Uncategorized
Post-Christmas clear-out sees unwanted presents find new homes
It’s true that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure – and traditionally this is one of the busiest times of the year for charity shops as people donate unwanted Christmas gifts.
You know how it is. You return to your normal routine and realise you have too many make-up brushes, a surplus of body lotions and potions and no room on your book shelves for your newly acquired book gifts. Something’s gotta give.
Unless you’re a hoarder, there’s no choice but to do a clear out and this is where charity shops come into it. Not only will you be re-organising your own house but helping others at the same time.
Other than duvets, most items are acceptable and three of Galway’s four established charity shops reported a busy post-Christmas period .
But despite a national campaign launched by Oxfam before Christmas seeking unwanted Christmas gifts, the Galway shop reported a decrease in donations on this time last year.
It is quite possible that the location of the shop on the edge of the pedestrianised part of Abbeygate Street, which meets Middle Street may be a hindrance to people delivering bags of clothes, bric-a-brac or books to the premises.
Oxfam has over 30 shops on the island of Ireland and has a partnership with Marks and Spencer which means they regularly get end of stock or out of season goods from the company, a factor which attracts a number of regular customers on the look out for bargains.
A spokeswoman for the Oxfam shop locally said that as well as the donations of goods, people also donated cash, which was something that the organisation required if they were to continue their good works in 94 countries across the world.
The tiny shop is choc-a-bloc with clothes for men and women and children of all ages, books, bric-a-brac, CDs, DVDs and at the moment a limited amount of Christmas related goods on discount!
To overcome the access problem for people with goods to donate, Oxfam will collect in and around the city.
Around the corner on Merchants Road there are two charity shops, the Curiosity Shop run by the St Vincent de Paul Society which is one of the longest established of them in the city, and the Irish Cancer Society further along the road which opened a year and a half ago.
The Curiosity Shop is really two shops – one which sells clothes, books and accessories in one large space and a furniture shop next door.
A volunteer in the furniture shop said there was a great run on three-piece suites – the furniture shop run by the Simon Community in Briarhill had sold three of its six three-piece suites in the post-Christmas period.
The Curiosity Shop does accept some electrical goods, mostly new ones, but are wary of taking used electrical items.
Aileen O’Mara, the Manager of the Irish Cancer Society Shop, says her rule of thumb with electrical goods is she doesn’t accept anything with an element in it, unless of course it is a brand new item still in its box.
Her outlet has been very busy this year, something she puts down to most families having been touched by cancer in some way.
And like the Curiosity Shop, it’s location on a two-lane road is quite accessible, which no doubt contributes to its success.
Aileen and her team of volunteers were run off their feet since opening on Friday after Christmas with the number of donations being left into the shop. Their problem is storage. Everything has to be sorted in a room off the shop floor, though as the shop was quite busy with customers, some of the items, especially baby clothes, were being sold almost as soon as they were put on display.
In their case, a number of local businesses donate which guarantees a limited selection of new goods at discounted prices.
“We have had great support since we opened in May 2013 and it’s probably because cancer is close to a lot of peoples hearts and they know the money raised through the shops goes to cancer research and towards paying for the Daffodil nursing care service,” she adds.
The rails and shelves of her shop, which employs two people including Aileen and is operated thanks to a team of volunteers, were full to the brim this week as they were being replaced almost as soon as they were being emptied.
The second Simon shop is located on the Sea Road and is probably the city’s second longest established charity shop.
Some 60 tourism companies from Ireland attended ‘Flavours of Ireland’ 2022 in London last week – including Connemara Wild Escapes, DK Connemara Oysters and Killary Fjord Boat Tours.
‘Flavours’ is Tourism Ireland’s annual B2B tourism workshop, where tourism companies from Ireland meet and do business with top global inbound tour operators.
Now in its 20th year, ‘Flavours’ took place in the Guildhall, in the City of London, and was attended by around 100 global inbound tour operators who deliver business from all over the world, including the United States, Mainland Europe, Asia, Australasia and Africa.
