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 […]
INTERVIEWS
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 […]
Traditional Irish music is a bit of a miracle. In many other Western European countries, homegrown music with roots that go back centuries (or even millennia) might be played at rural festivals and during cultural celebrations: A reminder of times long gone and largely obsolete. Here in West Cork and […]
After over a decade in Vancouver, Canada, entrepreneur and DJ Shane Breen, 41, returned to his roots in Skibbereen last year and has since set up Ár n-Áit (Our Place), a shared artisan workspace built around the concept of community, creativity, and collaboration. Inspired by Shane’s time in Vancouver where […]