.Bank of Ireland Youth Ambassador James Patrice is pictured at the launch of the Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge, with students Katie Farmer (15) from Castleknock and Colin Eiffe (13) from Rathcoffey.
THE Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge was launched today and Kerry schools are invited to take part with a chance of winning €25,000.
This is a new secondary school competition that will see students learn essential Financial Wellbeing skills while competing for the chance to win the top prize for their school.
There will be 18 regional finals across the country with the Grand Final in Citywest in April 2020. The Kerry regional final takes place on December 12th at Killarney Convention Centre.
Continued below…
.
The Bank of Ireland Money Smarts Challenge has been designed in conjunction with business studies teachers and Financial Wellbeing experts.
Students will first learn about the core elements of financial wellbeing like spending, saving, earning, credit and debt.
The second part of the day will put their new skills to the test in a fun and interactive quiz with eight rounds of money-related questions and conundrums. Two schools with the highest score from each regional final will compete in the Grand Final.
Each school can put forward up to three teams for one of eighteen regional finals hosted by James Patrice which will take place between November 2019 and February 2020.
Principals and teachers can find out more about the competition and register to take part by visiting boi.com/moneysmarts. Early registration is advised as places are limited.
A KILFENORA man is preparing for a fundraiser to help out a facility which provided great care to his parents during their illnesses before they passed away.
Enda O’Sullivan of The Tankard Bar is in training to join around 50,000 runners for the New York City Marathon on Sunday, November 3.
Enda’s father Jerry passed away in August 2009, while his mother Mary died nine years later in August of 2018. Enda said the amazing kindness and care given by the Kerry Palliative care unit to both his parents during their illnesses inspired him to take on the challenge.
Continued below…
.
“I’m inspired by the work of Kerry Hospice Foundation Limited and wanted to support them by raising money as part of my participation in New York City Marathon,” said Enda on his Everyday hero fundraising page.
“The more people that know about Kerry Hospice Foundation Limited, the greater their impact, so please also spread the word by sharing my page with your friends and family. Thank you in advance for your generosity, it means a lot!” You can support Enda, who has already raised nearly €1,000, on the fundraising page by clicking here
.Kingdom Swimming Club coaches Mike O’Connell, Ger McDonnell and Tim O’Connell with Munster Squad members Rory Boyd, Jack Costello, Aisling O’Connell and Kim McTigue. Back from left; Joe Reidy, Grace Reidy, Evelyn Fox and Jack Doyle at Tralee Sports Complex on Wednesday. Photo by Dermot Crean
THE strides being made among the youth in Kingdom Swimming Club were rewarded recently when eight members made the Munster swimming team squad.
The eight members, who range in age from 12 to 16, are Rory Boyd, Jack Costello, Aisling O’Connell, Kim McTigue, Joe Reidy, Grace Reidy, Evelyn Fox and Jack Doyle.
They started training about two weeks ago with the rest of the squad at the pool in University of Limerick and this training will run all the way until next summer.
Continued below…
.
“It’s a great achievement for them and this training will push them on to a higher level. The next step up from this international level,” said Pat McTigue of Kingdom Swimming Club.
The club’s swimmers have competed with great success at local, regional, national and international level in the past and with the current crop that success is sure to continue if they keep up their training and commitment.
.Noel Keane outside his Croí Restaurant on Princes Street.
IT’S only been open at its current location since April, but Croí Restaurant has been picking up accolades galore since then.
Having moved from Dominick Street to its present home in Princes Street (just up the street from The Brandon Hotel) in April, the restaurant’s chef/owner Noel Keane is continuing the success and high standards they set since setting up in May 2017.
Noel was celebrating again this week when he was received the YesChef Munster and All-Island Sustainability award at a ceremony in Sligo on Tuesday night.
Continued below…
.
But over the last couple of weeks, Noel also received word that Croí has made the prestigious McKenna Guide for 2020 of the Top 100 restaurants in Ireland.
Three weeks ago Croí won the Best Customer Service Award and Best Front Of House Award in Ireland for Catriona Foran from RSVP Magazine and it has also been included in the Lucinda O’Sullivan’s Great Places To Eat for the past two years in a row.
The elegant upstairs room in Croí Restaurant.
Since the move in the spring, they have more space, but the restaurant still retains that intimate feel thanks to having separate ground level, mezzanine and private room areas.
“It’s all down to the team here and it’s nice to be recognised with these awards,” said Noel, who was also named as one of the four ‘signature chefs’ on the Wild Atlantic Way.
Noel is very proud of the latest Sustainability Award and he takes looking after the environment seriously.
The downstairs dining area.
“We nearly at 100% recycling here. There’s no plastic coming in here, the ingredients all come in in reusable containers. All our veg peelings go back to our garden as compost and the garden is 100% organic. It became a mission for us over the past year to reduce our carbon footprint,” he said.
Of course Croí wouldn’t be winning awards if the food wasn’t amazing and it sure is as many who have visited the restaurant over the past two years can attest to.
