IN a sporting sense just the title brings a sense of drama, expectation and excitement and it rarely disappoints.

I have been a Lions supporter since I could understand what it meant, my father was a big fan, so from early days some of the first books I read were about the Lions exploits in New Zealand and South Africa.

To say a player was a Lions test player was to give the highest accolade. I never expected nine players on the Lions for Ireland after a fairly dismal six nations. It will be interesting to see how many make the test fifteen.

Looking at the team and who might make the test side is difficult. The Welsh contingent are likely to get a big representation.

Then you have six Leicester players. Behind the scenes could be interesting with Gatland and Rowntree one wanting Welsh players the other wanting Leicester representation, the backs coach is Rob Howley also Welsh.

Then you have the mind games. Gatland often comes up with attempts to play mind games and throw the opposition into off field distractions. If he tries this in Australia he will meet his match the Aussies love a bit of sledging and if they can start a war of words with Gatland they will love it.

This can become a distraction from the main business of winning the test series. Keeping the squad focussed can be very difficult.

Bringing together players from four nations who are normally rivals and getting them to play as a team is a hard task.

This can be the secret to winning or loosing. Team morale and squad morale, including players who aren’t on the test panel, is a man management skill which might be difficult for this management team to achieve.

The other issue is captaincy he said before he announced his selection that captaincy wasn’t that big an issue. However when the Lions have won the series strong captaincy has been a feature.

Warburton seems to be a quiet reticent type with very little experience, he is going to be under tremendous pressure.

Gatland also said that the captain might not necessarily play. This would be going against all previously successful campaigns, having a player captain and a non playing captain of the tour.. It is fair to say that managing a Lions tour is probably one of the most difficult tasks in sport.

So at this early stage who will make the team? I fancy Halfpenny at full back, Cuthbert and North on the wings with Tommy Bowe a possible instead of Cuthbert, Roberts and Davies in the centre, I just doubt that Brian O’Driscoll’s injury problems will clear up, Sexton out half, at scrum-half personally I think Murray is a better player than Phillips but don’t be surprised if the Welsh man gets the job, Jenkins and Jones, the props, Hartly, hooker, Wynn Jones and O’Connell, second rows, Warburton, Faletau and Croft the back row.

From an Irish view point I think O’Driscoll, Murray, O’Connell, Bowe and Healey could all play a part.

Funny things happen on Lions tours some players thrive and some players don’t play to form there will be surprises.

I think Zebo was unlucky not to travel and Donnacha Ryan was unlucky with injury coming at the wrong time.

Rory Best played himself off the team with very poor form since Christmas. Other players who could force themselves into contention, Richie Gray, Tipuric Tuilaga, and Hogg.

The Australians have picked 25 players so far with six additions to come. The super rugby teams from Australia are currently going well and the whole country is looking forward to the series.

For once I agree with Stuart Barnes 2-1 to Australia, however if the Lions win the first test it could be all to play for.

I think managing the Lions is a bridge too far for Gatland, then gain I was never a fan.

I hope to write an update after each game so say tuned.

Sinn Féin councillor Rachel McCarthy says the scheme amounts to communities having to fill their own potholes. Pic: Denis Boyle

MORE than €100,000 in funding for road maintenance via the Community Involvement Scheme has been announced for the next two years for West Cork.

The scheme which advances repairs to minor rural roads has not been withouth controversy as it requires local communities to commit funding, labour or machinery towards the works.

The funding is part of a national pilot scheme announced by Minister Alan Kelly and commits €10.6 million in funding nationally.

In County Cork a total of €674,004 has been allocated with €107,920 of this sanctioned for a variety of road projects in West Cork.

These include Ringville Cul-De-Sac, Bandon (€42,400); Mountain Common, Skibbereen (€14,800); Baltimore, Skibbereen (€24,000) and Kilgobbin, Bandon (€26,720).

Local Labour TD Michael McCarthy welcomed the announcement saying, “In the normal course of a County Council’s road works programme, repairs to minor county roads would only be considered towards the end of the programme after more heavily trafficked routes had been dealt with and the purpose of this pilot community involvement scheme is to permit local participation in the repair of roads.

“In this way, if there are particular problems affecting a given stretch of road and if the local community are willing to assist the local authority (in money or kind) with the necessary works, then such roads can be improved sooner than would otherwise be the case.

“As such, the scheme recognises local community involvement in this area, without in any way taking from the statutory responsibilities of county councils.

“This pilot Community Involvement in Road Works Scheme is purely a voluntary scheme and is available to give local communities the opportunity to have these works completed where they would not normally be considered for funding,” he said.

As previously reported in West Cork Times the scheme has also come in for criticism.

Bandon town councillor Rachel McCarthy (SF) said that the real issue is the lack of discretionary funding being made available to councils across the country.

“It’s ridiculous that they are trying to dress this up as a good news story when what they are actually doing is cutting the funding in half,” she said.

