Below is a selection of articles from our August 2010 issue. Please download a full issue in PDF format for much, much more including Lifestyle, Home & Gardens, Sport and Entertainment.

Bantry woman selected as a Fulbright Scholar
UL Researcher at the Department of History and Bantry native Mary Healy has been selected as a Fulbright Scholar 2010 - 2011 and invited to develop her art history research at Yale University in the United States. Mary’s area of research specialises in French orientalist art from 1860-1930 and she is working on her PhD thesis under the supervision of Dr Catherine Lawless at UL.
Over the past eighteen months, Mary has carried out extensive research across France and North Africa, which has uncovered the world of women artists who practiced in France and the Maghreb from 1860-1930. “These artists were hugely successful in their day, receiving noted awards from the official Salon de Paris as well as Knighthoods of the Legion of Honour from the French government in recognition of their artistic achievements,” she explains. She has uncovered detailed materials relating to artists such as; Lucie Ranvier-Chartier (1867-1932), Cécile Bougourd (1857-1941), Marie Aimée Lucas-Robiquet (1858-1959) and Marguerite Delorme (1876-1946).
Mary uncovered information relating to ninety-eight artists, which she compiled into a detailed database, the first of its kind. The database includes primary source documentation regarding their lives, works of art, training, travels, exhibitions and critical reviews. Moreover the databases confirm their significant contribution to the orientalist movement through the development of a grounded theory relating to the cultural elements of North Africa depicted within female works of art.
Mary is thrilled with receiving the award. ‘I’m delighted,” she says “although it isn’t something that happened overnight, it’s the result of three and a half years of research.’
An artist before she could even walk, Mary’s passion for art was nurtured by trips to Paris where her sister lived for over 15 years. “I spent most of my time there wandering around museums,” says Mary.
Mary attended St. Goban’s College in Bantry. She left school at the age of 16, worked in a local hotel for a period before going on to study Hotel and Catering in Cork. She travelled the world before returning to Ireland and completing her Leaving Certificate. In 2006 she gained her BA Honours Degree in Fine Art Printmaking from the Limerick School of Art and Design in Ireland. In 2004 she studied at the École de Beaux-Arts in Nantes, France, where she trained under the printmaker Jean Michel Vaillant. Always holding her love of art historical theory, she perused her MA in the History of Art and Architecture at the University of Limerick, Ireland, from which she graduated in 2008.
In addition to receiving the coveted Fulbright funding Mary Healy has also recently been awarded an Irish Research Council for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IRCHSS) Government of Ireland Scholarship. She will continue to develop her research at the Department of the History of Art, Yale University, USA from September 2010 to June 2011 as visiting researcher and Fulbright Scholar representing the Department of History, University of Limerick.

Clon races ahead with plans for December marathon Plans for Clonakilty’s very own marathon are racing ahead at a very fast pace. The Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon is due to take place on December 11 and will comprise of a full marathon, half marathon and 10k run.
Organised by Maria and Bob Hilliard, Fiona Bronwyn and Brian O’Donnell, the marathon is at present awaiting approval from the Irish Athletics Association and registration details and entry forms will be available to download online shortly.
The course will start at The Waterfront in Clonakilty, meandering through Rathbarry, Ardfield, Castlefreke, Ownahincha, Long Strand, Red Strand, Dunmore and Inchydoney, taking in breathtaking scenery along the way.
Minister Mary Hanafin, TD, Minister for Tourism Culture and Sport will announce details of the Clonakilty Waterfront Marathon on her visit to Clonakilty on August 9.
“This will be a family event and is open to everyone from serious runners to people who just want to walk the 10k,” explain organisers Maria and Bob Hilliard. “It will not only present a challenging and rewarding experience for all the participants but will also bring business to Clonakilty in the run-up to Christmas and only serve to increase the festive atmosphere of the holiday season.”
Watch out for more details in the September edition of West Cork People.
Report outlines flood risk management for Bandon town
Declan Waugh, Chartered Water Manager and Environmental Scientist to the All Party Joint Oireachtas Committee on Environment, Heritage and Local Government last week presented a comprehensive independent flood risk assessment report examining the flooding of Bandon Town in November.
A member of the Bandon Flood Task Group and Cork County Council’s Strategic Policy Planning committee, Mr. Waugh, Director of EnviroManagement Services commissioned and paid for the report for the benefit of ‘Bandon Working Together and Partnership for Change’, a not-for-profit climate change initiative established by Mr Waugh.
