A Benedictine monk from a centuries-old monastery in Switzerland, Brother Martin Hieronymi recently traded the foothills of the Alps for the foothills of Mount Gabriel in Schull, where he travelled to improve his English at the Atlantic School of English and Active Leisure. Settling easily into village life, during his […]

As the song goes ‘Count your life by smiles, not tears’, a message reinforced by 81-year-old Patty Mullaney, drawing on her years of wisdom. Most days Patty feels about 35, but on the days she feels closer to 90, she says “It really does help to smile”. In between walking […]

With all of its ups and downs, life is often compared to a spinning wheel. For a group of West Cork women, who have been meeting every Tuesday for over ten years, Mary O’Brien finds that the spinning wheel weaves a bright story of friendship, where life’s challenges and highlights […]

Learning she was autistic at the age of 37 was life-changing for Evaleen Whelton, a speech and drama teacher who went on to found Ausome Training, a pioneering organisation based in Bandon that challenges stereotypes and empowers autistic individuals through mentoring and training. Over the past decade, Ausome Training has […]

Arriving in Ireland almost two years ago with just a few suitcases and some precious family photographs between them, Ukrainian couple Galyna, 56, and Vlad, 38, faced the challenge of finding their feet together in a strange environment. Back home in Ukraine before the war, Vlad, who was exempted from […]

With an accordion for every day of the week, plus one to spare, Ashley Wholihan is rarely seen without one of his prized instruments to hand. Just shy of his ninetieth year, with one foot in Glengarriff and the other in Kenya, and still regularly driving to sessions around West […]