Tim Smyth Park Amenity Facilities To Be Redeveloped

Minister of State Tony Killeen, T.D. has received confirmation from Ennis Town Council that it expects work on the development of amenity facilities at Tim Smyth Park to commence in April 2010.

According to the Local Authority, consultancy firm Commane Stratton Reynolds are preparing revised drawings for Tim Smyth Park and it intends to proceed to tender in mid February with work commencing on site in April 2010.

Welcoming the news, Minister of State Killeen added: “Among the works to take place at the site, known locally as ‘The Fair Green’, is the construction of a new children’s playground and separate play area for young teenagers, the replacement of existing exercise bars, the development of walkways, and landscaping improvements. A pedestrian crossing will be provided at the northern end of Tim Smyth Park leading to the relocated playground. Furthermore, the existing dressing rooms will be demolished and replaced by new dressing room facilities.”

“While improvement works, such as the development of new playing pitches, have taken place at Tim Smyth Park in recent years, there is no doubt that the works scheduled to take place next year will greatly enhance the recreational infrastructure of Ennis town. This project will be further complemented by the construction of a playground at The Lees Road Sports and Amenity Park. The Council has confirmed to me that tenders for this project are currently being evaluated”, stated the Clare Deputy.

On-Line Clare Programmes At Production 63 Find Audience

The decision some months ago by local media company Production 63, to concentrate on producing programmes on-line has proven to be a great success.

The shift from live events to on-line podcasting came about in light of the economic downturn. The company is headed by broadcaster Ger Sweeney who explains “people are being very cautious about what they spend their money on and we could see that live events were suffering. The whole area of podcasting is really taking off globally at present so with my broadcasting experience it was appropriate to see where we could position ourselves”.

The recent podcasts published on www.production63.com include interviews with some of the Mayors in Co. Clare who chat about their communities, memories of Christmas and their hopes for the coming year. Ennis, Kilkee and Shannon are featured and others are planned but schedules have delayed these coming on stream. Those logging on can find interviews with local people such as singer Vincent Di Placido who released his debut CD recently, Eoin O Neill who is known in music and broadcasting circles and singer/songwriter Mike Hanrahan introduces a beautiful song he wrote some years ago about clerical child abuse.

Other programmes include an interview with the incoming Director of the Ennis and Clare branch of the Samaritans as the Festive season is their busiest time of the year and a chat with Dave Marra from the Wine Buff about wine by way of helping people to understand it a little better. There’s an interview with an American author who has just published a book about the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem and a series of Top 30’s by way of offering a wide range of listening options.

The company’s website is now home to almost 30 programmes of which many are Clare related. Podcasting allows a presenter great freedom and choice in relation to content and duration. It also means that at once the podcast is published it’s there to be accessed on numerous occasions and by anyone with a computer. Ger comments “our aim is to produce programmes that are different but have a definite Clare flavour. This is an encouragement for local people to log on and have a listen but it also allows those living abroad to be a part of the happenings at home”.

There are plans for additional programmes before Christmas and into the New Year since the reaction has been so favourable to date. The newest programme is titled “The Sound of Ennis” which is an audio presentation of the various sounds that are commonly heard around Ennis over the Christmas period. Ger concludes, “I’m very proud to be living and working in Clare and I’m keen to promote the county and the happenings here in a positive way. These programmes are designed to let us hear about some aspects of life in Clare, particularly at this time of the year. If nothing else it might give us all a much needed boost and bring a little bit of the Banner County to Clare natives across the world. We’re always anxious to have new content for the site so if anyone has anything of interest we can be contacted at info@production63.com.

For more see www.production63.com

Caring For Carers Receives 80K Euro

Minister of State and Clare T.D., Tony Killeen said that this week’s Government allocation of over 80,000 euro to Ennis-based Caring for Carers Ireland will greatly assist the organisation in meeting its operational costs during 2010.

The grant allocation is being provided by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs as part of the 2009 allocation for the Scheme to Support National Organisations in the Community and Voluntary Sector.

Minister of State Killeen said that the continuation of support for the national community and voluntary organisations reflected the Government’s continuing priority to protect the most vulnerable in society, in line with the commitment made by the Government to support the Community and Voluntary Sector as set out in ‘Towards 2016’.

“Funding to national community and voluntary groups such as Caring for Carers is to cover core operational costs, including staff, administration and ongoing running costs. The Government has clearly recognised the value of the great work carried out by such national voluntary organisations and this scheme demonstrates our continued support for the Community and Voluntary Sector”, he added.