's authors,
Seuss is firmly established as a
global best-seller, with nearly
half a billion books sold worldwide.
Scoil na mBuachalli Parents Association Cake Sale
he annual cake sale organised by the Scoil na
mBuachalli Parents
Association will be held in the
school on Friday evening, March
6 from 7pm. All parents, pupils
and family members are welcome
to join in this fundraiser for the
school.
Admission will be €3 per adult
and all children enter free.
There will be prizes for adults
T
and children with many different
raffles and draws taking place
during the evening.
The Parents Association is
hoping that parents and children
will participate in all of the activities that will be held on the night
and that everyone will enjoy the
evening, especially all of the new
students and parents. There will
be something for children of all
ages at the cake sale so we would
like to encourage as much support
for this fundraising event as possible.
All proceeds of the Cake Sale
go to improving the educational
experience of the pupils of Scoil
na mBuachalli, Clonakilty.
If any parents are interested in
helping out on the night or getting
involved in the Parents
Association please contact
[email protected].
COLOURING COMPETITION
(Age 3-6 year-olds)
Colour in the above picture and tell us which of the three books in the
below Bookworms section youʼd like to win. Send your entry with your
name, age, address, phone number and name of book to West Cork
People, Old Town Hall, McCurtain Hill, Clonakilty by March 14.
Where The Wild Things Are
by Maurice Sendak
One night Max puts on his
wolf suit and makes mischief of
one kind and another, so his
mother calls him 'Wild Thing'
and sends him to bed without
his supper. That night a forest
begins to grow in Max's room
and an ocean rushes by with a
boat to take Max to the place
where the wild things are. Max
tames the wild things and
crowns himself as their king,
and then the wild rumpus
begins. But when Max has sent
the monsters to bed, and everything is quiet, he starts to feel
lonely and realises it is time to
sail home to the place where
someone loves him best of all.
Stick Man
by Julia Donaldson
“Stick Man
lives in the
family tree
With his
Stick Lady
Love and
their stick
children
three.” But
it's dangerous being a Stick Man.
A dog wants to play with him, a
swan builds her nest with him. He
even ends up on a fire! Will he
ever get back to the family tree?
25
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
The S.L.O.W diet approach for kids’ health
HEALTH
Hannah Dare
Organico Bantry
low Carb diets, the Slow
Food movement, Slowing
Down while you eat —
SLOW seems to be everywhere. And then I read about
another interpretation of the
word slow, as in the S.L.O.W
Diet — a diet for kids focusing
on Seasonal, Local, Organic
and Whole foods to nourish
and protect our growing young
people. It may not be the most
headline-grabbing diet, and it
seems simple enough, but when
you think about it, this diet
makes complete sense.
Why seasonal? You are
going to be buying produce that
is at its nutritional best when
you buy in season. If you are
buying organic fruit and veg,
S
there are very clear seasons
even for imported produce —
for example we are just coming
to the end of the orange season
(the blood oranges have been
amazing!) and just starting the
asparagus season (not the Irish
asparagus season which will
come a little later in the year,
but the German one which
starts earlier). Outside of these
few weeks you cannot get
asparagus organically, as no
one really grows it out of season. You can get oranges, but
they will not be half as juicy.
For me, buying in season
means I enjoy everything much
more — organic oranges in
season are really worth the
wait.
Why local? Locally grown
food has travelled less
air/sea/road miles so is likely to
leave a smaller carbon footprint
(which is good for the environment) and means we are supporting farmers and growers in
our area (which is great for the
local economy) but equally as
importantly the shorter amount
of time your food has had in
storage the more nutrients it is
likely to still be abundant in.
We all remember the taste of
the first new potatoes that were
harvested from the back garden
— eating local fresh produce as
much as possible means you
get to enjoy these simple pleasures often! All you need to do
is shop carefully and be aware
of where your food comes from
and find growers in your area
who you can support, if you
don’t grow yourself that is!
Why organic? A study I
read about recently found that
eating organic foods reduces
pesticide exposure by nearly 90
per cent after just one week.
This is amazing. Every food
choice you make can lead to a
change in your health. In
Organico Cafe, we use organic
ingredients where possible, and
we are constantly getting very
positive comments about the
way our food makes people
feel after they eat it. This has to
do with a lot of things including the way we cook our food.
We make everything from
scratch and we never ever
microwave, as we believe it
destroys many nutrients; we
don’t deep fat fry and we certainly don’t buy in processed
foods from mass producers
(you would be shocked at what
you are eating in many restaurants — google Joanna
Blythman the Guardian). The
fact that we use organic vibrant
vegetables is also obviously a
factor. You really can feel the
difference!
Why wholefood? Eating
foods that are closest to their
natural state as possible (for
example brown rice is less
processed and therefore more
of a whole food than highly
polished white rice) will lead to
a more nutrient rich diet, which
helps to provide your body
with all of the essential ingredients it needs to function well.
Whole foods don’t generally
include ingredients your Great
Granny wouldn’t have cooked
with, and certainly don’t
include the 6,500 food additives that are in processed
foods these days (many don’t
appear on labels or are sneakily
being listed as seemingly innocent ingredients — Rosemary
extract for example sounds
great but in reality it is a preservative that has no relation to
the herb; Yeast Extract is often
MSG). Where possible, stick to
natural whole foods that you or
someone you know and trust
has cooked.
My very own addition to the
S.L.O.W diet is to also try and
make your diet ‘rich in variety’
and rich in ‘vegetables’!
We can all get into food ruts
that lead us to eat similar foods
day in and day out. Variety can
provide your body with a
broader range of nutrients from
which is can chose from in
order to function more effi-
ciently. Small steps are all that
is needed, not a huge budget or
expensive kitchen appliances
just a little willingness to try a
few things differently. And we
all, nearly without exception,
need to eat more vegetables.
And that include our kids. One
way to get them eating more is
to get them helping out in
preparing food — chopping
salad ingredients for example,
or washing and spinning lettuce
dry. The most important thing,
as we are reminded of often
these days, is to avoid
processed foods like the
plague. In fact I would go as
far as to say that processed
foods are the Plague of our
time. Make your kids’ snacks
fresh fruit; serve them real
bread from a bakery you know
uses good ingredients; if possible buy organic dairy products;
and you will all feel the benefits.
If you want to come and
witness some S.L.O.W cooking
for yourself, then come over for
Rachel’s Cookery Demo in
Organico Cafe on March 28 —
Rachel will be demoing salads,
raw treats and you can have a
delicious lunch with us afterwards. The cost is €45 including lunch — sign up quick as
places are limited!
Organico Shop Cafe and
Bakery is open Monday to
Saturday from 9.15am to 6pm.
Please call us on 027 51391
(shop) or 55905 (cafe) or visit
us online at www.organico.ie
for more information. None of
this information is intended to
replace medical advice, so if
you are on medication or are
concerned at all about your
health please consult a medical
practitioner before taking any
foods in medicinal quantities.
CORK OPERA HOUSE COMPETITION
Revolting Rhymes
n association with Cork
Orchestral Society, Cork
Opera House is delighted
to welcome Quercus Ensemble
to their stage with their stunning musical adaptation of one
of Roald Dahl’s best loved
classics, Revolting Rhymes on
Thursday, March 12 at 4pm.
Join the members of
Quercus Ensemble for Roald
Dahl’s ‘Three Little Pigs’ in a
musical storytelling event for
the whole family. Experience
this fantastic musical production by the composer Paul
Patterson, of Dahl’s dark and
I
funny take on the traditional
fairytale. Prepare for a few
twists and turns along the way,
this is not the story quite as
you know it! Quercus
Ensemble is a dynamic and
innovative chamber music
ensemble based in Northern
Ireland, drawing together
some of Ireland and the UK’s
finest musicians, they present
dynamic and engaging performances of classical and
contemporary music.
Led by Cork conductor
Tom Crowley, this vibrant and
energetic production featuring
12 musicians and narrator,
breathes life into this classic
tale and offers a wonderful
opportunity for children to
experience live music in a fun,
engaging way and to meet the
performers and their instruments.
Reviews of Revolting
Rhymes
“An earthy and wickedly
funny story for all ages”
Andrew Preston, The Daily
Express “The audience of
children is still and rapt
throughout...everyone captivated by the music and the
narrative...The Quercus
Ensemble play with clarity
and precision, and plenty of
heart, drawing out the richness
and beauty of the music wonderfully.” Dominic Kearney,
Culture Northern Ireland.
Date: Thursday, March 12,
4pm. Tickets: €10/€8 conc. |
Family Pass €30 (Booking fee
may apply) Booking:
Booking and information on
www.corkoperahouse.ie or
021-4270022.
Win a family pass (2
adults and 2 children) to see
‘Revolting Rhymes’
on Thursday, March
12 at 4pm.
Answer the following
question correctly and
email it with your
name, address and
phone number to
[email protected] by March 9.
Who wrote
‘Revolting
Ryhmes?
Early Childhood Ireland National Pyjama Day in aid of Irish Autism Action
ver 50,000 children from
early childhood care and
education services nationwide, including a number of local
services will wear their pyjamas into
their crèche or preschool on Friday,
March 6 for Early Childhood
Ireland’s National Pyjama Day in aid
of Irish Autism Action.
People can support this fundraising
O
initiative, which is about children
helping children and having fun, by
texting the words ‘PJ DAY’ to 50300
to donate €2 to Irish Autism Action
via Early Childhood Ireland’s
National Pyjama Day fundraiser.
Early Childhood Ireland’s target
is to raise €200,000 to support Irish
Autism Action (IAA) to develop
awareness and training programmes,
specifically tailored for early childhood educators around the country.
The programme will also include a
pilot scheme building on IAA’s Step
Ahead Programme, a direct intervention support programme for children
newly diagnosed which is designed
to bridge the gap between diagnosis
and access to mainstream services.
As well as raising much needed
funds for IAA, Early Childhood
Ireland is using this platform to
expose the breach of rights for children with additional needs, like
autism for example, when they cannot access their free preschool year
due to lack of Government funding.
Early Childhood Ireland represents
over 3,500 childcare professional
members who support over 100,000
children and their families through
preschool, afterschool and full daycare provision nationwide. Its work
includes quality enhancement, publications, advocacy, training, business
support and information for a sector
that employs over 24,000 people
today.
26
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
PARENTING
Herbal medicine for childhood conditions
As a child's immune system develops and the incidence of infections arises, treatment with herbal medicine and a wholesome diet will lay the
foundation for a healthy immune system. There are many conditions
affecting children, a few of which are outlined here by West Cork herbalist Jacqueline Kilbryde.
Based in Ballydehob, Jacqueline Kilbryde is a practicing herbalist with
over 26 years experience. She is a member of the National Institute Of
Medical Herbalists, the oldest body of professional herbalists in Europe
(established 1864) and a member of the Irish Register Of Chinese Herbal
Medicine (established in 1999).
chamomile
CROUP: A viral infection
involving the vocal cords, the
windpipe and the bronchial
tubes. It can mimic a cold at
the onset...but as it progresses
and worsens the child may
develop a barking cough.
This is often worse at night
and aggravated by crying and
anxiety. Breathing may
become laboured and noisy
and fever and hoarseness is
common.
The use of a steam
vapouriser keeps the air in the
room moist and alleviates the
dry barking cough... Antiinflammatory and antiseptic
essential oils such as eucalyptus and lavender can be added
to the vapouriser (2 drops of
each).
These oils may also be
used with a carrier oil to rub
onto the throat and chest. 10
ml Almond oil, 3 drops
Eucalyptus oil, 3 drops
Lavender oil . Mix all together and use as an external rub
to chest and throat.
A herb tea used to calm
anxiety is chamomile.
Herbal Infusions sweetened with honey are given to
reduce inflammation, dryness,
fever, cough and phlegm.
Herbs include: licquorice,
mullein, catnip, limeflowers,
elderflowers, coltsfoot,
marshmallow root, thyme
herb, echinacea.
Some of these may be
combined together, for example licquorice, marshmallow
root, thyme and limeflowers...
a teaspoon of each... and
made into an infusion.
An infusion is made by
putting the herb/s into a cup
and pouring boiling water on
them, this is left to steep for
25 minutes. The liquid is then
strained and kept for drinking
and the herb discarded. Dose:
1 small cupful 2-3x daily.
The child should be
encouraged to sit up to reduce
the narrowing of the airways.
Warm baths containing essen-
tial oil of lavender,
chamomile or eucalyptus (put
three drops of each oil into
the bath water) are useful.
A light diet is given with
warm fluids (water and herbal
infusions) regularly.
Signs to watch out for that
may require hospitalisation
are noisy, high-pitched
breathing sounds (stridor)
both when inhaling and
exhaling; swallowing is difficult; breathing becomes vey
fast and child struggles to
breathe; a bluish pallor is
seen around the nose, mouth
and fingernails.
SINUSITIS: Congestion,
inflammation or infection of
the deep sinus cavities, which
become blocked with mucous
after a cold, or influenza for
example. It causes a lot of
discomfort, especially when
the child lies down as breathing through the nose becomes
very difficult and there may
be a sinus drip into the throat.
There may be pain, and
swelling of the face, headache
and a purulent discharge from
the nose. An irritating cough
is often present.
Identifying culprit foods
(allergies), which prolong or
initiate this condition must be
looked at — dairy products
such as milk, cheese, petit
filous and other such products
are often implicated. Check
your child’s diet carefully.
Sluggish bowel function
may be present and the build
up of catarrh is one way to
eliminate toxins. Use dandelion root, yellow dock, licquorice and marshmallow to
alleviate constipation. These
are safe and gentle herbs.
Dandelion root and licquorice can be made into a
decoction.
A decoction is made by
putting the roots (one tablespoon of each) into a
saucepan and adding water.
The herbs are simmered over
heat for 30 minutes with the
lid on. Then taken off the heat
strained and the liquid kept.
Dose: one small cupful 2x
daily.
The use of herbs in honey
sweetened infusions such as
eucalyptus, peppermint, ginger root, elderflowers, eyebright and thyme will loosen
and clear the congestion of
mucous, as well as alleviate
the post nasal drip and cough.
Use a combination of
eucalyptus, peppermint,
thyme and elderflowers as an
infusion... (see Croup for
infusion recipie).
The use of astringent herbs
such as agrimony and ribwort
will dry mucous secretions
also. These can also be added
to the infusion, using a teaspoon of each herb.
Essential oils of peppermint, eucalyptus, lavender
and chamomile can be used
as a steam inhalation treatment to further unblock the
nose.
Use a basin and fill with
boiling hot water. Add one
drop of each essential oil to
the hot water (see oils above).
Ask the child to place their
head over the basin and be
careful not to get burnt. Place
a towel over their head and
basin. The fumes from the
essential oils will penetrate
deeply into the nasal cavity
helping to expel and disperse
mucous.
For a stubborn infection
use echinacea, garlic and
indigo root, as well as the
other herbs. These can be
used as tinctures (drops) combined together.
Dose; 40 drops diluted in
warm water 3x daily. 20
drops for children under fouryears-old. In acute cases, use
1- 2ml diluted in water every
hour for three days.
TONSILITIS: Inflammation
and infection affecting the
tonsils, which are a mass of
lymphatic tissue responsible
for containing, filtering and
preventing the spread of
infection.
This is the reason they
become enlarged and painful
in viral and bacterial infections affecting the respiratory
system.
It is painful, there is difficulty swallowing, and a complication may be middle ear
infection.
Herbs to alleviate the
swelling of the glands are
notably cleavers and marigold
flowers taken as an infusion
together (see above for infusion recipe).
Infusions should be used
one cupful 2-3 x daily.
A gargle of sage and
marigold may be used to help
with the swelling and pain
and their antiseptic action
reduce infection.
Again make an infusion of
the two herbs and when
cooled use as a gargle 2 x
daily.
If fever is present use catnip, limeflowers, yarrow
herb, peppermint and elderflowers as an infusion.
A blend of yarrow, peppermint and elderflowers will be
very effective in reducing
fever, as a tea/infusion.
A general prescription of
herbs to boost the immune
system as well as clear
catarrh is Echinacea, ground
ivy, ribwort, sage, and agrimony.
These can be all combined
in tincture form as drops, and
2.5ml taken 3x daily diluted
in warm water (for children
of four-years upwards). For
younger children use 1.5 ml
diluted in water 3x daily.
ASTHMA: The incidence of
asthma in children seems to
be on the increase possibly
due to increasing contamination of our food, water and
environment.
Asthma has a definite
genetic predisposition (it is
inherited). A member of the
family, on enquiry, will also
be an asthma sufferer or suffer from eczema and or hay
fever — all related diseases.
It can be a very distressing
condition.
Allergies play a big role in
the causation of asthma and it
is seen commonly in babies
who are bottle-fed or weaned
onto formula milk. Once this
is detected and corrected the
asthma may clear up but the
tendency is to, unknowingly,
introduce other culprit foods
into their diet as they start to
eat solid food.
Changing an infants or
toddler’s diet is relatively
easy, but as they get older it
becomes to take them off
their 'beloved' foods.
It is interesting to note
that the problematic food/s
are the ones the children love
and consume the most.
Other triggering factors
are; a smoky environment;
damp (mould) and cold conditions; respiratory infection.
Emotional factors can be a
trigger for asthma — disharmony in the home or at
school and insecurities can
cause the airways to constrict
and precipitate an asthmatic
attack.
There are often other precipitating factors. Other possible allergens include, dust
and dust mite , animal dander,
pollens, perfumes, strong
odours and the use of chemicals in food and in the home.
All need investigation.
Herbal treatment can be
very effective in alleviating
the symptoms and indeed in
prevention, coupled with the
proper attention to diet and
environmental factors.
Support the child having
an asthma attack with a gentle
back massage and loving
reassurance and help them to
sit up with the aid of pillows
to help their breathing.
For bronchial constriction
causing wheezing and difficulty breathing, use infusions,
syrups or diluted tinctures of
herbs, which relieve bronchial
spasm and open the airways
to restore proper breathing.
Grindelia, (gum plant) thyme
herb, elecampane, sun-dew,
licquorice root. A combination of grindelia, thyme and
licquorice is excellent as an
infusion.
Essential oils used in
combination with a carrier oil
(almond) and applied to the
chest and back really help to
open the airways and diperse
sticky mucous clogging the
airways. Use eucalyptus, peppermint, wintergreen,
chamomile, hyssop, thyme.
10ml Almond oil , 2 drops
eucalyptus oil, 1 drop peppermint oil , 2 drops chamomile
oil . Mix all together and use
as an external rub to the chest
and upper back.
For the cough, which is
often hard and unproductive,
use herbs to loosen mucous
and encourage expectoration.
Licquorice root, marshmallow
root, coltsfoot, hyssop, thyme,
mullein, aloe vera. Buy tinctures of licquorice, marshmallow, thyme, mullein and
coltsfoot and combine together in in bottle. Dose: 1.2-2.5
ml diluted in water 3x daily
Or combine the above
herbs using one teaspoon of
each and make an infusion.
Dose: 2 small cupfuls
(teacupfuls 2-3x daily).
It is always useful to consult a practicing medical
herbalist if a condition
becomes persistent or recurrent. A case history is taken
looking into the present condition, past health problems,
diet and medication use and
much more.
[email protected].
27
March 6 – April 2
New book delves in to the paranoia that
is gripping Irish parents today
tella O'Malley’s new book ‘Cotton Wool Kids:
What’s making Irish parents paranoid?’
reveals the media-fuelled madness of paranoid
parenting and describes how a more relaxed attitude
to raising children can lead to happier, healthier
families.
'Cotton Wool Kids' gives parents the information
and the confidence to free themselves from the
treadmill of after-school activities and over-supervision that has become common today. The book pro-
S
What led you to write ‘Cotton
Wool Kids'?
I had been working as a psychotherapist with parents and children for a number of years but it
was only when I felt I was drowning in the complicated waters of
raising children myself, that I
began to become angry about how
much pressure is being put on
both parents and children today.
I became pregnant for the first
time in 2007, the same year that
Madeleine McCann went missing
and, like many of us, I soon
realised that something weird happened to the Madeleine McCann
story. Everyone from the ‘Tapas
Seven’ to the cat next door was
accused of killing Madeleine and
what had begun as a serious news
story soon turned into a sick pantomime.
Like many new mothers-to-be,
I tried to read nearly every baby
book there was so that I’d be
ready for my baby’s arrival.
However it wasn’t long before I
realised that the babycare books
were full of solemn warnings
about how I could destroy my
baby’s life. “They are all contradicting each other,” I wailed to my
husband, Henry. “It says in this
book if I pick the baby up every
time it cries I will create a needy,
attention-seeking monster but in
this other book it says that if I
don’t pick the baby up every time,
I will create an insecure and
depressed child!” Which would I
prefer, I thought to myself pensively: needy and attention seeking or insecure and depressed?
I was convinced by hard-faced
sales assistants to buy an array of
expensive and unnecessary ‘stuff’
for the baby. I bought a ‘travel
system’ instead of a plain old
pram, and I bought a cot mattress
that was ‘recommended by the
Sudden Infant Death Association’
even though there was another
option at half the price – and even
though we had a perfectly good
second hand cot mattress at home
already.
Some time later, while writing
a thesis on parenting in the twenty-first century, I was startled to
discover that in truth, parents and
children have never been safer,
have never been healthier, and
have never have had more opportunities to be happier. But we parents have missed the party; instead
we are strung-out by sensationalist
stories in the media that convince
us that we are living in a dangerous jungle instead of one of the
safest countries in the world.
What/who were your sources for
the book?
This book began as an academic
work on ‘Parenting and Childhood
in Ireland’ and my sources were
entirely academic journals at this
point. When I decided to turn my
thesis into a book I expanded a lot
of the research by using a lot of
the ‘baby books’ and the media. I
also feature many case studies
from my counselling practice
within the book, although of
course certain names and details
have been changed with the case
studies.
What were the most startling
facts that your research
revealed?
I was shocked when I realised just
how much mental health and wellbeing is a much bigger threat to
our children’s lives than abduction
or child sexual abuse.
