My daughter Suzy lives in Berlin, which is very handy for me, as there is always an excuse to visit. The fact that she is a great organiser is an added advantage, and her well-planned itinerary usually starts at a local wine bar, the perfect landing pad after a late flight.

Berlin is a surprising city, especially if, like me, your preconceptions of it are of gritty, graffiti-enhanced walls, fairly ugly communist-era architecture and a wild and free all-night club scene. Those are there alright, but there’s so much else besides. Berlin throws up new and unique experiences every time I visit. 

It is a city with a very interesting, complicated and often tragic past, which is not what I’m writing about here, but it is well-documented in the many excellent museums, installations and events throughout the city. This is about Berlin today, a creative, diverse, inclusive, quirky, fun, friendly and exciting place in which to spend time, whatever you’re into. Oh, and really great food and wine. 

Berlin is one of Europe’s greenest cities, with a myriad of parks and open spaces. An old,  disused airport? That’s turned into the Tempelhofer Feld skateboard park. A closed-down train station is repurposed as the family-friendly Park am Gleisdreieckan, with rolling lawns and an outdoor dance floor. We watched the iconic 1927 parable ‘Metropolis’ in the outdoor cinema in Volkspark in the Freidrichshein district. A live pianist provided the atmospheric soundtrack, and a kiosk sold beer and pretzels. 

Beside a half-sunken boat on the Spree river (which transforms into a club at weekends), is Badeschiff. Accessed through what looks like empty buildings, in an old bus depot, you arrive at a man-made sandy beach, deckchairs, beach bar and pool built out into the river. (Suzy points out though, that they are not vacant. It’s all used for events and workshop spaces and studios. It’s hard to find abandoned space in the centre of Berlin that isn’t being used by artists).

It’s the most extraordinary perspective of the heart of the city, swimming in this blue patch of water, at a junction between river and canal. This is one of my favourite places to spend a sunny afternoon, cold beer in hand. 

Just outside the pool area, in the Kreutzberg district, you can choose to eat Lebanese, Georgian, Turkish, Vietnamese – there’s an endless list of ethnic food options all over the city. 

Berlin also has a fantastic contemporary food scene, and I’ve added some of my favourites below, along with cocktail bars and wine bars I love to visit, having been scoped out by the diligent daughter.

Berlin Is a treasure trove of vintage clothes and homewares. It’s probably a blessing that I usually only have the airline 10kg, as I could furnish my house with the mid-century gems found everywhere here. Clothes are another matter, easily squished into the suitcase, and I have trawled the €2 bargain basements, spendy designer joints, and wildly inventive upcycling workshops.

Fleamarkets always feature on Berlin weekends. Regular shops close on Sundays, and flea markets pop up in the city’s streets and parks. Mauerpark, for example, offers an enormous collection of bric-a-brac, clothes, furniture, food, music and general Sunday chilling-out. The other weekend activity is of course, clubbing. This is not restricted to the early hours – many clubs open from Friday night till Monday morning straight, so you can go for an evening dance and still be in bed by 10 o’clock. Most clubs also have open-air dance floors for summertime dancing in the sun, giving a mini festival experience. 

For a light taste of club life, I love Krunkerkranich, an open air bar/restaurant/club on the top floor of a shopping centre. It’s great fun to bring someone there for the first time, take the lift,  and emerge into a lush rooftop garden with pumping tunes and a 360 degree view of the city. 

On another scale, Donau 115 is a tiny jazz bar in Neukölln, where you’ll sometimes hear Scottish trad played by local and visiting musicians. 

Coffee is an essential Berlin experience. There are heaps of coffee roasters, and really good coffee is available on every street. It’s hard to pinpoint the style of decor in these cafés, but it is distinctly ‘Berlin’ – lots of 1950s relics, industrial chic, upcycling and street art. The vibe is casual and friendly, with a regular crowd, each neighbourhood being like a small town. Nob Murphy’s, the café where my daughter works is my morning hang-out when I’m visiting, sitting on pallet furniture on the street, supping great coffee, borrowing bikes from neighbours and making plans for the day. 

Those plans involve cycling everywhere, as Berlin is very flat and has plenty of cycle paths. If we had more time, a trip by train and bike to one of the many lakes surrounding the city would have been on the agenda, but that’s grand, that’ll be on Suzy’s itinerary for my next visit. 

Details:

• Volkspark Friedrichshain (Berlin’s oldest park/outdoor cinema)

• Tempelhofer Feld – large outdoor space for skateboarding,  cycling or just catching the sunset

• Park am Gleisdreieck – 30 acres of outdoor urban space

• Badeschiff – outdoor pool and beach bar

• Restaurants and wine bars:

– Michelberger Hotel – very cool decor with great restaurant and tasty snacks,  close to Warschauer Str. train station,  great location for accessing the rest of the city. 

– JaJa Wein Bar – describes itself as ‘Naked wine and seasonal food’ – excellent food and wine. 

– Ezsra Bistro – ‘farm and forests to table’ philosophy,  low-tech wines 

– Vin Aqua Vin – wine shop and wine bar with dark wood,  mismatched furniture and stay all evening vibe

– Nathanja and Heinrich – really excellent cocktails, great street terrace 

– Klunkerkranich – exuberant rooftop bar

– Balance Wine Bar – Italian wine bar,  delicious arancini, our local, where Daniele guided us around the wines of Italy. 

– Donau 115 – higgledy-piggledy jazz bar, great music, great drinks. 

– Bob Murphy’s coffee shop – great coffee,  great staff, great neighbourhood vibe 

Music is in Martin Vallely’s bloodline. However, while his wider family is very well-known in the traditional Irish music world, his own talent lay dormant for a long time writes Moze Jacobs.

“In my immediate family there is hardly any music. Just one of my seven siblings plays some guitar. So I started really late. I had no idea I could play.”

Vallely is an anglicised Irish name with deep roots in Ulster, specifically Co Armagh. Its county town, Armagh, is the birthplace of Martin’s best-known musical family members. Such as the legendary Brian Vallely and his wife Eithne, prolific musicians and teachers who founded the Armagh Pipers Club in 1966 in order to “revive and promote traditional Irish music and uilleann piping”. Tragically, Eithne (81), originally from Co Donegal, died in August after being hit by a truck while walking. Their five children and ten grandchildren are all musicians, renowned for playing traditional Irish or classical music to a high standard on an eclectic array of instruments. There is also Fintan Vallely, a first cousin who is a respected flute player, university lecturer, author, ethnomusicologist and erstwhile music critic for The Irish Times.  

Martin Vallely, modest to a T, takes no credit for the famous connection. Nor did it influence his musical development or career. “I’m only a second or third cousin. There is no direct lineage.” He was born in Belfast, currently lives near Clonakilty, but grew up in Cork from the age of ten, when his large family was forced to leave Northern Ireland “because of the troubles. A sectarian situation. I don’t want to say too much about it. Basically, we were in the wrong place at the wrong time and moved to the South. Cork has been very good to us. We became an integral part of the community.” 

