“Michael O’Sullivan was my great friend… but I don’t ever remember telling him that. The words that are spoken at a funeral are spoken too late for the man who is dead.” This scene from the 1998 comedy Waking Ned is one of my favourites. I can’t help but think there’s real truth in the…
It’s just a few more days until Easter Sunday and the much anticipated wait to tear the foil off your chocolate egg will be over. With the excitement over Easter eggs, it can be easy to forget the true meaning of Easter. Over the next few days, take your mind off the chocolate and turn…
It is the change in the light that tells me – spring is here. Early in the morning and now in the evening there is a golden glow to the world, different from the more subdued light of winter. I love this season, with our berry bushes beginning to bud, rhubarb growing so quickly you…
Green Fingers “From sweet April showers, do spring May flowers,” said Thomas Tusser. We might get hail, sleet or snow, but ideally what we need now is warm showers and sunshine to get things really moving fast. If you are growing rhododendrons, azaleas or camellias on acid soil they will benefit from a general purpose…
Simon Flint describes his first three months as a VMM lay missionary teaching in Africa Simon Flint I came here in November into the searing heat of the warm heart of Africa as Malawi is sometimes called. My first month was spent with Damian and Bridgett who are both volunteers working with Network for a…
Mags Gargan speaks to the National Director for Catechetics about her first year in the role There is a lot happening in the area of religious education in Ireland at the moment, so when Kate Liffey took the role of National Director for Catechetics early last year, in some ways she didn’t realise the challenge…
Over the Easter holidays, a fun Easter activitiy is visiting a petting farm to see new life being introduced onto the farm including eggs hatching and lambs being delivered. If you can’t wait until then, create your own fuzzy friend with this pom pom Easter chick. A pom pom maker is ideal but if you…
Are you overweight? It may be a sobering thought, but in fact about 80% of Irish adults aged over 50 are overweight or obese according to the TILDA study of ageing. What’s even more alarming is that approximately 20% of Irish children and adolescents also fall into this category. Overall, the rate of obesity in…
This St Patrick’s Day is our first as emigrants. Since arriving in England last summer, we’ve gone through all the usual things that face families moving overseas: finding schools and a place to live, filling out myriad forms, importing our cars, getting set up in work, registering to pay tax and to vote. All the…
This column regularly deals with the pitfalls of obesity and advises those weight conscious readers on how to avoid gaining weight unnecessarily or how to shed excess pounds in a healthy fashion. I’m conscious, however, that some readers may in fact be struggling to maintain their weight or indeed gain some on doctors’ orders. Weight…
Erin Fox
Bairbre Cahill
Paul Gargan
Mags Gargan
Dr Kevin McCarroll
Cathal Barry