Author: Eilish

Galway Mobile Library visits Kinvara every 2^nd Monday from 11am – 12.30pm. Dates for March 22^nd, 16^th, 30^th April 27^th. Phone 091 509 388 Email mobile@galwaycoco.ie for enquiries.

You are cordially invited to this year’s Cruinniú na mBád AGM which will take place in Tully’s Bar, Kinvara between 8-9pm on Thursday March 5th 2020. We are actively seeking new people to join our team and we would love to hear your ideas and suggestions for the 41st Anniversary of the festival which will take place the weekend of August 14th-16th 2020. The AGM is open to the general public so please forward this notice to anybody that would like to attend.

Our next event in the Courthouse is an exhibition entitled, “Remembering Leen.” This is an exhibition celebrating the life’s work of Leen Vandommele, presented by her son Jeroen Vandommele. Leen wasn’t just an artist; she was also a poet, writer, singer, musician, and mother. The exhibition opens Friday the 6th of March at 7:30pm and will be open the following days thereafter from 1-5pm: Sat the 7th, Sunday the 8th, Wed the 11th, Thurs the 12th, Sat the 14th, and Sunday the 15th is the final day. 

Kinvara Tidy Towns hold their first Big Clean Up day on Saturday 21st March 11 to 1. Meet at the community centre. All welcome. Lots of jobs pruning, planting and weeding and litter picking. Nice cup of tea and chat afterwards.

St Patrick’s day Parade: there will be a planning meeting in Kinvara Community Centre. We need volunteers for traffic management – all help is greatly appreciated. Contact Christian 085 756 5484

Community Support Grants – Cllr. Joe Byrne confirms the following Community Support Grants and confirms the wonderful work being done in the: Community Cruinniú na mBád €1500, Burren Enterprises Hot Desk Facility €1000, Kinvara Farmers Market €1000, Kinvara Tidy Towns €450, An tAmhran Beo €400, KAVA €450, St Coman’s Heritage Group €300. I would also like to include the following which directly influences our Community – Gort Cancer Support €6000 and are so deserved of our support

Kinvara Alive will hold their Annual General Meeting on Sunday 22nd March at 7.30pm in the Community Centre. The meeting is open to the public and a warm welcome will be offered to anyone wishing to attend. Kinvara Alive” raises awareness about well-being and mental health in our community.

Burrenbeo’s LEARNING LANDSCAPE SYMPOSIUM – Inspiring Global Change, through Local Action 20th – 22nd March, Kinvara and the Burren. Burrenbeo’s 9th annual conference on place-based learning offers a diverse programme encompassing themes such as storytelling, team building, play, deep ecology, sustainable food production, climate change, spiritual connection and communities through more than 20 talks and interactive workshop sessions. There will be something for everyone involved or interested in environmental and community engagement. Workshop leaders include Elaine Nevin – director of Eco-Unesco Ireland; Katalin Czippán – deputy chair of Commission on Education and Communication (CEC) of the IUCN; and, author, broadcaster and founder of GIY Waterford, Michael Kelly. Programme info: http://bit.ly/LLS-info Book Tickets: http://bit.ly/LLS-tickets

Robert Cresswell visited Kinvara in the mid-1950’s to conduct an important anthropological study of the parish. While here, he took many interesting photos of markets, fairs, landscapes, individuals. etc. For a summary of Cresswell’s photographic work in the community, see the kinvara.ie website. An enlarged (and enhanced) selection of his photos forms part of an excellent exhibition currently on display at the National Museum, Collins Barracks: Ireland in Focus: Photographing the 1950s See: https://www.museum.ie/Decorative-Arts-History/Exhibitions/Current-Exhibitions/Ireland-in-Focus-Photographing-the-1950s-(1)

GALWAY 2020 – ‘PIER TO PEER’ KINVARA: Piers have a fascinating place in Irish communities and culture. This Small Towns Big Ideas initiative focuses on 4 piers in the townland of Kinvara, each with their own unique history and sense of place: Kinvara, Crushoa, Parkmore and Ceibh a’ Lochain (NewTown Lynch). A series of community initiatives are planned for 2020. ‘Wild Atlantic Women’ will launch the activities on7th and 8th of March. On Saturday 7th March there is a Burren Beo Winterage walk with Farmer Aoife Forde in Carran. This is followed by the New Moon swim at Lynches Pier and the Wild Atlantic Seaweed Baths are back there again for the weekend (booking direct from 4^th March). Sunday 8th March morning starts with the Celtic School of Yoga, Jack Harrison with Helen Colfer at St. Josephs School.   In the afternoon Ruth Fitzmaurice author ‘I Found my Tribe’ is in conversation with Lelia Doolan, film producer at the Merriman Hotel. After that everybody is invited to swim with Ruth and their local tribe at Traught Beach. Atlantic Masters are supporting us at Traught and hot soup will be available afterwards. Think of it like the Christmas Day swim but perhaps a little colder! Details of the events: (Yoga, walks and talks must be booked on Eventbrite) Future projects planned for summer involve the people and history of our piers, using storytelling, film, art, music, craftsmanship and contemporary dance. Join in our celebrations. Get involved and shape our programme: facebook piertopeerkinvara or email piertopeerkinvara@gmail.com to find out more.