The city was also where he found his musical feet, albeit on a stop-start trajectory. “In the first year of secondary school we had a great music teacher who was very encouraging. I vaguely remember starting on the piano but unfortunately, he left and was never replaced. Therefore, it all stopped until, as a 21-year-old, I was sharing a flat in Cork with Martin Kelleher, a brilliant bass player. He was writing songs on a guitar and needed bass lines. He literally handed me an instrument and told me to play a single note. I did. He taught me another one. Within two weeks, I could play bass. Then a singer moved into the same flat, and a second songwriter. We found a drummer and ended up with a band. This was in the early 1980s. Way before Cork became the rave capital of the world. Our style was post-punk, Indie, new wave. The singer, John Campbell, thought he was David Bowie.”

Martin Vallely’s band was called Boat People (a reference to the people trying to escape the Asian countries devastated by the Vietnam War). It was the first of many musical ensembles he would be involved with down the years, in a variety of countries and situations. “Later I had some brushes with fame in a Cork band called Soon, when I had been playing bass for four years. The other musicians were Tony O’Sullivan, Giordai O’Laoghaire, Con O’Donovan. We got together and produced amazing music. That band should have become famous! People still talk about it. We clicked, there was chemistry, we were young and stupid.

“They were hailed as an adventurous musical outfit”, recorded seven studio tracks, appeared on RTE radio and TV. Everybody said we’d go somewhere. Great players, bad advice. So it didn’t happen.”

 His biography shows a dazzling range of (musical and other) activities and job titles: Record and video producer, session musician, arranger, composer, songwriter, film soundtrack composer, bandleader, teacher, performer. He found paid work as a bass player in Germany, Holland, France, Spain. As a singer-songwriter, he recorded two albums with original material and transitioned into a full-fledged jazz musician. “Jazz offers a wider, more interesting canvas.” With the Martin Vallely Quartet he released a series of critically-acclaimed Jazz CDs featuring his own compositions, while touring extensively. He took up the saxophone in addition to the bass, obtained a BA, then an MA at the MTU Cork School of Music. As if that wasn’t enough, he became a film director, “after following a sign for a filmmaker course on a balmy summer’s evening in Cork.

“I thought, oh, I’d love to try that. So I did.”

He directed six short fiction films; some were shown at festivals. “I enjoyed the experience and assimilated so much knowledge. It was even more fulfilling than music. You’re looking at ten different skills that you’ve got to be working on almost simultaneously.”

This year, as the Brett/Vallely Conspiracy, he released his sixth CD, ‘Two Heads Are Better Than One’, featuring jazz standards, on which he plays tenor sax and bass together with long-term collaborators Josephine Smith (vocals), Justin Brett (piano/keyboards), David Christy Jones (drums/percussion). 

The latter two also participate in his latest project, a community big band in Clonakilty, now called Seo Linn. Roughly ten members (there’s room for more). Some are professional musicians, others have a day job, everyone strives for professionalism. Vallely is very pleased with the result. After rehearsing for four months, their debut in front of an audience of thousands during the Clonakilty Street Festival in June was really well-received. “Not pure jazz but I’m doing jazzy arrangements of all the songs, including ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, ‘Moon Dance’, ‘Conscious Love’ (a reggae tune that I composed).”

A second gig, in Ár-n-Áit (Skibbereen), is booked for Sunday afternoon, September 20. 

Another project close to his heart is the Clonakilty Men’s Shed Choir that he has led since September 2024. Coincidentally, it also performed at the Street Carnival this year. Martin entered them for last year’s RTÉ Choirs for Christmas competition. A recording is online at RTÉ Lyric FM. In-between, they poignantly sang at the funeral of the late, much-missed Tommy O’Donovan, which brought Clonakilty to a stand-still. “He was the founding Chairman of Clonakilty Men’s Shed and one of the choir’s original members. He enjoyed getting the guys together. And he loved singing for its own sake. He had a lovely voice. He is missed.”

Martin Vallely plays with the Dave Desmond Jazz Trio on September 5 and conducts the Seo Linn Big Band on September 20 (Ár-n-Áit, Skibbereen). Each month, the Clonakilty Men’s Shed sings for the residents of the Convent Hospital and around Christmas in aid of St. Vincent de Paul.

In the first of a six-part series on the nine principles of interior design, Mairead Collier looks at balance, and scale and proportion.

Have you ever walked into a room and felt completely at ease, without knowing why? Or stood in a beautifully furnished space that somehow felt cold and disconnected? The difference, almost always, comes down to design principles.

These are not rigid rules. They are guidelines that professional interior designers use to create spaces that feel intentional, balanced, and genuinely lovely to be in. And the good news is that you do not need a design degree to understand them. Once you know what to look for, you will start seeing these principles everywhere, and applying them in your own home becomes much more instinctive.

Over the coming six months, I will break down each principle and expand on how to apply them in your home. For this first article I will discuss the first two principles; Balance, and Scale and Proportion.

Balance is one of the most fundamental principles of interior design. It refers to how visual weight is distributed across a room. A balanced room is one where its various elements have similar visual weight and aesthetic importance. When balance is right, a space feels stable and calm. The scale, colour and texture of all elements in the room will have an influence on balance. Each object within a room will carry a different visual weight. Large objects carry more visual weight than small objects. Bright and bold colours carry more weight than say pale or cool colours. Likewise, shiny objects versus dull or flat objects. The former has more visual weight than the latter. A busy pattern will carry more visual weight than a simple pattern. The goal is to balance all these elements within the room. When it is off, something nags, even if you cannot quite name it. There are three types of balance. Symmetrical balance is achieved when two identical items are placed on two opposite sides of an imaginary line. For example, two matching bedside tables, a pair of lamps flanking a fireplace. It is formal and reassuring. Asymmetrical balance uses objects of different sizes or types that carry equal visual weight, a tall floor lamp balanced by a low, wide credenza. It feels more relaxed and contemporary. Radial balance arranges elements around a central point, a round dining table with chairs, and a circular rug.In practice, most well-designed rooms use a combination of all three. The key is to step back and ask: does one side of this room feel heavier than the other? If so, something needs to shift. The easiest way to start is to place a focal point centrally, like a bed in a bedroom or a dining table and chairs in a dining room, and work out from this. When deciding where to place an item ask yourself a series of questions. What is the visual weight of the item? Where will it look best within the room? What will need to be placed around the item to give it balance?

Scale refers to how objects relate to the size of the room. Proportion is how objects relate to each other. Both matter enormously, and both are frequently the cause of rooms that feel off without anyone being able to say exactly why.The relationship between scale and proportion is in part a matter of function but also of aesthetics, perspective and how we use the space. An oversized sofa in a small room makes the space feel cramped and hard to move through. To counteract this, designers may often upholster the sofa in a neutral colour, then use a bolder colour on things such as cushions or throws. This stops the sofa from dominating the room but also introduces colour and interest. Tiny artwork hung on a large wall looks lost and apologetic. However this too can be rectified if it provides a subtle visual link to other items in the room through shape, colour or texture. The secret lies in being intentional about adding in an under-scale object and not randomly introducing it to a room. Similarly furniture that is too low for a high-ceilinged room can feel awkward and weightless. Getting scale and proportion right is not complicated. But it does require measuring, and resisting the temptation to buy something simply because you love it, without checking how it will actually relate to its surroundings.The golden ratio and the rule of thirds are both useful frameworks here. But honestly, the simplest test is to stand in the room, look at what you are considering, and ask: does it belong here? Does it feel right in relation to everything else? If you are still unsure or not confident then you could use chalk or painter’s tape and mark out the size of your furniture on the floor. Over-scaling is one of the tools designers use a lot and it is an extremely effective way of improving the overall ambience of a room. It also has the added bonus of requiring only one or two elements to make a big impact e.g. a double height headboard or an oversized antique mirror or pendant. 

