Kinvara Community Council: Our March monthly meeting will take place on Wednesday 19th March at 8pm and we encourage all members of the community to attend these meetings where discussion and debates on any items put forward on the agenda are always welcome. All sub groups who are affiliated to Kinvara Community Council must send a representative to every KCC meeting in order to maintain their benefits. Any items for inclusion on the agenda must be emailed in by Tuesday 18th March and you must be there to present your item.

Kinvara Community Transport Study: Galway County Council, Active Travel Team will shortly publish a Community Transport Study (CTS) for Kinvara village. The CTS is a non-statutory document, so it’s to give a sense of direction for Kinvara and guidance on the overall direction for traffic management in the village.

The CTS will be available to all interested parties and the general public via the following link: https://consult.galway.ie/en/browse/. Comments may be made within two weeks of its publication.

The document will be available for anyone to download. Alternatively, it will be available in hard copy at the Galway County Council Loughrea Area Office. We advise that you register as a User on this portal as soon as you can so that you are ready to post your submissions and feedback. 

Kinvara Community Support Hub: Following lessons learnt after Storm Eowyn, the importance of a local support centre is central to providing community assistance. Resources are available to upgrade community facilities to provide essential services in the event of a crisis.  Kinvara Community Council is prepared to work with local voluntary groups to define the requirements, apply for grant funding and provide the facilities to host a local support centre. Groups wishing to lead in this project should contact the Community Centre office for further information.

Dunguaire Castle: Kinvara Community Council has contacted Galway County Council for information on their intention to reopen Dunguaire Castle. We have received the following reply:

‘The Council has not purchased the castle from Shannon Group, and it remains in their ownership. However, the Council has undertaken an extensive and comprehensive due diligence process including building surveys, conservation architecture investigation, structural inspections and fire safety review to progress the project. A funding application to undertake the substantial remediation required has now been lodged with the relevant governmental agencies, and a response is awaited.’

‘Cresswell Comes Home’ 14th -23rd March, the Courthouse, Kinvara

This March, Kinvara Heritage Group is delighted to present Cresswell Comes Home, an exhibition at Kinvara Courthouse showcasing photographs of local Kinvara people, daily life, and landscapes captured by Robert Cresswell in the 1950s.

Cresswell, a Paris-based American anthropologist, lived in Kinvara between 1955 and 1956, during which time he took over 400 photographs documenting the area. He later gifted the copyright of these images to the Kinvara Community Council for educational and heritage purposes.

A selection of his photographs was featured in the 2019 Ireland in Focus exhibition at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks. In 2024, the framed images from that exhibition were kindly donated to Kinvara by the National Museum, allowing them now to be displayed locally for the first time – hence the exhibition’s title, Cresswell Comes Home.

Cresswell’s research in Kinvara culminated in his seminal work, Une communauté rurale de l’Irlande (A Rural Community in Ireland), published by the Institut d’Ethnologie in Paris in 1969.

Official opening will be on Friday 14th March at 7pm (kindly sponsored by Upstairs @ Connolly’s. Admission is free. All are welcome.

Kinvara Parent and Toddler Group welcomes parents and guardians to our weekly playgroup; Wednesdays 10am-12pm in the meeting room of Kinvara Community Centre. Children under 6 are welcome to socialise in a relaxed, casual atmosphere. We have plenty of toys and play tents for little ones and we offer tea/coffee and biscuits for grown-ups. We ask for a donation of €3-€4 per family to cover running costs and special events. Follow us on Facebook, search for Kinvara Playgroup or message 087-7662294 to be added to our WhatsApp group which is a fantastic hive of information, and the odd hand-me-down, for local parents. 

Kinvara Tidy Towns: Love this place – Kinvara ♥️ and want to give something back well, why not volunteer with Kinvara Tidy Towns.   Kinvara tidy towns are looking for help litter picking for our spring cleans of approach roads and around the village. We are out Wednesday mornings at 10.30am and Saturday mornings at 9.30am.  We meet at the Kinvara Community centre. No gardening skills required. You can join our group or work on your own in your own time. We also aim to provide volunteer activities from litter picking, gardening, light weeding, painting, social media to sustainability initiatives.  Email kinvaratidytowns01@gmail.com if this is for you. Our motto is do what you can when you can. Look forward to meeting new volunteers in 2025! 😀