Siobhan Peoples and Murty Ryan - the Leipzig Waltz

Siobhán Peoples and Murty Ryan play the Leipzig Waltz on TG4. Posted on Youtube on the 21st of March 2009 by Peter Corfield.

Martin Hayes & Dennis Cahill - Masters of Tradition USA Tour 2012

"Masters of Tradition USA Tour 2012. Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill." Posted on Youtube on the 18th of March 2013 by Matt Purcell.

Street Life (Shannon & Kilrush Youth Groups)

"A project run by Shannon and Kilrush Youth groups with John Lillis Music. Check it Out!" Posted on Youtube on the 20th of December 2012 by ClareYouthService.

Launch of Guinness world record attempt for the largest tin whistle ensemble (in Ennis)

"Guinness world record for the largest tin whistle ensemble to be held in Abbey Street car park, Ennis, on Friday the 21st June 2013." Posted on Youtube on the 26th of January 2013 by malbay1.

Quin - County Clare

"Although quite a small village, Quin, located about 15 minutes drive from Ennis, is home to a number of interesting tourist attractions and is certainly worth a visit.The River Rine offers fishing enthusiasts a year-round fishing opportunity while there are a number of historical attractions located in the vicinity of the village that are must-sees on your visit to County Clare." Posted on Youtube on the 7th of January 2013 by mydesinationvideo.

Harp at The Cliffs of Moher

Posted on Youtube on the 20th of March 2013 by pierre-charles martini.

Orange Prize 2013 longlist

Twenty novels have been longlisted for the Woman’s Fiction Prize for 2013, previously known as the Orange Prize for Fiction. Novels by well established writers such as previous Orange prize winners Barbara Kingsolver and Zadie Smith have been nominated alongside six debut novels. Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel, which has already won the 2103 Man Booker Prize and The Costa Book of the Year awards, features on the list. Gone Girl, Gillian Flynn’s thriller about a marriage gone terribly wrong, is a popular choice on the longlist having sold over two million copies to date. The shortlist will be announced on 16 April with the winner of the £30,000 prize announced on 5th June. Past winners have included Lionel Shriver, Marilynne Robinson, Téa Obreht and Madeline Miller, who won the Prize in 2012 with her novel The Song of Achilles. For further information see http://www.womensprizeforfiction.co.uk/2013-prize/longlist

Clare Communities Urged To Show Pride of Place

Clare County Council is inviting local communities, projects and housing estates to participate in the “Pride of Place” competition 2013. Proposals are currently being invited from groups who wish to seek nomination to the annual all-island competition, which is run by Co-operation Ireland in conjunction with local authorities north and south of the border. Clare was represented in last year’s Pride of Place by the Clare Sports Partnership and Cuimhneamh and Chláir. The County’s last success in the competition came in 2011 when the Clare Crusaders Children's Clinic received an award under the Community Health Initiative category. If nominated by Clare County Council to compete in the all-island competition, judging for ‘Pride of Place 2013’ will take place between June, July or August. Community group winners, runners up and special award recipients receive a trophy and small monetary prize at a special awards ceremony, in Derry next November. “Pride of Place aims to recognise and celebrate the vital contributions that communities make to society along with generating awareness, respect and inclusion for every facet of society,” explained Nicola Cullinan, Pride of Place Coordinator in Clare. Ms. Cullinan added: “In Clare, we have a wealth of community focused groups and projects that provide services in keeping with the aims and objectives of Pride of Place. Participating local communities have benefited greatly from their experiences as the competition has provided them with an excellent opportunity to highlight the elements of their areas that they have civic pride in, and gave them a platform to showcase the work they are doing on a continual basis.” Clare County Council may nominate one group only per category, providing the total number nominated does not exceed five. The nine categories include Tourism Diaspora Project, Enterprise and Youth, Community Arts, Housing Estates, (Theme Categories), up to 200 people, between 200-500 people, between 500-1000 people, between 1000-2000 people, and in excess of 2,000 (Population Categories). Population Categories will be assessed on Community Participation, Impact on Community / Area and Overall impression. Themed Categories will be judged on Impact on Community, Innovation, Sustainability, Local Leadership, Management and Overall impression. Meanwhile, expressions of interest relating to the Housing Estates category will be assessed on Community Participation, Provision for the vulnerable, Level of engagement, Impact on Community, Community events and Overall Impression. Groups interested in being considered for nomination are asked to submit a written expression of interest, detailing their preferred Category with a typed A4 summary setting out their proposal to Nicola Cullinan, Pride of Place Coordinator, Tourism & Community Development Department, Clare County Council, New Road, Ennis, Co Clare. Further information on the all-island competition is available at prideofplace.cooperationireland.org. Closing date for receipt of proposals is 4.00pm on Thursday, 28th March 2013. Pride of Place was first piloted in the summer of 2003 and came from the Local Authority All-Island Steering Forum - a forum that encourages strategic, sustainable approaches to cross border co-operation.

National Famine Commemoration in Kilrush

Kilrush, County Clare, and its environs were among the areas worst hit by the Great Irish Famine between 1845 and the early 1850s. In the 1840s, half a century before the introduction of Local Authorities, most local government and local taxation were devolved to the level of the Poor Law Union and placed in the hands of the local Boards of Guardians. In the Kilrush Union, which originally stretched all the way from Loop Head in the west to Quilty in the north to Killadysert in the east, the unpaid Guardians lost control of the situation during the famine. In November 1847, Captain Arthur Kennedy was appointed in an advisory capacity as Poor Law Inspector for Kilrush, where he remained until September 1850. His detailed reports documented the further deterioration of the situation, and the Guardians were stripped of their powers, which were transferred between April 1848 and November 1849 to two paid Vice-Guardians. Between December 1849 and February 1850, the Illustrated London News carried a lengthy seven-part series entitled Condition of Ireland: Illustrations of the New Poor-Law, illustrated by a total of eighteen sketches. The series and the sketches concentrated on the Poor Law Union of Kilrush, where the effects of famine were particularly harshly felt. These eighteen contemporary sketches are today by far the best recognised images of famine conditions in Ireland. Some or all of them have been reproduced in almost every general work on the Famine. The 2013 National Famine Commemoration will take place on Sunday 12th May on Frances Street in Kilrush. A full ten-day programme of events leading up to the National Famine Commemoration will begin on Friday 3rd May, including a series of lectures, walks, tours, re-enactments, theatre, music, exhibitions and local commemoration ceremonies. These events recall the impact of the Great Famine on the people and the landscape of the Kilrush Poor Law Union. There will be no cover charge for any of the events listed in this programme. Donation boxes for charities currently fighting famine around the world will be located at some venues.

Brochure of events...

Links:
Kilrush Union Minute Books 1849
Deaths and Staff in Kilrush and Ennistymon Workhouses 1850-51
Reports and Returns Relating to Evictions in the Kilrush Union (1847-1849)
The Famine in Clare from the Illustrated London News, 1849-50
Poverty before the Famine (examines Kilkee)

Poetry Slam in Scariff Library

Teen Week 2013 in Scariff Public Library ended on a high note with a session from poet Stephen Murray. Students from Scariff Community College were inspired in a highly interactive workshop to turn out poetry that Stephen classed as ‘outstanding and gorgeous’. Stephen engaged brilliantly with the group in a session that saw their confidence in producing poetry increase so much so, that by the end of the session many students had no problem in reading their poetry aloud. Other well attended events during the week included a careers workshop, a music workshop and a talk on the traditional buildings of Clare. Scariff Library’s teenage bookclub, whose numbers continue to grow, also met during the week to talk about their chosen book of the month.