collins.harper.lane at The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon

collins.harper.lane at The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon
16th October – 11th November. Official opening Saturday 16th October at 5pm by New York artist Doris Staal.

The upcoming exhibition ‘collins.harper.lane’ will be launched at the Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon on Saturday 16th of October at 5 pm by Doris Staal. Artists John Collins, Charles Harper and John Lane will present a selection of brand new works with the show running until November 11th 2010. Travelling from America’s east coast to officially open proceedings is New York artist Doris Staal who has spent almost every summer sketching and painting along Ireland’s western coastline and is honoured to return in this official capacity to open the show. Doris Staal is a lecturer at the National Academy & School of Fine Arts, New York City, and her work is included in the print collection of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, amongst others.

John Collins is a Limerick artist whose works are instantly recognisable as his composition continues to be dominated chiefly in red and white settings. Primarily, a self taught artist, he also studied art at LSAD and his works are part of private collections in Ireland, England, France and the United States. Charles Harper is retired Head of Fine Art at LSAD and while lecturing at the Limerick campus was a founding member of Aosdana. He was the initiating dynamism behind ev+a, Limerick‘s annual international arts exhibition, and is a council member of the Royal Hibernian academy and a member of Limerick Printmakers. John Lane is a local artist, born and raised in Ennis Co Clare. After studying art in Limerick and Sligo John ended up homeless for a short spell, coming out of this stronger and more positive.

The Courthouse Gallery, Ennistymon, opening hours are:
Tuesday – Saturday from 12 – 5pm (June – Oct) and from 12 – 4pm (Nov – May) and the Gallery can also be contacted on 065 707 1630 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              065 707 1630      end_of_the_skype_highlighting or simply email: ennistymoncourthousegallery@gmail.com

Noel Hill & Tony Linnane - Dr Gilberts, Lady Gordon's & Farrell O'Gara

Clare musicians Noel Hill & Tony Linnane playing Dr Gilberts, Lady Gordon's and Farrell O'Gara. Posted on Youtube on the 3r March 2009 by k4hx1. More info...

Bushplant Live at Solfest 2009

Clare trad rock band Bushplant play the Drystone Stage at Solfest 2009 in Cumbria, UK. Bushplant host Bushfest, a celebration of 20 years together as a band, on Saturday 25th September at Johnno's, Doora. Video posted on Youtube on the 3rd of September 2009 by GerryDoyle1102. More info...

Medieval Irish Chancery Project - new Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters, c.1244–1509

The September issue of the Newsletter of the Irish Genealogical Research Society outlines the Irish Chancery Project. This project, which is funded by the Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences, seeks to reconstruct the records of the medieval Irish chancery, which were destroyed by the explosion and fire at the Four Courts in 1922. In the absence of the original rolls of chancery, the project team is drawing on copies, antiquarian transcripts and calendars ranging in date from the 14th to the 19th centuries and surviving in repositories in Ireland, England and North America. The result will be a new Calendar of Irish Chancery Letters, c.1244–1509 (known as CIRCLE), which will be published on the web. The publication of CIRCLE in June 2011 will do much to revitalize late medieval Irish studies by providing both specialist researchers and the general public with ready access to an unparalleled source of information for the first time. The project’s ancillary publications seek to set the medieval Irish experience of colonialism in a wider comparative framework. To mark the launch of CIRCLE, a major international conference will be held at Trinity College, Dublin (16–18 June 2011) on the theme of ‘Empires and Bureaucracy in European History’.

Phoenix Sister Cities International Competition For Artists with Disabilities 2010

Competition Fact Sheet:
Eligibility: Persons 19 years of age and older with a disability residing in the State of Arizona or one of Phoenix’s nine sister cities: Calgary, Canada; Catania, Italy; Chengdu, China; Ennis, Ireland; Grenoble, France; Hermosillo, Mexico; Himeji, Japan; Ramat-Gan, Israel; and Taipei, Taiwan.
Type of Art: Two dimensional watercolors, pastels, pen and ink, charcoal, photography, mixed media, and computer-generated art.
Size: No larger than 24”x30” (60cm x 75cm, including matting).
Theme: One World,One Place,One Home
Entry Fee: $15 per entrant residing in Arizona; no fee for contestants residing in Phoenix Sister Cities.
Judging: A panel of judges will evaluate entries on the basis of theme interpretation, composition and originality.
Due Date: October 1, 2010. Although the official October 1, 2010 deadline for submitting entries is looming, art work that is received by Friday, October 29, 2010 will be accepted.
Prizes: $500 first place; $300 second place and $150 third place as well as plaques. A certificate of participation to all entrants.
Packing and Shipping: Art should be well-protected for shipment and shipped so that it reaches Phoenix by the contest due date. Please send art to: AICCD 4545 N. 36th St. Suite 125A Phoenix, AZ 85018
Awards Event: Friday evening November 5, 2010 in Phoenix.
Contact Person: Mary Jane Trunzo at mjtrunzo@mindspring.com
Click here for more info and application form…

