This Christmas will be my first Christmas as a married person. Myself and my husband have still not decided where we will spend it but we are getting pressure from both families as to where we should be spending Christmas day. For some families who is seated at their Christmas table on Christmas day…
Category: Family & Faith
Family News and Events
Have a Lullymore Christmas! With the Christmas holidays well and truly arrived, it’s that time of year where children finally get meet Santa Claus! Father Christmas will be greeting visitors, both young and old, at Kildare’s Lullymore Heritage and Discovery Park up till December 23. The 2018 Christmas visit will include a gift from the…
Aspirin: pros and cons of an ancient wonderdrug
Medical Matters Aspirin remains one of the most widely used drugs globally, yet its use as a medicinal agent can be traced to as far back as the ancient Greeks who realised its anti-inflammatory properties. In fact, they used the bark of the willow tree from which it derives. Today, Acetylsalicyclic acid or the…
Homemade honeycomb for a crunchy Christmas
Sweet Treats Laura Anderson Although there are very few ingredients to this recipe it makes the tastiest treat! The key to success here is the preparation beforehand as the formation of the honeycomb happens quite quickly. Be sure to have all utensils to hand and read through the method a few times before…
Family News and Events
Lighting up Christmas To celebrate community, creativity and Christmas, check out the Festival of Light in Kilkenny’s Castlecomer which is sure to be a hit with whole family. Beginning on November 30 and running straight up to December 24, you and your kids will get to make your own lanterns, participate in The Parade of…
Faith in the Family
I recently organised some training to run parenting programmes. I also took part in the training myself and I am looking forward to getting out around the county and running these groups with parents. As part of my job I coordinate a lot of the parenting programmes that happen in Donegal and parents contact me to…
Climate change and a vegetarian diet
Science of Life Mary Robinson, Head of the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, recently advocated that we should all reduce our consumption of meat in order to ameliorate global warming, saying: “We need to eat less meat, maybe become vegetarian, or even vegan.” The underlying idea is to eliminate emissions of warming gases…
Dad’s Diary
The kids had ‘World War I day’ in school last week, to mark the centenary of the armistice of 1918. The teachers arrived in Edwardian costume, and the kids were dressed in old-fashioned clothes, or dressed as nurses or soldiers. Most of the boys came dressed as soldiers and, inevitably, some shooting games ensued. The…
It’s time for gardeners to prepare for winter
Green Fingers The amount of time you spend in the garden in November is usually governed by the weather on the day, not the amount of jobs to be done. When a task becomes a chore, it is no longer enjoyable. Leave it and come back to it again when you can take it…
Family News and Events
Choo choo! With the Christmas holidays fast-approaching, how does a magical train ride through a festive forest sound? On offer from December 1–9, is ‘The Christmas Express’ at Laois’ Stradbally Woodlands Railway – the first volunteer-run heritage railway in Ireland, having been established in 1969. The whole family will get the chance to embark on…

Wendy Grace

Dr Kevin McCarroll


Bairbre Cahill
William Reville

Paul Gargan