There was a massive study
done in the USA and out of
approximately 72 million children,
there are on average 800,000 children reported missing each year –
and yet only 115 of these missing
children are cases of stranger child
abduction – the rest are mostly
benign explanations (341,000),
runaways and ‘thrownaways’ (this
means children who are thrown
out of the home) (358,000), lost or
injured (62,000) and inter-familial
abduction (57,000).
There is approximately one
child abduction for every 10,000
missing child reports filed in the
US.
If we balance those figures
with the fact that there are 30,000
– 40,000 suicides each year in the
USA, we can see how stranger
child abduction is receiving a disproportionate level of attention
compared to other tragedies.
Another fact that surprised me
was that suicide is a more frequent
cause of death than homicide in
the US with, for example, 20,000
of the 30,000 deaths from guns in
2010 being a consequence of suicide.
I was dumbfounded that the
rates of child sexual abuse has
gone down by 62 pc in the USA
since 1992 – even though children
today are much more likely to
report abuse than in previous
years.
There was less research available from Ireland, however I was
surprised to see that the vast
majority of child sexual abuse is
perpetrated by someone known to
the child and less than eight pc of
child sexual abuse is perpetrated
vides parents with strategies to learn how to handle
the relentless pressure from society and the media to
provide a 'perfect' childhood, and instead to raise
their children with a more relaxed and joyful
approach, more in touch with the outdoors and the
community around them.
Stella O'Malley is an accredited psychotherapist
with over ten years’ experience as a mental health
professional. Much of her counselling and teaching
work is with parents and young people and she has
written a series of articles on over-protective parenting for the 'Sunday Independent'. She is originally
from Dublin, worked for many years in Co. Galway
and now lives and works in Birr, Co. Offaly. Stella
is mother to two children, age seven and five-yearsold. Stella speaks to Mary O’Brien about her what
led her to write the book and reveals some of the
startling statistics her research revealed.
by a stranger.
We seem to be living in an epidemic of misery; there has been
an estimated 70 pc increase in
emotional problems among young
people in the developed world in
the last thirty years. The World
Health Organisation predicts that
by 2020 depression will be the
second leading cause of global
disability.
The Growing Up in Ireland
shows us that 19 pc of nine-yearold children have significant emotional or behavioural problems.
Between the years 2007 and
2013 there has been a staggering
62 pc increase in prescription
drugs to treat ADHD in Ireland
(with a similar rate of increase in
the UK).
I was amazed to see how much
child pornography has grown as
technology has grown: in 1990
there were an estimated 7000
unique images worldwide of child
pornography but in 2007,
Interpol’s child abuse database
contains a staggering 500,000
unique images.
On another subject, I was
amazed to see that over 80 pc of
German nine-year-olds walk to
school unaccompanied compared
with less than 20 pc of English
nine-year-olds, while a hefty 60 pc
of Irish nine-year-olds travel to
school by car – with one pc of
Irish nine-year-olds travelling by
bicycle (and 70 pc of Irish children live within one and a half
miles from their school!).
the baby’s bum nappy-free for a
while, the parent can instead turn
on the bum fan), toddler urinals
and knee pads for crawling This is
way over the top and it creates a
heightened sense of danger when,
in truth, we live in a very safe
country with an extremely low
rate of infant mortality.
2. Sky news arrived in 1989
and since then we live in a 24hour news culture that needs to
sensationalise every event so that
they can justify their existence.
The media have realised that they
won’t attract attention by saying
“life is pretty ok for most people”
and so instead, because of market
forces, they are forced to sensationalise stories. For example, one
study shows that a new homicide
(over 360 in total) was reported by
a local paper in Toronto one year,
even though there were only 68
homicides in Toronto that year —
if there wasn’t a local homicide to
report, the paper went outside
their area so as to have something
sesnational to report.
Horrible events that happen to
children sell more copy than nearly anything else and so unfortunately the media are forced to fixate on horrible events that happen
to children. Neuroscientists have
shown us that the brain is malleable and that the more a person
sees an image or reads about a
story, the more prevalent they
think it is – even if the report
states that this is an incredibly rare
event. (Grotesque events involving children should be reported
only in a serious and responsible
way – we have already got a template for this with the way the
media reports suicide.)
3. Overprotective parenting
has become a weird and unhealthy
way for parents to ‘show’ their
love for their children. If you
point out to the parent that their
behaviour is unnecessary, the most
common reaction is a garbled “but
I love my kids so much and I
couldn’t live with myself if anything happened to them.” This
statement shows that over-protective parenting is not about worry
for the children’s safety – it is a
self-serving statement that makes
the parent feel good and it’s all
about the parent and not the child.
Our consumerist culture
means that everything is for sale
— the perfect nursery, the perfect
maternity outfit, the perfect children’s party. Parents have the
noble and natural desire to provide
their children with a great childhood and the sharp suits in offices
When and why did Irish parents
become so afraid for their children’s safety?
Irish parents have become afraid
for their children’s safety for three
main reasons:
1. In the last 30 years or so,
big businesses have figured out
that new parents are easy targets
(In the UK the estimated spend of
parents on babycare products
before the birth is £1,619 – and
this equates to £492 million every
year). With the arrival of the
Celtic Tiger, Irish parents finally
had the money to spend on gadgets that were already commonplace in the US and the UK.
Marketing forces suggest to
parents that they must ‘childproof’ everything so their child
doesn’t have an accident and die.
For example, ‘Thudguard’ is a
helmet that is for two-year-olds to
wear so that the toddler won’t
knock their head when they are
learning to walk (the Thudguard
website points out to worried par-
Some time later, while
writing a thesis on
parenting in the twenty-first century, I was
startled to discover
that in truth, parents
and children have
never been safer, have
never been healthier,
and have never have
had more opportunities to be happier.
ents that there are 318,575 baby
and toddler injuries recorded
every year). And the extreme baby
monitoring gadgets have an app
that can text the parent at set intervals to tell parents the baby’s heart
rate, skin temperature, blood oxygen level and sleep quality.
Parents can now buy stuff that
protects our children from steps,
windows, taps, toilets, doors
swinging shut, cupboards swinging open, table corners, containers, drawers and any number of
other relatively benign commonplace fixtures in our homes. There
are sun tents, sun shades, sun protectors, rain protectors, wind protectors, glass safety-film and elaborate stair gates that no man nor
beast can open. There are helmets
available for toddlers to wear
around the house as they learn to
walk, rubber ducks that the adult
has to turn over in the bath to
gauge the temperature (by which
time they will have actually felt
the temperature), a harness which
hangs your baby on the door safely while you pee in a public toilet,
a baby bum fan (instead of leaving
are marketing this dream of ‘the
perfect childhood’ to parents.
Parents feel a failure because no
one can provide the ‘perfect childhood’ and then parents tend to
over-compensate by overtly
demonstrating their love with
over-protective parenting.
How do parents ‘unwrap’ their
kids…what is your advice in the
book?
I believe parents are ‘overadvised’ .and I am reluctant to
advise parents. I think most parents are well able to assess their
children’s needs and they actually
know instinctively what is needed;
my book ‘Cotton Wool Kids’
seeks to give parents the confidence to nurture their children as
they see fit.
However in my bid to create a
backlash against the cult of overparenting that has swept across
Ireland, I engage in a technique
within the book known in the
counselling context as ‘Socratic
Questioning’, which is a method
of questioning that encourages
people to think deeply and find
the answers within themselves.
And so I give room within the
book for parents to answer questions such as: How can I ensure
children will have happy memories of their childhood?; You
might slip in the shower today and
die, however you can’t live your
life thinking like that all the time
– but do you think about your
children’s life as if there is danger
around every corner?; What is the
most important factor to think
about when assessing risk in your
child’s life?; Is your children’s
pleasure more important than your
happiness?; Can there be too
much emphasis on education and
performance in children’s lives?
And if so, how do you know when
that line is crossed?
However I must admit that,
because our brains are continuously infected by scary stories in the
media, on social media and on TV,
I do advise parents to be more
selective in the information they
choose to follow, as this information can shape their behaviour
more than they might realise.
Cotton Wool Kids: What’s
making Irish parents paranoid? is
published by Mercier Press in
paperback at €14.99 and available in eBook format from the
usual outlets.
28
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
March 6 – April 2
Look after your emotional wellbeing with HSE ʻYour Good Selfʼ programme
T
he HSE ‘Your Good
Self’ programme provides quality information to the people of Cork on
how to look after their emotional well-being as part of
their overall health. An extensive list of recommended
books, websites and other
resources have been compiled
and reviewed by HSE
Psychologists and are available
to the public in libraries
throughout the City and
County.
As a part of this community
initiative Riana Vermaak
(Clinical Psychologist of the
HSE South Lee Primary Care
Network) has run community
based groups in the Bandon
and Kinsale areas since 2013.
These groups were Stress
Control, Improve Your Mood
and Up-skill Coping Skills.
They are psycho educational in
that they seek to inform people
how to deal with common
mental health difficulties such
as Stress, Depression and
Anxiety. The groups provide
information on problems, and
also effective evidence based
strategies to help with them.
“The groups are concerned
with skills building, it is not
group therapy so attendees do
not have to talk about your
problems in front of others, but
of course can ask questions of
the presenters.”
“The groups are psycho-educational, and we seek to give
useful information and teach
skills for self care to attendees.
Our goal is also to deconstruct
the stigma around these difficulties – everybody experiences stress and there are
proven ways of dealing with
them effectively”
“These classes are totally
free of charge and are open to
any member of the public who
wishes to attend. All we ask of
people is that they commit to
the duration of the course. We
have received excellent feedback from those who attended
the groups and can see the difference they are making. We
are excited to begin the groups
again this year”
Starting In April 2015, Riana
Vermaak will be presenting a
six week course of Stress
Control, which will be fol-
lowed later in the year by a
Compassion Focused
Mindfulness course. These
classes will be delivered in
both the Bandon and Kinsale
areas.
To book your place or for
more information on the
groups email
[email protected] or call
021-477 9808.
Further information on the
‘Your Good Self’ programme
and Book List is available on
www.hse.ie.
Healing through talking
Q
ualified Counsellor
and Integrative
Psychotherapist (BA
Hons) Alve Bevan works with
clients who have wide ranging
issues including depression,
anxiety, childhood and
adult/partner abuse, selfesteem, family relationships
and grief and loss. As an
Integrative Psychotherapist,
Alve plans a therapy to suit
her client’s individual needs.
Compassion, genuine concern
and confidentiality are the
foundation stones from which
she works. Her approach is
gentle yet practical. “Many of
us go through difficult times in
our lives, sometimes experiences and memories from our
past, affect our daily lives, or
it may be something that has
Alve Bevan
happened to us in our present
life, like the loss of our health,
or the death of a loved one.
You may be repeating a pattern of thinking behaving or
feeling that impacts on your
relationships,” she explains.
Alve goes on to explain how
important it is for people who
are going through a vulnerable
time to find a qualified counsellor to talk to. “You need
someone who has the academic training and life experience
to understand fully the complexity of our problems and
the impact it is having on our
lives. It has been shown scientifically by world leading neuroscientists that talking and
being listened to in a particular
way helps us heal, mentally
and physically, leading to a
better quality of life and most
importantly peace of mind.”
Alve is also on the
Coisceim/Shep and West Cork
Woman Against Violence
Project panel of counsellors.
Originally from Dublin, where
she trained as a bereavement
counsellor and worked with
the Bereavement Counselling
Service for a number of years,
Alve also trained with Accord
as a group facilitator. After
moving to West Cork in 1999,
Alve put these skills to the
service of her community,
joining the Clonakilty bereavement group in 2002. She has
facilitated many groups since
then and works with clients at
her practices in Timoleague
and Victoria Cross.
‘The wound is the place
where the light enters.’ Rumi
To make an appointment
with Alve phone 087 6723597.
www. alvebevan.com.
www. talkngtherapy.ie.
Skibbereen glows with community spirit
F
riday, February 13 was a
special night in
Skibbereen town, as
almost 1,500 people lined the
streets to take part in the 2015
Glow Run.
Costumed crowds gathered
from early evening in Field’s
Car Park where DJ Billy
Flaherty warmed them up. Main
Street was packed to capacity as
the fun run started, with St.
Fachtna's Silver band providing
music for the crowd as they
passed the Square. The Glow
Tunnel at The Cutting was a big
hit with both young and not so
young; the youngest participant
on the night was under one
year’s of age while the oldest
was 80.
The big winners in
Skibbereen that night were community spirit and charity; 100
per cent of entry fees go to charity and over €9000 was raised
for nominated charities – COPE
Skibbereen and the ASD and
Special Needs Classes of St.
Patrick's Boys National School,
St. Joseph’s Girls National
School and Rossa College.
Carerʼs collaborate on crochet project
T
he spirit of collaboration
is alive and well in West
Cork, as is proven by the
new exciting project that West
Cork Carers Support Group
have undertaken. “We pride ourselves on being a Carer led
Support Group and many of our
Carers had expressed the desire
to do a collaborative crafts project, so the West Cork Carers
Crochet Project was born,” said
Lorna Harte, Support Worker in
West Cork Carers Support
Group.
All carers across West Cork
will have the opportunity to contribute to this wonderful project,
which will showcase the friendship and collaboration that exists
between Carers. This will happen over a number of meetings
across West Cork under the
guidance of a crafts facilitator.
The Carers will come together
to crochet a quilt in a fun, sup-
portive and creative atmosphere.
Working together to design and
create this quilt generates a great
sense of community within the
Carers across West Cork and
gives them an opportunity to
display their creativity and talent. Carers are invited to come
along and join in with the project on Thursday, March 5 from
8pm to 10pm in the Day Care
Centre in Clonakilty, Monday,
March 9 from 10.30am to
12.30pm in the West Cork
Carers Support Group office in
Bridge Street, Bantry and on
Monday, April 13 from 10.30am
to 12.30pm in the Adult
Education centre in
Castletownbere.
On completion, the quilt will
be raffled as part of West Cork
Carer’s celebrations for National
Carers Week from June 8 to 14.
Please contact 027 53848 or
[email protected].
29
March 6 – April 2
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
Getting to the root of the problem
Dr. Patrick O’Brien
Dunmanway Dental
W
hen the social welfare dental scheme
disappeared in early
2010 — followed hot on its
heels by a reduced medical card
offering — the end result was
that a lot of people who had got
in the habit of coming to see
their dentist on a regular basis,
made the decision that dentistry
was a luxury that they could ill
afford. I see it’s also classed as
a luxury by the insolvency
board, which feels a zero
allowance is necessary for dental treatment. The end result has
been patients hiding their heads,
and with it their teeth, under a
rock, hoping that the inevitable
will never happen. The
inevitable is, that neglect leads
to a toothache.
The classic presentation is the
patient who hasn’t been since
2009. The tooth breaks soon
after Christmas. They couldn’t
wait for the surgery to reopen
but the expected grief never
occurs, so they limp on and
promise themselves that next
week they will have the money.
April arrives and with it a few
rumblings from the tooth.
Definitely next week! Mount
Vesuvius finally blows and they
are in like a shot. No, they
never got that reminder, despite
it stating in the notes that the
patient was contacted twice!
The options are extraction versus root treatment. The patient
definitely doesn’t want an
extraction, so a root treatment it
is! The most painful part of this
treatment for the patient comes
next. It’s how much? A root
treatment will cost from €350
to €650 depending on difficulty
Become a mentor
and change a life
L
e Chéile Mentoring Project
is looking for both male and
female volunteers to act as
mentors to young people or their
parents in the West Cork region.
The aim of Le Chéile is to work
together with Young Person’s
Probation (YPP), and with other
relevant stakeholders, to affect positive change in the lives of children
and number of roots containing
nerves. It’s possible to get it
done cheaper but ‘buyer
beware’. When decay finally
reaches the nerve the tooth
slowly starts to die. First comes
pain from hot and cold, then
pain on eating and finally a
sleepless night pounding the
boards. Should you be a brave
soldier and stay away, the next
stage is a swollen face. I wouldn’t recommend sticking it out
beyond that. The treatment
involves cleaning out the decay
and exposing the nerves.
Anyone getting weak at this
stage can be reassured that I
didn’t start until I was happy
that everything was well numb,
so you can relax again!
…And read on. Files are used
to clean out the nerve. The tooth
is sterilised and physically
cleaned out. The space where
the nerve once existed is then
sealed off with an exactly fitting
root filling and a good resin seal
is placed. You can now put a
filling in and the treatment is
finished. Ideally a crown should
also be placed, but that would
cause another shock, so a brief
mention is made that we might
discuss that one in six months,
when this present, unpleasant,
financial shock has been recovered from.
So what’s new in endodontics? Having done a lot of
research on the subject I have
opted for a root canal system
called ‘Wave One’. I have done
four post grad courses in the
past two years on this particular
technology. Anyone with an
interest can get further info on
this system by typing ‘Wave
One endo’ into youtube. This
system is specifically aimed for
the ‘UK standards’ of root treat-
ment care. The feeling in the
UK is such – the brain is
attached to the radial nerves,
which are eventually attached to
the nerves in your teeth and
should be regarded as part of
the central nervous system.
Anyone, like myself, who lived
in the UK in the late 80s-early
90s, will know the feeling of
rejection if they go to a blood
donor clinic. This is due to the
‘Mad Cow’ crisis. Anyone of a
certain age they will know the
story. This disease is known as
CJD (Creutzfeldt-Jacob disease), a disease that got into the
human food chain by the beef
industry in their endeavours to
produce ‘good value’ beef. To
lower cost, the beef industry, in
their wisdom, decided to feed
bone meal to cattle. In bone,
you have bone marrow, which
is similar to the pulp (nerve) tissue in a tooth. The causative
agent —the prion — was able
to get into the bone marrow of
the cattle and infect it. In burgers, there is often crushed bone
and with it marrow and the
infection agent — the prion.
This was now in the human
food chain and humans also
became prone to CJD. For this
reason, the UK government
decided that root treatments are
a concern as a source of prion
infection. They have decided
that root treatment files should
be used once and disposed of.
who offend and their families,
through the provision of mentoring,
youth justice and family support
services.
Volunteer Mentors support
young people or a parent to help
them identify and develop their
own skills through goals and activities, doing all of this through a positive supportive relationship. Many
of the teenagers Le Chéile work
with are lacking an older relative or
friend that is a positive influence
and a volunteer’s support and guid-
ance can make a real difference in
the lives of these young people.
Young people referred to the
project often need support with
self-esteem, self-confidence, education and setting goals in their life.
The young people referred are to
some level involved in the Irish
Youth Justice system. Parents that
are referred for mentoring often
just need support and assistance in
identifying and developing their
own parenting skills.
Mentors meet with their young
Each file, if nickel titanium,
cost €8 each. You could use up
to 12 files in a molar case. The
economics of this start to pinch.
The rotary system itself costs
€2000, the apex locator €1000
and so on. The new system
aims to use one file in 85 per
cent of cases and two to three
files in the other 15 per cent.
When you attempt to sterilise
these files, there is a built-in
system to damage the file, to
stop you using it a second time.
I’ve decided to implement this
standard even though the same
rules don’t apply in Ireland.
‘’Mad Cow’? Sure only one
person in Ireland died of that
disease. It’s completely rare?
The beef industry has learned
its lesson about short cuts in the
production of ‘value burgers’
and we won’t surely have
another scandal in my lifetime?’
That one person was my patient
who, like me, lived in the UK in
the late 80s. She contracted
CJD, by probably having the
misfortune of having a liking
for burgers. Nervously, I looked
up her file. Thankfully I hadn’t
done any root treatments. The
prion cannot be killed by any
form of sterilisation and any
files used on a patient with CJD
should be binned, as a result, in
a sharps bin. I saw an advert in
the local paper for ‘front tooth
root treatment €100’ by a foreign clinic based here in
Ireland. There is such a thing as
things being too cheap! When I
phoned and enquired, x-rays
and filling the root treated tooth
were extra and the receptionist
didn’t know how much these
would cost. Roll up, roll up,
anyone for the last of the horse,
sorry I mean beef burger!
person on a weekly basis, and in all
cases the contact is planned and
involves a specific activity, and is
based in the local or nearby area.
Mentors do not need to have any
previous experience or training as
all training is provided. All mentors
undergo thorough recruitment and
selection procedures including
Garda clearance, reference checks
etc.
Visit www.lecheile.ie or contact
Fidelma Connolly on 086-0472419
or [email protected].
30
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
March 6 – April 2
Stay young with Pilates
H
ave you ever thought
about trying Pilates but
aren’t quite sure what it
involves? Joseph Pilates, who
developed the exercise, is quoted as saying “If at the age of 30
you are stiff and out of shape
you are old. If at 60 you are
supple and strong then you are
young”.
Pilates focuses on strengthening and stretching the whole
body to improve core strength,
flexibility, posture and balance,
without building bulk or stress-
ing joints. It is adaptable to all
fitness levels.
Aisling McAuliffe of Flow
Pilates West Cork has been
teaching in Clonakilty and
Bandon for a number of years
now and has recently started
teaching Pilates classes in the
new Flow Yoga Centre in
Harte’s Courtyard Clonakilty, a
beautiful bright oasis of calm.
Aisling is a firm believer that
exercise is for everyone and
that nobody should feel intimidated about joining a class,
regardless of their fitness level.
She first became interested in
Pilates through running when
she found it a great way of
increasing strength and flexibility and preventing injury. She
teaches beginner level and more
challenging classes and there is
also a slow flow class on
Wednesday mornings, ideal for
older age group or those with
back problems looking for a
gentle but effective way of
stretching and strengthening.
Private one to one classes are
also available.
Class sizes are small to allow
for individual instruction and
the ethos is friendly and encouraging.
Aisling has a particular inter-
The Flow Yoga Centre in Harte’s Courtyard, Clonakilty
est and specialist training in
pregnancy and postnatal Pilates
and with two small children
herself can testify to the benefits of practicing Pilates regularly during pregnancy.
Pilates during pregnancy
reduces backache, strengthens
the pelvic floor and abdominal
muscles and improves posture.
Like any form of exercise it
helps to reduce stress and aids
sleep.
