It All Comes Together For Local Writers At Open Mic’ Night

Posted in Kerry News, Local News, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

The ‘Thursday Night Writers Group’ from Tralee at their open mic’ night.

THE ever growing, ever popular ‘Thursday Night Writers’ group, based here in Tralee, held another of their open mic’ nights in the Abbey Inn last Friday night, to great success.

Situated amongst the plush and cosy environs of the popular bar on Bridge Street, the large group of talented writers, poets, songwriters and screen writers gathered together to showcase their work.

Not the first time that the group has held an open mic’ night, it was an evening designed to allow the writers and other members of the public the chance to come down and talk about their works, read their pieces aloud, receive feedback and just generally enjoy their own small bit of culture on a Friday night.

“The group is really just a place where writers of all forms can get together on a weekly basis to share their work, get writing prompts and meet socially really because writing at times can be a very solitary thing,” said Barbara Lovric, one of the organisers of the night.

“We’re open to all age groups, with people in their late teens to their late sixties coming to the meetings already. It’s a great friendly group of people and we meet every Thursday night from about 7:30 to 9:30 upstairs in the Abbey Inn” she finished.

The group can be found at ‘Thursday Night Writers Tralee’ on Facebook where they provide details of meetings, writing competitions and events coming up both nationally and internationally.

7Jan2016

One Judge Is Less Than Pleased With Conditions In Tralee Courthouse

Posted in Crime/Courts/Law, Local News, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Judge James O’ Connor is not impressed with some of the conditions on show in Tralee.

ONE JUDGE who is not happy with some of the conditions in Tralee’s courthouse on district court days is District Court Judge James O’Connor, who used his first sitting in 2016 to highlight some of his issues he has with the building.

An Irish Times report by Anne Lucey has reported that the Judge has lashed out at the ‘noise and filth’ seen in the Tralee Courthouse on district court days while also revealing that he finds it to be the most awkward court in both Kerry and Cork.

He goes on to state that court sittings are usually delayed during the Wednesday sittings due to the large amount of noise that emanates from the large hall where people are ‘smoking and yapping’ throughout the day.

With regards to what could be done to help solve the situation, Judge O’Connor proposed that the Gardaí already present at the court could be used to keep order both inside and outside the courthouse.

He said the Gardaí should ‘get them off the steps and out of the precincts of the court completely’.

Tralee Courthouse remains one of the few remaining courts in the country that has not received any refurbishment in recent years, with many council sessions and one Dáil question failing to reach any decision.

23Nov2015

TRALEE NEWS: Dynamos To Host Charity Game In Honour Of Joe

Posted in Charity, Kerry News, Local News, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Joe Flynn pictured with Ray D’Arcy and Joe’s two daughters Joanne and Bernie. Photo Credit: RTÉ

TRALEE Dynamos are getting set to host a very special match this coming Sunday November 29th in honour of their former player Joe Flynn, who is suffering from terminal oesophageal cancer and who has been given just a few months to live.

Joe is a well known and much loved character around the town whose profound strength and courage in the face of his illness have garnered him nationwide support (see article here).

His former club therefore have taken it upon themselves to host their very special ‘Kick it For Joe’ legends game at their pitch at noon on Sunday.

They are inviting players of all ages to come out and play in the game, with no limits on the number of players on each side and with the use of rolling substitutions, fitness should not be a concern for those who are worried.

Donations will be taken at the game with all money collected going straight towards the Kerry Cork Health Link Bus which is a free service that takes those that are suffering from cancer and who might not have any other way of getting to their treatment, up to Cork University Hospital (CUH) and back again.

Anyone wishing to help out on the day can contact Noel White on 083 1165199.

22Nov2015

VIDEO: Castleisland’s Niamh Finds Third Almost Identical Lookalike

Posted in Kerry News, Local News, Something Cool by Fergus Writes Things

Castleisland’s Niamh Geaney has found a third almost identical lookalike.

A CASTLEISLAND woman, who earlier this year achieved worldwide fame after finding two almost perfectly identical doppelgangers, has now gone onto find her third ‘twin stranger’ who again bears an uncanny and almost scary resemblance to her.

The original project started as a bet between Castleisland’s Niamh Geaney and her two friends, Terence Manzanga and Harry English from Dublin City University.

Back in March of this year, the trio set themselves the challenge of seeing who could find their closest lookalike, or their ‘Twin Stranger’ as they dubbed the project, in just 28 days.

After just two weeks, the search came up trumps for Niamh after she located her first ‘twin’ in Karen Branigan, before going on to find her second doppelganger Luisa Guizzardi in Italy.

Niamh Geaney with her first ‘twin stranger’, Karen Branigan.

Niamh with her second ‘twin stranger’, Luisa Guizzardi.

Well, they say that good things come in ‘threes’ and this is certainly the case here after Niamh recently met up with her third lookalike, Irene Adams, who hails from Sligo.

The two woman are filmed meeting for the first time in the video below and as you will see, the resemblance between the two is almost identical.

“People who didn’t know either of us would think that we’re related,” Irene states in the video.

If you’d like to look for your ‘Twin Stranger’, head over to their website HERE.

