Please head over there and show your support.

The concert, which still has no name (ideas welcome) will be held on October 29th in the Brogan Inn in Bandon. At the moment we are practising a barbershop song. It is quite challenging, but we’re having a lot of fun with it.

A quick poke around confirmed that it is built on the same fantastic WordPress foundation as this fine blog.

A certain person named Donncha O’Caoimh is one of the main developers of WordPress and just lives a few miles away in Blarney. Bandon is clearly commited to buying local. OK WordPress is free but you get my point!

The site is now much easier for Trevor and the crew to update regularly and most importantly of all, the site now has comments. This might seem a small thing to you but the importance of giving people the ability to have their voice heard online about local issues should never be underestimated.

The site is  a superb local community resource, so head on over right away and check out the new site. And leave a comment there!

p.s. if you are a Twitter user and want to keep abreast of updates on the new Bandon site, just follow @bandon there and it’ll automatically post a link any time there is a update.

The allotment garden is located in Cloughmacsimon – a short distance off the bypass, right behind Coláiste Na Toirbhirte.

Plots are available in 2 sizes 5x7m for €80pa or 5x10m for €100pa. There are plenty of plots available so call 023 8852922 or 087 9567452 or email bandontransition@gmail.com for more information.

Bandon Community Allotments Open Day Sunday 16th May 1.30 pm

Plenty of family entertainment on the day with music, face painting, fun games and competitions like Wellie Throwing, Wheelbarrow Races, Tug O War, Make your own Scarecrow, prizes and more.

All the details over on www.bandoncommunityallotments.com.

They are also at Transition Bandon on Facebook.

Well done to everyone involved in this!

Lots more photos over on Pix.ie.

Also the dog owned by one of the kids who was going to perform has gone missing. Please keep an eye out for a sheepdog in the Crossbarry area. If the same happens to you, I encourage you to post it on LostandFound.ie.

It’s on Friday the 26th of March in the GAA Hall in Bandon. Doors opening at 7.15, show starts at 8 sharp. It is not a fund raising event so tickets will be at the very affordable cost of €5 each.

The show will include:

• A DJ
• Singing & Music
• Magic and Tricks (both kids and adults)
• Bingo
• Dance & Comedy
• Raffle
• Street Dancers

There will be spot prizes between performances.

Sounds like a great fun night for all the family. You should start seeing signs for it around the town soon.

In association with Partnership for Change they are organising a Special Christmas Charity Screening for Bandon Flood Appeal on Wednesday 30th December 2009 in St Peters Church, Bandon at 8pm

The movie is one of my top 5 of all time, The Princess Bride, starring the angelic Robin Wright.

If you don’t live in Bandon, get into your car and drive here for this. If you don’t live in Ireland, fly here. The recent showing of the original Phantom of The Opera in St Peter’s was a tour-de-force.

Not only will you enjoy a genius movie but you’ll be helping by contributing to the Irish Red Cross and St Vincent De Paul.

Further Information Contact:
Declan Waugh Tel: 023-8841933 M: 086-3853363

We were lucky. Apart from the inconvenience of no phoneline and some bad leaks in a bay window, we managed to escape pretty unscathed.

If you have any detour tips for those trying to get in and out of West Cork, please leave them in the comments. This route was still working at 2pm yesterday so hopefully it’ll work for you. (Click on it for larger size):

Bandon had been doing a large marketing push for November. Now more than ever, we should shop locally and help those businesses get back on their feet.

It’s on 29th Jan 2010 in Bandon.

They also need an audio system if you know of anyone willing to loan for the night.

Mail me on conor@loudervoice.com if you want to help out and I’ll pass on your details.

The best way you can help the site is to make sure you let them know about everything that is happening in the town. It’s a resource by the community for the community.

Rough location here:

View Larger Map

I’ve put together a simple mini-blog for the event over here on Posterous. The aim is that people can upload information, pictures, videos etc very easily over the weekend.It has the full line-up for the two days and contact details too.

It’d be fantastic if you’d take part in this exercise. It’s as simple as emailing me on cwjoneill AT gmail DOT com. I then add you as an author on the blog and all you have to do is email text, pictures, videos, links etc to post@posterous.com and they will automatically appear! Yup, that easy. You can even do it from many phones.

So c’mon, Engage is about engaging with the arts and what better way to do that than to submit your experiences of the weekend and all the events by sending a wee email. If even that freaks you out as a technophobe, then just send the stuff to me and I’ll upload it for you.

Any questions, just leave em in the comments.

They are showing the 1925 version of PHANTOM OF THE OPERA with, and this is the genius bit, live organ accompaniment by Dr Eric Sweeney who is head of Music at Waterford School of Technology. Not only that, but they are showing it in a church. The atmosphere should be amazing!

It’s on in St Peter’s Church, Bandon on Friday, 25th September at 9pm. The film runs for 90mins. Tickets are only €10 and I think they are going to sell out well before time. Call the office on 087-1205022 or Film Society on 086-3689939.

Check it:

When you have a radio show that addresses a focused engaged specific audience, you would think that it would be a gift both for the broadcaster and those advertising to that audience. Thus C103′s decision to axe David Young’s “West Cork Today” programme frankly boggles the mind.

Radio broadcast licences have been a goldmine for companies like UTV over the past few years. But at the first sign of a downturn, it looks like they take the short term view and run for the hills? With those licences come legally binding terms and conditions.  Perhaps the BCI would like to use this case as an example to Comreg on how a regulator should actually conduct itself.

Having said all of that, the idea of one company having the sole rights to broadcast to a particular niche or geography belongs in the 20th century. The internet makes a mockery of this partitioning. If C103 is  unwilling to meet its customers’ needs then the customer needs to take back control.

I’ll be honest, I rarely listen to “live” radio any more. I download podcasts and music in which I am interested and then listen whilst driving with them playing back to my Lidl car stereo. Everything from food to technology to politics. Many of them are actually radio shows, mainly BBC Radio 4 and 5. I’d happily pay for a daily or weekly roundup of local West Cork information that I could listen to when it suited me, not the broadcaster.

How many of David Young’s listeners would be willing to pay maybe €3 a month to subscribe to an internet version of his show (and other West Cork programming)? Both live-streamed and available for download to iPods, mobile phones or PCs? Of course traditional broadcast is the most efficient way to get to the maximum number of people but needs must when the devil vomits into your kettle (to quote Edmund Blackadder).

I’m shooting them a quick email now about doing a blog and email list.