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Junk Kouture 2013

Junk Kouture 2013 – Creative students in Derry and Donegal are being urged to transform rubbish into high fashion as part of an Ireland-wide competition.

Second level students are in with the chance to win 20,000 euro in prizes at the grand final, including 2,500 euro in cash for the winning school, 1,000 euro of IT equipment, 500 euro cash and a one week course in the Grafton Academy of Design for the winning team, the chance to attend the Cannes Film Festival 2013 and attend the Royal Film Premiere in London.

The closing date for entries for the 2013 Junk Kouture Recycled Fashion competition – in association with the European Recycling Platform (ERP) – is January 31.

Created in 2010 by Buncrana entrepreneurs Elizabeth O’Donnell and Troy Armour, the Junk Kouture competition has seen thousands of teenagers’ work submitted over the past two years, with some spectacular and awe-inspiring pieces gracing the competition’s regional and national catwalks.

Junk Kouture website: www.junkkouture.com

Junk Kouture on Facebook: www.facebook.com/junkkouture

In a Town of Five Thousand People

In a Town of Five Thousand People

In a Town of Five Thousand People, Frank McGuinness’s fifth collection, demonstrates again the ‘energy and intensity’ Peter Denman noted in Poetry Ireland Review. The scathing invective of ‘The Town Next to Us’, a series of loving elegies for artists and actors and a record of struggles with religious ties anatomize ‘the darkness within the darkness’

Buy this book at Gallery Press

Scoil Mhuire Buncrana Gangham Style

Scoil Mhuire Buncrana Gangham Style- Here are the students and teachers from Scoil Mhuire, Buncrana, Co. Donegal with one of the first whole school Lip Dubs in the Republic of Ireland.

Featuring music by The Undertones, One Direction, Little Mix, Jennifer Lopez, Queen and PSY’s GANGNAM STYLE!

 

Buncrana Navigation Light Award

Buncrana Navigation Light Award

As the Tidy Towns Award results announced recently are assessed around the country, a collaboration in Buncrana involving the local Town Council, Tidy Towns Committee and the Buncrana / West Inishowen Historical Society is celebrating a major accolade.

The Buncrana Lighthouse Restoration Project won the Heritage Award.

The eight metre tall lighthouse (pictured above) was first established on the Buncrana Pier in January 1876 and it was converted from oil to acetylene in 1916 and onto electric in 1951.

It was decommissioned in 2009 by Irish Lights and restored and erected on the Shore Front a year later.

Slideshow – Autumn in Buncrana

Simply Music Inishowen

Simply Music Inishowen

Simply Music Inishowen Offers:

  • One-to-one and group tuition on various instruments plus voice and music theory
  • Classes open to all ages (children and adults) at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels
  • Tuition for grade exams OR competitions OR for fun only
  • Occasional workshops and special events throughout the year including Halloween and Summer Camps and various concerts
  • Various Outreach Programmes including Music Therapy for special needs, In-School Performance, Exploring Music and Whistle Wizards
  • Participatory workshops and projects specially designed for any group through our Outreach Programme

Simply Music employs fully qualified and experienced music instructors for all courses including:

Keenan Barrett, Ray Curran, Leo Doherty, Marie Fitzpatrick, Louise Moore, Louise McKinney, Siobhan Shiels, Maura Sloyan, Jim Woods

For more information contact:

Ciara Herron, Simply Music Inishowen, Tullyarvan Mill, Buncrana, Co. Donegal

Tel: +353 74 93 20355

Web: www.simplymusicinishowen.com

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Tip O’Neill Donegal Diaspora Award

Tip O’Neill Donegal Diaspora Award

More than 80 O’Neills are scheduled to travel from America for the inaugural Tip O’Neill Donegal Diaspora Award in memory of the late former speaker of the US House of Representatives. The clan gathering, starting this Friday 7th September 2012, will take place in Buncrana, Co Donegal, home of O’Neill’s maternal ancestors.

US-based journalist Niall O’Dowd will be the first recipient of the award.

The weekend programme will also include the presentation of Irish-American Partnership bursaries to five local national schools and the first annual Tip O’Neill lecture to be delivered by Prof Paul Arthur.

A sculpture commemorating O’Neill will also be unveiled at Buncrana’s Shore Front by the town’s mayor, James Gill.

O’Neill’s daughter Susan O’Neill said her father’s grandmother Eunice Fullerton was born outside Buncrana, “so this part of the world still resonates as home for many of us”.

She added: “There are over 80 making the trip and this is a great opportunity for members of our family to visit our ancestral home and meet the local community.”