The detailed report examined the Bandon River and Bandon Town sub-catchment area and the key contributory factors to flood damage to Bandon Town; impacts of flooding to fisheries, geomorphic impacts of flooding on the river channel. The report also provided a Flood Action Plan in addition to flood protection and flood damage mitigation plans to alleviate future flooding in Bandon town.
Key findings of the report highlighted how the lack of any local area plan for land use or catchment water management, inappropriate development on a floodplain, the removal of an important flood sink for Bandon town, poor engineering design of flood embankments and removal of part of the historic town wall; all contributed to increasing the risk of flood damage and flood water levels in Bandon town.
Other key findings in the report included: Relatively recent land-use changes have had a dramatic impact on reducing the natural ability of land to retain water.
Efforts made to influence flooding by construction of flood protection measures such as embankments located at Riverview Shopping centre failed. Instead the embankment acted to redirect the river into Bandon town. This was a significant contributory factor to the level of flood damage in Bandon town.
The angle of discharge of the Bridewell into the Bandon River combined with physical restrictions with bridge height and channel characteristics reduced the volume of floodwaters that could be discharged to the Bandon River during the flood period. This contributed to localised urban flooding at Oliver Plunket Street, Market Quay, Pearse Street and Market Lane as flood waters backed up and overflowed the river embankment walls along Market Quay.
An examination of the geomorphic effects of the flood event revealed that the November 2009 flood resulted in changes in River Bandon channel morphology. Channel erosion occurred at locations along the river bank added by the supply of coarse gravel bedload transported and deposited further downstream resulting in significant modifications occurring on channel bars and floodplain areas. A number of significant gravel beds developed within the River Bandon urban flood zone below the weir and in the vicinity of Bandon Bridge. In certain circumstances the depth and level of gravel deposited physically reduced the flow of water through arches of Bandon Bridge. This would have contributed to restricting peak discharge flow from both the Bandon the Bridewell Rivers, impacting on water flow and discharge velocities and ultimately raising floodwater levels.
The flood event had a significant impact on fisheries in the river Bandon. During the floods, rearing fish in the river would have been displaced to river margins and off-channel areas or washed to sea. Observations from visual inspection of the river identified areas where spawning habitat was inundated, covered with debris, or buried in sediment. At other locations where scouring may have occurred, eggs in the gravel would have been washed away or buried.
The report highlighted how removal of flood gravel beds, while a sensitive environmental practice, can be undertaken provided it complies with best practice guidelines such as those developed for Salmonid Rivers in Scotland and Canada.
The Report presented a 15-point Action Plan to assist all partners in reducing flood risk to Bandon town. The basis of this plan involves: Reduction of damage risks; reduction of flood water levels; increased flood awareness and improvement of flood information.
Among the provisions recommended in the report included creating controllable water retention areas upstream of Bandon town; the construction of water dykes to create buffer zones and retain flood waters; redesigning the existing flood embankment at Riverview Shopping centre and the provision of a demountable flood barrier at the location of the historic town wall at Weir street and McSweeney Quay.
Mr. Waugh has submitted the report to the County Manager Mr. Martin Riordan, County Engineer Mr. Noel O Keeffe, Mr. Mark Adamson Head of Flood Relief and Risk Management OPW, South Western Fisheries Board, All Party Oireachtas members of the Select Committee on Environment, Bandon Town Council, Ministers of State Dr. Martin Mansergh, Mr. Conor Lenihan, Mr. Ciaran Cuffe and Mr. Sean Connick and Minster John Gormley.
The report is available to view at www.enviro.ie or www.partnershipforchange.ie.

Sally Miller Collection scoops coveted €70,000 prize
‘The Sally Miller Collection’, a fledgling business manufacturing totally natural skin care products, has been announced as the winner of the coveted €70,000 prize put up by Lisavaird Enterprise Park to help kickstart a sustainable new business in County Cork.
The final and presentation of the competition took place on July 9 at the Celtic Ross Hotel in Rosscarbery and was attended by Mayor of Cork County Cllr. Jim Daly, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Mr. Batt O’Keeffe and Senator Mary White.
The finalists were interviewed throughout the day by a panel led by Mr. Padraic White (ex Managing Director of the IDA), who was lavish in his praise of the quality of the finalists.
In his opening speech on the night Mayor of County Cork Cllr. Jim Daly praised the innovative campaign by Mr. Jerry O’Donovan of Lisavaird Enterprise Park and all the other local sponsors in making the unique opportunity available to budding Entrepreneurs.
