Youghal Town Council is to make submission to eircom for the retention of some public payphones in the town. February’s town council meeting heard councillors intimate they may also make submissions at a personal level. By Christy Parker/Photo Kieran McCarthy(YoughalOnline.com)

Cllr. Barbara Murray aired issue, referring to the company’s decision to remove its eight phone boxes from Youghal’s streets by March 16th. The nearest public payphone to Youghal would be in Midleton or Dungarvan, towns where some are being retained. Cllr. Murray said eircom’s area representative had told her all the phones would be removed in the absence of any submissions. This seemed to indicate that some reprieve is possible if representation is made. She advocated retentions approximate to Dolphin’s Square and the Garda station.
The councillor said provision of the service is as important as profit making and a lot of people, tourists included, would still be dependent on public call boxes in various circumstances.
Cllr Murray’s argument is supported by an e-mail to website www.youghalonline.com whence an American family wrote of their mobile phone status not meeting  requirements in Ireland and they being reliant on public call boxes to contact relatives and accommodation. Read more

Those who attended Youghal’s second annual Walled Town Day (commonly called ‘Medieval Day’) at the College Gardens last August 24th may recall a reasonably entertaining afternoon. The rain just about abstained and there were sufficient attractions and stalls to deliver an enjoyable, if not exhilarating, experience. That’s just a personal opinion, mind. By Christy Parker/ Photo Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)

An official, statistical view comes from a study conducted by consultants KPMG. Verily, it doth bringeth good tidings to yon Heritage Council, Youghal Town Council, tourism sectors and the merchant community. KPMG’s two researchers sought to quantify the event’s economic impact on the locality and its success in promoting heritage and tourism. They proffered the two-pronged approach of surveying accommodation providers (posted questionnaires) and the general public (personal interviews on the day). However the results from the accommodation providers were dismissed “as the small number of respondents made the data unsafe and unpredictable.” Read more

Blackwater Academy of Performing Arts would like to congratulate three of our students who are playing roles in ‘Seussical the musical’ in the Everyman Palace on the 27th and 28th February. Matthew Doherty, Adam Drake, and Eoghan Moloney performed with Blackwater Academy in May 2008 in ‘Dance Overtures’ -Graphics Youghalonline.com

The producer of this show was so impressed with the boys that they were asked to play the part of Wickersham brothers in this modern colourful musical which is based on characters from the books of Dr. Seuss. The film Horton hears a who is based loosely around this musical. The boys attend weekly classes in musical theatre and dance at Blackwater Academy, taught by Tracey Symon and Clodagh Barrett. Tracey is musical director of the show, and Clodagh is a lead dancer. Much of the choreography was done by Robert Foley, a professional dancer in the West End. Cork’s own Trevor Ryan who played a leading role in this years Opera House pantomime is directing the show. Read more

Last night (15th Feb) Cork Opera house saw one of its biggest shows this year with music and entertainment provided by local man Art Supple and friends from the Showband Era. It was a night to sit back and recall the days of Redbarn Dancehall and other local ballrooms.-Photo Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)

The night started off with local entertainer Art Supple onstage welcoming everyone to the Opera House Art was the front man for Cork Showband The Victors one of the leading showbands from the 60′s and with members of the band reading like the who’s who of the music world provided a great opening to this nostalgic evening There was Jimmy Byrne on guitar, Arthur O Neill on tenor Saxophone who were members of the Victors Showband, Mick Kinane on trumpet who played with many showbands down through the years, Sean Kinsella on drums one of the original Aircords and  Shane Supple on Keyboards son of Art who has just recently released his new album which has been getting extensive airplay from all radio stations including RTE.

Art brought the audience back in time with his famous Showbands on Parade routine in which he gave his impressions of many of the stars of the showband era from Big Tom to Larry Cunningham and even Brendan Bowyer, Then he introduced onto the stage Frankie McBride best known for his hit 5 little fingers who serenaded the audience with his smooth velvet voice. Frankie was followed by entertainer Paschal Brennan who sang all the Joe Dolan classics as he brought back memories to many and a tear to the eye of some Joe Dolan Fans. Read more

Ballycotton RNLI lifeboat launched at 12:00 hours today (15th Feb.) to a fishing vessel with mechanical problems 20 miles south east of Ballycotton.  The lifeboat arrived at the casualty at 13:00 hours and a tow line was established.  The fishing vessel with two persons aboard was taken in tow to Ballycotton where they are due to arrive at 16:10 hours.