All the meat and fish are locally sourced — a batch of lobsters had just arrived when TraleeToday.ie paid a visit last Friday — as well as the vegetables and herbs and Noel is adventurous when it comes to combing ingredients.
They have just launched their Christmas party menu (see below), but before that they’re hosting a Wild Game Night on Friday, October 25 with special guest chef/lecturer Mike Foley joining Noel to create a unique collection of game dishes for one night only. For bookings call 066-7120685.
Congratulations to all at Croí on their awards and continued success into the future.
A TEAM of students from IT Tralee were announced as Dingle Invitational Culinary Pentathlon 2019 co-champions earlier this month.
The IT Tralee Culinary Arts Team were Karl Noctor (Tralee), Aidan King (Tralee), Kerrie Daley (Ballyheigue) and Shannon Curtin (Limerick) under the guidance and mentorship of Chef Lecturer Dan Browne.
After a two-year absence, and in spite of the threats and real difficulties afforded by storm Lorenzo, The Dingle Invitational Culinary Pentathlon on Friday, October 4 was an overwhelming success for all teams involved.
Continued below…
.
Four teams – Cork IT, Dublin Technical University IT Tralee and Galway/Mayo IT – competed in the competition designed to bring student culinary athletes from around the country to compete in a one of a kind competition of cooking and sport, this uniquely Dingle event took place throughout the town.
Coupling new and traditional culinary ingredients of west Kerry with the area’s acclaim as a center of outdoor activity, teams of cyclists, runners, prep cooks, chefs and wait staff created innovative four-course lunches from a “blind basket” of local ingredients and pantry staples.
Beginning in Orchard Lane, Shannon Curtin cycled the first leg of the competition, carrying a mystery bag of local produce to prep Chef Kerrie Daley at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne.
Shannon then returned to Orchard Lane where she became pastry chef and created a dessert from ingredients and recipe from the book Dingle Dinners. Shannon produced a lemon curd with shortbread biscuits and raspberry coulis.
Meanwhile back at Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne Kerrie began working on the Amuse Bouche.
The mystery bag was the same for everyone and they were asked to produce a carrot soup with only the ingredients they were supplied with. At the same time Karl Noctor was given the main mystery basket from which he had 15 minutes to write a menu consisting of a starter and a main course that would fit in with the two courses already prescribed to the teams in the Amuse Bouche and Dessert.
Karl produced a smoked Quail breast, confit leg of quail, and carrot puree for starter. The main course he designed and prepared consisted of Herb crusted loin of lamb, wild mushroom risotto and parsnip puree.
While prepared ingredients were ferried from Pobalscoil Chorca Dhuibhne back to the Marquee in Orchard Lane for finishing, team runners (Kerrie) had to carry whatever waste the prep chefs had created and any unused ingredients from the mystery basket, from the school up through Main Street and back to Orchard Lane.
Once all the prep chefs and ingredients returned to Orchard Lane the finishing chefs began their stint. Aidan King had just 20 minutes to cook and serve each course. Although Aidan only saw the menu for the first time as it arrived he was allowed the guidance of Karl who wrote the menu and who now became the server to the judges.
While the distinguished panel of international judges were tough in their scoring and the standards were so high from all four teams on the day, the judges decided to name co-champions in ITTralee and GMIT.
Speaking after the awards Chef Lecturer Dan Browne of I.T. Tralee said, “I was really impressed with our team and the level of professionalism shown. At the end of the day it was all about teamwork and our guys showed they could do it under pressure and in a challenging environment including mystery baskets. Kitchens are always throwing up surprises and challenges, and successfully dealing with these, through teamwork and professionalism sometimes determines how successful we are as chefs”.
An individual prize was also awarded to IT Tralee student Aidan King, who took the prize for the ‘Finishing and Plating category’.
The prize included signed copies of celebrity chef cookery books as well as an amazing prize of a custom-made knife by The Dingle Bladsmith.The team prizes were bespoke crystal awards made by Sean Daly of Dingle Crystal.
.Members of the NLN group who spent over a week in Finland.
THERE was great excitement among two Kerry groups last week as they departed for Tampere in Finland on an Erasmus Plus Exchange programme.
A group of 13 students and four staff from National Learning Network Tralee along with a smaller youth group and leaders from South West Kerry Family Resource Centre in Cahersiveen departed on Tuesday, October 8 for an eight day trip which saw the group visit the Verstas organisation in Tampere followed by three days of activities in the Marttinnen Youth Centre.
The theme of the trip was “Promoting Social Inclusion” and the group’s aim to exchange ideas on how best to ensure that young people of all abilities can be included in their communities.
Continued below…
.
This is the second part of an exchange organised by South West Kerry Family Resource Centre in Cahersiveen which saw a group from Tampere visit South Kerry in May 2018 where the theme was ‘Isolation’.
Such was the success of the visit that an exchange trip was agreed. Erasmus Plus is a European Union programme that supports education, training, youth and sport in Europe.
The aim of the programme is to develop new ways to support inclusion, diversity, equality, gender-balance and non-discrimination.
