Archive for 'Ireland'
Community Variety Show on March 26th in Bandon
Posted on March 6, 2010, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Entertainment, Ireland.
Every year the great people who run the Rosmini centre for adults with an intellectual disability organise a fun and interesting event to promote community integration and inclusion for everyone. This year they are organising a community variety show.
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.
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Learn about Twitter whilst having a nice glass of vino
Posted on February 22, 2010, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Drink, Entertainment, Ireland.
I know the whole Twitter thing is still completely alien to a lot of people. How many wondered what the hell the papers were on about when discussing Dan Boyle’s “tweet“?
Here’s a suggestion for dipping your toe in and getting a handle on it all. Karwig Wines in Carrigaline is running the third “Twebt” which is a Twitter wine-tasting competition (Bubble Brothers and Curious Wines ran the first two).
The idea is very simple. You get a bottle of wine from Joe and his gang in Karwig’s and it is wrapped up so you can’t see the label. At an agreed time, 9pm Sunday March 7th, people open the wine and start tasting it and putting their tasting notes up on Twitter.Then they start guessing the country, grape etc and maybe even the exact wine.
It’s a bit of fun and those taking part range from gurus to tipplers and everyone in between.
Full details on taking part are on Brian Clayton’s Blog and on the Karwig’s Blog. If you just want to watch what happens then you can see all the tweets in the run-up and on the night over at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23twebt.
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Flood Updates on Bandon.ie
Posted on November 22, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Ireland.
Trevor Collins is doing a phenomenal job over on the Bandon.ie blog with updates on the floods and plenty of guidance/links. If you live locally or travel through here, you need to be following it. If you are on Twitter, I auto-post links to all his posts over on twitter.com/bandon.
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In a choir? Available to sing in Bandon on Jan 29th?
Posted on November 17, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Entertainment, Family, Ireland.
I’ve just been contacted by a someone organising a lovely local event. They are looking for a folk choir or an upbeat church choir to get involved.
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.
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Good Wine Show Day 1 Fantastic!
Posted on November 14, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Drink, Food, Ireland.
We spent this evening in the Clarion Hotel in Cork attending the fantastic inaugural Good Wine Show, held by Curious Wines, Bubble Brothers and Karwig Wines.
I’m not going to say much, I’ll let all the videos I took do the talking. Suffice to say that €15 to sample over 100 fantastic wines plus cheese from On The Pigs Back, bread from Arbutus and amazing smoked Duck, Salmon and Chicken from Ummera is an absolute steal. So get on over to the Clarion tomorrow from 11am and have an absolute blast. We did!
Mike Kane and Joyce on the Curious Wines Stand:
And 13 more videos here.
A few badly taken pics here:
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Bandon Farmer’s Market now has a web-site
Posted on October 25, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, BandonFarmersMarket, Cork, Ireland.
I’m always happy to see local initiatives get an online presence to extend their reach. My attempt to create a blog for Bandon Farmer’s Market three years ago fell flat due to my lack of consultation with the standholders to ensure buy-in. So it is great to see the new site launch with all the details you need. Check it out here and don’t forget it is on every Saturday morning.
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Bandon.ie revamp
Posted on October 16, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Blogging, Cork, Ireland.
Trevor and crew have done a big revamp of the bandon.ie. Tons of useful information about the town and area and the beginnings of a local business directory. You should definitely be subscribed to the blog if you want the latest news. I push all their blog updates to Twitter here too.
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.
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Chambers Organic Pork from West Cork
Posted on October 15, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Food, Ireland.
I haven’t tried their meat yet but the thought of locally-reared organic pork has me salivating. They sell directly to the consumer and are based in Teadies near Enniskean. The pigs are a mix of Old Spots Gloucester & Saddleback. Give Liam a call on 086 604 1208 if you want to order. More details on their web-site.
Rough location here:
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Whatever way you are voting
Posted on September 27, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland, Politics.
You have to admit these are both great and show what a little imagination can do in political advertising.
Or if you want real belly-laughs just head over to Jim Corr’s site.
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I’m in Far Eastern Foodie Heaven
Posted on September 26, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Food, Ireland, Reviews.
The recent review of CX Oriental by Messy Chef was the final push I needed to check this place out today after months of saying I must. It’s just fantastic. If you have ever raved about Asia Market in Dublin, this is 10x better.
If you have driven past Kinsale Road Roundabout in the past few months you can’t have missed the huge signs for CX Oriental Cash and Carry. Whilst Cork has had the brilliant Mr Bell’s in The English Market for years, it suffers from lack of space and the awkwardness of getting to it so this morning I finally made the trip to the Cash and Carry.
It’s pretty easy to find. Head past Harvey Normans off the Kinsale Road Roundabout, take the left at the lights onto Tramore Road and watch out for the many signs. My first surprise (and relief) was that they take credit cards. My second was that they have a noodle bar restaurant there open 7 days a week which was hopping.
The place is massive. It starts with a lot of huge freezers filled with all sorts of fish, meat and desserts. I got some tiger prawns and some spring roll sheets.
