Radio Kerry And Fexco Search For The Kerry Heroes Of 2022

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RADIO Kerry and Fexco are once again joining forces to honour Kerry heroes.

The effect of ongoing global challenges in 2022 continue, yet through it all many individuals and groups have shown outstanding community spirit, courage, vision and leadership, so Radio Kerry and Fexco want to honour them.

Each of eight award recipients will receive a specially created 2022 award, crafted and sponsored by Louis Mulcahy Pottery/Potadóireacht na Caolóige, Clogher, Ballyferriter.

Radio Kerry is inviting listeners to let them know who they consider to be the Kerry Heroes of 2022. Who do you feel really deserves to be recognised for their work at home, in the community, at work or for the greater good of Kerry?

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It might someone very well known in Kerry or someone less well known – a friend, a family member or a colleague for example who you feel deserves to be honoured and thanked.

Once all the entries have been received a panel comprising of Radio Kerry and Fexco representatives will decide on the 2022 recipients.  On Thursday, December 22, Jerry O Sullivan will reveal their names and honour them on a special Kerry Today programme.

Nominations for Kerry Heroes of all ages are welcome.  Please let them know, in no more than 500 words, who you wish to nominate, along with a photograph if possible by email hero@radiokerry.ie or by post to Kerry Heroes, Kerry Today, Radio Kerry, Maine Street, Tralee, Co Kerry.  Closing date for receipt of nominations is midday on Thursday, December 15, 2022.

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Festive Flair In The Square As Town Prepares To Light Up For Christmas

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There was a huge crowd in The Square last year for the turning on of the Christmas lights. Photo by Dermot Crean

CHRISTMAS truly begins in Tralee this Saturday with a fun-filled family day packed with events for all to enjoy.

The Christmas Lights will be officially turned on by the Mayor of Tralee Cllr Mikey Sheehy at 5pm, but there’s much more to enjoy earlier on.

The Festive Flair in the Square will see a full of programme of festivities including spectacular seasonal live music, entertaining stage shows and a children’s disco. All we need now is the weather to stay dry!

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Starting from 2.30pm there’s festive jazz with Dave Rath followed by The Oliver Hurley School of Musical Theatre Senior Choir at 3.30pm.

At 4pm there’s Santa Claus the Show followed by a Children’s Disco with Brian Hurley and some of your favourite animated characters at 4.30pm.

Then it’s time foe the official turning on of the Christmas lights with the Mayor of Tralee and the main man himself Santa Claus.

Also on Saturday is the launch of Tralee Chamber’s ‘Search for the Magic’ in partnership with AIB.

From November 26th, the letters of the word MAGIC will be placed in different shopfront windows across the town, with one letter per shopfront window.

Find all 5 letters to make up the word Magic and enter the daily draw to win a local business gift voucher.

The MAGIC letters will be moved from shopfront to shopfront and your Christmas quest is to search for each of these 5 letters to make up the word Magic.

To enter simply take a photo of each of the 5 letters at their five locations, and post it on your social media, making sure to tag Tralee Chamber in your post and use the hashtag #ChristmasInTralee

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Kick Off Christmas In Style At Connect Ladies Lunch This Sunday

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Looking forward to the Connect Kerry Ladies Lunch at The Ashe Hotel later this Sunday were, Leah Danforth of Peter Mark Tralee, Margaret Kissane of Connect Publications, stylist Danny Leane, beauty expert Mary O’Donnell and Pamela Prendiville of The Ashe Hotel. Photo by Dermot Crean

LADIES can kick off Christmas in style this Sunday, November 27, when the annual Connect Ladies Lunch takes place in Lotties at The Ashe Hotel, Tralee.

Expect some bubbly on arrival, great food, fine wines, style, beauty and hair tips, on what is always a fabulous afternoon and a great idea for a Christmas party or get-together for ladies.

Stylist Danny Leane and Beauty Expert Mary O’Donnell will be on the couch after lunch for a chat and they will showcase some great looks from this season.