Mastering balance, scale, and proportion is just the beginning of transforming a space into a thoughtful, harmonious home. Over the next five months, we will explore the remaining principles that bring rooms to life, giving you the tools to trust your own eye. Interior design is an ongoing conversation, and I would love to hear about your projects, whether you are refreshing a single room, planning a full home renovation, or embarking on a complete new build. If you have a tricky layout, a burning design question, or a topic you would like covered in an upcoming column, please get in touch at info@maireadcollierinteriors.com or connect with me online at www.maireadcollierinteriors.com.

Until next month, happy decorating!

by John Hosford

We have had some really hot weather, with record temperatures, and near-drought conditions have put a lot of pressure on many plants and lawns. With hose pipe bans in place, gardeners now need to consider both the storage and careful use of water.

Autumn and early winter are ideal times for planting trees, shrubs and bare-root fruit trees. Late spring and summer plantings may not have had enough time to establish before the onset of hot, dry weather. Hydrangeas, which are planted extensively throughout West Cork, have suffered particularly during the recent hot, dry spell.

Heavy mulching with bark mulch, composted stable manure or farmyard manure is well worthwhile for conserving moisture. Make sure any compost used is free of weeds. Mulching can be carried out in late winter or early spring, or immediately after planting. Roses and perennials can also be mulched in late winter or early spring with composted manure. If this is not available, Gee-up, made in Blarney, Co. Cork, is an excellent alternative.

Water can be stored from the winter rains in water butts or tanks, and gardeners should enquire locally about stockists. Carbery Plastics in Clonakilty manufacture water butts and accessories. Rainwater or grey water can be used when watering new plantings.

Fruit garden: Apples should be picked as they ripen. Earlier varieties such as ‘Beauty of Bath’ and ‘Discovery’ can be picked as soon as they are ripe. Test the fruit by gently clasping it; if it is ripe, it should detach easily without much pressure. Early varieties will not store for long and should be used within seven to ten days of picking.

Autumn-fruiting raspberries should also be picked, while recently planted strawberries need to be kept well watered. Ripening fruit should be protected from birds and wasps with well-secured netting. Gardeners should also be wary of wasps when collecting windfall fruit.

Prune off mildew-infected shoots on apples and pears. Finish pruning summer-fruiting raspberries by cutting out the fruited canes and tying in the new canes securely.

Container-grown peaches and nectarines can be planted in a sheltered spot. Prepare the soil by digging it over and incorporating plenty of well-composted farmyard manure or garden compost. Dig a hole large and deep enough to plant the tree at the same depth as it was in the container, making sure the point where it is grafted remains above ground level.

Greenhouse and under cover:
September is a good time to attend to greenhouse repairs and replace any broken panes of glass. Remove shading before October arrives and reduce watering during the month. Watering early in the day will help reduce fungal infection.

Ventilators should now be closed at night but opened during warm and mild days. Good air circulation will help reduce the risk of disease. Tender plants should be brought indoors in late September or early October, including pelargoniums, tender fuchsias, cannas and lantanas.

Continue picking tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peppers and aubergines as they ripen. Keep the greenhouse well ventilated on warm days and continue feeding with a liquid seaweed-based fertiliser. Avoid creating damp conditions in the evening.

Lawns: September is a good time to sow grass seed or lay turf, with sowing completed by the end of the month while there is still warmth in the soil. Established lawns can be fed with an autumn lawn feed now.

Thatch, the layer of dead grass and other debris that builds up on a lawn, should be removed. Thatch can cause problems with surface drainage and encourage moss and other weeds to colonise the lawn. On a small lawn, it can be pulled out with a spring-tined rake. For a larger lawn, it is worth considering hiring a powered scarifier from a local tool hire company. The lawn will look a mess immediately after scarifying, but it will do it the world of good and it will soon recover.

After removing the thatch, the next job is aeration. This can be done by pushing a fork 15cm into the ground at 15-18cm intervals. A machine can be hired for larger lawns. Worn patches should be reseeded and broad-leaved weeds dealt with.

Bulbs: Spring-flowering bulbs will now be available in garden centres and shops. Bulbs can also be planted or potted up now for Christmas flowering. Hyacinths, early narcissi such as Paperwhite and Grand Soleil d’Or, and freesias are suitable choices.

Dwarf bulbs are ideal for providing early colour in a cool greenhouse or conservatory, or outdoors. Dwarf iris, crocus, scilla, dwarf tulips, dwarf narcissi, tulips and Anemone blanda can all be grown in pots, provided there is good drainage.

Outdoor bulbs for spring flowering can now be planted, although tulips are usually planted in November. Tall varieties of tulips and narcissi can be underplanted with pansies, violas, polyanthus, dwarf wallflowers or forget-me-nots. Combinations could include tall red tulips with blue forget-me-nots, tall yellow trumpet daffodils with blue pansies, or Narcissi Tete a Tete with blue crocus and blue or purple aubretia trailing at the edges or front of a container.

When buying bulbs, check that they are firm, sound and free of mould or fungal infection. Check the heights and colours on the packet and choose lower varieties if you are gardening in an exposed place. It is also worth choosing a selection of varieties that will provide a succession of colour from December to May. Snowdrops will be among the first to flower, with some early varieties flowering even before Christmas. These can be followed by early narcissi such as January Gold, dwarf iris, dwarf tulips, hyacinths, late narcissi and tulips, followed by Dutch iris.

Vegetable garden: In the vegetable garden, harvest potatoes and control slugs on potatoes remaining in the ground. Runner beans, French beans and peas should be picked, while brassicas need protection from caterpillars. These should be dealt with immediately as they can cause considerable damage in a very short period.

Pumpkins, squashes and vegetable marrows should be harvested and brought indoors to a cool, dry and frost-free place. Handle the fruit carefully to avoid damage or blemishes, which will shorten its storage life. Until harvesting at the end of the month, protect the fruit by placing a slab or slate underneath each one to keep it clean.

I am seeing more and more patients who have been given a diagnosis of Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). It is given to those presenting with neurological symptoms like gait and balance issues, new speech problems, occasional paralysis of limbs, dysautonomia (problems with sympathetic /parasympathetic tone) and other neurological symptoms, which can be debilitating, causing fatigue, anxiety and an inability to concentrate. This is particularly significant for younger sufferers, as it can make school difficult and many are unable to attend.

From a medical point of view these symptoms are considered serious but often patients given this diagnosis have normal MRI findings and a reason for developing these symptoms is unclear.

One area that I focus on is the possibility that neuroinflammation is causing these symptoms, as neuroinflammation is hugely problematic but does not show up on blood tests, MRI or other commercially available scans.

What is neuroinflammation? When people think about the brain and what makes it work, the first thought is usually about neurons, which send electrical signals from the brain to instruct the body to function. There are also a number of specialist immune cells in the brain, which are incredibly important to this process. I would like to focus on one type of specialist immune cell called a microglial cell. These are dendritic cells, meaning they have arms and can move around the brain and their job is to clear debris from neurons and support how they function.  When microglial cells become activated, either by an injury like concussion or after an infection in the upper respiratory tract of the inner ear, they switch from their normal role, and some become inflammatory and others anti-inflammatory.  After this transformation they are unable to switch back to their normal resting state. When these cells become inflammatory they have a negative effect on how neurons work.