Minister Batt O’Keeffe, in presenting the award to Sally Miller, reminded the audience that Ireland has one of the highest percentages of entrepreneurs per capita than most of Europe. He expressed the hope that the campaign would be replicated throughout the country.
The €70,000 prize included a unit at Lisavaird Enterprise Park, near Clonakilty, rent and utilities free for one year, unit fit out, along with the associated start-up costs such as legal services, accountancy services and so on.
Sally Miller, on being awarded the prize was very emotional and said this was the opportunity of a lifetime that will allow her business to expand to provide employment for people in the area.
Helen Wycherley of the Celtic Ross Hotel, one of the sponsors, provided facilities for the interviews and a superb Awards Presentation Dinner. The event was attended by over eighty people including the adjudicators, sponsors and the finalists.

2010 A Taste of West Cork Food Festival has some excellent specials on this year’s menu
The 2010 A Taste of West Cork Food Festival is delighted to announce that ‘Mr. Mad about Fish himself’, celebrity chef, and owner of the award-winning Fishy Fishy Restaurant and Cafe, Kinsale, Martin Shanahan, will judge this year’s School’s Cookery competition held during the festival week, which kicks off in Skibbereen on Saturday, September 11.
Martin Shanahan has also agreed to give a cookery demonstration and there will be other demonstrations by the region’s favourite chefs at various venues during the week. Most restaurants will host particular theme nights and there are lots of cookery demonstrations, including a gluten-free demo at Apple Betty’s and a children’s cookery session in Kalbos Café where they cook a meal for mum and dad to eat later. If you’ve ever wondered how to make Sushi, there’s a demonstration in Annie May’s Restaurant.
New for this year are a series of food tours of local farms and food producers for national schoolchildren; the ‘celebrity chefs’ cook-in, which will also involve national schoolchildren as their teachers and school principals prepare to don a chef’s hat for an evening of kitchen fun and mayhem. There’s a treasure hunt and a scavenger hunt for children, workshops where they can prepare a party menu and another where they can prepare a picnic.
Students from the town’s three secondary schools will attend festival events as young reporters, their views and reports will be posted on the festival website. Find out how certain foods can be used to prevent or treat diseases in an evening entitled, ‘Let Food Be Your Medicine’ at the Riverside Cafe.
There’s a fun table quiz with food as the topic. Food sampling and demonstrations in the town’s supermarkets and three markets, the country market on Friday, the Farmers’ market on Saturday and of course the huge Sunday Family Day market with its hundreds of stalls. There will be lots of free entertainment for children on Sunday too as well as music and bands.
Events commence with an international food conference entitled ‘Food For the Future – Can Ireland Feed Itself?’ on September 11, with some notable speakers lined up who include, Kamal Mouzawak from Beirut, Lebanon, chef, food writer, food visionary; Swithun Goodbody, of the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations, Rob Heyland, BAFTA, TV Society, Writer's Guild and Critics award winner; Derek Deane, cattle and sheep farmer in Carlow, well known for his stance in defence of a fair deal for farmers; Ian Dempsey, CEO, West Cork Development Partnership; Jason Whooley, CEO, BIM. Round table discussions will follow the main speeches, enabling all attending to have a meaningful input.
This year’s A Taste of West Cork Food Festival Banquet, will be held in the West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen again on Saturday, September 11. Festival organisers are delighted that the Chinese ambassador, HE Liu Biwei and his wife, and the senior US commercial officer, Steve Anderson, will attend the banquet. The award-winning musicians from the Skibbereen Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann will play at the drinks reception from 7pm. A special menu in honour of the guests will be listed on the festival website shortly.
There’s ‘Wild and Organic’ night at Kalbos, a ‘Goblets and Gourmets’ evening at Over the Moon, ‘Gourmet Vegetarian’ night at the Riverside Café and The Church Restaurant are hosting a week long programme with their banquet on Thursday, September 16. Friday night is music night with Low Mountain and Christine Deedy in concert. Full details of all events on www.atasteofwestcork.com or contact Carol on 087 287 4474.

21st anniversary of signing of the twinning charter between Clonakilty and Waldaschaff
The final programme of events to mark the 21st anniversary of the signing of the twinning charter between Clonakilty and Waldaschaff is almost ready. The town’s Waldaschaff friends, led by Burgermeister (Mayor) Marcus Grimm and Lore Steigerwald, Chairperson of the Waldaschaff Twinning Association, will arrive in Clonakilty at 5pm on Wednesday, August 18.