* Ballycotton Lifeboat was founded in 1858.  To date, the crew of Ballycotton Lifeboat Station have been awarded seventeen medals by the RNLI, 2 gold, 7 silver and 8 bronze.

* The station has a €2 million, Trent Class lifeboat, Austin Lidbury.  This is a 14 metre, all weather lifeboat, with a top speed of 25 knots

* To learn more about the lifeboat station please go to www.ballycottonlifeboat.org

The RNLI online
For more information on the RNLI please visit www.rnli.ie News releases and other media resources, including RSS feeds, downloadable photos and video, are available at the RNLI Press Centre www.rnli.ie/press. Read more

Amnesty Cork in partnership with Trocaire are delighted to present the award winning film ‘Iron Wall’ on Monday the 16th February in the Victoria Hotel, St. Patrick’s Street, Cork. Admission is free and the event begins at 8pm.

This award winning film gives an insight into the suffering of the Palestinian people and the issue of Human Rights. It documents the building of Israeli settlements and the separation wall on Palestinian lands and their impact on the peace process and on the Palestinian people.
There will also be two brief speakers, one from Trocaire and one from Amnesty International and an opportunity provided for each attendee to express their views. Read more

Youghal Musical Society will be producing the smash hit musical Oklahoma! in The Mall Arts Centre, Youghal, from June 20th to the 26th inclusive. Auditions were held last Sunday and there was a wonderful turnout of ladies and gentlemen anxious to be part of this fabulous show. Ms. Terri Byrne from Cobh who directed a number of previous shows in Youghal will be the director once again for the 2009 production. Read more

Clashmore Ramblers Football Club are running a fundraiser ‘Bag Pack’ at Brookes Super Valu, North Main St. this weekend Fri 13th-Sat14th so please support if you are out shopping this weekend.-Photo Michael Hussey (YoughalOnline.com)

Stephen O’Sullivan, manager Super Valu Youghal, contributes to the fundraiser with Siobhan Murray from Kinsalebeg, Triona Fitzgerald and Aisling Scanlon from Claddagh who helped pack your bag for the weekend.

Thousands of dead starfish washed up on the shore have fallen foul of extreme weather it seems. Beachwalkers have had to pick their way past piles of dead starfish stranded on Youghal beach. Denise Fitzgerald from the East Cork Journal was taking a stroll on the beach between Claycastle and Redbarn in Youghal and was amazed to see thousands of starfish washed onto the sand.

The dead echinoderms ranged in size from a few centimetres to several inches and were a sad spectacle to behold. The ECJ made contact with a renowned Marine Biologist, Professor Noel P. Wilkins, NUI Galway, to discover the reasons behind this strange phenomenon. ‘I’ve never seen anything like this in my lifetime,’ he stated. ‘It was unusual that starfish were the only species to be washed ashore – especially in these numbers. The most viable reason was that these starfish lived at a certain level of the ocean, and were thrown up onto the beach by a tremendous underflow, which was probably caused by a storm under the sea.’
Starfish or sea stars are found in most of temperate and tropical oceans of the world and, in this part of the world, are usually viewed in aquariums.
With talk of global warming and increasingly unpredictable climatic conditions, it seems that it’s not just those on the land who have something to worry about. Read more

Just before Christmas the young Chatterbox performers attended a dance competition in the Montenotte Hotel, Cork.  It was a very hectic day which saw over 150 performers from all over Cork take to the dance floor. By Ruth Hayes

It was Chatterbox Dance Group’s first outing at the competition and they did tremendously well. We took home numerous first places and several placement medal winners in the under 9′s, under 13′s and under 16′s.  The highlight of the day came when Chatterbox won overall first place in the ‘teams’ competition.  Well done to all of the dancers on the day. They did us proud. Chatterbox’s next production will be called ‘Lets Dance’ and will take place on March 9th and 10th in the Mall Arts Centre.  The show will be a delight to young and old with a mixture of contemporary favourites such as a tribute to Hannah Montana and Camp Rock. Read more