She teaches pregnancy classes in both Bandon and
Clonakilty and says it’s also a
lovely way for expectant mums
in the area to meet up.
Aisling says that as a mind –
body exercise the greatest bene-
fit Pilates brings people is an
awareness of posture and the
ability to move with ease,
which will last you a lifetime.
For information about classes
contact Aisling – 086-6055078,
[email protected] or
check out the facebook page
Flow Pilates West Cork.
Don’t let the scenery stop you
at The Bay Run
T
he Bay Run returns to
the beautiful town of
Bantry this May Bank
Holiday Weekend and its bigger and better than ever.
This year’s programme
includes a full marathon as
well as a half-marathon, a
10km run and the popular 3km
family fun run. The full
marathon, half-marathon and
10Km run all take place on
Sunday, May 3 and the hugely
popular Family Fun Run will
take place on Saturday, May 2.
The Bay run is organised by
the team at The Maritime
Hotel and the proceeds from
all four events will be donated
to Bantry Hospice.
“We are very excited to add
a full marathon to this year’s
Bay Run and we expect registration for it to fill up fast. It
will be a great addition to the
festivities,” says Jason
O’Sullivan, Leisure Manager
at The Maritime Hotel.
“We are also encouraging
more families to get involved
and have made the family fun
run free to anyone who registers for any of the other
events.”
Last year’s Bay Run was the
first organised and managed by
the team at The Maritime
Hotel and it was hailed as a
great success by the organisers
and participants alike. Almost
700 entrants took part and
raised over €8000 for the
Bantry Hospice and various
local and national charities.
Registration for all four
events is now open. For further
information or to register for
The Bay Run visit
www.bayrun.ie or find us on
facebook at
www.facebook.com/Bayrun.
Free mental health care will soon
become easier to access in West Cork
T
he West Cork Suicide
Prevention Service,
Lisheens House, has
taken another step toward realising its dream to offer free
counselling to anyone in the
region who needs it. Lisheens
House organisers, Noreen
Murphy and Mick Kearns, are
delighted to announce the
opening of their first drop-in
centre location on Main Street
Skibbereen which is due to
open in early April.
“We have been waiting for
suitable premises in the right
location and the shop next
door to Pierce Hickey’s
newsagents suits our needs
perfectly,” said Mick
Lisheens House will continue to operate the 023 8888888
HELPLINE offering free counselling throughout the whole of
West Cork. This next step is
extending the service to allow
for people to call in and chat
with someone face-to-face during open hours.
Because the service is free,
fundraising is an important
component of Noreen and
Mick’s work. Therefore the
store front will be run as a
charity shop with room in back
for a friendly chat and a coffee. A space will be available
for private counselling as well.
“Right now the plan is to be
open six days a week from
Monday to Saturday,” says
Mick. “In time we will want to
replicate this model throughout
West Cork to offer assistance
to everyone who needs it.”
Lisheens House is the brainchild of Noreen, who lost her
husband to suicide in 2008. In
her experience, mental health
facilities are too difficult to
navigate for some folks debilitated by depression or other
mental health issues. It has
been her mission to ensure that
as many people as possible
who need mental healthcare
get it.
To this end, she and Mick
have assembled a team of volunteers and accredited counsellors dedicated to helping
Noreen reach her goal. Until
now all contact with the public
has been through the helpline
or through pubic fund raising
events. The prospect of finally
opening a drop-in centre is an
exciting one.
“We are thrilled to take this
next step. I’m really looking
forward to opening the doors,”
said Noreen. “It has been the
generosity and support of the
people of West Cork that has
enabled us to get this far and
we hope they will continue to
support us on our journey to
ensure that anyone in our community that needs help will be
able to access it free and without delay.”
Donations of quality used
items can be dropped at the
new location from the March 1
or please email [email protected] or call 086
1721269 to arrange collection.
31
March 6 – April 2
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
Water Safety Award
for the Celtic Ross
Leisure Centre
T
he Celtic Ross Leisure
Centre is delighted to be
awarded the Cork
County Council Water Safety
Awareness Award for introducing the Primary Aquatics Water
Safety (PAWS) programme to
primary schoolchildren who
attend the Celtic Ross swim
classes.
Through the PAWS programme, pupils not only learn
how to swim but they also
learn to understand and be
responsible around water, as
Water Safety Knowledge,
Survival Skills and basic
Rescue Skills are also covered.
These skills are vital for all
children, but especially for
those living and playing in
coastal areas of West Cork with
so many attractive water activities and beaches on offer.
This award was achieved
through the professionalism
and motivation of the Celtic
Ross Leisure Centre Team:
Dawid Zagrodzki, Leisure
Centre Manager and swim
instructor; Mary O’Mahony,
swim lessons, water safety programme and Swim Camps coordinator; and Steven
Lombard, Leisure Centre
Assistant Manager who teaches
Aqua Aerobics as well as managing the Gym and Leisure
Centre membership.
Neil Grant, General Manager
of the Celtic Ross is passionate
about ensuring the Celtic Ross
Leisure Centre is a key amenity for the locality. “It is important the Leisure Centre plays a
central role in the community
through providing consistently
excellent swim lessons. The
pool is only metres from the
lagoon and next to Warren
Strand. Our kids need to know
how to swim and handle themselves in water.”
Every Saturday and Sunday
the Celtic Ross Leisure Centre
offers a Family Fun Swim
where children go half price,
and there is a special Easter
Fun Camp Week which offers
swim lessons and many other
activities for participating children.
The Celtic Ross Leisure
Centre’s well-equipped facilities and team of highly motivated swim instructors and personal trainers’ are here to kick
start you into a healthy and
happy lifestyle, keeping you
motivated and fit all year
round. With a fully-equipped
gym, 15m swimming pool and
baby pool, integrated Jacuzzi ,
Sauna and Steam rooms,
Exercise Classes, Nutrition
Club and Holistic Suite the
Centre provides a comprehensive health and fitness hub all
under one roof. Join up now as
there is a special 3 Month
Single Membership for only
€149 to include free Aqua
Aerobics classes and free medicine ball classes as well as a
10 per cent discount on
Holistic Suite Sports Massage;
must be booked before the end
of March.
Celtic Ross Leisure Centre,
Rosscarbery. Opening Hrs:
7.30am - 10.00pm (Mon-Fri);
8.00am - 8.00pm (Sat, Sun and
Bank Holidays), t: (023) 88
51012, E: [email protected] www.celticrosshotel.com.
Cork Cancer Research fundraiser in Bantry
T
he annual fundraiser
for the Cork Cancer
Research Centre will
be held in the Timberland
Shop, Bantry (next to the
book shop, William Street)
from Saturday, March 14 to
Monday, March 23 inclusive
(9.30am to 5.30pm).
Items donated for sale for
this very worthy cause would
be very much appreciated:
Unwanted gifts, unused purchases, jewellery, bags, ornaments, bric-a-brac, household
and nursery items, arts and
crafts, pictures, paintings,
glass, ware and china, good
toys and games, exercise
equipment, radios and music
centres, cds and dvds and so
on (no clothes, shoes or
books).
Donated items will be collected at the shop on
Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday, March 11, 12 and 13,
from 10am to 4pm.
Sale of donated goods at
the shop from Saturday,
March 14 to Monday, March
23, 9.30am to 5.30pm.
For further details contact
Nora Cremin (027) 51276.
www.ccrc.ie and www.breakthroughcancerresearch.ie.
Clonakilty Camera Club
T
he Clonakilty Camera
Club held its annual
award dinner recently at
O’Donovan’s Hotel,
Clonakilty. A cheque for €700
was presented to Dr. Jason van
der Velde for the ‘Jeep for
Jason Fund’. These funds were
raised during the annual photography exhibition held by the
club in the Celtic Ross Hotel.
Awards for the night were as
follows: Photographer of the
Year Grade 1, Kathleen Hayes;
Grade 2, Noreen O’Donovan;
and Grade 3, Patricia Costello.
Noreen Brazier received the
Most Improved Award and the
Johnny Creedon Perpetual
Trophy. Dermot Lawlor
received the Most Enthusiastic
member and Kathleen Hayes
received Club Person of the
Year.
On Thursday March 14, the
Club will reciprocate the earlier visit of Blarney Camera
Club to Clonakilty by travelling to Blarney where members will display their photos
and share ideas.
Guest speaker Cian
O’Mahony, AIPF will visit on
Wednesday March 18 at
8.30pm in O’Donovan’s Hotel,
Clonakilty. Cian is a member
of Ballincollig Camera Club
and judged the Photographer
of the Year 2014 for the club.
The second competition of
the year ‘After Dark’ will take
place on April 1 in
O’Donovan’s Hotel at 8.30pm.
New members are always welcome to attend meetings.
World movie premiere at Clonakilty’s Park Cinema
H
iNW (a collaborative
network of aspiring
writers/filmmakers)
will screen a number of their
short films and music videos
entirely shot and produced in
Cork, at The Park Cinema in
Clonakilty on April 20. The
highlight of the night will be
the world premiere of HiNW’s
new film ‘Waves’.
Written by Clonakilty native
Claire Lamb, ‘Waves’ hopes to
highlight what it can be like to
live with BPD (Borderline
Personality Disorder, or
Emotional Dis-regulation
Disorder as it is now often
called). Claire herself suffers
from the condition; one of the
most un- or mis-diagnosed con-
ditions globally. More people
suffer from BPD than from BiPolar or Schizophrenia, yet
funding for it is far, far less.
BPD sufferers find it difficult
to keep their emotions in
check; feeling very low, they
frequently self harm or feel suicidal. There is no drug treatment for BPD, however a
course in Dialectical
Behavioural Therapy can be
beneficial. Offered to some but
not all, Claire was one of the
lucky few to avail of this
course and it has proved
extremely helpful in managing
her condition.
The film ‘Waves’ draws on
Claire’s own experiences. She
hopes to bring awareness of the
condition and also to lessen the
stigma associated with mental
health issues – those who know
Claire know how open she is
about her mental health, but too
many sufferers feel they cannot
talk about their mental illness
lest they be judged as weak, or
shunned by friends and family.
As well as showcasing
‘Waves’ and other work by
HiNW, all of extremely high
quality and using talented
actors from Cork, the screening
night will double as a fundraiser for mental health charities;
who will receive 100 per cent
of all ticket and programme
sales. There will also be a raffle
on the night with some great
prizes.
Programme of film includes:
The trouble with Aoibhe
(currently doing a tour of US
universities); Music Video for
The Service (a Cork ska band);
Dirty Work; Comic Potential
(this will be only the second
screening of this film, shot in
Bantry and set to feature at
many international festivals);
Sleepover (the only short film
to appear at both Cork film festivals last year); Pavel's Lament
10. Same Old Song and Dance
(a wonderful animation,
already on it’s way to screenings at festivals in Asia);
Breaking the Code (world premiere); This Emptiness (world
Premiere); Waves (world premiere).
32
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
March 6 – April 2
Spring style trends
IMAGE
Louise O’Dwyer
Image Consultant
I
f I were to pick one musthave accessory this season
it would have to be a ‘hat’.
Not just for weddings, hats are
literally head turners and very
obvious statement makers and
should be a part of your
everyday attire. While a black
or camel straw hat is a definite
winner during the summer
months, this time of the year a
fedora can really 'funk' up an
outfit. A fedora is a felt hat
with a wide brim and indented
crown, typically associated
with gangsters and immortalised by the likes of Indiana
Jones and Michael Jackson.
While they may not suit
everyone, they are worth a try
and come in a range of
colours. Be adventurous. A
wide felt hat with a ribbon
trim is a classic, tending to
suit our ‘big’ Irish heads very
well. I have spotted some gorgeous grey and burgundy ones
and one or two studded ones
for added ‘wow’ factor.
Trench coats are synonymous with spring and are
packing an even bigger punch
this year with every high
street and boutique carrying a
version. So, if you don't
already have one in your
wardrobe, go out and get one
— there is a cut out there to
fit every shape. Look at buying a trench coat as an investment piece and if you are paying above average, then opt
for a very classic no-frills-cut
that ends slightly above the
knee. Select the iconic
sand/beige colour and you will
happily and stylishly wear this
for years to come. I find that a
lot of women make the mistake of saving their trench
coats for formal wear, but for
a classy chic look try wearing
them over casual gear and
with converse shoes or pumps.
Leave the coat open with the
belt tied around the back to
disguise an ample bum or
thighs! The classic trench coat
sand colour is a lovely subtle
lift, especially on dark wet
days or when your outfit
underneath is all black.
Accessorise with any colour
scarf or bag, preferably a
leather bucket bag for added
trendiness.
How do you feel about
faded denim flares as part of
your spring collection? Picture
this — a floral print chiffon
blouse, wide black felt floppy
hat and faded denim
flares...very Kate Hudsonesque and very fashionable.
But you need to have more
than just denim jeans in your
wardrobe this season — go
shopping for a denim dress
too and of course a snug
denim jacket cut exactly at
your most flattering point!
The selection of denim dresses
this season is absolutely gorgeous and the varieties of
lengths allow comfort for all
shapes and sizes. If you want
to cover your legs completely,
I have also spotted a few
denim maxi dresses out and
about. While I know that our
poor legs are nowhere near
getting an airing yet, remember that now is the time to be
diligently using exfoliators on
your legs and feet, followed
by a smothering of luxurious
body lotion. Starting early
with this 'leg care' routine
means that you will most definitely have glossy legs when
Going Grey
This time of the
year a fedora can
really 'funk' up an
outfit. Typically
associated with
gangsters and
immortalised by the
likes of Indiana
Jones and Michael
Jackson, they may
not suit everyone
but are worth a try.
they do need to be revealed!
Surely you must be tired of
burgundy nail polish by now?
I am delighted that the trend
for nails has gone from long
and tailored to short and
square — my nails were never
my 'hotspot'! It's very hard for
a busy, physically active
woman to have long nails anyway so I'm sure many of you
are also delighted with the
short look. Go for any nude
shade up to a toffee colour
polish; these shades work with
anything and are also subtle
enough — if your nails are not
your best feature — to
enhance your nails without
screaming 'look at me'. You
can use rub in some cuticle oil
every night while glued to the
telly! This is a really good
time of the year to take a
course of 'Head High' vitamins for hair and nails, which
promote growth and also
strengthens.
The floral look is ‘huge’ for
spring and summer and when
a trend is that big I always
recommend that you err on the
side of caution. By all means
pick up a floral bag or a floral
blazer or cute three-quarters
length skirt but don’t go over
the top. If floral is not for you,
then ease gently into it with a
floral scarf.
I relate everything I hear to
image or style. Recently I
heard an interview with
Deepak Chopra, the ‘controversial New-Age guru’. When
asked what he would like his
legacy to be, he replied “A
passing breeze that came and
is now gone but the fragrance
lingers”. A great sense of style
is not about 'sticking out like a
sore thumb' but stirring up a
sense of individuality in a
likeable subtle way that is
noticed but doesn't scream out
and most importantly is still
stylish decades from now.
Grey is tricky; wear it well and
you could be unforgettable, but
play it wrong and you risk looking like a (great-) grandma.
Despite these challenges, lots of
women do go natural — and
love it. Would you consider
being one of them? Here's what
you need to know to decide.
Causes of colour loss
As you age, your hair's
melanocytes (cells that produce
pigment) lose steam and make
less melanin. That’s when your
hair seems to ‘turn grey’ but is
actually just losing its original
colour – not acquiring a new
one. It makes no difference
whether you end up with a head
of grey, silver or white. Like
chestnut, light or dark brown, it's
just a shade variation and you
treat it the same.
Once the change begins, the
rate at which your strands lose
colour varies. But whether you're
greying fast or slow, there's
nothing science can do about it.
They haven't isolated the gene
that's responsible but you can
definitely blame it on your parents. Will there be an anti-greying breakthrough soon? Don't
count on it. While thinning hair
in women is a hot research topic,
greying is not.
Grey is actually the newest,
attention-grabbing hair colour
seen on the streets and at the
salon – where it is more aptly
named white, silver, pewter and
every shade in between.
The women we see at the
salon who opt to go grey say
they've made the choice because
they like the look or are weary
of the endless fight with roots.
Whatever the reason, when wellmaintained and styled, grey hair
can be dramatic and elegant.
How to go grey
Ask for a consultation with your
colourist to discuss your hair's
particular needs and then outline
a plan for greying gracefully.
Your options might include gradually decreasing the processing
time for your regular single
process formula, allowing the
grey hair to become prominent
gradually. Add lowlights for definition and glosses for shine. Be
sure to schedule regular appointments to ensure hair looks its
best every step of the way to
grey.
Going grey is not your ticket
to low-maintenance hair, it needs
constant maintenance and care
from an arsenal of specific products to keep it from looking dull
and drab.
Keeping it healthy
Condition is vital to keeping silver hair looking good. Many
clients comment on their grey
hair being wiry, dry, and brittle.
We tell our salon clients to keep
their grey hair shiny and soft and
their colour pure with moisturising, clarifying shampoos and
conditioners, some of which are
now made specifically for silver
hair and are violet in colour.
BEYOND HAIR
Paula Curtis
Lady Pearls Salon
Shampoo treatments that contain
bluing tints prevent that avoidat-all-costs yellowing effect. To
ensure the shampoos achieve the
level of brightness you like, mix
equal parts of the shampoo with
a regular moisturising shampoo
at first use, and experiment until
you get familiar with the product
and its effect. If hair starts to get
a purplish cast, switch to a clarifying and/or moisturising formula shampoo, alternating formulas
for best results. There are many
affordable silver shampoos available from supermarkets but ask
your hair stylist to recommend
the best for your type of hair.
Be sure to make appointments
for deep-conditioning treatments
at your salon regularly and follow up at home with a weekly
deep conditioning treatment. A
good avocado and olive oil mix
for 20 minutes will do the trick.
Or look for rich, moisturising
formulas made especially for
colour-treated hair.
Scalp massage can also help
to stimulate hair follicles and
increase blood flow and circulation to the scalp – ideal conditions for healthier-looking hair
of any colour. Avoid overt heat
styling, perming, hair accessories
or any other rough treatment on
grey hair, as it is drier than most
hair.
Lastly, keep your grey hair cut
and styled to perfection. As grey
hair reflects light, it will become
a focal point in your overall
appearance and will get noticed
first! Just remember, it takes
anywhere from four to eight
months to go from colouring
your hair to a natural state of
grey; a year to a year-and-a-half
if you have longer hair. If you do
decide to go grey, be prepared to
be patient.
Remember that going grey
may require warming up your
makeup to compensate for the
cooler frame against your skin.
A peachy pink or golden peach
blush is always lovey against
ashen tones. You can also start to
really brighten up your wardrobe
now you have a new blank canvas. Bright scarves and wraps
look beautiful!
33
March 6 – April 2
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
Diamonds are forever at
Linda’s of Kinsale
A
s they say, ‘Diamond’s
are forever’. Mother
and daughter team
Linda and Laura Jane Walsh
from Linda’s of Kinsale are
certainly proof of this old
adage – they have now been in
the jewellery business for 41
years.
Located on Main Street,
Linda’s of Kinsale is a unique
jewellery shop, specialising in
rare vintage jewellery, certified
diamond engagement rings and
signed designer pieces.
Beloved by jewellery collectors and stylists, their quirky
collections of antique jewellery mean you’ll never shop
on the high street again!
Trained by two prestigious
jewellers, Graff and Boodles,
Linda’s setters create fabulous
ring designs using diamonds,
platinum, rose gold and yellow
gold. You can also be confident that their diamonds are
conflict free (they originate
from ethical and environmen-
Ring with emerald cut 0.75,
sapphire halo.
tally responsible sources) and
come with recognised gemmological certificates.
As many couples know,
wedding bands can be a
headache to match with
engagement rings. Linda’s of
Kinsale stock a large collec-
tion of specially designed diamond bands to match vintage
or unusual engagement rings.
They also stock an extensive
range of gent’s wedding bands
in platinum, palladium, rose
and yellow gold.
Linda’s of Kinsale are open
seven days a week, from 10.30
am to 5.30 pm. For privacy it
is best to make an appointment
by calling 021 4774754 or
emailing [email protected].
Vintage platinum flower ring.
1.70 carats. Over 1 carat centre. G colour diamonds.
Beautiful detailed millegraine
beadwork.
1.50 carat rare pink diamond
in bespoke baguette and brilliant-cut platinum mount. Who
could say no?
34
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
March 6 – April 2
Fisher’s Cross events raise
over €9,000 for worthy causes
F
unds raised at
O’Donovan’s Bar in
Fisher’s Cross,
Clonakilty from ‘New Years
Day’, ‘The Big Shave Off’ and
‘What’s Your Sport
Tournaments’ was presented to
The Children's Leukaemia Unit
in the Mercy Hospital and
Breakthrough Cancer Research
on February 1. Total monies
presented was €9,217.72, with
€5,184.17 to The Children’s
Leukaemia Unit and €4,033.55
to Breakthrough Cancer
Research.
Denis O’Donovan thanked
everyone who made these
fundraisers such a huge success
before presenting a cheque to
Deirdre Finn from the Mercy
Foundation who said that
money will be used to fund the
nurses who visit children with
Leukaemia in their homes to
administer chemo and take
bloods – a vital service for
families of leukaemia Children.
Orla Dolan accepted the
cheque on behalf of
Breakthrough Cancer Research;
she and her team continue the
good work her father Professor
Jerry O'Sullivan started in finding cures for cancer. Dan
O'Connor spoke of his own
experience and how grateful he
was to Breakthrough Cancer
Research and the work they do.
Denis also thanked the musicians who gave their time to
make the New Year’s Day
event a very enjoyable evening;
a lot of them returned for the
presentation to sing and play,
accompanied by The Music
Makers. Finally Denis thanked
Ger Deasy for excellently coordinating the music on both
days.
Earlier in the day, the Social
Bowling Final saw Finbarr
McCarthy beat John Harte
while in the Novice Final Mike
White beat John Harrington.
The Pool Final saw Denis
Fitzpatrick beating Paul
Lombard while the earlier
Darts Final, which took place
on January 26, had Kevin
Kearns beating Danny
O'Connor.