Bobby Gardiner and Johnny McDonagh, 1982

Bobby Gardiner, Clare, melodeon, & Johnny McDonagh, Galway, bodhrán, playing the jig The Humours of Glendart and the reel The Swallow's Tail on RTE's SBB Ina Shuí programme on the 15th February 1982. Posted on Youtube on the 7th of February 2009 by k4hx1.

Ennis Musical Society recruiting for Oliver!

Ennis Musical Society is recruiting for cast and chorus for the March 2011 production of Oliver! with an Open Night for adults on Wednesday 22nd September at the Old Ground Hotel. Auditions will also take place for adult cast at 8pm on Thursday 7th October at the Holy Family School Hall, with auditions for boys and girls aged 8 plus on Sunday 10th October at the Holy Family School Hall between 2.30pm and 5.30pm. More info from Jonathan 0862116108 and www.ennismusicalsociety.com

Tony Mac Mahon, Barney McKenna & Micho Russell in Ennis c 1977

"Tony Mac Mahon, Barney McKenna & Micho Russell. Recorded in Ennis,County Clare around 1977.". Posted on Youtube on the 8th February 2008 by clarebannerman.

The Blue Sofa Project, Lahinch.

"I did this nearly 3 years ago sometime during summer. It was kind of a just do it moment where i had my gear and it was a good day and me and my friend Matt had this Blue Sofa. We decided to set it up on the Prom in Lahinch and asked everyone who walked pass to jump in for a photo with Matt & Sally the dog.. :) We got to meet so many different people in this project. It was brilliant. I'm hoping to do a bigger and better version some time soon." Posted on Youtube on the 10th of November 2010 by DavidOlsthoornPhotog.

Irish Hospice Coffee Morning in Killaloe Library

The recent Killaloe Public Library Irish Hospice Coffee Morning was a huge success. Fifty plus attended the event and enjoyed cakes and scones. We would like to thank everyone for their support.

Lahinch Golf Club, Hidden Links Golf Tours

Video segment from the Hidden Links Golf Guide to Ireland featuring Lahinch Golf Club in County Clare and its historic "Dell" and "Klondyke" holes. Narrated by Renton Laidlaw. Copyright Hidden Links, Inc. Posted on Youtube on the 6th of June 2008 by HiddenLinks.

Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering at Coole Park

The 16th annual Lady Gregory Autumn Gathering runs from September 24th to 26th. The gathering will be opened by the writer’s great-great-grand-daughter, Julia Kennedy, with the novelist Jennifer Johnston giving the opening address. The event takes place at Coole Park, in Gort, Co Galway. Though her home there is long gone, its historic walled garden still has the "autograph tree" where Yeats, Shaw, O’Casey, Synge and George Moore carved their initials, marking Coole Park out as the centre of the Irish Literary Revival in the early 20th century. The gathering kicks off with a visit on Friday 24th to nearby Tulira Castle, home of the playwright Edward Martyn. A guided walk through Coole Park woods on Saturday will be followed by a documentary film about Lady Gregory and Coole Park. On Sunday there will be a visit to Doorus House where Gregory, Martyn and Yeats first met. For further details see http://www.coolepark.ie/events/index.php

The Booker Six

The six shortlisted titles for the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction were announced on September 7th.
The six books, selected from the longlist of thirteen, are:
Parrot and Olivier in America by Peter Carey
Room by Emma Donoghue
In a Strange Room by Damon Galgut
The Finkler Question by Howard Jacobson
The Long Song by Andrea Levy
C by Tom McCarthy

Chair of judges Andrew Motion, comments:
"It's been a great privilege and an exciting challenge for us to reduce our longlist of thirteen to this shortlist of six outstandingly good novels. In doing so, we feel sure we've chosen books which demonstrate a rich variety of styles and themes - while in every case providing deep individual pleasures." Australian author Peter Carey is one of only two authors to have won the prize twice, in 1988 for Oscar and Lucinda and in 2001 for True History of the Kelly Gang. Should he win this year, he would become the only author to have won three times. South African author Damon Galgut has previously been shortlisted for his book The Good Doctor in 2003 and Howard Jacobson has been longlisted twice before for his novels Kalooki Nights in 2006 and Who's Sorry Now? in 2002. The winner of the 2010 Man Booker Prize for Fiction will be announced on Tuesday 12 October at a dinner at London's Guildhall and will be broadcast on BBC TV, radio and online. The winner will receive a cheque for £50,000 and worldwide recognition. Last year's winning novel, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel, has now sold over half a million copies in the UK alone. The Man Booker Prize App is now free to download from the App Store to an Apple iPhone or iPod Touch. For further information see www.themanbookerprize.com/

