LOCAL NEWS
PAGE LAST UPDATED 03/03/10 12:14
Copyright 2007 Great Island Community News ©

GET THE COL-FACTOR ON MARCH 6!
The Col- Factor Song Contest promises to be an amazing night of
talent and entertainment.
Eleven acts, all Colaiste Muire Past Pupils, will compete for the title, including local
band Jaba, Patrick O'Donoghue, Iona Butler, John Daly, Kevin Cullinane,
Vincent O'Rourke, Grace Goggin, Catriona Fallon, Katie McGroarty, Sarah Meaney and Darragh
McGann.
There is a cash prize for the winning act, which will be awarded by impartial judges from
outside the Cobh area. All funds raised go to running the Transition Year Programme,
which, due to government cutbacks, no longer receives any state subsidies.
The contest takes place on Saturday March 6th at Cobh Community Centre at 8.00pm. Tickets
on sale from Colaiste Muire (4813800).

ST. PATRICK'S EVE CONCERT
See You in Cobh presents the Cobh St. Patrick's Eve Concert, featuring a host of Cobh
talent in the Great Island Community Centre on Tuesday March 16th at 8pm. Tickets costing
just 10 are available from the Commodore Hotel and Ursula Duffy 4813581.

FINE GAEL ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
A well attended Cobh Branch Fine Gael AGM was held on Thursday 18th February 2010 in the
Commodore Hotel.
The following were elected to hold office for the coming year: President. Richard OShea.
Chairperson: Kate Aherne. Treasurer: Cormac Gebreurs. Secretary: Helen Doyle. Branch
Organiser: Sonya Tobin.
Guest speaker and Chair for the election of Officers was Deputy David Stanton. Deputy
Stanton was scathing of the Government and the mess the country was in. Unemployment and
emigration is at an all time high he stated. He also said that the Fine Gael Party had
policies and ideals which he felt would turn the country around if and when the
opportunity arose for the party to implement them.Deputy Stanton said he was extremely
pleased with the work of the local F.G. Councillors and the F.G teamwork in Cork East.
Present also were the two Cobh Town Cllrs. Patrick Whitty and Sinead Shepherd.
Cllr.Whitty spoke at length about Cobhs Heritage and Tourism future including
mentioning the forthcoming Titanic Anniversary 2012. He also mentioned the importance of
the Tidy Towns plans for the future of Cobh and highlighting the need for a People of Cobh
Unite situation.
Newly elected Cllr. Sinead Shepherd also spoke of how happy she was to be representing F.G
on the Town Council. She said at times as a new representative she found it daunting but
was pleased with the support from her fellow Fine Gael Councillor, Mayor Whitty. She spoke
also of her involvement on the Tourism and Tidy Town Committees where she intends to make
her presence felt with hard work and commitment. H. Bollard

Woman, Wellbeing & Wardrobe
A woman's group open to all ages.
Monday 8th March on International Woman's Day at Cobh Community Centre 7.30pm. Shake off
the winter blues with local experts in health and wellbeing. Yoga, relaxation and more.
Refreshments, freebies and giggles. All are welcome. See you there.

SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER HAULBOWLINE THIS MARCH
Haulbowline Theatre Group presents the Tony Award-nominated play
Someone Who'll Watch over Me by acclaimed Irish dramatist Frank McGuinness , directed by
David Barrett, from 11- 13th March at the Haulbowline Naval Base.
Initially inspired by the experiences of hostages Brian Keenan and John McCarthy,
McGuinness play focuses on the trials and tribulations of three very different men
who are kidnapped and held hostage in Lebanon.
Tickets are on sale from Gibbs Pharmacy, English's Card Shop, Cobh and Cobh Pharmacy or
Walshs Chemist in Carrigaline, for telephone bookings call 086 3388942,
tickets are priced 12/10 concession. Curtain up 8pm nightly and log onto
www.haulbowlinetheatregroup.ie for more details.