The fresh produce area and fridge is small but jammed full of stuff you just won’t get elsewhere including veg I’ve never seen before, multiple types of tofu, chillis, enoki mushrooms, mangoes and drinks. The fresh fish section looked awesome too but I didn’t get anything today.
I put together a list of ingredients from Rick Stein’s new Far Eastern book and found everything on it with no problems. They also obviously sell in bulk to restaurants and had lots of the Musgraves type things like foil containers and cups, in addition to woks, chopsticks, strainers, steamers etc.
Not much else to say except if you are doing any sort of Far Eastern cooking then it will be hard to keep you away from the place. The value is also stunningly good compared to supermarkets.
Here are some pictures I took whilst shopping:
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BEST….MOVIE….IDEA….EVER And in Bandon!
Posted on September 12, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Entertainment, Family, Ireland.
Catherine FitzMaurice from Kilbrogan House just contacted me about an awesome night that is happening as part of the Engage Arts festival over the weekend of Sep 25th.
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:
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1911 Census full of gems
Posted on August 30, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Family, Ireland.
Margaret Jordan pointed out on Friday in Facebook that the 1911 Census data is now online. Ever since, a bunch of us have been searching and learning. I’ve been looking up O’Neill, ONeill, Neill, Flynn, Meaney, Foley, Doran, Wall and Walls to see which of my ancestors I could identify and send them on to my Mum and Dad.
I was thrilled to find this record of my Granny Mary, her parents and siblings. The first thing that jumped out at me was that my Grandaunt Dora was born Hanora. I wonder when it changed?
The census covers all 32 countries (obviously) and if you have any interest in history at all, you’ll spend hours digging into the data.
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New Dianne Curtin Web-site
Posted on August 25, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Food, Ireland.
Delighted to see that food writer Dianne Curtin has launched a new web-site. If you are into food, you should check it out. She has news, tips, recipes and podcasts already. Since the site is built on Drupal, I think we can expect lots more features to appear over time.
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We declare our resolve to pursue the happiness and prosperity of the whole nation
Posted on June 29, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Business, Commentary, Ireland.
I woke up this morning to read about Brian Cowen’s “Innovation” Taskforce and have spent since then utterly enraged.
In a time of crisis when men/women of vision and ability need to quickly agree a strategy and execute it with confidence, Brian Cowen assembles 28 people (plus the heads of Enterprise Ireland, IDA Ireland, Science Foundation Ireland, the Higher Education Authority and representatives from the departments of Education and Science, Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and Finance).
Yes my jaw hit the floor too.
A 40+ person talk-shop and travel expenses generator. That’s what Cowen and Coughlan think this country needs?
Because it’s worked so well in the past? Does the word agile mean anything to these people?
40+ people and two of them are women?
What century is this?
When Sean Lemass and T.K. Whitaker dragged this country kicking and screaming out of a hellhole from 1959 onwards, did they spend months (or years) prattling on with anyone who had on opinion?
I actually have a pain in my stomach with anger over this. These are our leaders? I’m not talking about C&C, I mean the committee. Did anyone who was asked say “NO, get a clue”? Did anyone who was asked question the utter stupidity of assembling this joke? Did anyone who was asked, reply “ENOUGH TALKING”.
Is there any senior person in the Irish Civil Service or Quango-sector who is tearing their hair out this morning and screaming in frustration too?
Yes? Then maybe it’s time for an alternative.
We need (possibly anonymously):
- 1 Senior Civil Servant, non-EI
- 1 Senior Civil Servant, EI
- 1 head of an FDI company with a large Irish operation in non-manufacture
- 1 head of a globally successful indigenous company
- 1 head of a startup
- 1 politician with a business or financial background
2 months. 3 max.
Outcome – a disruptive plan to rebuild the Irish economy and the business environment in a sustainable way around the idea of Constructive Capitalism. And a marketing plan to go with it. If our leaders won’t lead then it’s time to subvert from the bottom-up.
This type of thinking:
Umair Haque @ Daytona Sessions vol. 2 – Constructive Capitalism from Daytona Sessions on Vimeo.
and this:
Anyone? Anyone?
conor AT loudervoice DOT com
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West Cork Literary Festival Update
Posted on June 22, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Entertainment, Ireland, Kids.
Just in from the people organising the West Cork Literary Festival:
PJ Lynch, one of the most celebrated children’s book illustrators, will give a special Children’s Talk on Monday 6th July, as part of the West Cork Literary Festival. He will also give a Public Interview with Robert Dunbar on the evening of July 6th.
PJ has won numerous awards including the Mother Goose Award, the Christopher Medal, three times, and the prestigious Kate Greenaway Medal on two occasions, first for “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” by Susan Wojciechowski, and again for “When Jessie Came Across the Sea” by Amy Hest. “The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey” has sold more than a million copies in the United States alone, and has recently been made into a motion picture starring Tom Berenger and Joely Richardson.
