With just seven Saturdays left to Christmas Eve, 2022, Thurles Shopping Centre, have begun displaying their new Christmas decorations.
Thurles Shopping Centre, Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary. Pic: G. Willoughby
“Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat. Please put a penny in the old man’s hat. If you haven’t got a penny, a ha-penny will do. If you haven’t got a ha-penny, then God bless you.”
N.B. The decimal halfpenny coin, latter the smallest denomination of our Irish pound, was first issued when the Irish currency was decimalised on February 15th 1971. It was removed from circulation and demonetised some 16 years later, on January 1st 1987. In the same year, 2.8 million of our halfpenny coins were melted down, leaving the halfpenny Irish coin (particularly the 1985 coin) now particularly rare, and of value to coin collectors; so give the ‘old man’ one Euro and save and keep your halfpenny’s dry.
Pheasant’s Tail grass in late September (Anemanthele lessoniana). Pic. G. Willoughby.
Fast-growing, frost hardy, Pheasant’s Tail grass (Anemanthele lessoniana), which enjoys full sun or partial shade, will provide all year-round colour in your garden, while also offering a certain movement and structure.
Pheasant’s Tail grass enjoys moderately fertile, medium to light, well-drained soil and will form a fountain-like clump of slender colourful foliage; its blades emerging first as healthy, green shoots, before quickly changing to irregular yellow, orange, brown and red streaks.
Like so many other plants, during the colder months of the year, these grass blade colours become much more intense; worthy of beholding especially if planted and viewed in an area, to the fore of where the sun either rises or sets.
An added bonus are the sprays of airy grass flower heads, which will emerge in August/September. It does self-seed, but unwanted plants can easily be removed or simply potted up and given to other lovers of gardening. Seed-heads do provide a winter food source for finches and other seed-eating birds.
In spring, as your garden comes back to life, you can easily tease out any deceased foliage by gently and safely running your fingers through its gentle blades.
Weee accepts any household waste electrical items:- e.g.Batteries; Energy Saving Lightbulbs; Fridges; Phones; Laptops, Computers; Lawnmowers, Toys, Power Tools, ———literally anything which uses a plug or battery.
WEEE Ireland is one of the best performing recycling schemes in Europe, with a record 18.7 million waste electrical items collected during 2021.
WEEE Ireland exceeded the EU’s 45% target for waste portable batteries in 2021 by 1% – with 1,085 tonnes collected, a 16% increase on 2020. Some 57% of electrical waste was collected from retailer sites – up 233 tonnes on the previous year, and the seventh year of increases, while 28% was collected at local authority sites.
September is Heart Month and this year the Irish Heart Foundation is all about men’s health!
RPI Ambassadors Peter Stringer and Malcolm O’Kelly are helping us Reboot this September.
Ms Janis Morrissey, (Director of Health Promotion, Irish Heart Foundation), reports.
“Did you know that 1 in 4 men will die from heart disease and stroke? And men are nearly three times more likely than women to die young from heart disease and stroke?
But the good news is that 80% of these deaths are preventable with lifestyle changes.
That’s why we in the Irish Heart Foundation have teamed up with Rugby Players Ireland to get men all over Ireland to Reboot their life. Supported by the HSE, we are here to help men to challenge themselves to make some positive lifestyle changes for their heart health.
Head over toirishheart.ieto find out how you or the men in your life can Reboot and make small changes for a healthier heart and future.
You’ll find plenty of tips and Reboot stories from our Rugby Players Ireland Ambassadors Tommy Bowe, Paul Wallace, Malcom O’Kelly and Peter Stringer as well as the inspiring stories of our Irish Heart Foundation Ambassadors Don O’Sullivan and Niall Nugent.
It’s never too late to choose to Reboot.” Signed Janis Morrissey.
We’ve had great weather here in Thurles, Co. Tipperary in recent days and nothing goes better with blue skies and sunshine than an ice lolly.
These 5 minute healthy homemade ice lollies are a great way to save money and sneak fresh fruit and yoghurt into children. They are so quick and delicious they will never reach for sugary shop purchased ice pops, ever again.
To make these ice lollies you will need an ice lolly mould. There are lots of moulds available occassionally to buy in local supermarkets, but the ones used in our picture are the sturdy Nuby/Nuk Mini Fruitsicle Moulds, available to buy online HERE.
Ingredients:
Strawberries. Glenisk strawberry yoghurt with no added sugar.
Method:
For the strawberry lollies, simply wash, hull and then mash the strawberries and pour into your mould. Then place into your freezer for a couple of hours, until frozen solid.
For yoghurt lollies, chop up a strawberry into small chunks. Stir the strawberry chunks through the youghurt, pour into your mould and freeze for a couple of hours until frozen solid.
Once ready, remove the lollies from their moulds and leave them for a few minutes to thaw slightly so they aren’t too cold. Alternatively, you can rinse the lolly quickly with water to defrost slightly, before serving.
Other Fruit Lolly Flavours:
You can experiment to make lots of other fruit flavours, including orange, mango, kiwi, watermelon, blueberries and pineapple.
As above, for other fruit lollies, simply wash, mash, pour and freeze, but depending on the fruit you may need to add some water.
For other yoghurt flavored ice lollies make sure to select a yoghurt and fruit that complement each other.
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