Author: Eilish

The Kinvara Christmas Market will return to the Kinvara Community Centre for two weekends on 7 and 8 December and 14 and 15 December. With more than forty stalls brimming with hand-crafted gifts, original art works and local produce the market will also host live music from local musicians, fresh food and plenty of festive treats including mulled wine, mince pies, plum puddings and hand-made chocolates. Christmas shoppers will love the vast range of unique gift ideas including porcelain pots, vibrant enamel wall art, fused glass wall hangings, needle felted figurines, scented candles, natural soaps and free-from skincare products, textiles and wooden craft. Shoppers can also refuel with plenty of fresh food including authentic Thai meals, while local gourmet cheese, coffee, preserves, specialty tea, cookies and cakes will cater for the sweet and savoury tooth. More information can be found on Facebook: kinvarafarmersmarket or Twitter: @kinvara_s 

The Annual KAVA Christmas Exhibition opens on Friday 13th December at 6.30pm in Kinvara Courthouse. A wide range of postcard-size original artworks by KAVA artists will be on display. Each artwork will be offered for sale anonymously at the incredibly low price of €30 and will be signed on the reverse side. So the identity of the artist will only be revealed after the sale has been completed! The exhibition will continue until Saturday 21st December.

Meanwhile ‘Winter Light’, a KAVA member’s exhibition continues in the dining room of the Merriman Hotel. Pop in and see some really beautiful artworks at very affordable prices, you may find a unique. Christmas gift! On the subject of Christmas gifts, the inaugural KAVA calendar, showing reproduction of artworks by 13 KAVA artists is now on sale at Kinvara Post Office and in Kinvara Courthouse during exhibitions. €12

Currently at the Courthouse:  ‘The Nature of Things‘ an exhibition of paintings by the very talented Galway-based Dutch artist Noor Poppers continues until Sunday 8th December, open 12-6 daily. www.kava.ie

Kinvara FM 92.4 podcast The Wild Rover is at the Cooley Collins Festival on podcast, dated the 09-11-19, including the under 15s competition for young musicians. With Professional Fiddle player, Shane Meehan plays a tune inspired by a session at Tully’s. Also Kinvara Reporting Podcast- Asylum Seekers, dated the 02-11-19, hear the full facts from those actual involved, with State Minister, David Stanton TD., Cllr Joe Byrne and the Merriman Hotel. All can be heard on the internet just go on to www.kinvarafm.com. click on latest podcast. 

Kinvara FM 92.4 Your local community radio Have you been listening? We have show’s about local sport, history, events, current local issues, great music and chat. Also streaming live on: https://www.kinvarafm.com/ You can contact us: Ph 083 468 1472 Email:Kinvarafm@gmail.com Check out our podcasts at the website  https://www.kinvarafm.com/ KCR will have a table in Londis to sell tickets for the draw. Prizes Christmas Hamper and Maureen Heffernan’s Christmas Cake.

Bluefin Swim Team offers a competitive swimming program for children aged 9 and above who love to swim FAST! Team Tryouts take place on Wednesday 11th December 2019 in Kilcornan Pool at 6pm, and 6:30pm To register, email Christine at bluefin.secretary@gmail.com with your swimmers name and date of birth. For more information, visit www.BluefinSwimTeam.com

Kinvara Alive wants to say thank you to the wider community of Kinvara for all the support, donations and thank yous we received over the year/s. We wish all of you a peaceful Christmas and a good start into the New Year 2020. May you and your loved ones have a healthy and happy time. Kinvara Alive will be back in the open in the New Year with more suicide alertness training workshops ‘safeTALK’, the well-attended and loved ‘Picnic in the Park’ and a few other activities for mental health and wellbeing. All the best your Kinvara Alive Committee

Kinvara Badminton group play on Monday nights at 8 pm in the Community Centre. Anyone interested please come along , all levels welcome. Ring Mary 087 311 4353 or Doreen 086 391 8000.

Ardrahan Church of Ireland will hold an ecumenical Carol Service on Friday 20th December at 7.30 pm with Rev. Joseph Roche and  Rev. John Godfrey. Come and join us and raise our voices to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

Santa Must Be Banjaxed concert  in Kinvara Community Centre on Saturday 21st December at 8.30pm, to celebrate Christmas in all its diversity, its joys and tribulations, featuring: Máirtín O’Connor, Ciara and Sinead O’Connor, Brendan O’Regan and Garry O’Briain, Eileen Fleming, Frank Hall and Pete Brazier, Helen Lane and Steve Johnson, Claire Egan and Eoin O’Neill. Dajo and the Sparks with their hit record Santa Must Be Banjaxed (After Christmas Day) plus surprise guests. All proceeds to go to The Road To Hope charity Hope to see you there! Look out for the Santa Must Be Banjaxed EP on sale at various outlets around Kinvara from now until Christmas €5

The Kinvara Swimming and Life Saving Club’s Christmas Swim Fundraiser returns to Traught Beach at 1pm on 25 December to help raise much needed funds for the Galway Hospice. The 2018 fundraiser raised €2000 for the Galway Hospice, a registered charity established in 1986 to provide palliative care services for terminally ill cancer patients and their families throughout Galway. The annual Christmas Day dip is a key feature on the community calendar and will reward swimmers, paddlers and onlookers with festive hot chocolate and mulled wine (people are encouraged to bring along their own reusable cups in keeping with the goals of Plastic Free Kinvara). The Christmas Swim Fundraiser will start at 1.00pm on 25 December 2019 at Traught in Kinvara. Everyone is welcome!