A dinner will be held at Fernhill House Hotel at 6.30pm on that day to welcome the guests. Tickets are available for those who would like to attend this dinner from any member of Clonakilty Town Twinning Association. Old friends and those who would like to make new friends with the German guests are welcome to attend.
On Saturday, August 21, there will be a German/Irish Music festival held at the Courtyard Bar Marquee. The music will be provided by Army Band First Southern Brigade, Clonakilty’s St. Patrick’s Brass Band and Musikverein Waldaschaff and guests. There will also be a traditional music session by Spailpin. Everyone is welcome to attend this feast of music. The highlight of the visit will be on Sunday, August 22, 2010. At 12 noon mass will be celebrated in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, Clonakilty, followed by the main event of the week at Dunmore House Hotel at 2pm.
On arrival there will be a reception with traditional music followed by the Twinning Ceremony. Dinner will be held at 7pm and a display of Irish Dancing will take place at 8pm.The evening will be rounded off with the Swing Kings playing for what should be a great night of music and dancing. Again, everyone is urged to attend this very special event to show a Cead Mile Failte Mor for the German guests. Tickets for this event are available from Anne Marie Harte at Dunmore House Hotel or any town-twinning member. There will also be many other events held culminating with a farewell function at the wonderful new GAA Complex at Ahamilla. As with all other events as many people as possible are urged to attend this function to show the Waldaschaff group how much the strong bond of friendship that exists between the towns is valued. A printed programme will be available at a later date.
West Cork farmers shortlisted in National Dairy Council Quality Milk Awards
Dairy farmers Denis and Bridget O’Brien from Farranamoy in Kinsale, Noel O’Donovan from Ballymacwilliam, Clonakilty and Robert and Shirley Shannon, Droumgarriffe, Ballinascarthy were all recently shortlisted for a visit by the national judging panel in the 2010 NDC Quality Milk Awards — the national competition which sets out to identify and reward the top dairy farmer in Ireland. The O’Briens supply milk to Bandon Co-op, Noel O’Donovan is a supplier of milk to Barryroe Co-op and the Shannons supply milk to Lisavaird Co-op.
“Dairy co-ops who submit their top farmers to represent their entire group of farmer suppliers, have already undertaken a form of short-listing for the awards — and so the quality of entries is very high,” explains NDC Chief Executive, Helen Brophy. “Nomination for the NDC Quality Milk Awards is, in its own right, a reflection of very high farming standards at national level, which we believe the farmers involved can be particularly proud of.”
National judges for this year’s NDC Quality Milk Awards are Professor Paddy Wall, Associate Professor of Public Health at UCD; Dr David Gleeson, Milk Quality Research, Teagasc; and Jack Kennedy, Dairy Editor, Irish Farmers Journal.
In the next phase of the Awards, the judges will assess all of the technical and background data on the finalists alongside information from the inspection of their farms, in order to select the overall national winner. It is expected that the final results will be known in the Autumn, with the overall winning farmer set to receive a prize of €5,000 and the NDC Quality Milk Awards perpetual trophy at an awards ceremony in September or October of this year.
The NDC Quality Milk Awards help to build awareness about the Irish dairy farmers who are behind Irish dairy brands; and create an opportunity to showcase to consumers the top quality of dairy farming in the Republic of Ireland. The Awards also provide a platform for the dairy sector, for co-ops to highlight to their own suppliers the technical requirements, standards and techniques, which drive top quality milk production.
For further information about the National Dairy Council or the Quality Milk Awards, please visit www.ndc.ie.
Love on the rocks
West Cork People recently sent a reporter to check out Outdoors Ireland’s Singles Weekend in Killarney for our Dating in West Cork feature. Her identity is a secret, as every woman should maintain an air of mystery!

I remember watching Bridget Jones’s Diary thinking “Dear Lord, please don’t let me be single in my 30s!” The good Lord wasn’t listening, as it turns out that while I’ve had lots of romance and drama, Mr. Darcy hasn’t made an appearance in quite a while.
Like poor Bridget, there is some group therapy round a few pints analysing my situation, but unlike Bridget, in West Cork there just aren’t as many Mr. Wrongs to pass the time until Mr. Right does show his face.
For anybody in their 30s or 40s who is still on the market, the pool has noticeably shrunk and while there’s nothing wrong with us fish left, it seems we’re all hiding behind the rocks. On a night out in my 20s, if I spotted a fish I liked and he seemed unattached chances were he was and was worth a shot. Now it’s more likely that it’s his turn for a night out while the wife or girlfriend watches the kids.