Roadmap to the evolution of philosophy
UNDER THE
BODHI TREE
Philosophy Corner
Anne Crossey
“For I have at times already
been a boy and a girl, and a
bush and a bird and a mute fish
in the salty seas.” -Empedocles
E
mpedocles is really
important, as he was a
major influence on Plato
and Aristotle and thus all subsequent philosophy. Born in southern Sicily around 496 BCE, he
was a poet philosopher, barely
twenty years older than Socrates
and possibly taught by
Parmenides. He was also
believed to be pupil of either
Pythagoras or of Pythagoras’
son, Telauges. Empedocles and
Plato were both expelled from
the Pythagorean School for
divulging too much of its secret
doctrine and we know he
believed in the transmigration of
the soul. Many people believed
him to be a magician (as was
often the case with the ancient
philosophers — the wise men
like the Magi). He was called
‘kôlusanemas’, the ‘wind-forbidder or controller’ because once
when gales were sweeping down
the mountain and destroying
crops he ordered the slaying of
some animals and had their
skins erected like sails on the
hilltop to alter the course of the
wind. On another occasion when
townspeople were getting sick
he worked out that the problem
was some contaminant in the
river water and so he had several
other rivers diverted to join the
main river course and speed the
waters which cleared whatever
was causing the pollution and
illness. So not surprisingly he
was highly revered.
Agrigentum, his town, had a
population of eight hundred
thousand inhabitants according
to Empedocles. So it was a large
city and he said that people
devoted themselves to luxury.
Empedocles described them as
‘devoting themselves wholly to
luxury as though they were to
die tomorrow but furnishing
their homes as though they were
to live forever.’ He saved the
city on another occasion too —
they were under an extended
siege and yet the rich still feasted as though the food would last
forever. Empedocles went to the
local square and sat down with a
bowl of some simple flour and
water: the point was taken, and
the sieging enemy was forced to
give up.
Aristotle describes him as a
most liberal man with anything
but a domineering spirit who
preferred a simple lifestyle to
any offers of political power. He
was however politically active
and instigated the overthrow of
‘The Thousand’ establishing
instead a democratic council that
was replaced every three years.
Diogenes Laertius gives an
extended outline of his life that I
found very interesting. It is
believed that he died by leaping
into the crater of an active volcano because one of his bronze
soled sandals were found on the
crater’s ridge — but we can’t be
sure. Empedocle loved a good
banquet and in his lifetime was
really revered by people as a living God — they used to prostrate themselves before him
wherever he went — and he
himself believed that men that
are like gods should be spared a
common death and the slow and
miserable decay of a corpse
hence perhaps the volcano story
is true. Some believe instead that
he was carried away as a hero
on the chariots of the gods.
Philosophically he asserted
that there are four basic indestructible elements — he called
them ‘roots’ and these were to
become the classical elements of
philosophy and alchemy —
earth, air, fire and water. In this
regard he is a pluralist. These
elements are perpetually forged
together and ripped apart by the
forces alternately of Love and
Discord or Strife. The Sphairos
is the silent sphere into which all
ultimately coalesces before
again dispersing — it contains
no gods, no beasts, no earth, sea,
sky or men. WB Yeats was also
very influenced by Empedocles,
especially his work ‘The Vision’
where he explicitly draws a correspondence between the
Sphairos of Empedocles with it’s
movement or dance between
harmony and discord, and his
own theory of the vortex, which
is found within that text.
‘Sometimes in friendship bound
they coalesce,
Sometimes they're parted by fell
discord's hate.’
The most important part of his
theory can probably best be
summed up by this fragment:
‘I shall speak a double truth; at
times one alone comes into
being; at other times, out of one
several things grow.
Double is the birth of mortal
things and double is their
demise.
For the coming together of all
both causes their birth
And destroys them; and separation nurtured in their being
Makes them fly apart. These
things never stop changing
throughout.’
Like Parmenides, he did not
believe that anything could
come into existence from nothing, ‘From something not existing at all, it is impossible that
something should grow. Total
annihilation is equally unthinkable and ‘tis impossible it should
happen, for each thing will eternally be where it has been set
forever.’
It is said that these early
philosophers, drawing on
Egyptian, Babylonian and
Oriental sources, prepared the
blueprint for the whole of modern European philosophy:
monism, dualism, pluralism,
existentialism, deism, materialism, idealism, it’s all there. The
Greeks it seemed ‘sketched out
the boundaries within which the
human mind can function and
work’ and the entire range of
‘categories within which philosophical speculation was to
move throughout the ages.’ As
Helle Lambridis says, ‘Modern
thought still seems to strive in
vain for a new train of ideas, a
new direction in which to lead
its aspirations.’ That’s why this
stuff is important. It shows us
the boundaries, the roadmap of
the evolution of philosophy.
When we wonder about anything coming into existence,
isn’t this one of the most wonderful things of all? Philosophy
came to be and we can study
that and apply these philosophical ideas. Does it change, do
new thoughts come into existence — this is what all of this is
about!
What a wonder, indeed,
Asclepius, is man, whose feet
are buried in mud. Sometimes
his head too is buried in mud,
but he can, if he desires it, if he
has the will, tug it free and star
out above the stars.
Sources and references
Helle Lambridis, ‘Empedocles: A
Philosophical Investigation’
Bertrand Russell, ‘History of
Western Philosophy’
35
March 6 – April 2
people HEALTH & LIFESTYLE
Hair of the Dog Grooming
Salon opens in Ballydehob
H
air of the Dog
Grooming Salon held
its grand opening in
Ballydehob on February 11
and has since welcomed dogs
of all shapes and sizes for a
spa-like experience. Owner
Lesley Denton has years of
experience in her profession
and is trained to do all types of
breed styles – from terriers to
bichons to Irish wolfhounds.
Be it a simple brush and bath
or a full grooming treatment,
your best friend will leave
Hair of the Dog Salon
smelling sweet and looking
fantastic.
Canadian Lesley first visited
Ballydehob in 2013, getting
engaged to her travelling companion and boyfriend Simon
on the trip. After deciding to
get married in Ireland, the couple decided to make the visit a
permanent move and returned
to Ireland for good in May
2014 to plan their wedding,
which took place last
September.
Back in Canada, Lesley had
received many years training
in all aspects of animal care. “I
have loved animals since I was
young, especially dogs and
horses. I knew I wanted to
work in the animal care field
and was accepted for a
Veterinary Assistant Degree in
Left: Lesley with another
happy customer.
college. One of our modules
was dog grooming and I took
to it ‘like a Lab to water!’ I
chose to take it further and
became fully certified so I
could groom part-time for the
next five years whilst undertaking other training in animal
care.”
Once finished college,
Lesley took on a managerial
position at a salon and has
worked either full or part-time
in grooming ever since. With
her own salon, Lesley is
achieving a life long ambition
and has put in a lot of thought
into the décor, equipment,
facilities and services on offer.
She takes enormous pride in
her work, believing in quality
rather than quantity. “I take the
time to make sure the job is
done right. My clients know
their pet has my upmost attention and care.”
Lesley also knows a lot
about pet nutrition and offers
homemade treats such as
Banana and Honey Chews and
Peppermint Pawdies (made
with mint, parsley and cinnamon, which help with dog
breath). It’s a five star service
from start to finish!
Hair of the Dog Salon is on
Church Street, Ballydehob.
For appointments call Leslie
on 086 3561449 or email
hairofthedogballydehob@gmai
l.com. You can also find the
salon on facebook/ Hair of the
dog Grooming Salon.
Ewe looking for charities to support
A
re you looking for money? The Ewe
Experience in Glengarriff is seeking
charities to benefit from their annual
charity day.
“Every year we support a different charity;
a big event for Willow our dog, who always
dressed for the occasion in a T-shirt from the
particular charity. Last year was special for her
since it was for animals. Sadly it was also to
be Willow’s last. In her honour and because
she loved everyone, we’re offering the proceeds of this year’s charity day to a good
cause, local or national,” says co-owner
Sheena Wood.
On Saturday, June 6, all money collected
from entrance fees and cake sales will all go to
the chosen charity. Email your ‘Good Cause’
suggestion to [email protected] or call 02763640.
“At the moment we are very busy working
on exciting new attractions for 2015. As
always there will be plenty for new and old
friends to discover,” says Sheena.
The award-winning tourist destination in
Glengarriff will re-open for the 22nd season at
the end of May. www.theewe.com.
Operation Tae Kwon Do
D
unmanway Warrior Tae Kwon Do club
played host to an RTE camera crew
when former student and Operation
Transformation leader Veronica Horgan
returned to training after an eight-year break.
Veronica stopped training in her teens when she
was due to take her Black Belt exam and has
decided to get back into martial arts and go all
the way this time.
Instructor Dan O’Mahony, as well as some of
her former classmates who still train at the club,
were delighted to see Veronica back. She was
put through her paces with the rest of the class
and showed she still had a good knowledge of
tae kwon do techniques. So hopefully it will not
take her too long to get back up to Black Belt
standard. Of course this will mean a lot of hard
Help your pet get home quickly
Could you give us a home?
The dogs and cats, which end up at the West
Cork Animal Welfare Group, are either strays
in distress or pets that can no longer be kept
by their owners for one reason or another.
Taking in these animals, caring for them and
finding them new, loving homes is the shelter's priority.
The Welfare Group receives a great number
of calls from the public who have found a cat
or dog with no identification. In the majority
of these instances space has to be found in the
busy shelter for these animals that will later
be claimed by their owners.
“While we are always thrilled to be able to
reunite a pet with its owner, it is mystifying
that many owners still do not put an identifi-
Barry, a very large black Labrador
cross, is around three-years-old.
A favourite at the shelter, with a
gentleness that belies his large
stature. He will be a very loyal,
loving and rewarding pet.
cation tag on collars or microchip their pet. If
they did, the pet would be saved the distress
of a stay at the shelter and could be easily
reunited. From our perspective we'd be saved
quite a bit of time in terms of fielding phone
calls and caring for the pet while distributing
photos through Lost and Found channels,”
says a spokesperson at the Shelter.
This year the microchipping of pets has
become compulsory by law. Microchipping is
offered at your local vet with prices starting
from €20. Meanwhile an identification tag
can be bought at any Jewellers and engraved
with a telephone number for around €5. Make
that investment — the peace of mind it can
bring to you and your pet is invaluable!
work and commitment on Veronica’s part but
she is up for the challenge; if her attitude on
Operation Transformation is anything to go by,
it looks like she can achieve her goal.
Unfortunately Veronica’s case is familiar, as a
lot of teenagers give up sports and activity for
several reasons including exam commitments
and peer pressure. All at Warrior Martial Arts
are behind Veronica in her quest for Black Belt,
as she is an inspiration to all around her.
The programme is still available to watch on
RTE Player.
see www.westcorkanimals.com
Lucky is a fabulous, six-year-old,
Springer Spaniel. He can be wary
of strangers initially but soon settles when he gets to know them.
He will need an active, encouraging home.
Maggie is a three-year-old
Chihuahua cross. She has been
at the West Cork shelter for a
year so has had a long wait for a
home. She is so affectionate and
will make a great companion pet.
36
Special Feature SPRING GARDENING
March 6 – April 2
The garden springs back to life in March
T
he momentum in the
garden increases greatly
in March with longer
days, more sunshine hours and
the emergence of new growth.
Perennials, which lay dormant
all winter, are suddenly and
surprisingly coming back to life
and greenhouses and polytunnels will begin to get warmer
during daylight hours.
Greenhouse and Polytunnels
As daytime temperatures
increase, so too does the need
to increase ventilation. On fine
days, ventilate to allow air
exchange and to create a
healthier, more buoyant environment. Close up the greenhouse by late afternoon before
it cools down excessively for
the evening. Water plants in the
morning if at all possible, to
avoid deposits of moisture on
the foliage going into the night.
If you are growing vegetables
or herbs in the greenhouse borders, add copious amounts of
well rotten farmyard or stable
manure.
Dig out especially deep-rooted perennial weeds. Weeds will
compete with your crops, as
well as being hosts to pests. It
is a good idea to use a weed
control fabric for some of the
longer term vegetable crops
such as tomatoes, peppers,
cucumbers, aubergines, cape
gooseberries, courgettes and
French beans.
The ground preparation
before weed control — digging, manuring, fertilising –
should be done in advance of
covering the beds with the
weed control fabric. The weed
fabric is then secured in place
with securing pegs to prevent
the fabric blowing around in
the wind. As you prepare to
plant make an incision with a
sharp scissors at the spacing
appropriate to the crop being
planted. Stakes/supports also
need to be put in place for
taller growing crops such as
tomatoes and cucumbers.
Early potatoes maybe started
off under cover especially if
they have had a period of
sprouting prior to planting.
Indoor Plants
Plants such as Geraniums,
Gardening
John Hosford
Pelargoniums, Fuchsias should
be re-potted during the month
of March. Move up one pot
size using a clean, fresh compost. Geraniums and Fuchsias
can be given a springtime pruning now. Geraniums are cut
back to four sets of leaves
using sharp secateurs.
Disinfect the secateurs prior
to and after use. All old woody
growth and dead material
should be cut back. Fuchsias
should be pruned back to within 15cm of the soil again using
a sharp secateurs.
Geraniums and Fuchsias will
need increasing amounts of
water, as they come back into
growth. Commence feeding as
growth commences using a liquid tomato food.
Tomatoes and Herbs
If you have a frost-free greenhouse you can start planting
tomatoes under cover. If you
want an early crop, start off in
containers in a well-lit porch or
conservatory. You can of course
grow varieties such as the delicious Tumbler variety in a
hanging basket. This is a prolif-
ic, deliciously flavoured variety
that crops early. It has proven
very reliable. Use a good deep
hanging basket for best results.
Commence feeding once the
first fruits start to set.
You can start sowing Basil
under cover in a warm, heated
area to provide the first crops
of the season. Once germinated, Basil will enjoy a bright,
sunny location in a welldrained container, using a freedraining compost. Sow lettuce
at three weekly successions
under cover.
Sweet William is a popular
member of the Dianthus/
Carnation family. A native of
southern Europe and parts of
Asia, it grows either as a hardy
biennial or short-lived perennial and reaches a height of 3075cm (12”_30”). Each flower
is 2-3cm diameter with five
petals displaying serrated
edges. The exact origin of its
common English name is
unknown but first appears in
1596 in John Gerard’s garden
catalogue. Sweet William is a
much loved and prized garden
plant with superb ranges of
colours. With a spicy, clovelike scent, it thrives in loamy,
slightly alkaline soil in sun to
partial shade. It makes a great
cut flower, especially the taller
varieties. There are dwarf varieties as well such as Indian
Carpet but if you have the
space the taller varieties make a
more spectacular display.
Aubretia is a delightful rock
plant that returns each Marchearly July with its pleasing carpets of blue, purple and red
shades. It reaches a height of
Sweet William
some 15cm with a spread of
60cm(24”) and thrives best in a
well-drained, sunny position. It
is ideal on sunny banks, rock
gardens, wall tops and edging
sunny borders. Add lime if
deficient. Aubrietia is generally
trouble-free.
Rose pruning should be completed by mid-March, removing
crossing, dead and diseased
wood. Hybrid Teas (large flowered) are cut back to within
three to five dormant buds from
the base. Floribunda (cluster
flowered) are cut back to within five to seven buds from the
base. All cuts should be made
above a bud at an angle of
45degrees. Remove all prunings and old leaves off site
once pruning has been completed.
Lupins may be planted now in
a sunny, well-drained position.
Plant at about 75-90cm apart
(30”-36”) apart. Lupins have a
life expectancy of about seven
years. Plant a selection now
and look forward to the delightful spires of fragrant multicoloured blooms in June.
Top bar hives for “bees that don’t smoke”
Justine Sweeney, Clonakilty GIY
“O
ur bees don’t
smoke!” said April
Danann, guest
speaker at last month’s
Clonakilty GIY meeting. Most
beekeepers smoke their bees
before opening the hives, April
explained to a rapt audience,
“this makes the bees think the
hive is on fire and so they start
to eat the honey until they are
gorged and docile.”
April and her family have an
alternative. They have kept bees
in a ‘top bar hive’ style for years
now. Their bees are not really
aware when one bar, full of
honeycomb, is removed as there
are no gaps in the bars; they are
butted up tight to each other and
so the hive inside is kept in
darkness – no smoking required.
Top bar hives have an inverted triangle and trough design to
mimic hollowed out logs where
bees might make their home in
a natural setting. This design
also stops the bees from attaching their combs to the sides of
the box. When the lid is
removed from the hive, inside is
a series of bars where Max has
cut a notch in the underside,
thus allowing the bees to attach
their combs — this results in triangular honeycombs.
April’s husband Max makes
the hives using native hardwoods like cedar or larch,
which is screwed together,
avoiding the use of glues that
could harm the bees. In fact the
Danann’s treat their bees (Black
Irish Bees) to as natural a life as
possible. Although Max and his
son Trevor were trained to use
chemicals in raising bees, they
decided to try an alternative
way; allowing the bees to live in
a safe environment with as little
interference as possible. The
family harvest only a third of
the honeycomb in August,
which allows the bees time to
replenish their honey supplies
for winter.
The hive is relatively cheap
to make whilst bee keeping suits
and gloves, which provide protection, are a one-off investment. Only bees around the
opening of a hive are aggressive, April explained to the
group. As bees steal other hive’s
supply of honey, they are on the
lookout for who is coming in
and out, but your bees will get
used to you over time.
If you like the idea of having
bees in your garden but don’t
want the honey or the risk of
getting stung, April suggests
getting a hive with bees and
placing in a sheltered part of
your garden. This will help keep
the species alive and pollination
of your plants and fruit trees
will increase. Bees don’t need
us but we certainly need them!
Some suggestions of how we
could help our friends the bees
followed; they love trees so
grow more; don’t spray weed
killer on dandelions as bees love
them; don’t burn or cut back
hedgerows as bumblebees,
insects and bees all need them.
The next meeting will be on
Monday, March 9 in
O’Donovans Hotel in
Clonakilty at 8pm. Guest speaker Gemma Hughes will be coming all the way from Waterford
GIY to give a talk ‘Spring
Health with Herbs – easy herbs
to grow and forage for the body
to wake out of its winter slumber’.
The general public is welcome to attend. To be informed
of all meetings please send your
email address to [email protected] or look on
the new facebook page GIY
Clonakilty.
37
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature
SPRING GARDENING
A green space owned by
no one but engaged by all
In the midst of a housing estate in Dunmanway lies a
patch of green land. On closer inspection you will notice
raised beds, a willow shelter, a shed and even a polytunnel. Two years ago, this rough patch of land was given a
new lease of life by locals. Under the umbrella of the
Dunmanway Family Resource Centre, a grant was awarded by Safefood Ireland (one of only 10 projects funded in
Ireland), a five-year lease was secured from Cork County
Council and a small group of enthusiastic volunteers dug
their forks and spades into the ground and set to work
planting up Dunmanway Community Garden at Tonafora.
From that first seed has grown a mighty project providing a green space that is owned by no one but engaged by
all. Anyone is welcome to drop by and help with gardening tasks like potting, planting or weeding or simply to
enjoy the space and spend time with others. On Pancake
Tuesday, Mary O’Brien had the pleasure of sharing pancakes and a cuppa with some of the volunteers. She
found a group of welcoming and good-humoured, enthusiastic gardeners, eager to share this gem.
A
t present there are 12
regular volunteers at the
Community Garden.
Living just a stone’s throw away,
Charlie and Maria Horgan (made
famous by their daughter
Veronica, a leader on Operation
Transformation 2015!) devote a
lot of their time to the garden’s
maintenance, even committing
to watering it every evening during the summer months. “We
were both made redundant at
around the time the project started,” says Maria “so the garden
has become an important part of
our lives.”
Every Tuesday morning
(10.30am – 12.30pm), Angie
facilitates The Sunshine
Growers, a gentle gardening
group that, as well as growing,
provides a social gathering for
people who want to garden in
the company of others.
“Gardening also provides companionship and gives a gentle
sense of purpose to those who
may be experiencing isolation,
depression or who may be facing
grief and loss,” explains Ita
Harris, Family Support Worker
at the Dunmanway Resource
Centre.
The Thursday gardening
group (10am-3pm) is led by
Selvi and is open to anyone with
an interest in organic gardening.
Selvi also runs the market garden at the Hollies Centre for
Sustainability and the
Community Garden volunteers
are very fortunate to benefit
Selvi’s great knowledge and
skills. Selvi is hosting a free
Growing Skills Course in the
garden on Thursday mornings
from 10.30am to 11.30am from
the beginning of March.
Tús workers Anna and Kaisa
are in the garden every Tuesday,
Wednesday and Thursday and
are very happy to take any visitors on a tour or to assist new
volunteers in getting involved.
Plans for spring are well
underway with lots of sowing,
weeding and planting happening
already. Charlie, Stewart and
Jerome have commenced work
on a community cooking area
for the garden, which will
include an outdoor oven, BBQ
grill and a demonstration space.
Building materials have kindly
been donated by local businesses. Once completed, the area
will be used for community
events and cookery classes using
produce from the garden.
Winter salads and leafy veg
like chard and kale are still
happy out in the polytunnel,
where the no-dig method is
employed, so there are ample
pickings all year round. No-dig
involves adding the organic matter to the top of the beds and letting the worms, microorganisms
and fungi mix the compost into
the soil. Volunteers have also
built a hot bed propogater in the
polytunnel. “We’re experimenting with horse manure and straw
at the moment, which can get
too hot, but once we get the formula right, it should facilitate
remarkable seed germination and
growth after just a few weeks,”
explains organic grower Angie.
Achievable garden projects
and families growing together is
what Dunmanway Community
Garden is all about. “You get
more out of the garden than
what you put in,” says Charlie,
who was instrumental in building the shed and has lent his
Continued on page 38
Sunshine Growers’ Christmas Mincemeat Worskshop
38
Special Feature SPRING GARDENING
Continued from page 37
hand willingly to any of the gardening projects.