The mechanisms of neuroinflammation are influenced by diet, nutrition, lifestyle and combined with specific neurological exercises an important part of recovering from FND.

There are two reasons why diet might be important. The first is to do with energy and the other the triggering of the immune system. The brain needs a steady supply of glucose and an abundance of oxygen – without these it struggles to function well, even when we are in good health. So a steady glucose supply and abundance of oxygen becomes very, very important for those with FND. Neurons require a large amount of energy to function and it gets this from stable blood glucose – what this means in practice is that skipping meals and eating a diet that is high in processed foods and sugars makes blood sugar unstable, making it very hard to recover.

The second reason is to do with immune responses. The immune system throughout the body uses signalling molecules. When you get an infection, these signalling molecules will start to circulate in your system and prime or up-regulate certain responses and, if the microglial cells in your brain are in a primed state, this can switch them into an inflammatory mode and make the symptoms of FND worse. Infections are not the only trigger for the immune system – certain chemicals, airborne toxins and even certain foods can trigger responses in the immune system.

Specific exercises may also help. The human body is an amazing self healing organism.  I am sure many of you have had a broken bone or had stitches after an operation or injury.  If you have broken a bone, part of your recovery will include exercises to get the joint moving properly to help return to full range of motion and function. The same is true of the brain. It is possible to use functional neurology testing to get an idea of which parts of the brain are affected and rehab with focused exercises that support these areas, improving blood flow and strengthening neurons. It is important when working with someone who has FND to get this right, as if you over-stimulate a particular area you can make symptoms worse, so a very measured approach, increasing exercises over time, has the best result.

Eoin Roe is a chiropractor and functional neurology specialist working is Skibbereen. Get in touch through the website www.roehealth.ie or call and leave a message on 028 62081.

In my early twenties I developed a compositional structure which I consider to be a visual equivalent to a musical fugue. As a structure it is modular and capable, theoretically at least, of infinite extension. The temptation was then (and still is) to see how long I could make it. What I discovered in doing so was that anything more than a 3:1 ratio (length to height) is too much for the human gaze to take in at once. My largest fugue painting – conceived in egg tempera as an abstract icon – is 4 x 1.5 metres (length by height), which sits well upon the eye. As a corollary to this I have also created fugue sequences in print, and produced them as concertina books. The longest of these is 200 x 11 cm; in ratio terms this equals 18:1, length by height. It is not meant to be seen all at once, though it can be, and such is the case of the great friezes–essentially story boards – conceived throughout history, variously in marble, mosaic, textile and fresco.

One of these, the Bayeux Tapestry, is now on show in the British Museum, and measures 7000 x 50 cm (70 m x 0.5 m), a ratio of 140:1. It is an extraordinary feat of embroidery, of storytelling through coloured woollen yarn. Despite its name it is not a woven tapestry at all, but nine, joined, embroidered lengths of linen, depicting the Norman conquest of England, itself culminating in the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

Most likely commissioned by Bishop Odo of Bayeux for his half-brother, William the Conqueror, the work is thought to have been undertaken in Canterbury, England, in the 1070s by women needleworkers, who were famed throughout Europe, their fine needlework known as ‘Opus Anglicanum’ (English work).

Embroidered in eight or more colours, with a dominant indigo and red ochre palette, the tapestry reflects the dominant dyes in use at the time of its creation: madder for the reds, weld for the yellows and woad for the blues. In addition, un-dyed wools were used for whites and tans, whilst for dark browns and blacks organic materials like oak galls (ball-like growths on oak trees) would have been utilised (just as for oak gall ink).

One can imagine those fine craftswomen at work, embroidering the Norman ships en route to England on a wavy linen sea, or again, stitching into being the Norman knights on horseback, spears raised, cutting through the stitched Anglo Saxon resistance. Such fine, delicate work, employed to record the brutal violence of male conquest! One can imagine the silence of the workshop, a senior needleworker squinting in the light, being ribbed by another; or a visit, perhaps, from the Archbishop of Canterbury, or the abbot of St Augustine’s Abbey, both postulated as possible composers of the work. A smile as the abbot looks down, the hands of a young needleworker momentarily stilled by his gaze. He moves on and her hands resume stitching an outline, perhaps of a horse, using wool dyed in madder. She is employing stem stitch (or back stitch), whilst beside her an older needleworker (let’s call her Gisela) is couching–laying thread side by side–before securing the thread with a fine perpendicular stitch; this to fill the form of a horse in grey-blue. Underneath the finely stitched hooves, Gisela has embroidered a slain soldier, his head separated from his body.

There is a slim register above the horse’s heads, where the younger craftswoman (let’s call her Marian) has outlined a bird, also in madder-dyed wool. This register is populated by many symbolic animals in a style reminiscent of Anglo-Saxon book illumination, which anyone familiar with the Book of Kells will recognise. Perhaps our Marian knew similar illuminated manuscripts? Certainly the composer of the tapestry did (the abbot of St. Augustine’s at the time had previously headed a scriptorium).

How long did it take these craftswomen to fulfil this commission from their conquerors? It is impossible to say, however seventy metres and fifty-eight scenes later the embroidered tapestry left their careful hands to travel over the channel, presumably to Bayeux Cathedral in Normandy, where it is first recorded in an inventory of 1476. Scholars have since suggested that it was made to fit the south, west and north arcades of the nave, which, if true, would make some sense. In such a setting the faithful could follow the story of the conquest around the church, much as they would follow the story of Christ through the Stations of the Cross.

Great friezes – storyboards in essence – have been, since ancient times, one of the primary means of myth-building, of forging and controlling the narrative of nations, kingdoms, empires. The compositions of such, unless compartmentalised into ‘stories’ (such as with Giotto’s fresco cycle in the Basilica of St. Francis) are often subordinate to the flow of the narrative. It is impossible to take in such an image at a glance. Instead one follows it, walks a symbolic pilgrimage from scene to scene. Such is the case with this marvel from Bayeux.

I am thinking once more about my fugues, those infernal, ghostlike repetitions which rise and fall in my consciousness. Perhaps it is time to return to them, perhaps a four metre concertina book, doubling my previous effort? Or a cycle of paintings, which flow unbroken on the walls, around a room, a secular chapel of colour? I can feel it, a continuous exposition, like a Gregorian chant, seductive in its soft and unifying rhythm. The Bayeux Tapestry, by contrast, is jagged and graphic, a portrayal of carnage. Its figures disturb the silence, haunt the centuries, and will for as long as its fibres last.

James will be giving a seminar on the work of the contemporary Italian painter, Roberto Ferri, on Thursday, August 6, 7:30-8:30pm. Limited spaces. Bookings via: www.clonarts.ie

by Galyna Zaitseva

When I first met Saeeda, I was struck by her quiet presence. She speaks softly, listens carefully and has no natural desire to be the centre of attention. At first, she seems shy and reserved. Yet the more time you spend with her, the more clearly you begin to notice the strength beneath that gentleness. I saw the same quiet strength in her studio.

I had imagined a busy creative space filled with fabrics, threads, patterns and unfinished ideas. Instead, everything was carefully organised in containers, with every object in its place. Only the sewing machine and a painting still in progress revealed that this was an artist’s workspace.

Then Saeeda began opening the containers.