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Peter Mark have just launched their new look salon in Tralee, so they will have experts doing hair demos to show how to get that party look, and they have brought along a goodie bag worth €50 for every lady attending.

Looking forward to the Connect Kerry Ladies Lunch at The Ashe Hotel later this month were stylist Danny Leane, Marie Sweeney of Respite Kerry, Margaret Kissane of Connect Publications, Lorraine Gordon and Orla Casey of Respite Kerry. Photo by Dermot Crean

As well as all this, there are some amazing spot prizes for the charity raffle, with the chosen charity partner this year Respite Kerry.

Kerry Respite Care is a social enterprise and registered charity which has developed an excellent reputation supporting older people and people with disabilities or long-term illnesses to continue living in their own homes.

The folks at the Ashe Hotel have pulled out all the stops to ensure that a delicious meal will be served in the cosy surroundings of Lotties.

Tickets are moving quickly so book yours today by calling Margaret Kissane on 086 2408237 for more details.

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Gardaí Appeal For Information After Burglary In Abbeydorney Area

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GARDAI in Tralee are appealing for any information in relation to a burglary in the Abbeydorney area last week.

Between 1pm and 6pm on Friday, November 18, a rear window of a house was forced open and cash and jewellery was taken while the owners were out.

Gardaí are appealing to anyone in the area who saw any suspicious behaviour around the time period mentioned above to contact them at Tralee Garda Station on 066-7102300.

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Ballyseedy Church To Host Folk Concert This Thursday

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Ballyseedy Church Of Ireland.

BALLYSEEDY Church of Ireland will become a concert venue this Thursday when it welcomes folk artists Cinder Well and Jim Ghedi.

The Gothic revival style church, built around 1870, will host the gig from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, which is supported by Kerry County Council through their Arts Act Grant and Community Support Fund.

A member of anarchist folk project Blackbird Raum, Amelia Baker’s time on the circuit with Irish trad-punk group Lankum eventually led her to a small settlement in County Clare, and to the rich dissonance of her music as Cinder Well.

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Jim Ghedi and Cinder Well

Cinder Well’s sparse soundscapes and haunting stillnesses of her new album No Summer (on Free Dirt Records) are not meant to be paens to loneliness. Rather, Baker was inspired by the rich musical connectivity of the pub scene in Ireland, and her move from California to County Clare to study traditional music of the region.

Jim Ghedi hails from Sheffield, South Yorkshire and stands out as a potential torch bearer for a new generation of respectful yet experimental performers.

Whilst Jimi’s previous work has often been instrumental, his new album ‘In The Furrows Of Common Place’ is a deeper plunge inside himself to offer up more of his voice to accompany his profoundly unique and moving compositions.

Departing away from previous work, here he draws from social observations, contemporary songwriting, historical & traditional material.

Tickets for the concert can be bought on the following eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/cinder-well-jim-ghedi-tickets-466231670477

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Billy Ryle: Early Christmas Present For Junior Cycle Students

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Billy Ryle says Kerry’s Junior Cycle candidates delivered superb exam results which were issued today…

RESULTS DAY

After an interminable five-month delay, Junior Cycle exam results were finally issued by the State Examinations Commission (SEC) on Wednesday, 23rd November to 67,130 candidates nationwide, including 1,955 (964 female/991 male) from Kerry. Results were available in schools from early morning and candidates can also access their results online from 4pm

on Wednesday. Access to the service requires the use of an exam number and a unique candidate Personal Identification Number (PIN).

OUTSTANDING

Junior Cycle exam results in Kerry are superb and well up to the high standard of previous years. Today is a day for candidates to celebrate their outstanding achievement, but they should do so sensibly, carefully and safely.

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Remember you can celebrate your results just as well in an alcohol-free environment. Wednesday is not a day to have your first taste of alcohol as emotions are running high on relief and the buzz of achievement.