“Councils have seen their discretionary budgets slashed over recent years and that is the real problem.

“It’s those budgets that pay for the road repairs and the effect of these cuts can be seen in the state of the roads all over West Cork.

“What they should be doing is increasing the discretionary funding available to fix potholes and damaged roads, but that are doing the opposite”.

Funding for regional and local roads has been cut from €280 million in 2012 to €264.5 million in 2013, a cut of 5.5%.

According to the Department of Transport about 85% of this funding will be required for road restoration.

Carbery

Muskerry

The new €950,000 station includes a new two-storey building as well as a new pontoon for the Severn Class lifeboat the Annette Hutton.

The volunteer crew had for 15 years been operating from a temporary portacabin on Dinish Island for 15 years before the new station was completed last year.

The reclaimed land for the new station was donated by the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine.

Since opening 16 years ago the station has launched 223 operations rescuing 288 people in the process.

YOU may have read my article on the effects of Stress on the body some time ago. Just to remind you of a few key factors.

It was considered up until now that continued Stress was responsible for 80% of our illnesses. Now it is said that it can be responsible for up to 95% of all illnesses. That’s a very big scary analysis.

It eventually breaks down the immune system and leaves us wide open and at risk of disease. The continued Stress is that which has been allowed exist for so long it becomes a habit or pattern by which we live and we can allow ourselves get stressed over a seemingly insignificant thing. We are not even aware of this vein of Stress that is penetrating our very core.

Overcoming Stress:

What is stress in the first place? All stresses can be traced back to a thought or belief which can influence the brain and affect the body.

Here is an example that may relate to many of us:

We want our Children to be better – better in their studies, better behaved, better mannered etc. or maybe we feel they are ‘letting us down’ in front of our friends or family. Our ego perhaps?.

We get stressed when their behaviour does not match up to our expectations.

If we just stand back, feel our stress and figure out what is causing it, we realise it comes from a thought in our mind that we believe your children should behave in a certain way. Our way!

The stress arises when their behaviour does not match up with our expectations.

If we can in that instance drop our hold on that expectation, the stress just melts away. So stress is a reaction to our thoughts – in every situation.

Breath deeply for a few minutes, exhale that stress, change your thoughts and feel the ease.

The Healing Power of a Smile.

A genuine smile puts us at ease while a frown creates unease, promoting disease and depression.

A deep inner smile relaxes the whole body and triggers happy hormones such as ecstatic endorphins and immune boosting T-Cells. Frowning increases the secretion of stress hormones, which may make you feel down, weaken your immune system, increase susceptibility to infections and blood pressure and exacerbate depression and anxiety.

The more we smile, the more we want to smile – in fact,we could make it a habit!

Happy smiley people cheer up others around them, which in turn makes them more stable and less prone to depression, divorce or failure.

How often do you Smile?

Try a Smile test for just one minute. Let a subtle ‘Mona Lisa’ smile spread over your face, then to your lips and then deep inside. Feel how you feel. After that minute, put a frown on your face for a minute. Sense the emotional and energetic shift. Feel the difference? It takes 26 muscles to smile and 62 to frown…..

Les Giblin a motivational speaker once said: ‘If you ‘re not using your smile, you’re like a man with a million dollars in the bank and no cheque book’. I know nowadays we have laser cards etc. but point taken, the richness is in your smile, the contentment is in your being.

My suggestion is, before you put on a frown, make sure no smile is available!

Have a lovely happy week, change your thoughts, change your reactions and make someone’s day. SMILE.

Elizabeth Hitchcock, Healer & Mindset Counsellor – 087 830 1053

WE  all want to combat climate change by promoting energy efficiency. But just how energy efficient are the products that we are using for this purpose?

The NEES (Natural Energy Efficiency and Sustainability) Project believes that it is possible to save more energy and reduce the carbon foot-print of house construction and retrofit if we look at the Life Cycle of materials and buildings and not just their use-phase.

The NEES European Sustainable Energy Week Seminar at Cork Centre for Architectural Education (UCC) at 2 PM on June 25th will explore this question, as well as looking at Best Practices in natural products and services that enhance energy efficiency and originate from the Northern Periphery of Europe.

NEES is a partnership of 8 universities, research agencies and social enterprises that began in 2011 and will continue until May 2014. During this time it will identify, document and promote at least 15 best practices in use of natural and recycled materials and technical and training services that support the use of these products. It will also develop up to 5 pilot projects in partner regions that demonstrate use of these products and services. These will be presented at the Cork EUSEW Seminar.

Minka McInerny, Retrofit Officer from the London Borough of Haringey, will present recent ground-breaking research comparing the Life Cycle energy impact of buildings made with natural materials and those made from high-tech chemical and engineered “energy efficient” materials.