So, when an invitation from West Cork People to join a Singles Weekend with Outdoors Ireland in Killarney pinged in my inbox, it took all of five seconds before I accepted. The description looked great; ‘thirty or so single people aged from 25-45, some light rock climbing, kayaking and hiking, a slap-up meal and a night on the town’. I was slightly daunted when the gear list arrived, but on checking was assured it was beginner level – I had visions of the men being hardcore exercise junkies.
As I was travelling on my own to Killarney, I did experience a touch of nerves on the drive down. The nerves didn’t improve in the first hour of the group meeting when the atmosphere was reminiscent of a teenage disco before the music starts – all furtive looks and reddening cheeks. Thankfully the organisers wasted no time in getting us on a quick hike in the local woods and stuck in to some team building games, which brought out our competitive natures and soon had us shouting encouragement or orders.
Back in our four star hotel (very different from my last adventure weekend at aged 14, which involved bunk beds and smelly socks) and it was time to break the ice properly with some drinks in the bar. Frowned on it may be in many parts of the world, but I’m sorry, a few drinks do serve to transform shy Irish people into bubbly and outgoing personalities. The chat flowed and suddenly the weekend wasn’t just about meeting members of the opposite sex. There were interesting and fun people there, from all over the country, and I knew that if my Mr. Right wasn’t there, I was still going to have a great time.
Saturday started with a leisurely breakfast before it was on to the bus for our first activity of the day. The group was divided in two, with the first setting off for kayaking on the lakes and the second up to the Gap of Dungloe for rock-climbing. I opted for the rock-climbing, figuring that my puny arms wouldn’t pull me up a rock face after a workout in a canoe. We watched our instructors Feargal and Dara scamper up 100 feet (okay maybe 60) with as much effort as the rest of us employ on an escalator. My arms starting quivering about half way up but the shouts of encouragement from the ground convinced me to try a manoeuvre akin to the splits (with an accompanying groan) and to my own disbelief, I made it to the top.
Reliving our death defying exploits over lunch in the pub, an onlooker would have no idea that the group hadn’t known each other for years – the great thing about doing an activity together means you automatically have something in common to chat about. I was keeping an eye out for any possible budding romances but everybody was chair swapping at this stage – it was still early days.
It’s rare you take the time to sit back and enjoy nature but you can’t help it when bobbing along on the Killarney lakes with the sun on your back. I’m fairly rubbish at kayaking, every five strokes I mystifyingly spin around in a circle, but the great thing about the Outdoors Ireland team including our instructor Nathan, is that there is no pressure to be brilliant, just to enjoy it and do your best. And to be honest, it’s far more fun when somebody capsizes and much slagging ensues.
We were starving by the time we got back to the hotel but with a night on the tiles being anticipated, everybody appeared in the restaurant scrubbed up and looking their best. The food was wolfed down in record time and the topic of conversation was where to head to next. A shout up from the end of the table that ‘All the Single Ladies’ had better be on the playlist got a round of laughs and a Kerryman in the group said he knew just the place. What followed was a classic night out – lots of dancing, singing along to power ballads and Chow Mein Chips (a Killarney special) on the way home.
Despite a very, very late night, there was only one casualty who didn’t make the bus the next morning for our hike. A cheer went up when he appeared with Nathan as we got off at the bottom of a very high hill – it would have been a shame to end the weekend one man down. We were informed before setting off that our hill was nearly a 1000 feet – I’d have preferred to have found that out on the descent, as it seemed a long way up when put like that. But these things are never as bad as you think they’ll be and the walk up provided more opportunities to chat, as people changed their pace and fell in with different groups. It was here that I noticed a few couples that managed to get up and down without changing walking partners! I’m not sure if it was the start of something big but it seemed they’d at least enjoyed each other’s company and who knows?
Collecting the bags from the hotel, it seemed everybody was reluctant to say goodbye even though there were long car journeys ahead. A comment form was passed out which had a space to request contact details for somebody who had caught your eye, so even if the courage hadn’t been worked up to organise a first date, there was still time.
I’m sad to report that my Mr. Darcy wasn’t climbing rocks that weekend but I was still buzzing on the drive back to West Cork. I’d thoroughly recommend trying out a course from Outdoors Ireland, be it their singles weekends or any of the other weekends they organise. Sometimes it’s just about meeting new people and achieving new things – finding love is just the icing on the cake.
Outdoors Ireland,
Tel: 086 860 45 63,
info@outdoorsireland.com, www.outdoorsireland.com