Christmas Market comes to town

The annual Coachford Christmas Market takes place this Saturday at  the GAA hall from 10.30am. There promises to be a huge variety of stalls selling unusual and beautiful Christmas gifts. The market always draws a huge crowd who look forward to purchasing delicious cakes and other Christmas food items. Santa Clause has promised to visit to hear the children’s wishes for their perfect present and to make sure everyone is being good in the final run in to the very special day.

Leader funding collapses

Their was dismay and disappointment last week at a community meeting in Macroom when IRD Duhallow announced that funding for community groups and those wishing to grow their businesses in the Lee Valley area for the next five years under the old Leader funding programme would be a very meagre €142,500 . It has emerged that IRD Duhallow will possibly now be managing the programme in the Mid Cork area from 2016 to 2021. The last programme was administered by West Cork Development Partnership. Speaking after the meeting in Macroom, Coachford Community Association chairperson, Peter Dineen said ” This is madness, there is no way that this level of funding for most of  the villages in the Lee Valley and Macroom town over the next five years will have any real impact on the communities. I can’t understand how areas in West and North Cork while receiving less that they got in the previous programme are still going to be applying for grants from much bigger budgets than we are.  Cork County Council, the South Cork LCDC and our councillors in the Blarney Macroom area must come up with a valid explanation of why once again this area of the county  is being neglected  In all fairness dividing up less than €30,000 a year between all the communities in Mid Cork is an insult to the many volunteers who are working hard to improve their communities. The Council must revisit this  decision and must do it immediately”

Coachford gears up for Christmas

The Coachford Christmas lights were switched on last Sunday and they have the village looks very festive. The committee purchased additional lights this year and these have made a huge difference to the place. Martha McCaffery from the Coachford Tidy Towns group said, ” we put a lot of effort in again this year and we were determined to ensure that people who come to the village to  shop and socialise here are aware of how vibrant Coachford is.

GAA AGM

The Annual General Meeting of Aghabullogue GAA club will take place this Sunday at 7pm in the GAA complex in Coachford. Items expected to feature on the busy agenda will be the development of the new Astro Turf pitch, plans for the intermediate football and hurling  teams in 2016,  replacing the old galvanised fencing and the election of officers for the coming year.

Flooding

The road by the GAA pitch was under a lot of water on Friday and Saturday as  the drains were blocked and couldn’t take the amount of rain that fell in the short period of time. These drains were supposed to be cleaned during the year by Cork County Council but remain in a terrible condition. However the floods in this area did not deter the Garda camera van from parking nearby and once again conducting the shooting Fish in a barrel exercise. The Greenway was closed to walkers and fishermen on Monday as the river Lee had risen to unsafe levels and high water and  flooding were making the 2.8km stretch a hazard.

Christmas Draw

The Inniscarra Lake Tourism Development Company Limited are holding a Christmas draw to raise money for the maintenance and the upkeep of the very popular Greenway. Tickets are only €2 each or three for €5 and the fantastic prizes include tickets to see Manchester United, a weekend in Killarney and  a family Portrait. Tickets can be purchased in all the shops and pubs in Coachford and the draw takes place on December 30th.

World Championships return  in 2017

The National Coarse Fishing Federation of Ireland has been awarded the honour of hosting the FIPS-ed World Youth Championships in 2017. The event attended by youths worldwide is expected to attract in excess of 40 teams, supporting staff and families to Ireland, the chosen venue being the Inniscarra Reservoir centred around the village of Coachford in Co. Cork.

Der Casey, NCFFI Chairman says:- “We are delighted that our bid to host the Youth World Championships has been accepted from the Fédéracion International de la Pêche Sportive. Hosting this event in Ireland will help to share with our juniors the sport of angling and showcase our investment in the development of our sport and recreation. It will be the largest World Championship angling event to be staged in Ireland and a proud reflection of the professional ability of our volunteering members & associates.”

The championships to be staged on the Coachford Greenway, a 2.8km linear park in the form of a walkway providing access for anglers to the Inniscarra Reservoir, to be held in July 2017, are still subject to a technical inspection of the venue which will be further developed to support the event. With over 400 expected to attend the event will provide an estimated boost of nearly €2million to the region