One by one, she brought out dresses, blouses, jewellery and embroidered fabrics. She showed me the details she had made by hand and explained the techniques behind them. With each new piece, another part of her creative world appeared.

I had come to select outfits for the photoshoot, but very quickly I stopped choosing and simply began admiring her work. Every garment felt different. Some pieces were delicate and understated, while others were full of colour, embroidery and painted detail. Choosing only three looks was far more difficult than I had expected. I wanted to show everything.

For Saeeda, fashion has always been closely connected to art.

“As an artist, I have always dreamed of seeing people wear my art,” she says. “I love working with my hands, exploring crafts, textures and traditional techniques. Fashion has given me a beautiful way to turn my creativity into something people can wear and enjoy in their everyday lives.”

Saeeda has lived in Clonakilty since June 2024, having come directly to West Cork from Pakistan with her four children. Arriving in Ireland meant leaving behind her home, familiar surroundings and the life she had built.

At a time when almost everything around her was already changing, she also faced breast cancer, surgery and treatment.

“My battle with breast cancer came at a time when my whole life had already changed,” she says. “Facing cancer, surgery and treatment in a new country, largely on my own, was one of the biggest challenges of my life.”

She speaks about this period openly, but without allowing it to become the only story she tells about herself. During our conversation, her thoughts continually returned to the future: to fabrics she would like to try, techniques she wants to explore and ideas she hopes to develop.

“I have never believed in giving up,” she says. “I try not to spend too much time mourning what I have lost or what has been left behind. Instead, I think about what I can create, improve and build next.”

That way of thinking seems to shape both her life and her work.

Today, Saeeda creates clothing under the name S.fusion. The brand reflects her desire to bring different ideas, cultures, artistic traditions and styles together, while keeping comfort and individuality at the heart of every design.

“It is about creating a fusion while keeping comfort and individuality at the centre of everything I do,” she explains.

She currently works mainly with 100 per cent cotton and traditional hand block-printing techniques. Her next step is to explore eco-printing on cotton, and she hopes to work more with organic materials and handwoven textiles in the future.

For Saeeda, the way clothing feels is just as important as the way it looks.

“My purpose is not only to create beautiful and stylish clothing,” she says. “I want to think about people’s comfort and wellbeing too. Clothes can be artistic and stylish while still being breathable, comfortable and kind to the skin.”

What she loves most is beginning with a simple piece of fabric and gradually giving it a character of its own.

“For me, fashion is another form of art. I love taking a simple piece of fabric and giving it its own story. My dream is to let people wear that art.”

Saeeda does not believe personal style should be shaped by every passing trend. For her, clothing is a way of expressing personality, confidence and even mood.

She is especially passionate about reminding women that style does not disappear with age. Bodies change and the clothes that once felt right may no longer suit who we have become. Saeeda sees this not as a reason to withdraw from fashion, but as an opportunity to discover something new.

“Never believe that beauty or style has an age limit. We should never stop expressing ourselves or taking care of how we feel.”

Her advice is to look beyond perfection and pay attention to the way clothes make us feel.

Experimentation is an important part of Saeeda’s own work. She enjoys bringing traditional techniques into modern, uncomplicated silhouettes and exploring unfamiliar combinations of colour and texture.

“Sometimes stepping outside your comfort zone can help you discover a completely new and beautiful side of yourself,” she says.

The photoshoot asked Saeeda to step outside her own comfort zone. For most of her creative life, she had worked behind the scenes, designing clothes and creating looks. This time, she was the one wearing the designs and standing in front of the camera.

“I am quite camera-shy, so it was something completely new for me,” she says. “The photographer made me feel very comfortable, and wearing my own designs gave me a new connection with my work.”

At the beginning of the shoot, Saeeda was understandably reserved. She was more accustomed to adjusting a garment or considering how a look should be presented than thinking about her own position in front of the lens.

Gradually, she began to relax.

“I was very tired by the end and definitely realised that modelling is not as easy as it looks,” she says with humour. “But overall, it was a really beautiful and positive experience.”

During the day, she also experienced a quieter and more personal realisation.

“I suddenly realised that I had almost forgotten to smile. It reminded me that I need to find my smile again.” Those words stayed with me.

By the end of the shoot, Saeeda was no longer thinking so carefully about the camera. She was laughing freely and naturally, surrounded by the clothes she had designed and made with her own hands.

The photoshoot did not turn her into somebody new. It allowed her to see herself – and her work – from another side. For a little while, she was not only the artist behind the clothes, but also the woman wearing them, enjoying them and allowing herself to be seen.

“Cancer changed many things in my life, but it did not take away my creativity or my desire to move forward,” she says. “I am still creating, learning and building new dreams for myself and my children.”

Look One

This look brings together soft shades of green, natural texture and detailed handwork.

Relaxed olive-green trousers create an uncomplicated foundation, while the pistachio-green top, made from artisan-woven natural fabric, introduces texture and delicate hand embroidery. Its easy silhouette allows the beauty of the material to remain visible without making the outfit feel formal.

The long handmade overlayer is the focal point of the look. It has been carefully tailored and embroidered, while the back features a hand-painted floral design. This painted detail makes the garment unmistakably individual – a piece shaped not only by technique, but also by Saeeda’s hand as an artist.

The floral elements on the top and overlayer create a gentle connection between the pieces. They do not match exactly, but they seem to belong to the same story.

Minimal jewellery allows the woven fabric, embroidery and painting to remain at the centre of the outfit. The finished look feels calm and considered, with each handmade detail given space to be noticed.

Stylist’s tip: When wearing a detailed handcrafted piece, pair it with simple shapes and restrained accessories. Let the embroidery, texture or painted detail become the part of the outfit that draws the eye.

Look Two

The second look is light, joyful and full of summer colour.

At its centre is a yellow dress made from natural fabric and decorated with a traditional hand-block print. The warm shade brings brightness and energy, while the relaxed shape keeps the look comfortable and easy to wear.

Underneath, Saeeda wears a powder-blue blouse with full sleeves, hand embroidery at the shoulder and decorative inserts running along the arms. These details give the blouse its own identity rather than allowing it to disappear beneath the dress.

The combination of yellow and pale blue feels fresh and slightly unexpected. Small yellow elements within the embroidery connect the blouse to the dress, making the layering feel natural and balanced.

A caramel-toned handbag adds warmth and complements the earthy quality of the printed cotton. Together, the colours create an outfit that feels expressive without becoming overwhelming.

Stylist’s tip: When layering two contrasting garments, look for one small detail that connects them. A repeated colour in embroidery, print or trim can bring the whole outfit together.

Look Three

The third look is built around shades of blue and a gentle contrast between delicate fabrics and relaxed denim.

The flowing handmade overlayer moves lightly around the body, while fine bead embroidery catches the light with each step. Beneath it, a handmade blouse finished with lace adds another layer of softness and detail.

Wide-leg pale-blue jeans give the outfit a more grounded, contemporary feeling. Their simple structure provides an effective contrast to the sheer fabric, lace and beadwork above.

Because the colours remain within the same family, the different textures become the most interesting part of the look. Denim, transparency, lace and small areas of shimmer each contribute something different while preserving the calmness of the blue palette.

The result is relaxed but distinctive – an outfit that allows handcrafted pieces to become part of everyday dressing rather than reserving them only for special occasions.

Stylist’s tip: A monochromatic outfit becomes more interesting when you combine different fabrics. Denim, lace, sheer layers and beadwork can add depth and movement even when the colours are closely related.