Check out Niamh meeting her third ‘twin stranger’ in the video below…

22Nov2015

TRALEE NEWS: Iceland Store To Open In Town This Week

Posted in Local News, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

The Iceland store in the Horan Centre in Tralee is getting ready to open this week.

THE FAMOUS Iceland brand will officially bring its business to Tralee this coming week with the supermarket chain set to open its doors this coming Wednesday November 25th.

The store will be located up in the Horan Centre and will throw open its doors to the public at approximately 9am this Wednesday.

It has been reported that the store will/has created up to 25 jobs, but this has not been confirmed.

Tralee folk will no doubt be eager to see for themselves what the new store has to offer.

We’ll just have to wait until Wednesday to find out.

19Nov2015

WHAT’S ON: Santa 5km Fun Run To Be Held In Memory Of Fiona

Posted in Charity, Kerry News, Local News by Fergus Writes Things

Organisers of the Tralee 5km Santa Fun Run pictured at the launch of last years event.

EVEN THOUGH it is still just November, it’s not too early to sign up for one the mainstay events of the local Christmas calendar, the Tralee Santa 5km Fun Run.

This will the third year of the hugely popular event which is welcoming and encouraging everyone from ‘sprinters, walkers and joggers’ to the event which will take place on Sunday December 13th at 11am.

Last years run helped to raise an amazing €8,600 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities Ireland.

The 2015 version will again be run in memory of Tralee girl Fiona Moore who who died in May 2013 at the age of 16 from Primary Pulmonary hypertension, while awaiting a lung transplant and which will raise money for the Heart Childrens Ireland charity.

A family of four is set to cost €20, an adult will cost €10, U16’s will be €5 while any festive minded pets that wish to take part will be let in for free.

To register for the event, you can head over to the registration site HERE and sign up for the worthy cause and what guarantees to be a fun day out.

The aim of this years chosen charity, Heart Childrens Ireland, is to support children who suffer from congenital heart defects, their parents and their families. The group also does their best to try and support the bereaved families whose children have died from heart related issues.

To find more about the charity, you can do so on their website HERE.

19Nov2015

TRALEE NEWS: Tralee Mans Mix-Up Leads To Unexpected Opportunity

Posted in Kerry News, Local News, Something Cool, Tralee by Fergus Writes Things

Joe Griffin’s less than stellar camera skills went viral this past week.

THE old saying goes that two wrongs don’t make a right but for one Tralee man, many continuous wrongs all of which included a GoPro camera, have somehow led to an incredible chance for him to film a promotional video of Las Vegas.

Joe Griffin, who is a Clogherbrien native but now living in Dublin, found himself at the centre of a viral internet story last week when footage from his August trip to Las Vegas was uploaded to YouTube by his son Evan.

If you haven’t seen it yet, then I’d recommend you do so below, but suffice to say that he might need to brush up on some of his camera skills.

The Las Vegas Tourist Board were clearly so enamored with Joe’s four-minute long ‘sightseeing’ trip that they contacted him and offered to fly him and his son out to film the promotional video for the famous city.

You can clearly never predict which video is going to go viral, but for Joe and his camera mishaps, he certainly found a winning formula here, just not the right camera angle.

Check out the famous footage down below…

18Nov2015

KERRY NEWS: Book Of Condolences Opened For Victims Of Paris Attacks

Posted in Kerry News, Local News by Fergus Writes Things

The Kerry County Council offices have opened a book of condolences for the victims of the Paris attacks.

IN the wake of the tragic events that took place in Paris last Friday, the people of Kerry have been offered a chance to show their compassion and solidarity with the French people through a book of condolences.

The book has has been opened in the main lobby of the offices of the Kerry County Council in Rathass here in town, with any members of the public wishing to show their solace for the victims encouraged to pay a visit.

Over 129 people were killed in the terrorist attacks in Paris on the night of Friday November 13th with this book opening being just a small act and a show of humanity by the people of Kerry towards the victims and their families.

The council also recently held a minutes silence in remembrance of those who lost their lives.

12Nov2015

WHAT’S ON: Volunteer Group To Hold Information Talk In IT Tralee On Overseas Volunteer Opportunities

Posted in Fundraising, International, Local News by Fergus Writes Things

SERVE will hold an information evening in Tralee later this month.

AN IRISH based charity are getting set to hold an information event in the North Campus of the IT Tralee later this month where they will talk about the oversea volunteering opportunities coming up in 2016.

SERVE is a development and volunteering organisation that is committed to tackling poverty in the majority world and which focuses specifically on programmes and projects that help communities enhance the lives of children and young people in different areas.

They will be holding their information event on at 1pm on Wednesday November 25th in room S114 up in the college and they are encouraging anyone with an interest in overseas volunteering to attend.

“Anyone that is remotely interested in volunteering abroad, learning about other countries and the issues the people are facing, or may be studying topics around this area should definitely attend one of these talks,” said Christina Sayers, a SERVE volunteer who travelled to the Philippines in the Summer of 2014 when talking to Fergus Dennehy today.

“I would recommend this experience to anyone! Fundraising for your project and then being able to actually see where this money is going to and the work that is on going with Serve abroad is truly inspiring,” she finished.

Volunteer application forms will only be available at the sessions so it is imperative that you attend.

The organisation have offices in Cork, Galway and Belfast and you can check out the work they do on their main website HERE.