PJ has designed several sets of stamps for An Post, including four Christmas issues. His illustrated version of “The Gift of the Magi” by O Henry is published in October 2008, and PJ is now working on a book about Abraham Lincoln by Rosemary Wells for publication in 2009. He lives in Dublin with his wife and their three young children. His work can seen on his website www.pjlynchgallery.com
As well as Free children’s workshops ranging from creating a picture to reading and drawing, the Bantry based Festival, supported by RTÉ lyric fm, has a host of children’s talks and readings.
Francesca Simon, creator of the “Horrid Henry” books will read from these on July 7th. Saturday 11th sees an afternoon with writer, television presenter and artist, Don Conroy.
On Wednesday July 8th Sarah Webb will read from her novel “Amy Green, Teen Agony Queen: Boy Trouble” while Judi Curtin will read a selection from her “Alice” series of children’s novels. Sarah has written four children’s books as well as eight bestselling novels including, “When the Boys Are Away”. Judi’s first novel for children, “Alice Next Door”, was published in 2005. One of Thursday’s highlights is a reading by Darren Shan. Darren will read from a selection of his children’s novels which are incredibly popular – selling many millions – J.K. Rowling is one of his more famous fans. For anyone who would like to learn the secret to Writing For Children, poet and author John W Sexton will advise on the subject in a workshop during the festival.
West Cork Literary Festival Booking is on 027 55987 email: info@westcorkliteraryfestival.ie
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Ivan asks – Can we feed ourselves?
Posted on June 16, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Business, Food, Ireland.
Deeply important piece by Ivan on food security and our future. Don’t just read it, leave your thoughts too.
The ability of a country to feed itself and have a sustainable agri-business must surely have been a major motivator of Reddy Brennan and his team in Avonmore in the early 1970s. A man of great vision with incredible negotiation skills, he is one of the heroes of Irish industry. Our family will always be grateful to him. Reddy Brennan 1924-2009, RIP.
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We must never forget
Posted on May 26, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland.
Via Twenty. As he said, no words from us necessary.
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New Competition For Amateur Cooks, Growers, Bakers and Smallholder
Posted on May 19, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Cooking, Cork, Food, Gardening, Ireland.
This is just a superb idea, well done to everyone involved! Why not enter?
The inaugural Grow Bake Cook Awards Ceremony honours and celebrates the skills of amateur cooks, growers, bakers and preservers – in fact anyone with a talent for creating good food!
Supporting local communities throughout Cork city and county, these awards aim to give our hidden food heroes the opportunity, tools and encouragement to sell their wares through farmer’s markets,country markets, local supermarkets and food fairs.
Award winning and shortlisted produce will be displayed at Cork City’s Midsummer Festival Feasta market on Sunday June 28th , with the Award Ceremony taking place that evening at a city venue tbc.
For further information and entrance criteria contact Dianne Curtin 086067 6249 or Elke O’Mahony 087 3168855or email to grow.bake.cook@gmail.com.Deadline for submission is 23rd June 2009
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A thriving democracy
Posted on April 23, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under Commentary, Ireland, Politics.
relies on an informed electorate.
Now you can be informed.
What John Handelaar has done over at kildarestreet.com with the help of some other great people is deeply important. Quite simply, the Dáil record is now properly accessible rather than just available. The site enables you to do the following:
- Read a dramatically-more-legible version of the Dáil Record going back to January 2004
- Search that record by speeches or written questions, or by speaker, or by date or date range
- Sign up for email alerts for when a search query you’re interested changes
- Sign up for email alerts whenever a TD of your choosing says something or asks a question which generated a written reply
- Subscribe to RSS feeds for individual TDs or for search queries
This isn’t just important for the content you find but also for the content that you don’t find. I will not be voting for any sitting TD in any future election unless I see continuous active engagement by them in the Dáil. If they don’t have anything to say, they shouldn’t be there.
The days of some gobshite getting elected because he got your daughter a job in the Civil Service or claims to be responsible for every penny spent in your constituency have to come to an end. kildarestreet.com will hopefully help usher the beginning of proper national politics involving those who care about our country and what it can become.
We all sat idly by as those running this country ran it into the ground. It’s time we started paying attention.
UPDATE:
I just used the site to check on our three TDs in Cork South-West. Summary as follows for the past year:
- Christy O’Sullivan (FF): Has spoken in 5 debates in the last year — well below average among TDs. Has received answers to 8 written questions in the last year — below average among TDs
- PJ Sheehan (FG): Has spoken in 81 debates in the last year — above average among TDs. Has received answers to 101 written questions in the last year — average among TDs.
- Jim O’Keeffe (FG): Has spoken in 51 debates in the last year — average among TDs. Has received answers to 173 written questions in the last year — above average among TDs.
After seeing this, I take back any ageist comments I made in the last election about PJ Sheehan and I’m disappointed to see my predictions about Christy O’Sullivan have proven true.
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alphaomega Breads in Bandon
Posted on April 13, 2009, by Conor O'Neill, under BandonFarmersMarket, Cork, Food, Ireland.
I love bread. Can’t put it any more simply than that. So when I hear that someone who lives just up the road from me is now making craft and organic breads and they are selling them at the Bandon Farmer’s Market every Saturday, well that make me very very happy.
Check out the alphaomega blog for a list of their current products. I’ll be checking out the bread.