‘Flavours’ provides an excellent opportunity for the participating tourism providers from Galway and Ireland to highlight and sell their tourism product and build valuable relationships with the key decision-makers in attendance.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – The Office of the Planning Regulator (OPR) has asked Galway City Council to roll back material alterations to the new City Development Plan proposed by councillors.
In July, elected members voted through a raft of changes to zonings in the Draft City Development Plan 2023-29, which went out on public display.
But the Planning Regulator has now warned City Hall that many of the proposed changes do not comply with the OPR’s recommendations, and are contrary to national planning guidelines.
The OPR specifically highlighted problems with proposals to rezone as residential land deemed at risk of flooding.
Anne Marie O’Connor, Deputy Regulator, wrote to the Council’s Planning Department outlining the OPR’s fresh advice on the changes to the draft plan proposed and approved by councillors.
The draft plan will come before elected members again this month.
Councillors will be asked to row back on some of their previous material alterations, which ran contrary to advice of the OPR.
Ms O’Connor said the OPR welcomed many of the changes made by the City Council in its draft plan. She said, however, that the OPR “has a number of outstanding concerns relating to the response of the planning authority to its recommendations and to a number of proposed material alterations relating to the zoning of lands”.
These relate to changes that conflict with national and regional objectives for compact growth; with legislative requirements regarding climate action and core strategies; and with rezoning land at risk of flooding.
The OPR highlighted a dozen or more material alterations by councillors that are “not consistent” with the National Planning Framework for compact growth.
These include re-zoning of land from agricultural or recreational and amenity to residential.
The changes voted on by councillors, the OPR noted, were done against the advice of the Council’s Chief Executive Brendan McGrath.
The OPR said the changes proposed by councillors represented a “piecemeal approach” to zoning and were “inconsistent” with national policy.
These comments related to proposed rezoning of land at Rahoon; Dublin Road; Quarry Road, Menlo; Ballindooley; off Circular Road; Menlo village; Roscam and Barna Woods.
The OPR also raised “significant concerns” over five material alterations proposed for residential zonings of land at Western Distributor Road; Terryland; Menlo Village; Headford Road and Barna Woods which are located within flood zones.
The approach by councillors “may place people and property at unnecessary risk from future flood events”, the OPR warned.
Ms O’Connor told planners that if the draft plan ignores the OPR advice or is at odds with its recommendations, the Council Chief Executive must inform the OPR in writing the reasons for doing so.
Save Roscam Peninsula in a 33-page submission to the draft plan echoed many of the concerns outlined by the OPR.
The Council has pencilled in four dates in November and December to approve the plan.
It will meet on November 21, 24 and 28 and December 1 when material alterations will be voted on individually.
This article first appeared in the print edition of the Galway City Tribune, November 4. You can support our journalism by subscribing to the Galway City Tribune HERE. The print edition is in shops every Friday.
JOHN HARNEY from Mountpleasant first joined the Ballinasloe Horse and Agriculture Show Committee, all of 60-years ago, on April 24, 1962. Both John and the show are still going strong as they celebrate their 183rd event on this Sunday. Here, he looks back on his involvement with this iconic show through the years.
THE Ballinasloe Show back in the early 1960s was going well with both the Showgrounds and Duggan Park both used for running the competitions.
My first introduction to the show was stewarding the pony competitions in the Mountpleasant end of the Duggan Park with the rest of the GAA field being used for trade stands.
At that time, it was a very big show with horses, ponies, cattle and sheep, pigs and fowl – also there was a big garden and farm produce section as well as a home craft and baking section with flowers and plants supported by a very large women’s committee.
At that time, showjumping took place in the afternoon with the top riders in the country taking part. I was elected Chairman at the AGM in 1975, a position I held for ten years.
During that time, the Duggan Park Committee approached the Show Committee for a piece of the showgrounds behind the GAA Stand for dressing rooms.
This was brought up a number of times at our committee meetings, and at first, the view was that the Duggan Park Committee would buy the ground.
However, after much deliberation it was decided by the Show Committee to ‘give the ground’ for the sum of £1 with the proviso that the dressingrooms could be used on show days by the local ICA to do catering for the event.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