The Seminar also will hear a Report from NEES Partners University of Ulster and Glasgow Caledonian University, that recently gave evidence to a high-powered House of Commons group examining emerging issues on the planning, design, construction, management and maintenance of the built environment. For more details of the Seminar and Registration (through the EUSEW web site) see:

http://eusew.eu/component/see_eventview/?view=see_eventdetail&index=1&countryID=105&sort=-1&pageNum=0&eventid=493&mapType=europe&keyword=&city=&organiser=&eventDate=&eventType=-1

For more information contact:

Jose Ospina

Project Manager

NEES Project

Tel (+353) 28 21890

Mobile (+353) 86 8224429

E-mail: jose.ospina@neesonline.org

Web-site: www.neesonline.org

IT is wonderful to have the opportunity to live in a place you love, West Cork and work in a world you love as well – what more could we ask for.

I came to painting about 10 years ago when I worked as a Colour and Stylist and was training others to work in this area. I wanted to explain how colour and fabric work together so I started to dye fabric and mix paints to demonstrate the best way to learn.

Then somewhere along the journey I started to paint in watercolour – finding this the most exciting that had ever happened for me.

Finding the mixing of colour and how much colour, water and paint you needed to use was an art in itself, for some reason I mainly paint flowers.

Maybe this is because of the many shades and tones of colour that are available. I found the process both therapeutic and exciting, and never cease to be amazed at the way paintings unfold.

Living and working in Ireland for twenty years I have worked as a freelance teacher and with the VEC as a tutor – about 5 years ago I decided to start in a small way teaching and sharing what I know with others – mainly beginners.

The main reason this has happened is that when I was looking to learn not many people demonstrated how to get this medium to flow!

My world has opened up and hopefully others who come along to classes will enjoy and expand their life and ideas, at the moment I live near Bandon – hope one day to again live near the Sea as I find this very inspirational.

I try to keep my website up to date and there is always something going on, Friday mornings in Bandon, Wednesdays from September in Clonakilty and Bantry during the summer for weekends.

Want to find out more give me a call Jenni White 086 170 3635

www.jenniwhite.ie

The English class.

AT a recent ceremony at the Bandon Adult Learning Centre several students were awarded certificates for the completion of their studies in the English as a Second Language and Information Technology classes.

The Information Technology class

The certificates were presented by the Adult Literacy Organiser, Ms Eleanor Calnan, who is in both photographs, also pictured with the students are English tutor Raymond O’Regan and Information Technology tutor Cindy Roche.

Up to 100 cars are exepected to take part including the classic Ford Cortina once owned by former Taoiseach Jack Lynch.

The cars will then return to the Celtic Ross in Rosscarbery for a prize giving ceremony and a meal.

This year marks the 24^th running of the event and the cars are set to leave the hotel at 11am on Sunday morning.

Marcus Horan and Gerry Duffy with Will Whelan, Aaron Dennehy and Noel O’Leary. Pic:
Gerard McCarthy

24 hour event from Mizen Head to Malin Head

IRISH sporting heroes Marcus Horan and Gerry Duffy turned out to support the Coast to Coast, Mizen to Malin cyclists, as they trained for the big event, which will raise funds for cancer research at The Mercy Hospital Foundation, Cork.

The non stop cycle from Goleen, Mizen Head to Slievebawn, Malin Head in Co. Donegal will be undertaken by 5 brave cyclists. They will cover 637 kilometres, all in the space of 24 hours.

The five cyclists, Aaron Dennehy, Helena Dornan, Will Whelan, Brian Canty and Noel O’Leary will leave Mizen Head at 1pm on Friday, June 21^st and arrive into Malin on Saturday, June 22^nd.

The route starts off in Goleen Mizen Head, covering Bantry, Macroom, Newmarket, Charleville, Kilmallock, Limerick, Portumna, Longford, Enniskillen, Strabane, Derry, Drumville, and finally, Slievebawn, Malin Head.

Cyclist Aaron Dennehy said, “On October 30^th last year, my dad, Sean, died after a very short illness, pancreatic cancer.

“We were left with a lot of unanswered questions, a huge sense of loss and anger, about the lack of a cure for this horrible disease. We watched my brave dad fight this disease with huge determination and courage and this inspired me to take on a challenge, to raise awareness and funds for such a worthy cause.

“I decided to turn the grief into something more constructive, and during Dad’s last days in the Mercy Hospital, I came up with the Coast to Coast for Cancer Challenge. Our mission? To do what we can for early detection of pancreatic cancer.”

Rosemary O’Leary, Fundraising Executive with The Mercy Hospital Foundation Cork said, “ This event is set to be a very exciting challenge, and will raise awareness nationwide, as the cycle makes its way through the country. The cyclists will help the Mercy Hospital Foundation make a real difference to the lives of patients at the Mercy Hospital

“Funds raised will help research projects at which can lead to an earlier and more effective diagnosis of cancers like pancreatic”.

To donate visit www.mercyfundraising.ie or www.idonate.ie/fundraiser/7785_coast-to-coast-for-cancer.html

All funds raised by Northern Ireland cyclist Helena Dornan will go to Cancer Focus Northern Ireland.