Cork Greenmap

The second Cork Cycling Arts Festival – Cork’s multidisciplinary celebration of cycling, arts, fun and creativity – gets into gear from Monday 2o

th to Sunday 26th July 2009 with a fantastic range of free events celebrating bicycle culture in the vibrant streets of Cork city.

The Festival is sponsored by Cork City Council and the Smarter Travel section of the Department of Transport along with a number of local business sponsors including The Edge Sports Shop, Giant Bicycles, Kellys Bicycles, Trek bicycles, trailriders.ie, Rothar Cycle Tours and dealfeedr.ie. 

See www.corkcyclingcampaign.com part of www.cyclist.ie for details.

Cork Palestine Action Group invites you to a frenzy of  post punk, rock, beat poetry for 21st century Cork and old skool punk rock, reggae and ska unleashed by Dirty Fix, Circus Cat, Don for Chickens plus special guests rumoured to be Latino!

All funds raised will be donated directly to provide humanitarian aid to Gaza through Caoimhe Butterly (Cork Human Rights Activist in Gaza), Free Gaza Movement (www.freegaza.org) and Galway Palestine Children’s Charity.

Gig for Gaza – Friday 17th April 2009 – Club ISO Bar @ The Mardyke –
Doors open: 9pm – Admission €10 – Tickets available from Plugd Record
Store and on the Door

Monday March 30^th

3-5pm Hosted conversation: Audience for the Arts in Cork

– Who benefits most from Cork’s arts and culture scene? How might we develop the arts audience in Cork? Arts producers, community group leaders and representatives especially welcome.

Tuesday March 31st

1-2pm Cork Jazz Festival presents… “If it’s anything, jazz is a verb”  - Jazz is a very broad description and Bill Johnson provides a gentle introduction to some jazz that might surprise you.  A presentation with lots of music and special reference to artists who have played Cork in the past.

3-5pm Corcadorca presents… An Introduction to Acting

- Workshop with Corcadorca’s Artistic Director Pat Kiernan.  A participatory workshop on standing up to perform and improvising on themes.

Wednesday April 1st

11-1pm Hosted conversation: Heritage Buildings - Maintaining the Past, Building the Future.  The responsibilities and challenges of running heritage buildings in contemporary Ireland - with TKB Southgate Associates.  This conversation will be of special interest to anyone involved in conservation and management of preserved buildings.

4-5.30pm Tigh Filí presents… Never too old, never too young – poetry workshop and reading with writers from Cork Literary Review and Eurochild.

Thursday April 2nd

2-4pm Cork Film Centre presents… A workshop exploring work created with the support of Cork Film Centre, ranging from youth projects to short films produced under the Cork Film Centre / RTE Short Script Award scheme as well as video art. This an ideal event for anyone interested in getting started with filmmaking.   

Friday April 3rd

1-2pm Cork Folk Festival presents: A workshop to learn some Cork songs, with festival Artistic Director William Hammond

Please book ahead for all events as space is extremely limited.

Bookings and enquiries:

Nicki ffrench Davis / 021 4215 100 / info@civictrusthouse.ie

On 1 January 2009 a new government scheme to encourage people to cycle to work came into force. Cycling keeps you fit, it’s fast, cheap and reliable – and it’s good for the environment.

The new bike scheme covers bicycles and accessories up to a maximum cost of €1,000. The bicycle must be purchased by your employer but the scheme can then operate either with your employer bearing the full cost of the bicycle, or by way of a salary sacrifice agreement (like the existing travel card scheme) in which you pay for it, tax free, over 12 months.

Participating in the bicycle scheme is easy. If your employer decides to take part, they simply buy the bike and equipment on your behalf and off you go. Its is up to you and your employer to decided whether they buy the bike outright for you or whether you pay for it via ‘salary sacrifice’. Either way you save on tax.

The scheme is flexible in its application in that your employer doesn’t have to specifically notify the Revenue Commissioners that you’re availing of the scheme and there are no Government forms to fill out. However, your employer does have to maintain the normal records such as invoices and payment details associated with buying the bike.

More info on: http://www.bikescheme.ie/

Fairtrade Cork invite you to celebrate Fairtrade fortnight at:

The Victoria Hotel, Patrick St. Cork on Tuesday 3rd March, 6 - 8.00 pm

Join us for a glass of Fairtrade wine or juice …

Bring along a sample of Fairtrade food to share * …

Meet John Nuwagaba, Fairtrade Coffee Producer from Uganda.

Taste the Difference…. Make the Difference

* Bring whatever you can … from a bar of Fairtrade chocolate or packet of

Fairtrade biscuits to a Fairtrade savoury dish - all very welcome!

More information www.fairtradecork.com

Organized by Fairtrade Cork in association with Ethical Development Action, Oxfam Cork, Cork City Council & UCC International Development Society

Padraig O Donoghue, Trails Coordinator, County Cork Local Sports Partnership is encouraging parents to introduce their children to walking in the great outdoors this spring.

‘Children always love exploring the great outdoors’ said Pádraig ‘and with this series of nature walks families will get the chance to discover new walking trails in the West Cork  region. So get on your outdoor shoes and enjoy an afternoon’s stroll with your children!’

 Padraig will be leading a series of five nature walks in selected locations throughout West Cork over the coming weeks.

The walks are suitable for children aged five up and will include nature awareness activities.

The Guided Nature Walks will take place in the following locations:

    Macroom, Warrenscourt Forest, 22^nd Feb.

    Rathbarry, The Long Strand, 8^th March

    Leap, Dromillihy Wood, 22^nd March

    Bandon, Dukes Wood, 5^th April

    Glengarriff, Nature Reserve, 19^th April

All walks begin at 2.30pm and will start at on site car parks.

They will last for approx. an hour to an hour and a half.

All walks are free of charge.

Further Information and Directions can be found on the CCLSP website: www.cclsp.com

or by contacting Pádraig on 021 4665082 Mobile  086 8532470

If anyone is interested there is a special article about the Hop Island to Raffeen Greenmap walk in the South County (Section 2) page of this week’s Southern Star, January 3l, which is on sale in Eason’s, Porters’s, Cork, in Passage West and other outlets.  Walk leaflets will also be available in various outlets in Spring, or email a request and we can post them out!

Check out our new site for everything related to food : growing/eating/buying/living etc . This is basically a social network for foodie things, where you can join (and create) groups according to your interest; ask questions, post information, events, links, resources, meet and talk to people in all these areas, and much more!

Join us at http://corkfoodweb.ning.com/

The GoCar CarSharing service (i.e you can use a car/van in/around Cork city without having to own one) is offering  a week of ‘Free Motoring’ (and no entry fees) to all new customers. Their offices are listed on the map.
For more info on car sharing and this offer go to: http://www.gocar.ie  or contact Michael / Graham on 1890 446 227.
Car sharing services can help you save money, reduce traffic and emissions…

There are a number of drop-off sites throughout Cork City.  See http://www.repak.ie/Repak_Green_Christmas_2008.html for more details.