by Peg Prendeville

There was a great buzz in NewcastleWest library last Thursday night for the official opening of the art exhibition Fusion. It reminded us once again of the talent in our country; there is a huge selection of paintings from different artists all with their own unique style. Congratulations to Carol Noonan who has a lot of red dots beside her pieces. In case you do not know, red dots means they are sold. Well done to the Askeaton group members who have been working on these for the past while.

Congratulations to my neighbour Jim Sharp who took part in the White collar Boxing in the South Court Hotel on Saturday night last. He has been preparing for this event for the past two months and has lost the guts of two stone in the process. The idea is to take people who have never boxed before and get them ready to take part in a live boxing match where all the proceeds go to charity. Though Jim did not win his fight, his family – Pauline, Paul and Jordan – are very proud of him and Jim is happy that he did his best. The National Learning Network also benefited as this was the charity that Jim chose.

Congratulations to Jim’s wife Pauline Sharp who won 2^nd prize in the National Final of an Art competition within the ICA and was presented with her prize at the June meeting of the Ballyhahill/Loughill guild by President Maureen Long. The guild will be manning a stall at the Knockdown Vintage/Killeaney Fun Day on July 17 providing tea and nice things and showing off their skills!

It was nice to see last Sunday fine for the Corpus Christi procession through Glin. Many of the houses had little altars out as the procession made its way down the Main Street to the Town Park where Fr Crawford had benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. It is nice to see this old custom still being practiced.