Mary MacNamara & Martin Hayes

Mary MacNamara & Martin Hayes from East Clare on concertina & fiddle, RTE, 9th March 1981. Reels: John Naughton's Reel & Tommy Coen's Reel. Posted on Youtube on 2nd January 2009 by k4hx1.

Ireland – Dig It! - Time travel adventure show on RTÉ2

RTÉ 2 Every day at 5pm from Monday 20th to Friday 24th September.

Ireland – Dig It! the time travel adventure show starts on RTÉ2 on Sept 20th. This fast paced series challenges kids both mentally and physically in an exciting, fun-filled voyage through Ireland’s ancient history. The exploits include code-breaking, trading with Vikings, building Stone Age pots, racing through primeval forest and building portal tombs, all tests that take our intrepid competitors on an archaeological roller coaster ride! In each programme three teams of three from all over the country get transported back in time to help the brilliant, but slightly batty, archaeologist Professor Gertrude McNulty who accidentally released Uafás, an evil time bandit, from his ancient prison. The winning teams from four shows join Gertrude in the Grand Final where they will return Uafás to his tomb, trapping him for all eternity! Each episode of the location-based series is set in a different period of Irish history, the Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age and Viking Ireland. The series was filmed in Local Authority Museums around the country – County Museum Dundalk, Cavan County Museum, Waterford Museum of Treasures and Limerick’s Hunt Museum, as well as in the amazing Craggaunowen Heritage Park in County Clare. More info www.rte.ie/irelanddigit

See also Dig It at Clare Museum

A Flutter on the Booker

Emma Donoghue’s Room is the favourite to win the 2010 Booker prize according to bookmaker Paddy Power. Paddy Power would expect a total stake of about €100,000 annually on book related bets, a figure which is growing annually. The presence of controversial or well-known authors on shortlists increases interest. Bets are being placed on such book related issues as unit sales of Peter Andre's biography versus Katie Price's, or sales of Dan Brown's The Lost Symbol. The bookmaker is offering odds of 4/1 for Seamus Heaney and 11/4 for Sinead Morrissey to win the 2010 Forward Poetry Prize for Best Collection. According to The Bookseller magazine, spokesperson Ken Robertson recalls that Paddy Power's largest literary loss so far was at the 2005 Man Booker, when the bookie offered unfavourable odds of 8/1 on eventual winner John Banville's The Sea - losing £17,000 in the process. Paddy Power recently opened a book on first week sales of Tony Blair's A Journey, offering 5/2 odds on the units sold being between 27,501 and 30,000 copies or in excess of 30,000 copies. According to Robertson, "over the past week we've noticed that quite a high percentage of [online] punters betting on the Tony Blair book are people who have opened new accounts" i.e. non-traditional gamblers. Paddy Power is currently accepting bets on events as disparate as the next Irish president and the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize and the Stirling Prize for Architecture. The Bookseller reports that up to half a million pounds a year is currently being waged betting on literary prizes in the UK. Graham Hill, a spokesperson for William Hill bookmakers said "It's probably not the same people who bet on the World Cup, but that's the whole point of the exercise. It's people who wouldn't normally have come across it. It does attract an audience we would never normally get to”. More info…

Bord Gáis Energy online book club

Bord Gáis Energy has launched an online book club which aims to deliver something for every reader, whether you are a hopeless romantic, current affairs addict, cookery guru or autobiographical fanatic. Bord Gáis Energy’s support of books and reading now encompasses the Irish Book Awards, Book of the Decade, and the Bord Gáis Energy Book Club on TV3’s Ireland AM and the Readiscover Your Local Library initiative. Featuring a rotating panel of reviewers which includes Bert Wright, administrator of the Irish Book Awards, a celebrity author and a librarian from one of the 369 public libraries around the country, the site features three book reviews each month which are selected to appeal to as broad an audience as possible. September sees David O’Brien of Bishopstown Library reviewing Skippy Dies by Man Booker Prize nominee Paul Murray. Celebrity author Amanda Brunker reviews fellow Irish author Patricia Scanlan’s number one best seller Forgive and Forget while Bert Wright reviews Kathryn Stockett’s novel The Help. More info at www.bordgaisenergybookclub.ie