For enquiries or commissions contact Saeeda through instagram (saeedamakeupartist) or Facebook (Saeeda Naeem)

There’s a story about wildland firefighters from David Epstein’s book ‘Range’. The firefighters train to fight wildfires. Their protocol states that when they are in danger, they have to drop everything: their heavy tools, their uniform, and run.

But what has been recorded again and again since the ‘90s is the surprising reality that, even when the command is clear and their lives are on the line, many firefighters choose to hold on to their tools and uniforms. This choice often costs them their lives.

Why don’t they save their lives? Epstein draws on the work of Karl Weick, an organisational psychologist who found that firefighting tools define firefighters’ identities and give them a sense of belonging. The fire axe, the saw, the shovel become extensions of their bodies. One firefighter shared that only after running a good few kilometres uphill did he realise he was still holding his heavy axe. Firefighters practise fighting fires; their identity is around running towards the fire, not running away from it. They weren’t able to follow the command because it brought an existential crisis, asking them to drop their singular identity associated with their tools and uniforms.

And they are not alone. Many of us spend years building a narrow identity that holds our life together. And when it stops serving us, we hold onto it anyway, telling ourselves the same story about who we are, even when all evidence says we’d be better off dropping it. We hope for the best; we tell ourselves: “it will be grand”; we ignore any signals or advice that following the familiar path would result in a crisis.

I shared this story with my clients and asked: “What are you holding onto that, if you dropped, would let you move forward with more ease?”

And people shared with me the ‘tools’ they wished to drop. The tools were different, and yet familiar. The examples below are based on the conversations I’ve had. Names and details changed.

Alex, a musician, would like to drop his people-pleasing habit and the expectation to be only a musician. Without these, “I’d feel freer, curious, malleable. I’d be willing to make mistakes, I’d be childlike, in a really good way.”

Sam, a business owner, wished to let go of the fear of what other people think; fear of being judged as having ‘notions’ was a common thread of many of the answers I heard. Sam said, “I stop myself from dreaming big because I think I’ll be regarded as big-headed.” Without the fear, she would be free to “sing from the rooftops!”

Gwen, who sold two successful businesses and is in the process of starting a third, wished to drop always chasing the hardest, most disruptive version of everything, the need to be “the cutting edge” – instead she’d want to feel more connected, and enjoy the simple things.

My own answer is “doing.” I come from generations of doers. My great-grandmother ran a farm and raised twelve children alone while her husband was stranded abroad for seven years during the war. My grandmother and my mother continue her legacy, never taking a relaxing holiday. I built a career as a communication consultant on the same instinct: bring me the chaos, I’ll organise it, I’ll hold it, I’ll do it. By expanding beyond the doer identity, I found a base for my coaching career. As a coach, I don’t need to “do,” but hold space for my clients to find their own path. And unlike my ancestors, I now can enjoy a lazy day on the beach.

The need to change and expand our identity comes to all of us in so many ways: from starting a business, giving birth or losing a loved one, to advancements in technology and AI that are forcing many to rethink their careers overnight. Whatever the shape of it, the same inner judge tends to show up with “what’s wrong with you?” or “It’s easier for everyone else!”. The firefighter’s story helped me to remember that dropping the familiar and trusted “tools” is never easily done, and I don’t even have blazing fire to force my hand.

So if you feel stuck in business or life, answer the same question I asked my clients: what are you holding onto that, if you dropped, would let you move forward with more ease? And how would you know you dropped it? What would be different?

Before answering the question, ground yourself. Take a deep breath and let it out slowly. Tune into your body. This will help you tap into a deeper sense of knowing. Feel your feet touching the ground, the clothes touching your skin. Pay attention to any words or images that come to mind. Stay open and curious.

Set a five-minute timer and write or draw. Let yourself be surprised by what emerges on the page.

Did you resonate with the article and feel ready to expand your identity and business? I’d love to work with you. Coaching sessions run for 75 minutes and cost €95.

Visit www.thinkvisual.ie/letschat to book a free discovery call or email me naomi@thinkvisual.ie.

By Nicholas Mitchell

If you visit one of West Cork’s estuaries during July and August, you may notice something puzzling. Two Black-tailed Godwits standing side by side can look remarkably different, even though they belong to the same subspecies, ‘Limosa limosa icelandica’, which breeds in Iceland.

I photographed the two birds in the first photograph on Rosscarbery estuary in early July. One has a bright orange bill and rich chestnut breeding plumage, while the other is much duller with a pink bill and patchy grey feathers. So why the difference?

The plumage of the bird on the left indicates that it almost certainly remained in Iceland long enough to breed successfully. Females often leave the breeding grounds first, immediately after the chicks hatch, leaving the males to finish raising the young. This is why brightly-coloured adults in breeding-plumage start appearing in Ireland from late June onwards on their return migration, and why this is more likely to be a female. She is also just beginning her moult and transition into winter plumage. Over the coming weeks, the bright orange bill will fade to a dull pink, and its rusty feathers will be replaced by grey ones, providing a more suitable camouflage for muddy estuaries.

The bird on the right tells a different story. With its pink bill It could either be an adult that failed to breed successfully or an immature bird spending its second summer in Ireland. How can we tell?

Failed breeders have patches of rich chestnut-orange feathers on the neck, breast, and belly. Because they were in breeding condition only a few weeks before, they are actively shedding their bright feathers, creating a somewhat messy, patchy mix of bright orange and new grey winter feathers. They will also be hungry and feed intensely on the mudflats.

On the other hand, immature (non-breeding) birds never developed the rich chestnut breeding plumage in the first place. Their feathers are uniformly dull grey-brown, heavily worn and faded after a year without moulting. They have remained in Ireland throughout the summer instead of migrating to Iceland, and generally spend much more time roosting than feeding.

The bird that I photographed was feeding actively and still showed a patchy orange chest with distinct dark horizontal bars and a lower belly that looked ‘dirty’ and mottled, as it moults out of its summer coat. This is strong evidence that it was an adult failed breeder rather than an immature non-breeder.

By the time you read this, a new generation of Black-tailed Godwits will be arriving in Ireland on their first migration, south to their over-wintering grounds. Juveniles are particularly attractive birds. They have a lovely bright plain peachy breast and dark grey-brown upper feathers with neat, pale buff edges, that gives them a scaly pattern (see the second photograph, kindly provided by Ciarán Cronin).

Next time you visit one of West Cork’s estuaries, take a closer look at the Black-tailed Godwits. With a little practice, you may be able to distinguish between newly arrived juveniles, second-year birds that never migrated, and adults returning from their breeding grounds. While you are out watching the waders, also keep an eye out for birds with colour leg-rings. Recording and reporting these rings allows scientists to track migration routes, survival rates and breeding success. All that information helps to improve conservation measures for these remarkable birds. The third photograph, taken in August 2019 on Clonakilty Estuary, shows a colour-ringed Black-Tailed Godwit. This bird was ringed as an adult in Portugal in November 2011. it has since been recorded in Portugal, the Netherlands and Ireland, illustrating the extraordinary journeys these birds make each year.

If this has sparked your interest, and you would like to learn more about the birds that are on the estuaries near you, then why not join us in August, either in Timoleague or Rosscarbery (details below)? Families and beginners are especially welcome.