Some of the past projects and
events organised in the garden
have included cookery and preserving classes and a Street
Feast, where over 80 people
came to the garden on a sunny
June afternoon bringing food to
share — an experience shared
all over the country where local
communities invited their neighbours to share lunches.
For the children, there is a
sandpit, willow structure, bug
hotel and of course lots and lots
of earth to plant in. “The
preschoolers get great enjoyment from pulling up the carrots,” says Ita laughing “we
can’t plant enough of them.”
This year, the volunteers plan
to plant enough potatoes and
onions to keep the local Meals
on Wheels group well stocked
up for the winter. There are also
plans for the development of an
education section, which will
encourage visits from local
schools. A wildflower biodiverse area is to be created, and
of course, a fruitful year is
expected with lots of organic
produce for a busy summer
ahead of community events and
cookery classes.
There are no set rules about
what makes a community garden work. Each one is unique
and just like other areas in life,
there are some that gel together
and some that don’t.
Dunmanway Community
Garden is one of the success
stories. This unique group of
volunteers has worked effectively together to create a productive and contemplative space to
cater for the needs of their local
community. All are welcome in
the garden.
March 6 – April 2
Top: A group of volunteers
and walkers who dropped
in for a cuppa.
Charlie and Selvi and Ruby
and Darryl (Charlie and
Maria’s grandchildren).
Blossoms to celebrate and commemorate
By Grant Jenkins
The Tree Company
I
ts just arriving — the
longed for spring season;
we have had a relatively
dry winter and our West Cork
gardens are not too boggy, winter gardening projects have
been easier to keep up with and
the last of our tree planting is
just about done with lots of
positive vibes in the air.
March 21 is the
‘International Day of Forests’,
as designated by the United
Nations, it is truly a global
observance and governments,
community organisations and
the great general public are
urged to promote the importance of forests and trees in our
lives. Deforestation is still happening at an astonishing rate
and the UN has called for us to
reflect on this and other tree
issues on this special date each
year.
The giving and planting of a
spring flowering tree is a lovely way to celebrate the season
and the ‘Day of Forests’ and
have a meaningful message of
hope and joy as the ephemeral
beauty of the blossoming
boughs can never fail to lift the
spirits and this gift should last
for many years without costing
much more than a bouquet of
cut flowers.
Damsons, Apples, Cherries
and Sloes all sound like an
autumnal harvest but for some
of us its their showy spring display of pretty pink or white
petals and their sweet scent that
fortifies our sense of well being
far more than the fruits some
produce, as we emerge from
winter doldrums and nature’s
decorations weave their cheering spell by simply displaying
their energy to all.
A single cherry tree can be
an explosion of blousy, vivid
pink, which will flutter and
nod, eventually drifting and
dissolving away and its impact
is dramatic though sadly short
lived. With careful selection
and if there is space in your
garden, a longer period of blossoming interest is possible and
there is a good range of these
flowering trees to choose from,
both ornamental and productive that will cheer from mid
winter through to summer. It is
usually the cherry (prunus)
varieties that show first and
then the apples (malus) and
with so many varieties of these
two tree species to choose from
alone, a continuous display can
be planned quite easily.
Of course most trees are
flowering at this time though
some of their flowers or catkins
are not ‘significant’ however
swinging gaily along the roads
and lanes you’ll see thousands
of jolly pale green or yellow
catkins hanging from the willows and tentative bees will
start to venture. Fat buds will
burst out soon from the other
trees and their tender bright
green leaves denude our
scenery and I encourage you to
touch the baby leaves and feel
their newness, I can never
resist.
Someone who might have
felt the same was Oliver
Rackham, who sadly died in
February this year aged 75, he
was a most fervent passionate
man with amazing insight and
knowledge of our forests and
who has influenced and
inspired so many of us through
his enriching array of study
notes and books. He had a crucial impact on a whole generation’s ideas about woodlands,
landscape, ecology, and history.
He knew, firsthand, how woods
worked, and that oak for example had been part of a different
culture of woodmanship, based
on natural regeneration, not
industrial planting. He
researched ancient texts, which
proved wrong many of the
‘hand me down’ ideas of more
recent histories about our landscapes, he was a singularly
diligent researcher, as well as a
great man in the field and his
methods were thorough and
enlightening. “Oliver
Rackham’s woods weren’t
abstract entities; they were
symbiotic networks of carpenters, beetles, deer, land-thieves,
lichens, pollards, surveyors and
toadstools” — he has added so
much to our knowledge base,
his impact has been dramatic
and not long lived enough. It is
up to all of us to continue to
share the mantle of responsibility to encourage furthering our
understanding of our woodlands, hedgerows and trees for
they are vital to our environ-
ment, vital to us all.
We can commemorate Oliver
Rackham and his work whilst
observing The United Nations
‘International Days of the
Forest’, which suggests activities should include: tree planting campaigns, photo exhibits
that portray the importance of
forests and trees, and sharing
infographics, videos, news and
messages via social and other
media. (This is a very late date
in our part of the world to plant
trees so do try to plant your
trees early March at the latest
when some trees are still in a
fairly dormant winter state.)
These are all great positive
things to do and I hope we can
all keep spreading the message
throughout the years not just on
one day each spring.
Enjoy natures’ confetti under
the flowering trees of spring,
add to them and may Oliver
Rackham Rest In Peace.
If you need any further information regarding this article or
indeed any other tree matters
please get in touch with us at
The Tree Company,
Ballydehob, Co Cork or email
us at [email protected]
or call our office on 028
37630. You can also keep up
with our news on our facebook
page.
Mighty oaks from little acorns grow
Year three of operation ‘Let's plant a forest in Clonakilty’ is in
full swing. Loads of local businesses are on board again with
offers of trees, food for volunteers and tools and supplies. Over
the last few years the project has planted over 3,500 trees around
the abandoned Gullane lake. For those unfamiliar with the area
it is the small lake on the left as you leave Clonakilty heading
towards Cork, just before the technology park. SWS Forestry,
which happens to be based there, has been a great support offering the project lots of native trees over the years. SWS has just
confirmed delivery of trees this year along with many local
nurseries and garden centres.
So far the project has been a great success. Even after just a
few years the trees are thriving. It won't be long before the hilltop is transformed. A beautiful place to visit, a new home for
wildlife and an obvious plus for the environment are among the
many benefits. Never before in the history of humans has it been
more important to plant trees. Looking at the empty acre upon
acre of grassland in Ireland, one can only dream of more woodlands and forests. Clonakilty was once surrounded by trees and
perhaps some day will be again.
If you are free this Saturday (March 7) why not come down
and be part of the fun? No experience is necessary. People are
encouraged to dedicate a tree to a loved one. Parking is at the
technology park. Planting starts at 9am. Everybody is welcome.
39
March 6 – April 2
Special Feature SPRING GARDENING
A burst of spring growth at
Ireland’s natural nursery
By Maria Collard
Future Forests
T
hankfully this winter has
been kinder than more
recent ones, there wasn’t
a repeat of the devastating
storms that we had last
February and, despite plenty of
frosty mornings, we didn’t
experience a hard freeze like
those two winters we would
rather forget! Between the wet
spells we saw plenty of dry and
cool days, perfect for getting
outside.
Now spring is finally here
and the excitement for life,
growth and longer days is palpable. Spring bulbs have started
to pop up their heads and cheer
up even the dullest of days. The
birds have got increasingly
chatty too… it’s definitely time
for getting back into the garden.
From now until around midApril is an ideal time for ‘Bare
Root’ planting. Fruit trees and
bushes, native trees, hedging
and shelter belts are much more
cost-effective when planted as
bare roots and will often do bet-
Double Snowdrop
Prunus kojo No Mai
ter than ‘pot grown’ over time.
There are also many more varieties on offer as bare root as the
plants take up less room in the
nursery; it’s much easier to fit
100 bare root trees into the boot
of a car than potted ones!
Future Forests is well known
for its range of high quality,
bare root plants and offers the
most extensive range in Ireland.
Visitors to our nursery can
select their plants with the help
of our experienced team or you
can have your order delivered
by courier – usually just for
€15 per delivery. All our plant
lists are online at www.futureforests.ie and we send out a
monthly email newsletter with
stock updates, simply send a
quick email and ask to sign up.
March is the ideal month for
planting woodland bulbs.
Planted now ‘in the green’,
snowdrops, bluebells and lily of
the valley will establish well.
New for 2015 is the double
snowdrop. Prices are all listed
on our website and we can
deliver for just €7 p&p, regardless of the quantity of bulbs you
order.
The excellent range of potted
plants on offer at Future Forests
starts to swell from now on.
Many unusual and special
plants can be found in our nursery such as the Mt Fuji Cherry
‘Prunus incisa 'Kojo-no-mai', a
compact, slow-growing shrub
that is best kept about 3ft tall.
Its slightly twisted branches get
completely covered in beautiful,
light pink blossom in early
spring; it also has foliage that
turns a blazing red and yellow
each autumn. Available as
young plants in a 9cm pot at €5
and a 1.3L pot at just €9.
A visit to the nursery is a
must — there is so much to see.
The layout of the potted areas is
in the middle of a major reshuffle right now to allow more
space for our growing range of
herbaceous perennials, herbs
and alpines. We have also reorganised the internal layout of
the main building and now offer
a new customer space with a
self-serve coffee corner. The
fire-damaged section of the
building has been partitioned
off and is due for renovations
later in the year.
Another bit of news is that
the long-awaited film ‘Dare to
be Wild’ will have its Irish
debut on March 26 in the
Jameson Dublin International
Film Festival. The film is based
on the true story of Mary
Reynolds, a young Irish garden
designer who beat the odds to
win a gold medal at Chelsea
with the help of Christy Collard
and the team from Future
Forests. Tickets sold out in just
a few minutes, more news on
this to follow shortly!
Future Forests is based
between Kealkill and Gougane
Barra on the R584, open
Monday to Saturday from 10am
to 6pm and now open from the
earlier time of 12pm to 6pm on
Sundays. Email [email protected] or call 027 66176.
Future Forests also has a stall
in Bantry Market each Friday.
40
Special Feature SPRING GARDENING
March 6 – April 2
Beautiful blooms to come
RUBY’S
DIARY
Ruby Harte (a.k.a Mags
Riordan) has been a professional florist for over 12
years and has completed a
course in horticulture and
worked in garden centres,
wholesale nurseries, and private gardens.
Ruby runs a family owned
nursery, Bumble Bee Farm in
Castledonovan, Drimoleague
and is deeply concerned
about the protection and cultivation of nature and its
habitats.
W
here did February
go? It seems I
blinked and it was
gone. It’s been a busy month
here on the farm with the
hedge cutting finally finished
so our birds can nest in peace.
The blue tits are investigating
the clean bird boxes; we really
must put in cameras to watch
the progress, as we always
seem to miss them fledging.
Our resident pair of bullfinches
is stripping our Amelanachiers
(snowy mespilus) in earnest —
hopefully these will keep them
busy and they might leave the
Apple and Cherry Blossom and
Wigelia alone (probably wishful thinking on my part).
Divisions of Astilbes is a
relatively easy job to get done
now — dig up the crowns and,
depending on the size, use
either a spade or an old carving
knife to cut through the crown;
use the outer pieces and discard the middle woody bit —
this really keeps the plant
healthy and in tip top condition
and is best done every three
years. We divide Alstromerias,
Phlox, Astilbes, Centauras,
Geraniums and Agapanthus in
February and they are potted
up and grown on in tunnels for
about six weeks and then put
out in Cloches to harden off
before they are either planted
in the garden for cut flowers or
as plants for direct sales.
Our biggest job for March is
Dahlias — dividing and potting up all 800 of them — it’s
daunting at the time, but by
mid July I’ll be glad I persevered, and in September and
October I will be overjoyed.
Planting of Gladioli begins and
continues at fortnightly intervals from now until June to
provide blooms up to
September.
While we don’t do all jobs
according to moon times, there
are some in my humble opinion, definitely worth considering. As you know we sow seed
in a waxing moon but one
exception is lettuce — always
in a waning moon just after
full moon is best. Radish
always in a root/earth constellation, waxing or waning —
this insures it never develops a
woody centre, as it ages, giving a much longer harvest
time.
We do all our herb work,
cuttings, potting up and planting during a waxing moon, and
pruning and weeding during a
waning moon.
Seeds sown in January are
almost all pricked out, seed
sown on February 20 germinating nicely, but at this time I’m
wishing I had more tunnel
space for lining out.
Seed sown in February were
Cosmos; Statice — as it needs
a period of cold to initiate
flowers; Nasturtium — a brilliant companion plant, as well
at an edible cut flower; more
Feverfew; Marigolds; Phacelia,
wonderful cover crop and addition to your compost heap;
Cornflowers a little at a time
— I have a love hate relationship with these — I love the
flowers but I hate harvesting
them; and more Achillea; to
name just a few. March 20 is
the next new moon and we will
be sowing seed in every available space, including windowsills, as all the half hardies
and late summer flowers and
foliage fillers are done then.
Here is a list of ones we cannot be without. Our top 10
flowers for the season:
Ammi Visnaga and Majus —
divine umbellifers giving a
wonderful light frothiness to
any bouquet.
Cosmos Versailles — for its
sheer flowering power but it
needs to be grown under cover
because it gets to 5ft tall plus.
Double click sumptuous dou-
ble blooms big enough to
almost be a leading lady.
Calendula — green heart
orange and kablouna are our
favourite tall varieties but need
to be grown through netting as
they reach 2ft.
Sweet peas — what can I say
that hasn't already been said; I
couldn’t be without them.
Zinnias — fantastic cut and
come again, a showstopper for
the late summer and autumn.
Antirrhinums — we start with
tunnel grown ones and finish
with field grown ones — rocket, madame butterfly and apple
blossom are my favourites.
Sweet William — the workhorse of late spring and early
summer.
Marigold Cracker Jack —
although too tall as a bedding
plant, 20-24ins - we love it for
its large balls of orange and
yellow.
Lavatera — annual mallow,
stunningly beautiful and robust
but with a delicate air about it
with a great vase life.
Feverfew — doubles and singles, another cut and come
again, the prettiest filler in my
opinion.
Godetia — satin flower, it’s
like growing silk, I LOVE
LOVE it.
There are too many to name
here but the colour and scents
are to die for and come mid
summer will be a joy to
behold.
Feeding has begun in earnest
and our secret weapon is compost tea — a handful of fresh
chicken manure, mature compost, fresh nettle tips (always
leave some to over winter in
the tunnels just for this reason)
and mashed garlic added to a
bucket of water, put in a warm
place, stirring occasionally; in
about 48 to 72 hours it will be
ready to use diluting 10 to 1.
This is a great start for your
flowers and veg alike helping
them to toughen up and be prepared for anything. All our
food for flowerbeds is organic
or made under organic principles, insuring good stewardship and maintaining soil
health.
Because of limited nettle
tips we are only able to make
enough for our own use but by
mid April we will have some
for sale here on the farm and at
our local markets.
We need as much as we can
make to have a supply of beautiful blooms in time for
Mother’s Day on March 15
this year, and as well as Mahon
farmers’ market, we will be
back at Organico in Bantry on
March 6 and we are now sup-
plying 'Fresh from west Cork'
in 'Bradleys Specialist Off
licence and Food store' on
North Main Street in Cork
City. The flowers that we have
available now are Hyacinth,
Anemone, Hellebores several
varieties of scented Narcissus,
with Tulip buds showing ready
for Mother’s day (fingers
crossed) Antirrhinum and a
beautiful purple Oiser.
We have been working on
the top of the garden whenever
we can steal an hour or two
and will share some images
next month and let you know
about summer workshops and
open days.
Happy planting,
Ruby
Left: Hyacinths peeking above the soil.
Above: Mid Spring colour in our bouquets
41
March 6 – April 2
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The 54th West Cork Drama Festival
S
aint Patrick may have
driven the snakes out of
Ireland but its top quality
drama that will be driving people out of their sitting rooms to
the annual full length drama festival, which runs from Friday,
March 13 to Sunday, March 22.
This year’s festival contains a
veritable assortment of Irish and
International plays including
intrigue, tragedy and comedy,
set to captivate, provoke and
absorb festival goers.
The festival opens with
Amphitheatre Company from
Kilkee, Co.Clare with their production of Jennifer Johnston’s
‘The Desert Lullaby’. Moving
between the Ireland of the
Emergency years to the present
day, this moving and at times
hilarious and shocking play
explores the events that shaped
the lives of two women. This is
followed on Saturday night by
Rasper Players who hail from
Wexford and are presenting contemporary Irish playwright
Marina Carr’s intriguing
‘Woman and Scarecrow’. Filled
with black humour this provocative play focuses on a woman’s
self-exploration of her life past
and present.
On Sunday night Doonbeg
Drama Group make the journey
from Clare to here to present
one of Arthur Miller’s classic
plays — ‘The Price’. Family
secrets and duplicity are at the
heart of this engrossing classic
American play where things are
not always as they seem.
Rossmore regulars the
Shoestring Theatre Company
from Charleville bring the contemporary Irish play ‘Trad’ by
Mark Doherty to the festival on
Monday 16. This lyrical and
Sharon Mawe and Michael Crowley perform Kilmeen Drama
Group's 'Death and the Maiden'.
musical play looking at a changing Ireland through the eyes of a
father and son was a very popular West Cork and All Ireland
winning play for the Millrace
Drama Group in 2013.
On St Patrick’s night,
Skibbereen Theatre Society,
well known to regular festival
goers, will stage ‘Family Plot’
by contemporary Armagh playwright Daragh Carville. A darkly comic play centring on family
dynamics across the generations
in the afterlife, this play, new to
the West Cork Festival, is sure
to captivate the audience.
Wednesday, March 18 sees
the local Kilmeen Group production of Ariel Dorfman’s
‘Death and the Maiden’. This
provocative moral thriller is an
international classic, which is
sure to have festival goers
gripped and pondering to the
end. This play is not suitable for
children and contains gunfire.
On Thursday, Palace Players
from Fermoy present the popular Tom Murphy play
‘Conversations on a
Homecoming’. The reunion of
an émigré with his friends in
Ireland in the 1970s is the focus
of this play which explores the
tensions faced between leaving
and staying. This taut play has
moments of great humour and
poignancy and is always a
favourite amongst drama audiences.
Ballyduff Drama Group from
West Waterford present ‘Takin’
over the Asylum’ by Donna
Franceschild on Friday, March
20. This hilarious and very moving play is another new play to
the festival. Originally a screenplay that was televised in the
UK in the 1990s, the playwright
revised it for the stage and presents a tender and humorous
exploration of social attitudes
towards mental illness.
Game Reviews by Ruairi Coughlan
Crusader Kings 2
C
rusader Kings 2 is a
game about people,
which is unusual in the
strategy genre. Most of the time
in strategy games you sent endless hordes of nameless men out
to die in battle, or work poorly
rendered employees to the bone
in your fictional company. There
is no real connection to the people in the game, they merely
exist to serve a purpose, to serve
you. However, in Crusader
Kings 2 the characters in the
game are just that, characters,
with emotions and traits,
strengths and weakness, loves
and hates.
Rather than focus on nations,
Crusader Kings 2 focuses on
dynasties and the people of those
dynasties in Europe, the Middle
East and North Africa. So rather
than playing as say, Munster,
you play as the rulers of Munster
the Ua Briains. Because of the
focus on people rather than
countries you will find yourself
in the middle of a lot of intrigue.
You’ll bribe people to support
you, assassinate those who don’t
and try not to be assassinated
yourself. The aim of the game is
to keep your dynasty going from
1066 to 1453, which can be
unbelievably thrilling. In the lifetime of one lord you could
become King of France, in the
lifetime of the next lord you
could fall from power and be little more than a count in some
backwater part of Burgundy. The
game is undeniably fun but there
are a couple of flaws. Crusader
Kings 2 is incredibly hard to get
into, especially if the only strategy game you’ve played before it
is Clash of Clans. The tutorial
does a poor job of explaining
even the most basic of game
mechanics. However the biggest
annoyance is that half of the
game is
locked
behind a
paywall. You cannot play as a
Muslim ruler without the Sword
of Islam DLC, you cannot play
as an Indian ruler without the
Rajas of India DLC, and the list
goes on. As such, the game feels
strangely empty without having
some of the major DLC
installed. Future reviews of the
DLC will be written so that
those of you who do buy CK2
will be able to see what DLC is
worth your money.
Crusader Kings 2 is an original take on a saturated genre. Its
ups and downs will have you
jumping for joy and crying your
eyes out (sometimes at the same
time) however the game feels
empty without any of the major
DLC components installed and
it’s certainly not for newcomers
to the strategy genre.
Saturday March 21 sees
Wexford based Bridge Drama
Group present ‘Pygmalion’ by
George Bernard Shaw. Well
known as the basis for the musical film ‘My Fair Lady’, this
witty play is packed with memorable one liners, which will
have festival goers chuckling in
their seats.
On the final night Sunday,
March 22, Brideview Drama
Group from Tallow present
Marina Carr’s ‘Portia
Coughlan’. Infidelity, incest and
domestic violence are at the
heart of this tragic and darkly
humorous play set in the Irish
midlands in the 1990s.
The adjudicator is Brendan
Murray. Brendan is currently
Artistic Director of Áras Inis
Gluaire — Erris Arts Centre,
which is situated in beautiful
Belmullet. Having acted professionally for 20 years, including
Ros na Rún, he now directs primarily.
The booking office opens
March 9, from 12pm-7pm. Tel:
023-8838526/086-4481086.
Credit card bookings or cash
can be paid with the collection
of tickets in advance. Tickets are
priced €12 per night.
The festival committee would
like to thank all its sponsors for
their continued support.
COMPETITION
Irish music legends TRIAD
perform Triskel Christchurch
Multi-instrumentalist and
music legend Dónal Lunny is
joined by Padraig Rynne on
concertina and Sylvain Barou
on the flute to perform as
TRIAD on Thursday March
19.
The trio’s live sets are
described as “an intimate and
breathtaking dive into the
Irish tradition via Brittany,
Eastern Europe and world
folk music.” The trio’s diverse
fusion of influences incorporate a swirling brew of dance,
hop and slip jig sets, slow
reels and melodies, alongside
contemporary compositions
written by themselves.