This article appeared in The Irish Times – Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Slideshow – Autumn in Buncrana

Buncrana Music Arts and Culture Festival

Buncrana Music Arts and Culture Festival
Thursday 26th – Sunday 29th July 2012

The organising committee for this year’s Buncrana Music, Arts and Culture Festival have this week launched the full programme of events. The festival, which had been in jeopardy, was only saved in March when a new committee was formed.

The festival kicks off on Thursday, July 26 with a big country music night with live music on the Main Street with music by Gerry Guthrie from 8.30pm followed by Patrick Feeney and his band, who this week received a standing ovation from his audience at the Highland Radio concert.

There is also a car treasure hunt starting from the Lake of Shadows Hotel at 6pm.

The North Pole Cycling Club are also holding a 30km road race leaving from the fire station at 7pm.

Friday sees the activities continue with a Dog Show on the shore greens commencing at 3pm. There will be live music each day from 2.30pm from Friday to Sunday outside The Coffee Cup; everyone is welcome to bring their own instruments.

On Friday night at 8.30 the Main Street comes alive with the ever popular Kopykat Killers followed at 10pm by Shadowplay who played at last year’s festival. At 11pm the Plaza plays host to local favourite Martin Cuffe and up and coming star Johnny Brady, while there is a festival disco in club Libertys.

Saturday 28th July has a jammed packed programme of events starting with a carnival parade on the Main Street from 12.30pm. This event is being organised by Donegal Youth Service and continues from 1pm to 6pm at the shore greens with a host of activities including a Teddy Bears picnic and a range of fun events for the kids. From 1pm there will also be a mini-music festival and craft fair at Swan Park. The festival also coincides with The Feel Good Fortnight organised by Buncrana Community Combatting Suicide.

Defending Aileach-eireanns edge visit Buncrana with their fabulous display of Ireland’s only replica of an ancient Irish chariot, as well as an Irish medieval combat display and sword making. These range of events promises to be a great day for everyone.

Saturday evening sees live music on Buncrana’s Main Street at 8.30pm with highly popular local band Overplay. At 10pm the Main Street will see Rattle n Hum play to the crowds, described as the finest U2 tribute band on the planet by Hotpress magazine. The Knights of Leon, another extremely popular act play in the plaza from midnight, with a festival disco in club Libertys.

In a slight change to previous years the Sunday will see a host of events on the main street from 5.30pm. There will be free face painting, bouncy castles and disney characters for the children square. The highlight of the festival will see the 8-piece Garth Brooks experience perform on stage at 10pm.

Buncrana Camera Club will host a photographic exhibition from 12 midday in the former Ruanna Shop.

All bars and clubs will have extended opening throughout the festival. Cullens Amusements will have their Funfair on the Shore greens throughout the festival. This is recognised as the premier fairground in Ireland.

The organising would also like anyone willing to help steward the festival to please contact Nicholas on 086 8435031 or Pat on 086 8179209 urgently.

Finally, the committee are extremely grateful to all our main sponsors who made this year’s festival viable.

Simply Music at Tullyarvan Mill Buncrana

Simply Music at Tullyarvan Mill Buncrana

Next Sunday, June 24th Tullyarvan Mill will be rocking to the sounds of the best of Inishowen talent – all tutors and friends of Simply Music.

The concert starts at 8pm, and features none other than the Henry Girls, local band Palomino, and singer/songwriters Longfellow and Louise Moore. Admission is €8, €20 per family.

Eleanor Lamb, back in her role as manager of Simply Music after an absence of 3 years, is really looking forward to a great night.

Speaking yesterday she said: “All of these acts feature Simply Music tutors, so in a sense it’s turning the tables and giving our pupils the opportunity to listen to their tutors”.

Simply Music at Tullyarvan Mill Buncrana
Simply Music is also hosting the internationally acclaimed Blazing Bows in a community workshop as part of the North Atlantic Fiddle Convention, on Wed 27th June at 1pm. Admission to this event is free, and “it will be a wonderful opportunity for our pupils, their families and the wider community to listen to these wonderful musicians in an informal setting, chat, find out their approach to music, and how they learnt and got involved in the first place”, says Eleanor.

Other Simply Music events during the summer include a School of Rock from August 13th – 16th and ‘A Rainbow of Sound’ – a children’s Art and Music summer scheme to take place from July 17th – 20th, so it’s a busy summer ahead for all Inishowen music enthusiasts!

Crana College Couture 2012

Crana College Couture 2012

Crana College Couture 2012 – video of fashion show organised by the staff and pupils of Crana College Buncrana, Inishowen, Donegal.