BirdWatch Ireland
West Cork Branch News

Upcoming outings being held by the Branch are:

Sunday, August 9:
Timoleague Educational Garden

Sunday, August 16:
Heritage Week – Rosscarbery

Sunday, August 23:
Pelagic boat trip
Visit our website www.birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie for more information about these events.  For more information about the Branch, contact Fiona O’Neill at secretary@birdwatchirelandwestcork.ie.

f@BirdWatchIrelandWestCork

c@birdwatch_ireland_west_cork

Would you buy a diamond ring if it meant you were contributing to the death of a frog? What a silly question, you will say. What if the diamond ring led to the extinction of an entire frog species? Most people probably wouldn’t care about that either. But a diamond is just a piece of carbon, chemically identical to the lead in a pencil; a frog is a fellow creature with as much right to a happy life as a human. Surely, that should be far more valuable.

Many species of frog are endangered. They suffer from a deadly infection, chytridiomycosis, caused by a fungus that invades their skin, reducing their ability to breathe, hydrate or control body temperature. The fungus has been spread by the pet trade and also by the use of the African clawed toad for medical research in laboratories all over the world. Climate change has probably made conditions more favourable for the fungus. Frogs are also killed by absorbing, through their skin,  pesticides and other pollutants. Habitat loss, due to relentless human population increase, urbanisation and so-called ‘development’, is contributing to their decline, and millions of frogs get squashed on roads. Of the 7,600 or so known species of frog, 34 have become extinct in recent times, five in the last five years; 135 others haven’t been seen for decades and are possibly extinct too. Three more frog species are extinct in the wild and only survive in captivity. 

One species, the desert rain frog, was in the news recently, having just been classified as vulnerable by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. It is an enchanting little creature, found only in a small strip of sand dunes on the coast of southern Namibia and northern South Africa. It is one of 15 species of rain frogs, all globular and only a few inches across. Their legs are so short they are unable to hop, and the males can’t even clasp their females during mating, but have to produce a sort of glue to stick them together. They have bulging eyes and down-curving mouths, giving them the most mournful expressions. And well might they look mournful – several are endangered.

The desert rain frog is a very specialised animal, which is not a good thing to be when faced with man-made environmental changes. Living in an arid place is difficult for a frog. The only moisture this one ever gets comes from sea fogs, which dampen the sand enough for the frog to survive. It spends most of its life underground, buried deeply where the sand is still damp and where it can escape the heat of the day, only emerging at night to feed on insects. It lays its eggs in a burrow and, as there is no water around, has no tadpole stage, the eggs hatching directly into froglets.

Unfortunately, there are diamonds under the frogs’ desert home, and I can’t imagine any diamond miner, trader or jeweller, or African politician, being worried about a frog (they don’t always worry about humans – have you seen the film ‘Blood Diamond’?). All diamond mines damage the environment and threaten wildlife, and are quite unnecessary because diamonds can now be made synthetically. To mine for them in the only place where the desert rain frog can exist is just criminal.

The poor desert rain frog has other threats to face: industrial development, climate change, again, (causing even drier conditions) and something really preposterous: videos on the internet. These have been put there by people, probably not herpetologists, who think that the little frogs are “cute”, in the American sense of that word. Their appearance is extraordinarily endearing, but even better (for fools), if you make them angry, they squeak, just like a dog’s toy. What these morons don’t know is that the frog is angry for a very good reason, not just because it doesn’t like humans (perfectly understandable), but because if it is picked up, it will quite possibly die a horrible death. To help absorb as much moisture as it can, the belly of the desert rain frog is paper-thin, and so transparent its internal organs are visible. If it is handled roughly, the skin will rupture and its insides fall out. When it squeaks, it is actually screaming “Please, don’t touch me”. There might soon be queues of idiotic “influencers” filming themselves with these poor little amphibians, and huge demand for them as pets. Until their insides fall out.

One of the joys of an African night is the sound of frogs. There are 146 species in southern Africa alone, each with a distinctive call, made by the males to attract females. Three species lived in my garden in Zambia: fat, knobbly guttural toads, with creaking woody voices; red toads, dark, brick-red, with low, booming calls; and tiny painted reed frogs, yellow with irregular black and white stripes and blotches, which sang all night in a high-pitched, slightly metallic squeak, like an orchestra of tiny, tinkling bells.

I once took a year off teaching and went to work, voluntarily, in a nature reserve in Malawi (I would be there still if I had the money). There was a pond outside my wooden hut, home to two species of the totally aquatic clawed toads (one species – Xenopus laevis, was used in pregnancy tests – if a female frog was injected with the urine of a pregnant woman, it would produce eggs). There were also sharp-nosed grass frogs, a species that holds the world record for frog-jumping (10.3 metres in three  jumps), and foam-nest frogs, which turn white in the heat of the day, and lay their eggs in nests of bubbles that they build on tree branches above ponds and pools; the tadpoles hatch out in this foam and drop into the water.

To see other species, I had to trudge around the wetlands after sunset, with torch, camera and sound-recorder, often accompanied by a friendly ostrich. Greater leaf-folding frogs lived in the reeds by the edge of a large lake; they lay their eggs on reed leaves, which they then fold over and glue together into an envelope. There were many types of reed frog, one of which I couldn’t find in my frog book and hoped for a few weeks that it might be a new species. It wasn’t. There were other types of grass frog, and shovel-nosed frogs, bull frogs, rubber frogs and ornate frogs too. But the frog I most wanted to see was the bubbling kassina, a handsome yellow and brown striped amphibian whose strange call, like a stone plopping into water, can be heard all over southern Africa. I waited every night by the lake’s margin and listened to its call, but as soon as I got near, the noise would stop, and  the frog would creep silently away. I never did see one.

Ireland is not a great place for frog-lovers: there are just two species here – the common frog and the natterjack toad, and few people will ever see either. (The word toad is not scientifically specific; the true toads belong to one particular family of frogs but, confusingly, many other frogs are called toads). When I was in college, my only encounters with frogs were ones I would rather forget – dissections. Undergraduates at Trinity always dissected the frog, after the dogfish and before the rat. And at the College of Surgeons, research students used to give dissection courses every year to the pre-meds before their summer exams. We would buy the frogs from a frog farm somewhere down in the country – they arrived by train, in boxes of damp grass, and I would collect them from Heuston Station. 

Many people consider frogs ugly, slimy, even poisonous (some are, but can’t harm you if you leave them alone). But frogs are not only amusing and attractive, they eat slugs and insect pests, so should be our friends. They are also good indicators of the state of our planet, and their decline should be a serious cause for concern. One way to help frogs is to build a pond. It need not be anything fancy. When I lived in Zambia, I dug a hole in the garden big enough for a washing basin with a few rocks and weeds, and soon a gravid female guttural toad moved in. She would have spawned had she not been eaten by a mongoose. We don’t have mongooses in Ireland, only fanatical grass cutters, and there is no point making a pond, attracting frogs, and then spraying weed-killer and smashing them apart with a strimmer. The choice is yours – wildlife or useless lawns. And before you buy any diamond jewellery, please think about the desert rain frog. 

For decades, our housing priority in Ireland has been entirely about survival in the winter: keeping the cold, wind, and damp out while staying cosy inside. But is that about to change? With recent extended heatwaves, we are all looking at ways to keep cool, especially if this trend of warmer summers is here to stay.