West Cork People has
a pair of tickets to see
this show on Thursday
March 19.
To be in with a chance of
winning answer the following question with your
name, address and daytime
phone number on a postcard
to West Cork People, Old
Town Hall, McCurtain Hill,
Clonakilty by Mar 13.
How many musicians
perform as ‘Triad’?
Booking: www.triskelartscentre.ie, phone 021 4272022.
42
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
March 6 – April 2
Family relationships at heart of March films
arch brings us to the
last of Clonakilty
Film Club’s cinematic treats for 2015. The season ends on a high note
though, with two excellent
films from Italy and the US.
Director Paolo Virzi’s
‘Human Capital’ on March 10
is a three-chapter tale revealing a cultural and systemic
disparity in the value of
human life.
Opening on a dark, snowy
night in northern Italy, this
film begins at the end.
Approaching a stranger’s tragic death from three vastly different perspectives, the lives
of two families, at first only
loosely linked by their
teenagers’ relationship, overlap in multitudinous ways to
devastating effect.
Valeria Golina and Valeria
Bruni Tedeschi, two of Italy’s
leading actresses, star in a
story based on Stephen
Amidon’s best-selling book of
the same name that twists
love, class, and ambition into
a singular, true-life story.
Following that on March 24
is the season finale – ‘The
Skeleton Twins’. Described by
Hollywood Reporter as “A bittersweet but refreshing tonic
that will leave audiences with a
big, dopey smile on their
faces,” this is sure to be a
favourite with club regulars.
Saturday Night Live alumni
Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader
juxtapose their comic skills
with knockout dramatic performances in this warm, darkly
funny film.
Maggie and her twin Milo
haven’t spoken for 10 years but
when a crisis hits they attempt
to make amends back in their
hometown in New York State.
Craig Johnson’s film about
adult siblings working through
their past issues is accentuated
by a finely finessed script
(written by Johnson and Mark
Heyman, co-writer of Black
brought a brilliant but unexpected change of pace to the film. It
seems to be just as much a love
story, if not more so, than a con
film. Beautifully set and with a
good cast that easily holds it
own this is a good film to watch
but don't go in expecting something like the big con films you
may have seen in the past
because there is more to it.
***/* 3/4 Stars
to win her affections. Madge
(Celia Imrie) is still flaunting
herself to the wealthy bachelors
and Norman (Ronald Pickup) is
still living blissfully with his
girlfriend. But things are still
stressful at the Marigold
because on top of trying to
expand his business, Sonny is
also preparing for his wedding,
and when an old friend of his
fiancé becomes involved Sonny
starts to lose control of things.
With new guests arriving and
old guests with their own issues
— will there ever be a Second
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel?
Dev plays the part of Sonny
brilliantly once again and for the
most part is one of the best
characters through the film; also
his brilliant relationship with
Maggie Smith’s Mrs Donnelly
really is most of the highlights
of the film. Just like the first,
there is a brilliant supporting
cast from Bill Nighy to Judi
Dench and newcomers to the
series like Richard Gere, as his
usual charming self and Tamsin
Greig, who is probably more
well known for her Channel 4
comedy roots. If you have seen
the first and enjoyed it, then you
are very much going to like this,
as apart from new characters
and developments, it feels exactly the same. If you are looking
for a fast paced thrill ride or
something intellectually engaging, then this isn't really what
you want to watch. However, if
you are looking for a laid back
film about the joys and woes of
getting old, as well as some big
laughs, check this out because it
really is quite brilliant for what
it is. *** 3 Stars
M
RYAN’S REVIEWS
Ryan Edwards
Film
Focus
15a 104mins
Director: Glenn Ficarra
Starring: Will Smith, Margot
Robbie
Plot: In the midst of veteran con
man Nicky's latest scheme, a
woman from his past — now an
accomplished femme fatale —
shows up and throws his plans
for a loop.
Review: The film begins with
Nicky (Will Smith) booking a
table at a high society restaurant
and during dinner a beautiful
young woman named Jess
(Margot Robbie), to get away
from a lecherous businessman,
asks him to pretend to be her
boyfriend. He agrees and, after
talking for hours, they decide to
return to her room at the hotel.
Needless to say the evening
doesn't go to plan, as Jess finds
out that Nicky is a con man, and
he has been watching her make
her own cons.
Nicky wants Jess to work
with him and his team and
recruits her; over the following
week they make a small fortune
for each and every one of them.
They go their separate ways and
all ends not particularly well.
Three years later and Nicky has
been out of work for a while; he
doesn't have the money to carry
on with his lifestyle so he takes
on another job for Garriga
(Rodrigo Santoro), an extremely
wealthy race car owner who has
designed a new fuel formula
that will easily put his competitors out of the winners’ podium.
All is going to plan until Jess
turns up at the side of Garriga
and puts Nicky off his game.
Will her turning up mess up
Nicky's latest con, or is he the
one that is the target?
There is no doubt that the
film is beautifully set, from it's
nice cars to clean cut tailored
suits and clever cons. Will
Smith is on point as a confident
yet troubled man that is always
ahead of the game, and Margot
Robbie is brilliant as the slightly
ditzy but eye drawing femme
fetale. There is also a good supporting cast but none more so
than Adrian Martinez as Farhad
who gets 70 per cent of the
laughs from the audience and
The Second Best
Exotic Marigold
Hotel
PG 122mins
Director: John Madden
Starring: Dev Patel, Maggie
Smith, Richard Gere, Bill Nighy,
Judi Dench
Plot: As the Best Exotic
Marigold Hotel has only a single remaining vacancy — posing a rooming predicament for
two fresh arrivals — Sonny pursues his expansionist dream of
opening a second hotel.
Review: The OAP’s are back, in
what seems to be finer form
than before. We start off watching as Sonny (Dev Patel) and
Mrs Donnelly (Maggie Smith)
hurtle down a highway in a softtop Mustang. They are in San
Diego for a big meeting with a
hotel chain to get funding for
Sonny’s next project — the
Second Best Exotic Marigold
Hotel. With the hotelier's considering the deal and a possible
upcoming hotel inspection,
Sonny and Mrs Donnelly head
back to India. The other residents seem to be doing well too
with Evelyn (Judi Dench)
offered a huge promotion and
Douglas (Bill Nighy) still trying
The Skeleton Twins
Human Capital
Swan) and those revelatory
performances from Wiig and
Hader. Their chemistry is
effortlessly channelled into the
shorthand communication and
shared humour of siblings that
bubbles to the surface despite a
prickly past. Impressive
cameos by Luke Wilson and
Modern Family’s Ty Burrell
only add to the film’s enjoyment.
Peppa Pig: The
Golden Boots
films at Ireland's number one
best value cinema Park Cinema
Clonakilty and second best
value cinema Cinemax Bantry.
Plot: Peppa has her golden boots
stolen and must get them back
before the muddy puddle competition!
Review: I’m not going to write
too much, as if you are able to
read this you probably won’t be
into Peppa Pig all that much, but
no doubt your kids probably
will be. It is a special tenth
anniversary 15-minute episode
in which a naughty Mrs Duck
steals Peppa’s golden boots and
Peppa along with her friends
and family must try to get them
back. You might think that for
fifty minutes it’s not worth the
ticket price but it is, because
there is also a few extra older
episodes and also with the
Channel 5 Milkshake crew
doing bits in between with audience participation. Also if you
do have a small child and are
perhaps looking for your first
time at the cinema with them,
this is a great entry level showing that only lasts around fifty
minutes. So take the kids along,
grab some chocolate to keep
yourself awake and let them
enjoy it.
For all the latest movie news
and reviews find me on twitter
@ryansfilmreviews or Facebook
Ryan's Film Review. Why not
catch these and all the latest
What to look out
for in March:
Cinderella:
When Ella’s merchant father
suddenly and unexpectedly
passes away, she finds herself at
the mercy of her jealous and
cruel stepmother and stepsisters.
Relegated to nothing more than
a servant girl covered in ashes,
and spitefully renamed
Cinderella since she used to
work in the cinders, Ella could
easily begin to lose hope. Then
one day, she meets a dashing
stranger in the woods. Unaware
that he is really a prince, not
merely an employee at the
Palace, Ella finally feels she has
met a kindred soul. It appears as
if her fortunes may be about to
change when the Palace sends
out an open invitation for all
maidens to attend a ball, raising
Ella’s hopes of once again
encountering the charming Kit.
Alas, her stepmother forbids
her to attend and callously rips
apart her dress. But as in all
good fairy tales, help is at hand
as a kindly beggar woman steps
forward and, armed with a
pumpkin and a few mice,
changes Cinderella’s life forever.
***** 5 stars “Take my money and show me again!”
**** 4 stars “I'll see that again when it comes out to buy”
*** 3 stars “I'll buy it and watch it when it's in the bargain bin”
** 2 stars “I may watch it again sometime”
* 1 star “This is why I’m glad for memory loss”
No star “Don't even bother”
43
March 6 – April 2
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
All the fun of racing without the hassle
W
hile it’s true to say
we have all heard of
the excitement and
buzz of Gold Cup day at
Cheltenham, very few of us
have ever had the good fortune
to travel and part-take in this
prestigious event. But not any
longer – Clonakilty Rugby
Football Club are delighted to
announce that on Friday, March
13, Cheltenham Gold Cup rac-
ing day will come to Clonakilty.
This unique fundraising event
is being held in Fernhill House
Hotel’s luxurious function
room; a hotel that has long traditions with the horsey world.
Guests will begin the day with a
drinks reception at midday, followed by a three course meal
with wine – all whilst enjoying
the atmosphere of racing
beamed live from Cheltenham
and shown large screens.
An MC will host the day,
along with a racing pundit who
will give the assembled guests
some expert opinions and possibly a tip or two! Betting facilities will be available at your
table, so you can sit back, enjoy
superb food and wine and
indulge in the thrill of ‘race
day’.
Needless to say, fashion and
style will play a big part of the
day with a prize for ‘Best
Dressed Lady’ and ‘Best
Dressed Man’. So even if you
wouldn’t know one end of a
horse from the other but would
love a day out, put March 13 in
your diary and book your tickets early. There has been a fantastic response to the event and
seating numbers will be limited.
Tickets are priced at €50
each or €500 for a table.
Tickets available from Burke
By Design, Fushia Footwear
and Scannell’s Bar, Clonakilty.
Over 60s competition
comes to West Cork
T
he Celtic Ross Hotel,
Rosscarbery is organising and hosting the West
Cork Heat of the Over 60s
Talent Competition 2015. The
West Cork Heat was launched
by organiser and champion for
the rights of senior citizens’
Paddy O’Brien, at the hotel’s
monthly Afternoon Tea Dance
on Tuesday, February 10. The
Over 60’s West Cork Heat will
take place on Thursday, March
19 and no doubt will be a great
evening of fun and entertainment. At the launch Paddy
O’Brien said, “Yet again, I am
delighted that the Celtic Ross
Hotel is organising the West
Cork Heat of the Over 60s
Talent Competition; the judges
will be expecting some wonderful performances on the night
from West Cork.”
The Over 60s Talent
Competition was founded by
Paddy O’Brien in 1977, and
over the years it has grown
from strength to strength. It is
now in its 39th year and the
third year of the popular West
Cork Heat. Last year the West
Cork Heat was won by Con
Whelton from Courtmacsherry;
Sheila O’Regan from
Skibbereen won the previous
and inaugural Heat in 2013.
The event, which is unique in
Ireland, has really captured the
loyalty of the people of Cork
and each year hundreds of
entrants take part to compete for
the coveted title of champion,
while at the same time taking
great enjoyment out of the
experience.
Heats will be held in community halls and venues throughout Cork City and County and
the winners will take part in the
semi-final in Cork City Hall on
April 26. The final will take
place on June 7 in Cork City
Hall.
The event is important for
many reasons. It is a great outlet
for senior citizens to come
together for a great social event
and over the years it has raised
nearly half a million euro for
the Irish Heart Foundation. The
competition highlights the talents and skills of those over
sixty and shows that they still
have considerable abilities to
offer to society today.
Entry to the West Cork Heat
is open to everyone throughout
West Cork. There will be two
judges on the night and contestants are invited to sing, dance,
play instrument, tell a funny
story or recite a poem. Neil
Grant, General Manager of
Celtic Ross Hotel says, “We are
delighted to be hosting the West
Cork Heat again this year, it is
always great fun and a very
sociable evening. I’m looking
forward to seeing some great
West Cork talent on the night.”
The sponsors for the Over
60s Talent Competition are
Cork Evening Echo; Blackpool
Shopping Centre and Lennox
Hearing Specialists. If you
would like to take part or would
like further information please
call Clare at the Celtic Ross
Hotel on (023) 8848722.
More than one way to take up an instrument
MUSIC
Mark Holland
Hunky Dory Music Shop
Spillers Lane, Clonakilty
Formal or freestyle? Learning
to play a tune ‘by ear’ or
starting on page one of the
sight-reading manual? For
many this is a consideration
when thinking about how to
go about ‘taking up’ an instrument, when it comes to deciding how our children should
proceed, it’s a different matter
altogether. In the shop I often
meet parents who can’t decide
between the two; it becomes a
problem when they can’t
decide which may best suit
their child and end up not
choosing at all. My advice is
to try them on one, see how it
goes and if it doesn’t seem to
be working you can always
try them on the other one.
There is a lot to be said for
both methods. In an effort to
educate myself I asked two
local musicians who both
teach piano, in different ways,
for their thoughts.
John, who is formally
trained, has had great results
teaching people the ‘learning
by ear’ method. People can go
to him with the music or
songs that they want to hear,
want to play, and quite quickly learn to express themselves
on the keyboard in a way that
gives them great joy and
encouragement. Particularly
for those of us who struggle
with the structure of formal
education.
John often picks up students that have tried the ‘by
the book’ method and have
been left cold, uninspired, and
even their natural aptitude
choked, to be allowed unfold
their wings in fertile ground
and soar to unimagined planes
to express themselves quickly.
They are often playing on the
keyboard the songs they
wanted to play, the songs they
have in their heads, the songs
that they want to be played,
within weeks. There is no better encouragement.
Tonya has a different has
approach. She knows well
that learning staff notation is
structured, a bit like schoolwork, and doesn’t give instant
results, but it’s not that hard.
Learning to read music takes
time but is much simpler and
more straightforward than
learning the alphabet.
Every one of us has different aptitudes, capacities and
skill levels, but for most of us
there is a limit to how many
tunes we can keep in our
heads. The ability or skill to
read music means that, as
time goes on, a player can at
any time go back to a piece
they have played before (or a
piece they haven’t) and play it
as they read it from the sheet.
It is hard to know if one
method is detrimental to the
other. It may be that if you
can play a few tunes by ear,
you find it hard to go back to
the beginning to begin on the
formal training of sight-reading, but with a little application you could be back up to
speed sooner than you think,
and have learned a new skill
in the process. Often people
who have reading or concentration difficulties have a gift
to pick stuff up by ear.
For adults in particular who
may have less time on their
hands and just want to be able
to knock out a tune or two,
learning and playing by ear
may be a fast track. But for
those of us who are a bit more
ambitious, it’s the guy who
can read the music that’ll get
the gig.
I was talking to a (very
lucky) person today who is
hoping be in Mali this year in
time for The Desert Music
Festival. As soon as I got
home, I had to put on one of
my favourite albums, which
just gets better with time — a
collaboration of two of my
favourite musicians, blues
guitarists Ali Farka Toure and
Ry Cooder’s ‘Talking
Timbuktu’. If you like that,
then I would also recommend
Ry Cooder’s Paris Texas
sound track. Hope you enjoy.
Hunky Dory stocks a huge
range of instruments, accessories, CDs and vinyl. Contact
Mark on 023 8834982 or pop
in to have a listen.
44
March 6 – April 2
Star Signs
ASTRO AUNT
Kate Arbon
Astrologer
Kate Arbon is an astrologer and
spiritual teacher. Living in West
Cork for the last 10 years, she gives
personal consultations and teaches
astrology and intuitive guidance
classes.email [email protected].
www.katearbon.com.
March of 2015 may be a month to
remember in years to come. Another
corner is being turned during a very
significant phase in our collective
evolution. It may not become apparent in your personal life immediately but changes that take place over
the coming weeks will have a big
impact on the course of events into
the future.
The first few days of the month
set a positive trend to get us tuned
into the possibilities as we build up
to the Full Moon on March 5 and on
into the second week before the
Equinox and Solar eclipse.
The current freedom of personal
expression theme is boosted by the
big ‘feel good’ planet Jupiter connecting favourably with liberating
Uranus on March 3 and assertive
Mars joining with expansive Jupiter
on March 10.
Both Venus and Mars are still
travelling close together in early
Aries and this gives a full steamahead-energy from Mars to reach
out for what you want. Venus in this
sign is less inclined to co-operation
and wants to act in her own right,
choosing what suits her rather than
being compromising. They both
combine strongly with Uranus and
then move on to challenge Pluto. If
you haven’t already made some
bold moves to claim your independence then this will give you the
required impulse to be true to yourself. This pattern will help to get a
clear sense of what it is that you
want for yourself without being
prejudiced by others, your dependence on them or fears of losing their
love or respect.
Uranus and Pluto have been in a
tense square pattern since 2012 and
after the 17th they begin to finally
part company for at least a decade,
having done their work. The rebellious, liberating planet Uranus also
represents our authentic self — the
spirit of individual and unique selfexpression. Pluto always highlights
a power struggle and signifies whatever has control over us. Pluto's
realm is our unconscious and our
fears, which are powerful forces that
will divert us away from acting for
the good of all, or even in our own
best interests. We've been given a
choice to either defer to a “higher
authority” that we have ascribed
power to, or, strike out with integrity
and honour and take personal
responsibility for our own lives.
The culmination of the Uranus
Pluto theme mid month is followed
by a combination of important and
powerful astrological events. Just a
few hours before the Sun enters
Aries on March 20 at the Equinox it
lines up with the Moon and Earth
for a Solar eclipse. This is a New
Moon event in the 29th degree of
Pisces, the last degree of the Zodiac
circle. Significant in itself as a completion of a Lunar and Solar cycle, it
also combines with the 19-year
eclipse cycle on the cusp of the most
potent degree of the Zodiac. This is
a very special and rare occurrence.
The sign of Pisces is about surrendering to a greater force, letting go
of trying to impose a self-centred or
‘man made’ order and trusting the
apparent chaos of ‘natural’ order to
work it out — going with the flow.
The final degree of this sign represents the last step in this process.
The next step is into Aries as a new
individual with nothing but the
desire to experience oneself, no
Aries: You may waste energy on
menial tasks, thus getting distracted from the broader visions
in your life during this Full
Moon. You are likely to make
yourself indispensable through being of service, tuning in to the physical needs of others,
and generally happy to take on a lot of tasks.
If you are not careful however, other people
will take advantage of you. This is the time
you should be really getting things together for
yourself whilst you can keep the focus on the
details. Once you've put on the finishing
touches, you'll be able to stand back and take
pride in your accomplishments.
Leo: Learning to adjust to economic fluctuations is part of the
process of maturing and this Full
Moon will find you focusing on
personal resources. You can be a
very kind and giving person but you also need
to feel secure. Being concerned with your own
financial status now is probably a good thing.
Some people may view you as unusually
materialistic and possessive but it's time to
cash in on some of your hard earned investments and name your price for your efforts.
Be confident in your skills and abilities and
turn them to good use now as others will
notice and reward you later.
Taurus: Enjoyment is the keyword for you this Full Moon and
it's time to loosen up and have
some fun, especially with close
friends and children. If you are
socialising you can even risk going a little bit
over the top as this is a general time of celebration for all. Passion and intensity, on any
topic you choose, can run rampant and your
enthusiasm overflows. You have a strong emotional need for some romantic encounters but
you also know how to nurture and maintain
the romance in an existing relationship too. So
make the most of it and enjoy!
Virgo: The pressure is on to
bring critical projects to a conclusion during this Full Moon.
The emphasis is not so much on
what you've done, but rather
who you are. It's the right time to let your true
personality shine and show the world exactly
what you're all about. You understand how
important a sincere personal expression is. You
may be seen as over-emotional or sentimental
but you can have a powerful impact on your
surroundings through your moods. You
instinctively know how to provide a truly nurturing environment for people to grow and
you’re motivated to show how much concern
and care you have for others.
Gemini: This Full Moon you
may spend a lot of time at home,
finding great pleasure in looking
after your children or family,
cooking, making home improvements etc. You are especially sensitive to the
moods of others who share your personal
space. Although you will be strongly motivated to create a caring and secure environment
around you, a crowd can be claustrophobic
and you can get on each other's nerves. This is
a time to acknowledge how the comfortable
and familiar supports you. Draw on it as a
source of strength as you prepare to achieve
some great things out in the world.
Cancer: Uncomfortable feelings you experience during this
Full Moon phase could result
from strong differences of opinion with someone. You can be
easily swayed by irrational arguments and
emotions if you have to state your case now. It
can seem that everybody is trying to get their
message through but no one is listening? Try
not to be distracted whilst you tie up important
loose ends and meet deadlines. You need to
keep some time available for a new project or
mental challenge. You could be making plans
for travelling or starting a new class or training
programme.
Libra: During this Full Moon
you are extremely sensitive to
your environment. You have a
strong need to withdraw from
the world and commune with
nature or your inner feelings. You might want
to retreat to a very private emotional world
and other people may have difficulty getting in
contact with you. Ideally create a place, which
is sacred to you where you can be alone. In
this private space you can become aware of
your true dreams and longings. Try to work
more consciously with the inner world of your
imagination through creative work or meditative practice for a few days.
Scorpio: You are extremely sensitive to how people treat you
over this Full Moon. You’ll want
to know if you have forged
strong bonds with your friends.
You are both caring and concerned as regards
their wellbeing but easily hurt if they let you
down in any way. Ensure that you spend time
only with people that elevate and support you.