If you are using alcohol do so with moderation. Come and go with your own friends. Never take a lift from a driver who has consumed alcohol.

DESCRIPTORS

Six new grade descriptors – Distinction, Higher Merit, Merit, Achieved, Partially Achieved, Not Graded – are now utilised in the reformed Junior Cycle programme, replacing the old A, B, C, D, E, F and NG grades.

The Junior Cycle exams were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 and replaced with a system of school assessments. In 2020 and 2021, Junior Cycle exams were held in November for a very small cohort of early school-leavers and adult learners.

In the 2022 exam all subjects were examined under the new Junior Cycle specification. English, Irish and Mathematics were examined at both higher and ordinary levels while all other subjects were examined at common level.

2022 also saw Irish examined at two strands with T1 aimed at native speakers and T2 aimed at non-native speakers.

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COMMEND

While the Junior Cycle exam results are exceptionally late this year, the SEC must be commended for providing a Junior Cycle exam for the first time since 2019.

The SEC had very significant examiner shortages which delayed marking at both Leaving Certificate and Junior Cycle.

The SEC also provided a deferred sitting of the Leaving Cert exam in July for students unable to sit exams in June due to serious accident, injury or illness, close family bereavement or Covid-19.

NUMBERS 

Consequently, the Leaving Cert results were published much later than normal, on 2nd September, and the Leaving Cert subject appeal results came out five weeks later on Friday, 7th October, in time for the CAO offers.

The number of candidates who sat for the Junior Cycle exam this year was also about 3,080 or 4.4% up on the 2019 figure, when the exams were last held for all candidates.

CREDIT

Credit where credit is due to Minister for Education, Norma Foley and the SEC for running the State exams in a fair and efficient manner despite very difficult circumstances. The quality and integrity of the exams was as good as ever and hopefully, the 2023 state exam results will be published much earlier for the convenience of Leaving Cert and Junior Cycle students.

APPEALS

Applications for review of Junior Cycle exam results must be made through the candidate’s school. Subject appeals must be received by the SEC by 5pm on Wednesday, 30th November.

Applications for appeal will be accepted only from the School Authority confirming that the exam result attained by the candidate is significantly at variance with the result expected. Details of the process have been provided to schools.

The SEC does not accept appeal applications directly from candidates, parents or individual teachers. The official marking schemes for all subjects will be published on the SEC website, www.examinations.ie by the end of this week.

IMPORTANT

The Junior Cycle exam is often overshadowed by the more public Leaving Cert exam but it’s a very important exam in its own right.

It’s a prestigious exam of the SEC and it’s the first opportunity for second level students to engage with a public exam of this nature.

With very few students now leaving school after this exam, the Junior Cycle is a passport to Senior Cycle education, which is a further two years – three years if the optional Transition Year is included.

During the final two years of Senior Cycle students take the traditional Leaving Certificate (LC), the Leaving Certificate Vocational Program (LCVP) or the Leaving Certificate Applied (LCA).

FINALISE

Normally, after the publication of Junior Cycle results, schools give Fifth Year students a few days to firm up their subject grouping for Senior Cycle.

Unfortunately, the passage of time has overtaken that option this year as the first term is almost at an end. Hopefully, students have settled into Fifth Year and are happy with the Leaving Cert subjects they selected back in September.

They should now start to think about their college course options and the related careers. This time next year, it will be their turn to apply for college. Congratulations to all candidates, who received Junior Cycle exam results.

• Billy Ryle is a Career Guidance Counsellor & Educational Commentator

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Wind Warning For Kerry To Take Effect This Afternoon

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A STATUS Yellow Wind Warning will be in effect for Kerry this afternoon. Met Éireann has issued the warning which comes in from 1pm to 7pm on Wednesday.

There will be very strong and gusty west to southwest winds during Wednesday afternoon and evening.

Gusts of up to 90 to 110km/h, strongest winds in exposed areas. Potential for localised spray and wave overtopping along Atlantic coasts. There will also be frequent showers.

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