Modern and retrofitted Irish homes tend to be well-insulated and draught-free, which is great for keeping warm. But when a heatwave hits, those very same tight envelopes can trap heat indoors, turning well-insulated living rooms into stuffy hotboxes. The good news is that you do not have to choose between a freezing house in January and a sauna in July, (not the nice mobile ones!). By combining smart passive design, modern inverter-driven cooling technology, solar power, the right choice of insulation, and a sprinkling of common sense, you can keep your home comfortably cool and your energy use low. 

One of the common misconceptions among self-builders and renovators is that highly insulated homes will turn into an oven during the summer months. In reality, thermal insulation acts as a two-way shield. It stops heat from escaping your living room in the depths of winter and keeps blistering midday summer heat from penetrating your roof and walls. However, not all insulations perform equally when the sun beats down, which comes down to a physics concept called decrement delay.

Decrement delay measures the time it takes for heat from the outside air to travel through a building material and reach your interior rooms. Lightweight insulations, like standard expanded polystyrene or foil-backed PIR boards, have low thermal mass. Heat from outside can penetrate relatively quickly, often in just three to four hours, meaning the afternoon sun hits your living space just as evening arrives. Conversely, high-density, natural materials such as wood-fibre, hemp, or cellulose act like a thermal sponge. Because of their mass and specific heat capacity, they can boast a decrement delay of eight to twelve hours. By the time solar heat finally works its way through a wood-fibre roof insulation layer, the sun has gone down, the night air has cooled, and you can easily ventilate the heat back outside. If you are building or upgrading your roof in West Cork, choosing high-decrement materials is your first line of defence against summer overheating.

Another key factor in keeping heat out is the amount and orientation of your glazing and, to a lesser extent, the specification of the glass itself. While less relevant for retrofits, good architectural design can eliminate the need for active cooling entirely if you are building from scratch or even extending. Windows are the primary culprits for solar heat gain, so it pays to consider whether all that south-facing, floor-to-ceiling glass is really necessary. South and west facing glass needs external shading, such as deep roof eaves, brise-soleil architectural fins, or external roller blinds or shutters, because once sunlight passes through a window pane, the heat is trapped indoors. Design your windows to allow cross-ventilation, and consider glass specifications carefully. Triple glazing generally allows less solar gain than double glazing, and special low-solar-gain coatings can further inhibit heat on exposed elevations. High-level windows or automated roof skylights let trapped hot air escape via the stack effect at night, drawing fresh, cool breezes through the lower floor, a method we have been using to cool our own home in the evenings over recent weeks. Finally, incorporating exposed concrete, tile, or stone floors gives your interior a thermal mass heat sink to absorb daytime heat, though caution is needed, as combining high thermal mass with overglazing can release excess heat overnight and worsen overheating. If you are building a new house, assessing overheating risk is just as important as checking energy ratings and heat loss.

When passive measures are not enough, mechanical cooling steps in, though systems should always be a last resort. There are several options based around heat pump technology. If you have underfloor heating paired with a ground-source or air-source heat pump, it can often be adapted for cooling. Ground-source geothermal systems are preferable because cooling can be done passively via a small heat exchanger that takes water directly from the ground loop to cool the underfloor circuit, bypassing the compressor. The only energy used is by the circulation pump; a clever, low-cost solution that I have heard anecdotally has reduced indoor temperatures by about four degrees in several West Cork homes this summer! Reversible air-to-water heat pumps can also supply cold water, though this requires running the compressor and consumes more electricity. Neither method works with standard metal radiators, as they lack sufficient surface area and will collect condensation that drips onto floors and causes corrosion.

Alternatively, air-to-air heat pumps operate like modern European air conditioning, using an outdoor unit to feed indoor room units. These have not traditionally been popular in Ireland due to our historic familiarity with wet radiator systems, lower SEAI grant support and historical lack of need. They do however work exceptionally well for both heating and cooling in smaller retrofitted properties without an existing wet distribution system and I have been involved in a few projects like this. 

All modern heat pump systems utilise inverter technology. Unlike older air conditioners that blared at full power until hitting a temperature target and then shut off completely, inverter-driven compressors act like a dimmer switch. Once the target temperature is reached, the compressor slows down smoothly to maintain a steady climate while drawing minimal electricity. When paired with a rooftop Solar PV system, the economics align. As I have often told clients, while solar power rarely matches winter heating demand, peak cooling needs occur on the sunniest days when panels generate maximum output. Instead of drawing grid power, your home essentially runs on free West Cork sunshine.

For homeowners looking to fund these upgrades, government support is structured around targeted schemes. The SEAI Warmer Homes Scheme provides fully funded energy upgrades for low-income homeowners receiving qualifying welfare payments. A Medically Vulnerable Scheme also offers fully funded solar installations for households with registered medical needs requiring heavy power use. For general homeowners, standard SEAI grants offer up to €1,800 alongside zero percent VAT on solar panel installations, up to €12,500 for heat pumps providing space heating, and up to €2,000 to insulate attics with cellulose to combat summer heat.

As always, if you would like to get in touch about anything discussed here or your own retrofit project, feel free to reach out to Ruairí at ruairi@retrofurb.ie.

A volunteer-led organisation that provides highly trained K9 search and rescue teams to assist in missing person searches across Ireland is looking for new members.

A relatively new K9 search and rescue organisation, Ireland’s Specialist Search and Rescue Dogs (ISSARD) is is working to develop dogs across the disciplines of mantrailing, airscent, and cadaver, with a special focus on low-land and urban searches.

Working alongside tasking agencies like An Garda Síochána and other recognised search agencies, ISSARD deploys specialist dog teams to support in search, rescue, and recovery missions across Ireland. Combining professional standards with a strong community spirit, the organisation’s team goal is play a role in supporting families, communities and emergency services when someone goes missing.

ISSARD Chairperson, Becci Jeffers, is based in Courtmacsherry. Her pet dog, Pepper, adopted from West Cork Animal Rescue in 2023, is working towards assessment in the discipline of cadaver/HRD on-land and in drowned victims recovery.

Becci says the legacy of volunteering in her family and the ethos of the organisation encouraged her to join. “My dad served with the RNLI, so he likes to say ‘Pepper is continuing the family tradition of SAR work.’ I initially volunteered as a dog’s body in 2024 to support the work of the team, but as time went on the mission, work, and culture of the organisation really struck home for me.”

She continues, “the team is professional and full of eager, hardworking people who are dedicated to contributing to the exceptional demands of search, rescue, and recovery in a collaborative fashion and with a specialist focus. It is a particularly challenging line of voluntary engagement, one that requires significant commitment from our members, but equally one that offers critical services to communities in need. Recently too, we have been engaging in valuable inter-agency exercises with Killarney Water Search and Recovery, Tipperary Search and Rescue, Dublin Homeless Awareness, and the Coast Guard, which have emphasised the many contributing resources and significant voluntary hours involved in search and rescue operations. We welcome new volunteer applications through our onboarding process, and should anyone be interested in joining in some capacity, more details can be found on our website.”    

ISSARD’s onboarding programmes are currently held twice each year. These recruits initially serve as “dog’s bodies or mispers” i.e. volunteers who assist in training exercises by acting as search subjects for the dogs. This vital role helps develop and maintain the dogs’ search skills while giving new members an opportunity to learn about the team’s operations and become involved in the organisation’s work.

The next onboarding call will be for August, 26, please see www.issard.ie or follow on Facebook or Instagram for more details.