Joining Gavin Grace on today’s edition of The Afternoon Show was Pat Clarke from Met Eireann. Pat discussed the recent weather conditions, which have led to Ennis Town Council advising residents and business owners in flood prone areas of the town to take precautionary measures in the event of flooding from the River Fergus during the coming days. Recent heavy rainfall has resulted in above average water levels along the River Fergus. Council officials are monitoring water levels on a continual basis.
John Torpey, a hurley maker from Bellvoir spoke to The Afternoon Show to outline his concerns about Ash Dieback. Ash dieback (Chalara fraxinea) was officially confirmed in Co. Leitrim last Thursday. The infected ash trees were planted as recently as 2009 using imported plants. Minister of State with responsibility for forestry, Shane McEntee, and his officials, met with representatives of forestry companies, growers, nurseries and hurley makers on Monday. He welcomed the forest nurseries’ commitment to strengthen their voluntary moratorium on the importation of ash plants – a high risk factor in the possible spread of the disease. The Irish Guild of Ash Hurley makers (IGAH) outlined their concerns regarding the threat to the hurley ash industry.
Monica Meehan of Clare County Council also discussed special postcards that have been produced for the Gathering 2013 which feature well known scenes of Clare from today and long ago for use as invitations to the diaspora to come home for the year long event. The postcards were created through a special project carried out by the library service and will be used by the library and Clare county council to extend invites to genealogy groups and so on from across the globe. If you’re interested in contacting a group to invite them to Ireland for The Gathering 2013 you can contact Monica at the Council offices on 065 6846228 for details on the postcards.
Stephen Leigh was a guest of the show today. Stephen is the Basketball Youth Manager for Clare. While Clare may be predominantly a GAA county, Stephen Leigh has ensured that the sport of basketball continues to thrive here. Since 2010 he has worked extremely closely with the Clare Local Sports Partnership to establish the Clare under age basketball league. Since the start there are now ten new clubs operating in the county at under 13 and under 15 levels. He was presented with a “National Awards to Volunteers in Irish Sport”, yesterday at the Aviva. The awards celebrate the contribution of those who volunteer across all of Irish sport. In making the presentations Minister Ring acknowledged the contribution made by volunteers saying that without their incredible efforts sport, as we know it in Ireland today would not exist.
Singer Songwriter Julie Feeney was in studio with Gavin ahead of a gig later this evening in Limerick. Julie Feeney is an award winning and critically acclaimed Irish composer, singer, song writer, producer and musician from Galway. Her debut album “13 songs” won her the Choice Music Prize for ‘Irish Album of the Year’ in 2006, an album on which she played most of the instruments. Her second self-produced critically acclaimed album “pages” was also nominated for Choice Music Prize ‘Irish Album of the Year’ in 2010. Her newly released third album is entitled “Clocks”. She plays the Belltable in limerick tonight.
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