Something of a history theme wove its way through the show on Tuesday, 7th December.
Sue opened with Dr Ida Milne, author and lecturer in European History at Carlow College who was one of two local people featured in RTE’s Nationwide on Monday, 6th December which focused on The Treaty.
Artist Pauline O’Connell told of her recent project which was commissioned as part of The Decade of Centenaries where she worked with residents from along the Castlecomer Plateaux and the result was short film ‘A Woman’s Culm’ …
This week’s instalment of The Historyman sees Donal Cadogan outlining the story of the German bombing at Knockroe which resulted in the deaths of some members of the Shannon family in 1941 …
https://soundcloud.com/kclr96fm/the-way-it-is-the-historyman-7th-december-2021?si=abed7feaf53c417594413f11272e8ec7&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing
As Storm Barra lashed Carlow and Kilkenny, Divisional Traffic Inspector Paul Donohoe told of the work Gardaí had been carrying out on local roads and he had some advice for motorists, pedestrians and others …
Striking Productions Carlow are among those impacted by the latest Covid-19 restrictions with their annual panto now cancelled. Robert O’Neill from the group joined Sue to discuss the financial hit he and his team are taking …
Dr Justin Kwong of Lakeside Family Practice in Kilkenny is another regular on the programme and is great to come on to answer listener queries with this week looking at everything from aching finger joints to prostate cancer:
Ultan Connolly of the Citizens Information Centre took to the airwaves to outline what financial supports may be available for those hard-hit on the work front by the latest Covid19 restrictions …
And if you’re looking for the perfect Christmas gift for somebody in your life who loves wildlife? Wildlife Officer with The Heritage Council, Lorcán Scott, has some suggestions (see below) …
Wonderful Wildlife – KCLR’s Focus on Biodiversity December
December has finally arrived for those non-Grinches and while it can be a slow, quiet month for wildlife, there are a few highlights that can break the long winter nights. Winter is always a highlight for many birders, we have peak arrival of our winter migrants, geese, waders, and other waterfowl, but we sometimes also get an influx of other smaller birds, such as waxwings, brambling, and snow buntings.
LEGO Children’s Competition 2021: we have just launched the Heritage Council LEGO youth competition to run over the Christmas holidays, we normally try for late summer, but it didn’t work out for us this year, not deterred we are opening it up over the Christmas school holidays. So, if the children need an attention distraction from all things glitter, why not spend some time designing, constructing, and marvelling at some heritage related LEGO piece? The competition is open up until January 3rd, 2022, and this year we are asking the contestants if they would like to display their piece at the Medieval Mile Museum, Kilkenny. All going to plan we hope to hold an exhibition of some winners and a few relevant pieces throughout January – we promise to return all pieces then! As with all Heritage Council activities I recommend you go to our website for details (https://www.heritagecouncil.ie/projects/lego-competition) and if you want to see last year’s competition entries, here’s a YouTube link: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GPtuyoPYbw&t=6s ). As ever we have linked up with official LEGO professional model maker Jessica Farrell, she has produced some pieces again for you to try out and she will adjudicate on this year’s winners.
Christmas presents for the Wildlife person in your life! I thought it might be nice to help out those who have a budding David Attenborough, or Jane Goodall to think about! If you are looking at books, there are so many that all wildlife enthusiasts would love to have in their collection, and they cover the expert and beginner equally. If they favour birds, there are a number for Irish bird books, but everyone should have a copy of Collins Birds Guide (covering Britain & Ireland), they are on the 2nd Edition, but any is good – many of the paintings too are from Wexford’s Killian Mullarney. Other books will cover places to go and see birds and there are smaller volumes covering garden birds, of very common birds, all available via BirdWatch Ireland’s book shop and most local book shops too. For those not favouring feathers there is another host of books covering plants, for Irish wildflowers I would refer people to Zoe Devlin’s The Wildflowers of Ireland, also on its second run as it happens. For stocking fillers, you can’t go wrong with the NBDC Swatches, which cover many species that you can use even in your garden, or when next down at the beach.. these are available from the NBDC or a few Irish Nature Wildlife groups, BirdWatch Ireland and the Irish Peatlands Conservancy Council and at about €6, they are just the ticket. Those that just love being outdoors, I love to strike up my Kelly Kettle, this piece of kit allows you to heat water using close by twigs and sticks and to warm up after a long walk, but doesn’t take up too much space, they start in and around €70, but will last a lifetime if looked after. Moving up the price scale, many nature lovers will enjoy listening to and recording bats in their area, www.NHBS.com have a wide range of Bat Detectors and they start in or around €115 for a starter detector. Then there is the binoculars & telescopes, these can be tricky for many people and best advice is spend as much as you can afford, alas the more money you do spend the better the binoculars/scope as you are paying for the quality of glass used, which tends to be very high range. If the person the gift is for is a starter or very young, there is every reason not to go too high to start with, but for bird watching 8×30 size gives good magnification, without pulling the arms out of your socket after a day’s bird watching – again, the BirdWatch Ireland website will guide you and lists prices.
Lastly, I can guarantee happiness by getting a voucher for the now many Whale & Dolphin Boat watch companies that provide an excellent service around the south and west coast, in particular, a trip is in or around €50 for 1 person.
Winter Solstice: Of course, December is also winter solstice month centred around the 21st and if weather is amicable there is nothing like sunrise at Knockroe passage tomb, near the Slate quarries to inspire.