Disconnect from the daily grind and indulge
your personal happy side for a while. Good
food, pleasant company, shared experiences
and mutual understanding bring an inner peace
that makes you realise that quality of life is not
about money, status or possessions.
judgement or fear. Just faith and
courage combined with innocence,
excitement and passion.
The opportunity we have this
month is to make real changes – on
a personal level, in our relationships,
identity, attitudes, and beliefs.
Allowing the required inner changes
to occur without having a preordained goal is a challenge. The
potential to become something
beyond anything that your imagination can come up with is so strong
now that getting very clear in your
overall intent, then surrendering to
the infinite possibilities that are
available, seems like the very best
way to make the most these circumstances.
In March, the Full Moon is at
15° Virgo on March 5 at 6:07pm
and the New Moon is at 29° Pisces
on March 20 at 9:37am
Sagittarius: Recently a strong
sense of loyalty made you conform to family or social expectations. This Full Moon you
realise that in your past a lot of
your unconscious motivation has been aimed
at living up to other people’s standards. Now
is the time to reach out for what you want for
yourself and stand in the spotlight whilst acting the part of your unique self in all your
glory. Take time out during these few days to
wave your own flag and get noticed for your
current contribution before a new surge of personal creativity rolls in.
Capricorn: During this Full
Moon phase your interest in
philosophical and spiritual areas
is heightened. Use the time to
expand your inner window on
the world and break new ground. Convictions
and values of those close to you will have
unconsciously influenced you so discovering
beliefs that are true for you personally now
takes your whole attention. Travelling or
studying will be a strong urge so seize the
opportunity to take off in a new direction. It
will bring a welcome relief from deeper concerns and you may realize that there is a lot
less to worry about than you first thought.
Aquarius: Experiences during
this Full Moon will show you
how other people have provided
emotional security for you.
Seeing clearly where you have
been dependant in your relationships gives
you a new sense of freedom and the release of
energy will propel you into a fresh creative
phase. You might unearth resources within
yourself that you were previously unaware of.
This new knowledge will be of great help to
everyone you contact on an intimate level.
You no longer need to rely on certain items or
possessions as you move on, so clear off the
cobwebs, throw out useless things you've been
hoarding and enjoy the liberation.
Pisces: You have difficulty distinguishing between what you
feel and the feelings of those
closest to you during this Full
Moon. Tune in to yourself, and
allow your intimate friends to have their
moods without imagining they always have
something to do with your own actions. You
sense that you have all got a little too close
and caught up with each other recently and
soon you’ll need to stand back. Giving yourself time to recognise your true individuality
will allow you to fully connect with others in
your own unique way. The support and equality you sense as a result will produce welcome
rewards later.
45
March 6 – April 2
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
COMPETITION
Fit-Up
Festival
announces
Spring
Theatre
Festival
Blood in the Alley Theatre
Company in association with
Cork County Council are
pleased to announce the first
ever Spring Fit-up Theatre
Festival in West Cork from
March 4 to 15 inclusive.
While the hugely successful
Summer Fit-up Festival enters
its seventh season in July, this
is a new departure for the
company.
The Fit-up Programme is
always exciting and the
Spring programme is no
exception opening on March
4 in Kilcrohane Community
Hall with the hugely popular
Pat Kinevane in his new show
‘Underneath’. West Cork
audiences will remember Pat,
who seems to have an almost
cult-like following in the area,
for his stunning performances
in ‘Silent’ (Edinburgh Fringe
First) and ‘Forgotten’.
Following the runaway
international success of
Forgotten and Silent,
Fishamble presents Pat
Kinevane’s third solo play,
‘Underneath’, directed by Jim
Culleton. This stunning new
play is a blackly comic, rich
and vivid tale of a life lived in
A
secret, a testament to the people who live on the fringes,
under the nose of everyday
life. It explores the surface,
and what lies underneath and
promises to provide audiences
with another captivating,
moving and unforgettable theatrical journey in the hands of
a master.
The second week of the
festival opens on March 11 in
Glengarriff Community Hall
with ‘Postscript’ by Noelle
Brown and Michelle Forbes.
The play is performed by
Noelle Brown and Brid Ni
Neachtain, two superb actors
who have both worked with
Blood in the Alley in the past.
Noelle Brown was adopted at
birth and her play is based on
her real search for her identity, which provides a gentle,
sad, funny and delightful
evening of theatre.
The plays will be performed in Ballydehob, Heir
Island, Bere Island,
Kilcrohane, Glengarriff and
Lisavaird during the Festival,
so check the website for
details of when they are coming to a venue near you on
www.westcorkfit-up.com.
Blood in the Alley are the
company who bring top class
professional productions to
places that other companies
can’t reach and no doubt the
Festival will continue to do so
for some time. Tickets are
€10/12 and only available at
the door. Please check ferry
times for island shows.
See www.westcorkfitupfestival.com for full details
of plays.
West Cork People has
a pair of tickets for
each of the following
performances of
‘Postscript’...
Thu. March 12 Glengarriff
Fri. March 13 Lisavaird
Sat. March 14 Bere island
(excluding ferry ticket)
Sun. March 15 Ballydehob
To be in with a chance of
winning EMAIL your
preferred venue with
your name, address and
daytime phone to
[email protected]
by Monday March 9.
Meaití Jó Shéamuis and Nóra
Geraghty perform in Beara to
celebrate St Parick’s Day
W
arm up for St.
Patrick’s Day with
some ceol agus
amhráin séan-nós at the
Lehanmore Music Sessions
with Eckie Krupp. Eckie will
be joined by special guests
from Connemara, Méaití Jó
Shéamuis and Nóra Geraghty,
in the Lehanmore Community
Centre, Monday March 16,
from 8pm. The event is free
with all welcome.
There will be a follow-up
event on St Patrick’s Day itself,
March 17, from 3 to 6pm at the
Maple Leaf Bar, Glengarriff.
Meaití Jó Shéamuis, a native
of the Connemara Gaeltacht in
County Galway, is a wellknown figure in Irish language
musical circles. During his 40-
Mícheál Ó’Súilleabháin Concert
to raise funds for restoration of
Glandore Church
year career as a broadcaster for
Raidió na Gaeltachta he travelled throughout Ireland and
beyond recording music and
song for the radio station. He is
renowned as one of
Connemara’s finest sean-nós
singers and is also a fine uilleann piper and flute player. In
2003 he released a CD –
Bóithríní an Locháin: Sean-nós
Songs from Connemara. Since
his retirement in 2011 he has
continued to frequent music
and singing events, often as a
judge and a tutor.
Nóra Geraghty, from
Dublin's Liberties, began playing feadóg, guitar and bodhrán
as a child and kicked off her
musical career in 1987 when
she travelled to New Zealand
to play with a New ZealandIrish band, the Fenians. The
following year she took up
mandolin and banjo and has
played with various bands
internationally and in Ireland
since then. She recorded three
CDs while playing with
Orchestre Murphy in London
during the 1990s and later took
up the fiddle. A founder member of the Clé Club and the
Larkin Hedge School, she was
well known in the Dublin
music scene before moving to
Connemara in 2013.
The two have been playing
together regularly since 2011
and are often seen playing in
pubs and at events in
Connemara and further afield.
cross community initiative to save and
restore an iconic
church is culminating in a final
push to raise funds. “We have
been very successful in fulfilling our aims so far, mainly
thanks to the huge support we
have been given by the general
public and state agencies, but
the windows and the interior
have yet to be painted,” said
Averil Cooke chairperson of
the Glandore Restoration
Committee.
Christ Church, Glandore is
one of the most beautifully situated churches in Ireland. It is
perched on a ledge overlooking
Glandore Harbour and access
to the church and grounds is
through an archway cut into
the rock. Restoration works
completed to date include the
repair of the tower, electricity
installed, the gutters and downpipes replaced, new drains
installed and stonework
repaired and re-pointed.
With a final €10,000
required to restore and paint
the original windows and paint
the interior of the 154 year-old
church, the Restoration
Committee is holding a gala
fundraising concert.
The Glandore Church of
Ireland Restoration Committee
is bringing pianist and
Professor of Music at the
University of Limerick,
Mícheál Ó’Súilleabháin and
the Carolan Quartet to St
Fachtna’s Cathedral,
Rosscarbery on Saturday,
March 21 at 8pm.
Mícheál Ó’Súilleabháin is
renowned for having created a
unique Irish piano style out of
an Irish traditional music base
and has given concerts across
the world. This concert is a
rare opportunity for the people
of West Cork to hear him play
in person. He will be joined on
the night by the Carolan String
Quartet, four top class Irish
musicians who work regularly
with the RTE National
Symphony and Concert
Orchestra, Camerata Ireland
and Wexford Festival Opera
Orchestra.
This promises to be a fabulous night out. Tickets cost
€25 (including a complimentary glass of wine sponsored by
Scally’s Supervalu) and can be
bought at Fuller’s Centra,
Union Hall, Thornhill’s
Electrical, Skibbereen and
Rosscarbery Pharmacy or can
be booked online at glandorevillage.ie or call 087-2289458.
For updates follow and like us
on facebook. Booking is advisable as seating is limited.
46
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
March 6 – April 2
OPERA HOUSE COMPETITIONS
Of Mice and Men
A View from the Bridge
N
his March, Cork Opera
House offers Cork audiences the chance to experience the hit Broadway production ‘Of Mice and Men’ in a
screening filmed on stage by the
National Theatre Live.
In a rare US venture,
National Theatre Live presents
this very special broadcast,
which was recorded in front of
a live audience at the Longacre
Theatre in New York. Golden
Globe winner and Academy
Award nominee James Franco
(127 Hours, Milk) and Tony
Award nominee Chris O’Dowd
(Bridesmaids, Girls) star in the
landmark revival of Nobel Prize
winner John Steinbeck’s play.
"We are thrilled to be working with David Binder and his
Of Mice and Men team, and to
include this great production of
an American classic in our
National Theatre Live programme,” said David Sabel, the
National Theatre's director of
broadcast and digital. "These
broadcasts have enabled millions more people around the
world to see great theatre from
the UK and now the US."
Of Mice and Men tells the
story of George and Lennie, an
unlikely pair of friends drifting
from job to job across the farms
and fields of California, holding
fast to their dream of one day
having an acre of land they can
call their own. Franco plays
proactive, fiery and compassionate George Milton, while O’
Dowd takes on the role of the
cumbersome, innocent and
dependent Lennie Small.
Adapted from his own classic
novel, John Steinbeck's Of Mice
and Men is an essential adventure, an inspirational portrait of
the American spirit and a heartbreaking testament to the bonds
of friendship.
This critically-acclaimed
Broadway revival is directed by
Tony Award, Drama Desk and
Outer Critics Circles award
winner Anna D. Shapiro
(Broadway’s August: Osage
County) and features Leighton
Meester (Country Strong,
Gossip Girl) and Tony Award
winner Jim Norton (The
Seafarer). The production was
nominated for two Tony
Awards, including Best
Performance by an Actor in a
Leading Role in a Play for
Chris O'Dowd.
Date: Thursday, March 12,
7pm. Tickets: €10 (Booking fee
may apply). Booking: Booking
and information on www.corkoperahouse.ie or 021-4270022
odds with his smart young
teacher Miss Forde.
The second story 'They All
Ran After The Farmers Wife,'
brings us into the lives of three
women who become entangled
in a love triangle, with tragic
results.
'The Sad Lady of Lislee,'
sees a would-be writer bring
her creative fiction to life, as
she struggles to care for her
grown up non-verbal autistic
daughter.
The dark Mayo mountains
play host to 'Under A Broken
Tree’ — as a young man delves
into the memoir of his
deceased aunt, he is transported
from modern day West Cork
back to Mayo in 1922, during
the civil war.
Finally 'On This Almighty
Road, ' tells of two washed up
middle-aged men, who get the
chance of a lifetime when
securing the job of caretakers
in a millionaires house, only
for a strange young woman to
enter the fray and destroy
everything.
The 'West Cork Railway and
Other Stories,' launches on
Thursday March 26 at 6.30pm
in the Irish Writers Centre.
Words of Praise for the 'Mad
Marys of Dunworley,'
“Haunting, it will stay with
you,” Shelley Marsden The
Irish World Newspaper.
'The West Cork Railway &
Other Stories,' is available from
Amazon Uk and on Kindle.
T
Haunting new
work by local
author
F
rom the author of 'The
Mad Marys of
Dunworley and Other
Stories,' comes part two of the
West Cork Novelettes.
Paul Kestell and Black
Cormorant Books present, 'The
West Cork Railway and Other
Stories,' five new novelettes set
in beautiful West Cork. Dublin
born writer Kestell pays homage to West Cork where he has
lived for over five years. This
new collection of stories brings
us to a whole new level the
author says. 'The Mad Marys,'
was very successful and it got
lots of positive feedback. But I
sense already with the 'West
Cork Railway,' that I am reaching a whole new audience, not
just locally in West Cork
but nationally and beyond as
well. The stories are raw in that
they capture the human condition.
The title story sees young
Billy working on his primary
school project on the closure of
the railway in 1961. However
when Billy receives advice
from his grandad, it puts him at
ational Theatre Live
returns to Cork Opera
House on Friday,
March 27 when audiences
will have the chance to watch
The Imitation Games’ Mark
Strong lead a stellar cast in
Ivo van Hove’s five-star production of Arthur Miller’s ‘A
View from the Bridge’. This
encore screening will be
broadcast from the
Wyndham’s Theatre in
London’s West End.
Acclaimed by audiences
and critics alike, visionary
director Ivo van Hove’s West
End revival of this 1955
drama premiered at London’s
Yong Vic in April 2014 where
the production enjoyed an
extended sell out run. This
February, it began a West End
run at Wyndham’s Theatre.
The great Arthur Miller
confronts the American dream
in this dark and passionate
tale, starring Mark Strong
(The Imitation Game; Tinker,
Tailor, Soldier, Spy) and
Nicola Walker (Last Tango in
Halifax; Spooks). In
Brooklyn, longshoreman
Eddie Carbone welcomes his
Sicilian cousins to the land of
freedom. But when one of
them falls for his beautiful
niece, they discover that freedom comes at a price. Eddie’s
jealous mistrust exposes a
deep, unspeakable secret –
West Cork People has a pair of tickets to see NTL Of Mice and Men on March 12, 8pm & NTL -A
View From The Bridge on March 27, 8pm (1 pair to
both shows)
To be in with a chance of winning EMAIL your name,
address and daytime phone to [email protected]
by Monday March 9. Please put ‘NTL competition’ in
the subject.
one that drives him to commit
the ultimate betrayal.
Stripped back to its sinews
and played without furniture
on a vast white stage, the
Young Vic’s “magnetic, electrifying, astonishingly bold”
production of Miller’s tragic
masterpiece earned rapturous
reviews across the board. At
the recent Critics’ Circle
Awards, the play was awarded
best actor for Strong’s portrayal of the tragic protagonist, while Van Hove was
named best director.
“Not to be missed.
Outstanding.” – The Times
“Emotionally devastating.
Unforgettable” – The
Independent
“One of the most powerful
productions of a Miller play I
have ever seen” – Daily
Telegraph
“Strong is outstanding as
Carbone…and he is matched
by an excellent cast” – The
Observer
Date: Friday, March 27, 7pm.
Tickets: €10 (Booking fee
may apply). Booking:
Booking and information on
www.corkoperahouse.ie or
021-4270022.
Myross Choir gets the
world to sing
M
yross Choir and
Friends present 'Let's
get the World to
Sing' on Friday, March 27 at
7.30pm in the Celtic Ross
Hotel. This event is a fundraiser for the Society of St Vincent
de Paul and the Centre for
Active Empowerment. Tickets
are on the door and entry is
€5.
The Centre for Active
Empowerment is based in
Skibbereen and is a Centre for
healing and learning. The
Centre’s mission is to provide a
positive and welcoming place
where people gather and contribute, and are empowered
through sharing and activities –
including group learning
events, individual help sessions
and collaboration for new solutions. Courses include journaling, vision board creation,
nutrition, confidence building,
self-awareness, healing and
more.
For more information find
them on Facebook, email
[email protected]
or call Gill on 087 4197330.
47
March 6 – April 2
people ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Clean sweep for Glaslinn Choir at Feis Maithú
Glaslinn Choir from Bandon following their success at Feis Maitiu 2015 in Cork city where, under the stewardship of
Choir Director Antoinette Baker, they claimed first prize in two classes, This is the second year running the group have
taken home these trophies, demonstrating the quality of both the choir and its director.
people HOMES, INTERIORS & PROPERTY
Peace of mind provided by Burgolarm
Our home is our castle and we should feel that it is safe
and secure, whether we are present or out and about.
Burgolarm Security Products Ltd have been providing
that peace of mind to homeowners and farmers since
1969 and their alarms, CCTV and automatic gates are
now guarding properties around the whole of Cork county.
Any person is legally entitled to enter your property if
your gates are open, however if they are closed and
locked then they are by law trespassing. Automatic
gates, also referred to as electric or electronic gates, are
extremely convenient and provide a wonderful sense of
security and peace of mind, as well as adding to the
value of your home.
Why choose automatic gates?
For any homeowner with a
drive there are many benefits to
installing automatic gates.
Number one is of course
improving the security of your
property and safety of your
family – enhancing the security
of your premises perimeter can
be a significant deterrent to
burglars, car thieves and vandals. By allowing you full control over who enters your property, they also keep out other
unwanted callers such vehicles
or indeed stray animals who
could damage your garden. It is
important to note that some
insurers offer a lower rate for
enhanced perimeter protection.
A key benefit is the knowledge that your children are safe
in your garden. Gates can be
set to close automatically after
use – so you never need to
worry that you have left them
open and allowed your children
or pets to wander out.
Convenience is perhaps the
other major benefit. Ordinary
gates are frequently left open
because it is just too much
trouble to manually open and
close them every time you pass
through, especially if the gate is
large and heavy or the weather
is poor. On the other hand, an
automatic gate is simple to
open using a remote control,
without having to leave your
car. Due to enhancements in
technology it is now even possible to open your gates from
your mobile phone from anywhere in the world. Other
methods of controlling your
gates include audio/audio video
intercoms and digital keypads.
Whichever gate you do
decide to go with will be dictated by the gates you have or
plan to have as well as the
location and topography of the
site. There are two fundamental
gate types, Automatic Sliding
Gates and Automatic
Swing/Leaf types.
Automatic Sliding Gates
run on a glide track set into the
ground, which is unobtrusive.
They are the obvious choice for
driveways with steep inclines
in the vicinity of the gate area.
However there must be sufficient space for the gate to slide
back equal to the width of the
driveway. A single geared
motor assembly, employing
rack and pinion drive principles
for gate motion, powers this
type of electronic gate or electric gate system.
motor to the gate wing. In operation the motor shaft rotates
causing the articulated arm to
swing, providing the necessary
gate movement.
There are several grades of
driver mechanisms in each category and Burgolarm can provide expert advice on a system
most suited to your requirements.
Automatic Swing/Leaf
Gates require an alternative
Why choose
Burgolarm?
type of drive mechanisms to
those described above and
these can be considered under
two main categories:
Underground and Overground.
Underground Electronic
Gate Operators are set into the
driveway underneath each gate
wing and have the advantage of
being almost invisible. Careful
consideration must be given to
the site conditions to ensure
that adequate water drainage is
provided and maintained from
the underground motor assemblies.
Overground Electronic Gate
Operators are less expensive
and easier to install, as there is
less civil work involved. There
are two types of operators with
different operating principles.
The most popular is the linear
actuator or ram type. With the
later model the actuator spindle
is attached to the gate wing and
the driver mechanism to the
pillar. In operation the spindle
extends to close and retracts to
open the gate. The second type
of operator is referred to as the
articulated arm driver. With this
model the drive motor is
attached to the gate pillars and
a pivoting arm connects the
Burgolarm is a long established, Irish-owned company,
based in Cork, with over 45
years in the Security Industry.
Burgolarm is accredited by the
International Organization for
Standardization, licensed by the
Private Security Authority and
Certified by the National
Standards Association of
Ireland, giving you the peace of
mind of knowing that you are
dealing with highly respected
professionals.
Burgolarm’s extensive product range, coupled with their
highly knowledgeable staff,
make them the number one
choice. Burgolarm also facilitate the service and repair of
existing systems, making life
easier for you. Their dedicated
24/7 control centre and emergency response service also
allow you to sleep safe, knowing that any problem will be
dealt with in a quick and efficient manner.
The company offices in the
Kinsale Road Commercial
Centre (just off the Kinsale
Road roundabout near Smyths
Toystore) incorporate an extensive showroom and meeting
rooms. Customers are welcome
to come and visit the showroom to see the extensive range
of security products at first
hand. To discuss your security
needs call the team today on
021 4964874.
Burgolarm are also specialists in the installation and
maintenance of the following
products’ CCTV, Intruder
Alarm Systems and Fire Alarm
Systems. See
www.burgolarm.ie.
48
March 6 – April 2
people HOMES, INTERIORS & PROPERTY
Closing date approaching for Heritage
Council Community Grant applications
T
he Heritage Council has
announced details of the
2015 community based
heritage grant scheme. This
grant scheme will make up to
€600,000 available throughout
the country and a wide range of
different applications can be
applied for (examples include
educational, repairs to buildings,
conservation plans, research and
more).
While the scheme is geared at
community groups, individuals
may also apply where they can
make a strong case that their
project will benefit the local
community.
Applications must be submitted using the Heritage Council's
Online Application System
(www.heritagecouncil.ie/grants)
prior to the closing date of 5pm
on March 20, 2015.
Cork communities called
to avail of €13.2m funding
for energy upgrades
A
nnouncing €13.2 million funding for the
Better Energy
Communities Scheme in 2015,
Minister for Energy Alex White,
TD and the Sustainable Energy
Authority of Ireland (SEAI) are
calling on Cork communities to
avail of the grants for local
energy projects. Minister White
said almost one-sixth of Irish
homes had benefitted from
Government-funded energy efficiency upgrades, which supported an average of 3,500 jobs a
year.
Minister White said: “We
need individuals, communities
and businesses to engage with
the energy agenda if we are to
be a more sustainable society.