A NEW LEASE OF LIFE FOR MT. CROZIER TENNIS CLUB
For many Cobhites the sight of the Mt. Crozier Clubhouse reduced to a
pile of rubble evoked many memories of happy days and nights spent at this much loved
tennis club.
Thoughts of great tennis games and fantastic hops where many romances began,
were rekindled and a feeling of nostalgia for the good old days made us sad to see it go.
But it is good to see the old place getting a new lease of life.Cobh Youth Services are
pleased to announce that they have entered in to a long term lease with the Trustees of
Mount Crozier Tennis Club.
Chairman, Cathal Rasmussen told the GICN that the group are going to develop the old Mt
Crozier Tennis Club and ground into a new sports facility for the young people of Cobh.
The plan is to develop the facility over a period of time and over a number of phases.
Phase one began recently with the demolition of the old club house and the cleaning
and removal of all the rubble from the site. Phase two will begin shortly with the
complete fencing in of all the grounds and the existing courts will be upgraded and
renewed with the introduction of a MUGA court which is a multipurpose court for the
playing of such sports as soccer, basket ball and tennis., Cathal stated.
He went on to explain that Phase three will see the building of a new clubhouse subject to
planning permission. Funding for the whole project is based on a grant of 40,000
from the County Council with the balance coming from fundraising and other local funding.
Cobh Youth Services are planning to have the new sports facility up and running over the
next 3 months.
The new facility will be called Cobh Youth Services and Mount Crozier Sports Club. This is
an exciting and new venture for the children and board of Cobh Youth Services and one
which they are all looking forward to. Mary OConnor

COBH HOCKEY CLUB
The Club would like to congratulate its Chairperson and long time
member Tara Mansworth and Jim O'Connell on their wedding on 26th February. Club members
formed a Guard of Honour for the couple when they arrived at Cobh GAA and celebrated into
the night with them. It was a fantastic night with Jim's speech being one of the
highlights (with the Club being mentioned on a couple of occasions by Jim)!
Unfortunately the Div 4 team had to take the arduous journey to Tipperary the following
today and showing the true determination of the team they came away with a great 1-1 draw
and were actually leading up to 10 minutes to go. Their goal came after about 10 minutes
from a short corner which Aoife Hart put away. Cobh dug deep to keep their rivals at bay
with chances for both teams to take the game. Player of the game was Mary Rose Roche
following on from Mairead Kearney who took the honours last week.
Div 6 travelled to take on Harlequins in the Semi final of the Div 6 Cup and they played a
great game of hockey to go 2 goals up in the first half. The first came from a short
corner which Aoife Richardson put away with a fine shot. Cobh continued to play some great
hockey and should have gone even further ahead with Harlequins defending for most of the
half. Just before half time Aoife Hart, who was just on the pitch, picked up a ball at the
edge of the circle and fired a brilliant shot to the net to leave the score at 2-0 at half
time. It was testament to Cobh's play that Quins called on their more senior players to
come on and this turned the game when within a two minute space they scored twice to make
it 2-0. In a pulsating finish both teams had chances but with 5 minutes remaining Quins
were awarded a short corner and although the initial shot was saved well the ball was just
scrambled over the line to give Quins the game. Quns will play Bruff who are league
leaders in the final.
Player of the match was Caroline Green who also received it in last weeks game.
Fixtures: Div 6 Bruff v Cobh , Limerick , Sat 6/3/10 12.45. Div 4 Cobh v Ashton, Midleton,
Sun 7/3/10 12.30.

COBH & DISTRICT SHOWBIRD SOCIETY 18th OPEN SHOW
In spite of terrible weather conditions on January 9th and 10th, the
committee decided to run the show and hope for the best. The entries reflected the icy
road conditions and we had only 653 on show, this was a decrease of 450 on last years
show.
The club is very grateful to all the exhibitors from far and near who did show and we
expect all our supporters to be back with us next year. The committee made every effort to
ensure that the exhibitors and birds got home during daylight hours before the roads iced
up again.
Best Bird in Show: Yellow Irish Fancy Cock, N & D Perryman. 2nd Best in Show:
Greenfinch Cock, J & J McCarthy.We would like to thank our main sponsor Ray Mills of
Great Island Motors.John Lynch, Cobh & District Showbird Society

Spike to officially be handed over to Cork County Council in Summer 2010
This was the message which Mr. Brendan Tuohy, Chairman of the Spike
Island Steering Committee, conveyed to those present at the Cobh & Harbour Chambers
Spring Lunch on Friday 19th February.
In his address to a capacity crowd in Trade Winds Restaurant in Cobh, Mr Tuohy confirmed
that work would begin on Spike Island in the summer. He said it was his first time
officially speaking about the project and it was appropriate that it was in Cobh with
Spike Island as his backdrop.
Mr Touhy spoke about the vast amount of heritage surrounding Spike Island and stated that
the committee were working on bringing people and groups together to get new ideas on the
development of the Island.
These, he said, can be uploaded to the official Spike Island website at
www.spikeislandcork.com. He said it was hoped that the hand over of Spike Island would
takes place in June and that an official ceremony would be held on the 11th July this
year.