That is why public consultation
has been a central pillar of the
energy policy paper, which I
intend to publish this year.
Through the Sustainable Energy
Authority of Ireland, more than
€300 million in grants have
already been provided to householders under the Better Energy
Programme. This has delivered
energy efficiency upgrades to
more than 275,000 homes –
nearly one sixth of all homes in
the country.
“By using less energy, most
of which comes from imported
fossil fuels, we’re not just saving money, we are also putting
people back to work. The companies active in the Better
Energy Programme employ peo-
ple to carry out energy efficiency upgrades. This means that
much of what we spend goes
back into our communities.
“By rolling out energy efficiency technologies through
local businesses, community
facilities and sports clubs, we
are also showing that energy
efficiency technologies work.
This is crucial in persuading
more people to undertake energy efficiency improvements in
their homes or businesses.”
Dr Brian Motherway, CEO of
the Sustainable Energy
Authority of Ireland, which
manages the scheme, said “It is
heartening to see the growth in
communities tackling the issue
of sustainable energy in a positive way, reaping the gains of
local employment, cost savings
and environmental improvement. Collaboration is the future
of energy retrofitting in Ireland,
with the benefits felt across the
communities.”
In 2015, SEAI is also launching a network for sustainable
energy communities and champions that wish to go further
than just grant activity and
develop longer-term community
strategies and systems. Further
information on Better Energy
Communities can be found on
www.seai.ie or to register your
interest in the Sustainable
Energy Communities network
email [email protected].
€32.2 million for regional and
local roads in Co. Cork
T
he government has
announced the investment of €32.2 million
for regional and local roads in
Co. Cork.
This is part of a national
investment programme of €294
million which will allow
approximately 2,000km of
regional and local road to be
maintained and strengthened in
2015.
“Local and regional roads in
Co. Cork are in need of investment following a number of
severe winters and in order to
bring roads in the area up to
standard; €5.34 million will go
towards maintenance works and
€26.86 million will be allocated
for improvement works across
the county,” says Councillor
Noel Harrington, TD.
“The funding announced is
awarded in addition to local
authorities’ own resources.
County Councils are best placed
to assess priorities within their
areas and are responsible for
their work programme.”
WEST CORK
PROPERTY RENTALS
023 8831992 Mobile 086 2454823
Stove. Recently Refurbished.
Fully Furnished with all
Modern Conveniences.
Close to the Village.
Available immediately for
long term rental. Price
Subject to Offer.
RENTAL PROPERTY
OF THE MONTH
Apartment 2,
Emmet Lodge,
Clonakilty
2 Bed Apartment with
Gold Shield Electric
Central Heating,
Nicely Appointed,.
Fully Furnished with
all modern conveniences. In a quiet part
of town but close to all
amenities. Available
Immediately for Long
Term Rental
- € 550 p.c.m.
New Properties Urgently
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• 3 & 4 Bedroomed Homes
Urgently Required for
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References Supplied
If you have a suitable property to rent why not contact
us immediately to arrange
viewing with no obligation.
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3 Bed Detached Bungalow
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PROFESSIONAL
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They have transport and
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within easy commuting distance of the town. Excellent
References Supplied, please
contact us on 023 - 8831992
or 086 2454823 if you think
you have a property which
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3 & 4 Bedroomed Property
Required Rosscarbery,
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contact immediately to
arrange appointment to view
if you have a property that
might suit.
Dunmore, Muckross,
Clonakilty
4 Bedroomed Detached
Property With Spectacular
Coastal Views. Oil Fire
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plus Solid Fuel Open
Fireplace. Fully Furnished
with all Modern
Conveniences. Large Garden
to the Front of the Property.
Available Immediately for
Long Term Rental, Price
Subject to Offer.
Professional Letting
of Long & Short Term Properties
Individual & Group Schemes
Reservations, Accounting,
Sales & Marketing
IF YOU HAVE A PROPERTY TO RENT
WHY NOT CONTACT US
Joseph Hodnett t/a West Cork Property Rentals
Tel:/Fax: 023 8831992 Mobile: 086 2454823
Email: [email protected]
www.westcork
propertyrentals.com
49
March 6 – April 2
people HOMES, INTERIORS & PROPERTY
Get in productive mood with
an inspiring home office
Move or Make Over
By Neville Knott
In association with Crown Paints
Hi Neville, I am making
the transition to working
from home in the coming
months and I need to
redecorate my study.
Previously, we have only
used the room for storing
books and our family computer so it’s very dull and
uncomfortable at the
moment. What would you
recommend to liven up the
space? Thanks.
It is often underestimated
the effect your immediate
environment can have on
your mood, but many studies
have proven that working in
lacklustre surroundings will
impair your work so I am
delighted that you are taking
the initiative to transform
your office.
As this room will now
function as your primary
work space, it is important
that you create the appropriate environment that will
allow you to work to the
best of your ability. To
begin, I would recommend
giving the room a new lease
of life with a fresh coat of
paint. Selecting the right
colours for a work environment is a great place to start.
That said, we must remember that your house is not an
office so it is crucial to find
a happy medium and make
the study both a comfortable
workspace and also a part of
your home. This can be done
with a carefully selected
colour palette.
Crown Paint’s
Wheatgrass from the
Breatheasy Matt range is a
beautiful colour and one of
my personal favourites for a
study setting. The neutrality
of this shade will help to
give you focus while you are
at work but it is also warm
so the room will feel comfortable and homely too! I
would suggest you paint the
trimmings and ceiling of the
room in a shade of white.
Milk White from Crown is
ideal and is available in
Quick Dry Gloss for trim
and Matt Emulsion for the
ceiling. This will bring a
bright and fresh atmosphere
to the room which is essential to stay alert while you
are at work.
Lighting is an important
factor to be considered in a
room that will be used primarily for reading and writing, so plan carefully to
avoid strain on eyes. Ideally,
natural light is the best
source and I would recommend that your desk is positioned beside the window to
allow full use of any natural
light.
Recessed lighting can
provide illumination for the
entire room and should be
carefully placed so it highlights the complete workplace.
Clearing the room of any
unnecessary clutter is an
essential step in this process
for both decorative and practical reasons. This will give
you clarity of mind and will
also allow the room to function better as a workspace.
Introduce some subtle pops
of colour in your favourite
We must remember that your house
is not an office so it is crucial to
find a happy medium and make the
study both a comfortable workspace and also a part of your home.
shades through furnishings
and accessories.
To make the room your
own, personalise your office
with an interesting piece of
artwork and perhaps frame a
couple of your favourite
photos of family or friends.
I find these little touches
help with inspiration. Add a
notice board for your
favourite cut-outs to further
inspire.
I hope this helps and
happy decorating!
Neville
To receive regular updates
and design tips from Neville,
simply log onto www.crownpaints.ie
50
March 6 – April 2
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people SPORT & FITNESS
Ballydehob
10k 2015
The Ballydehob 10k has
become a fixed event on the
West Cork running calendar,
coinciding with St Patrick’s
weekend. The fifth running of
this event takes place at 11am
on Sunday, March 15 with
another great turnout expected.
The race is run on quiet
rural roads, making it an
almost car-free event. With
stunning views over Rossbrin
harbour and the finish overlooked by the majestic 12
arch bridge at Ballydehob,
this is a great event for locals
and visitors alike. Several
international visitors in West
Cork for St Patrick’s weekend also take part in the race.
The Ballydehob 10k with
its Athletics Ireland permit
welcomes runners and walkers of all ages and abilities.
The 3km section is perfect
for children and families, giving everyone the opportunity
to take part.
New in 2015 is the West
Cork Business 10k
Challenge. Whether you are a
pub, garage, shop, office, factory, or large organisation,
this is your chance to race as
a team. Gather three friends
or employees together and
challenge other businesses in
your community.
As always the first 100
across the line will be awarded one of the coveted
Ballydehob 10k t-shirts
For further details and registration information please
check out www.ballydehob10k.com.
Martial artists honoured
A
n awards ceremony in
February honoured
the achievements of
County Cork’s martial artists,
two of whom are from West
Cork. Lily De La Cour of
Bantry Kickboxing Club
claimed the CMAP Senior
Female Competitor of the
year award 2014 and Lloyd
Manning from Macroom,
Muskerry Judo/Sambo Club
took the CMAP Senior Male
Competitor of the year award
2014.
Set up by Kinsale man
Leonard Coughlan in 2012,
the CMAP awards aim to
applaud the hard work and
discipline required of successful participants. Leonard
runs an academy of Tae
Kwon Do Schools in Bandon
and Mahon. It was the hard
work and dedication of kickboxing coach Ian Kingston
from Drimoleague that
inspired him to establish
these awards three years ago.
Ian has been an Irish national
coach for the past seven
years. “Ian had so many
fighters winning titles and
there was no recognition for
the work he put in as a
coach,” explains Leonard.
“Even though it wasn’t him
personally winning the
awards, Ian has dedicated
over 30 years of his life to
martial arts and his students.
One success story can inspire
another and one coach can
have a positive effect on
many lives. He deserved the
inaugral CMAP Coach of the
Year Award.” There are now
12 awards given out at the
CMAP ceremony each year.
Bantry’s Lily De La Cour
(20), coached by Ian
Kingston, holds 11 All
Ireland kickboxing titles and
two WAKO World and
European junior titles. She
started her senior career three
years ago, kicking her way to
victory last year winning the
WAKO Best Fighter World
Cup in Italy.
Kickboxing since the age
of seven, Lily is extrememly
disciplined, committing most
of her time to the sport. “I
wouldn’t do it if I didn’t love
it. I am very competitive person too, so it is great to
achieve what I want to
achieve in that respect,” she
says.
Lily is aiming high for
2015. Winning the senior All
Ireland championships, getting on the senior Irish team,
and winning a medal at the
WAKO championships at the
end of the year are all part of
her plan for the year ahead. “I
can’t think past that for now,”
she says.
“Lily trains really hard;
she’s got a great attitude and
is highly motivated and very
dedicated to her sport. She’s a
team player as well and helps
out at the club. We’re looking
forward to the first leg of
nationals and then representing Ireland at the World
championships in Dublin in
November,” says coach Ian
Kingston.
Macrooms’s Lloyd
Manning, Muskerry
Judo/Sambo Club, has
entered the Battle Zone
Fighting Championships cage
twice, finishing his opponents
on both occasions by submission and knockout. Manning
is no stranger to success having won seven medals in the
National Judo Championships
(three gold, one silver, three
bronze) and eight medals in
International tournaments in
this discipline (three gold,
three silver, two bronze).
The CMAP award winners
for 2014 were:
Sensei Brian Toomey,
Fermoy Karate Club winner
of the CMAP Community
Spirit of the year award 2014.
Artur Dziadkowiec originally from Poland now living
in Middleton, who runs the
Institute of Krav Maga HQ in
Togher, Cork winner of the
CMAP Instructor of the year
award 2014.
Lloyd Manning from
Macroom, training at the
Muskerry Judo/Sambo Club,
winner of the CMAP Senior
Male Competitor of the year
award 2014.
Spartan Muay Thai
Ballincollig winner of the
CMAP Club of the year
award 2014 accepted by
Seamus Cogan and John
Kelly.
Jasmin Creed, Mahon
Taekwon-Do Academy winner of the CMAP Junior
Female Competitor of the
CMAP Senior Female competitor of the year, Lily de La Cour
from the West Cork Kickboxing Club with Soprano Elaine
Canning who presented the award.
Pic. John Allen
year 2014 (age 16).
Liam-Og Griffin, Straight
Blast Gym (SBG) Cork City
winner of the CMAP
Ambassador of the year
award 2014.
Master Don Dalton originally from Tralee, now living
in Berrings, President of the
Irish United Taekwon-do
Federation, and winner of the
CMAP Hall of Fame inductee
award 2014.
Lily De La Cour of Bantry,
West Cork Kickboxing Club
winner of the CMAP Senior
Female Competitor of the
year award 2014.
Jimmy Crockett, Cork City
Judo Club winner of the
CMAP Life time achievement
award 2014.
Ryan Sheehan, Siam
Warriors Muay Thai Cork
City winner of the CMAP
Junior Male Competitor of
the year award 2014 (age 17).
Liam Beechinor from
Douglas, Brazilian Jiujitsu
Cork winner of the CMAP
Coach of the year award
2014.
The community spirit
award went to Sensei Brian
Toomey, whose wheelchair
karate student Paudge Deehan
describes him as “a fabulous
human being with a passion
for his sport.’” Brian’s dream
is to see Wheelchair Karate
make it as a paralympic sport.
“The problem is often
‘Ego’ gets in the way, but the
real sport, the art, is to better
yourself as a person.” These
wise words of Master Don
Dalton seemed to be evident
in all of the recipients on the
night.
51
March 6 – April 2
people SPORT & FITNESS
Clon AFC news
lonakilty AFC 1st
advanced to the final of
the WestCorkLeague
C
Kilmeen &
Kilbree
Easter Camp
& Cul Camp
The club’s Easter Camp will
take place this year from
April 7-9, in Rossmore. The
inaugural event last year was
a huge success with over
eighty children taking part.
The annual Cul Camp will
take place form July 20-24
(inclusive). This event has
been growing from strength
to strength over the past number of years. Last year over
one hundred and twenty children took part in a week of
fun-filled activities.
Both of these camps will
build on the success of the
“Kilmeen Kubs” initiative.
The school nursery programme delivers intensive
coaching to younger club
members from November to
March. These youngsters will
get the opportunity to showcase their skills during both
of these camps, together with
the under 8 and under 10
blitzes, which will commence
shortly.
Should anyone require further information in relation to
both club camps, please contact (087) 9645831.
Maybury's Coaches Parkway
Hotel League Cup on Sunday
last with a narrow victory over
1st division Leeside at
Inchydoney. A.F.C. were much
the better side in the opening
half and had a number of decent
opportunities before eventually
taking the lead on the half hour
mark. A long pass from Ethan
Draper from the right side of
midfield found Aidan
Pendlebury just inside the penalty area, his first touch took him
away from the defender and he
slid a left footed shot under the
advancing keeper.
Having a number of good
opportunities to extend their
lead, most notably when Dave
McCarthy had a shot cleared off
the line and Aidan Pendlebury
headed just over the bar from 10
yards A.F.C. entered the break
still with the 1-0 advantage.
The opening period of the
2nd half was a scrappy affair
with both sides finding it difficult to pass accurately on a rapidly deteriorating pitch. Leeside
scored with their first attempt in
the game when a mazy dribble
down the left centre of the pitch
left the A.F.C. defence in disarray and a chip to the back post
found an unmarked striker
whom headed over keeper Mike
Sullivan. Almost immediately
A.F.C. regained the lead when
an Aidan Pendlebury shot from
the edge of the area was parried
into the path of Gearoid Calnan
who slid in to finish from close
range.
Both sides had half chances
in the remainder of the game but
neither was able to capitalise
seeing A.F.C. advance to their
first final 4 years. Clonakilty
A.F.C. deserved to win this
game as they were out of sight
in the first half, and showed
their resilience in the 2nd half to
hold off a spirited Leeside side.
Ethan Draper at centre half epitomised this resilience with a
man of the match display.
Team: Mike Sullivan, Chris
McCarthy, James Horan, Ethan
Draper, Dave McCarthy, Paudi
Horan, Colin Lynch, Jacub
Kiminiak, Aidan Pendlebury,
Martin White and Gearoid
Calnan. Subs: Chris Collins, Ian
O Driscoll, Shane O Donavan,
Oliver McCreesh and Ferdia
McCarthy.
Clonakilty U-18s quest for
the WestCorkLeague U-18
Premier Div title suffered a
blow when Bunratty stuck late
in an entertaining encounter at
Inchydoney.
A.F.C. U18 started well and
created the first presentable
chance in the fifth minute when
Oisin Byrne fired just wide of
the near post from the left centre
of the penalty area after good
set up play by Damien Madden.
In a very even contest both
teams found it difficult to penetrate until the half hour mark
when Bunratty defender T
Newman pounced on a cleared
corner and belted the ball into
the top left hand corner from 30
yards. This goal rocked the
A.F.C. youngsters and they were
thankful to David Kiely a few
minutes later when he dived low
to his left to keep out a powerful
effort from the edge of the area.
Halftime 1-0 to Bunratty.
A.F.C. emerged for the 2nd
half a much more determined
outfit and scored a fantastic
team goal a few minutes in to
make it 1-1. In a patient passage
of play that involved most team
members the ball eventually
made its way to Ferdia
McCarthy on the left wing midway inside Bunratt's half, he cut
inside and dribbled to the edge
of the area and his angled pass
found Damien Madden 10 yards
out and he made no mistake
with a cool finish into the far
corner.
A.F.C. were in the ascendancy for most of the remainder
and had their best chance with
10 minutes to go when a
throughball by Chris Collins
found Oisin Byrne in acres of
space on the edge of the penalty
area but he sliced his shot narrowly wide of the near post.
A.F.C. were to pay for their
profligacy in the final minute
when a tame shot from the edge
of the area deflected off a
defender and past a wrong footed David Kiely and squirmed
over the line to give Bunratty
the victory.
A.F.C. were unlucky to lose
what was a very even yet enter-
taining affair, but the title is still
in their own hands albeit having
to win their final 2 games to
stay alive. Best for A.F.C. U18’s
was Chris Collins who put in a
commanding display in centre
midfield. Damien Madden and
Ferdia McCarthy also put in
impressive performances.
Team: David Kiely, Ciaran
Murphy, Paul Daly, Shane O
Sullivan, Ger Crowley, Ryan
Doonan, Chris Collins, Martin
Connolly, Ferdia McCarthy,
Damien Madden and Oisin
Byrne.
Clonakilty A.F.C. U-14s
moved into the quarter-finals of
the Supervalu West Cork School
Boys League U-14 Cup with an
emphatic victory over
Kilmichael at Ballyvackey.
Goals from Adam Hunt, Cillian
Keane with 2 and Dean Harte 2
put them in a commanding 5-0
lead at halftime. The 2nd half
mirrored the 1st in terms of
A.F.C. domination but they
could only add 2 more to their
haul with Gearoid O Donavan
grabbing a brace. Best for
A.F.C. was Cathal Sheehy with
Joe Edmead and Fred Pawsey
also putting in excellent performances.
Clonakilty A.F.C. team wear
now available go to clonakiltyafc.com Click on linksmerchandise- chose item on
Club page and enter code
jako30 for discount.
Quality Hotel Clonakilty West Cork Rally
here is now just over a
week to go to the Quality
Hotel Clonakilty West
Cork Rally and each of the categories (Main Field, Historics
and Juniors) are at capacity with
over 200 entries received in
total.
The rally is the second round
of the Clonakilty Blackpudding
Irish Tarmac Rally
Championship (its first time as a
full counting round), and this
has had a positive impact with
competitors coming from all
over the island of Ireland as
well as the UK and the US.
Last year’s winner and cur-
T
rent tarmac championship leader
Donagh Kelly is back to defend
his crown in his Ford Focus and
having also won in Birr recently
is on a great run of form. Kelly
will be challenged strongly by
the likes of Declan Boyle the
current tarmac champion, Sam
and Josh Moffett, Daragh
O’Riordan and Melvyn Evans.
Stephen, Wright, Jonny Greer
and Joe McGonigle are the top
R5 contenders while Group N
should see a battle between the
likes of Aaron McHale,
Brendan Cumiskey, Stephen
Carey and Brian O’Keeffe
among others.
As always the modified battle
should be intense with Declan
Gallagher, Gary Kiernan, Phil
Collins, Adrian Hetherington
and Wesley Patterson part of a
large and competitive list.
The Historic Rally has a very
high quality field with drivers
such as Ernie Graham, Denis
Moynihan, Gareth Lloyd and
James O’Mahony among the
entry while the Junior category
is also very well supported.
Entries will still be accepted in
all categories however.
There will be fourteen stages
in this year’s event, four stages
repeated on the first day with
service after every two stages.
Sunday will see three stages
repeated, with service after the
first loop of three stages. The
service park will be in the
grounds of Darrara Agricultural
College as usual while Parc
Ferme will be at the Model
Railway village.
The action gets underway at
10.45am on Saturday March 14
with the first car due back that
evening at approximately
5.30pm. The Sunday action gets
underway at 10.30am and the
first car is due at the finish ramp
around 4.15pm. For those
intending to marshal, a list of
meeting points is available on
www.westcorkrally.com as well
as contact details for the Chief
Marshal Edel Fahy.
Programmes for the event
should be available from
Saturday March 7 and a list of
outlets will be provided on
www.westcorkrally.com and
www.corkmotorslub.com. This
year’s programme will contain
an eight page supplement dedicated to last year’s event
designed in the style of the book
“The West Cork Rally – A
History” by Kevin O’Driscoll,
which can be detached and
added to the book.
Ballineen firefighter presented with coveted Guinness World Record
ord Mayor of Cork, Cllr.
Mary Shields last month
presented Cork firefighter Alex O’Shea, who lives in
Ballineen, with a coveted
Guinness World Record award
at a special event held in City
Hall, Cork.
Completing a 26.2-mile, full
marathon distance is a major
achievement for most people
but to do it in full firefighters
uniform on a particularly warm
day is a real test of strength of
character and fitness. Alex was
wearing steel-toed boots, fire-
L
retardant pants and a firefighting jacket, as well as his 3lb
firefighter’s helmet and visor
and completed the full Cork
City marathon distance in a
time of three hours 41 minute
and 10 seconds, which was an
amazing fifty eight minutes
quicker than the previous
record. Incredibly, this was also
Alex’s very first Marathon.
The Lord Mayor congratulated Alex on his achievement
saying that she was very proud
of him, the city was very proud
of him and it’s an honour for
Cork to have their very own
Guinness World Record holder.
The Lord Mayor commended
the work that Alex and his colleagues do on a daily basis.
Alex also raised much-appreciated funds for the Irish Guide
Dogs for the Blind and another
cause close to his heart —
BEDA Ballineen Enniskeane
playground development fund.
As a father of four, children all
under six years-of-age, ensuring
that kids have a safe and fun
place to play outdoors is high
on his list of priorities.