Leinster Express - Your Life Feed

Slieve Bloom hike for charity

Tue, 21 May 2013 09:47:39 GMT

Hill walkers and Pieta House supporters are being invited to take part in a memorable day long hike in the Slieve Blooms next Saturday May 25, in aid of the suicide counselling service.

Five Laois volunteers are ready to SERVE in disadvantaged countries

Tue, 14 May 2013 16:28:41 GMT

Five young people from Laois will take part in volunteer projects with SERVE this summer. Paula Quigley and Pierce Bennett (both Timahoe) will volunteer in South Africa with Tapologo and Tsholofelo, Tony Loughnane (also Timahoe) and Niamh McDermott (Mountmellick) will travel to Mozambique to volunteer with Young Africa and Sarah Delaney (Rathineska) will volunteer with Morning Star in India.  In South Africa, near Rustenburg, Paula and Pierce will be assisting on the building and renovation of health and training centres, with Paula taking on the role of Group Leader. Tens of thousands of people live in shacks in squatter camps such as Freedom Park, and SERVE’s partners Tapologo and Tsholofelo provide services including home-based care and vocational skills training. This will be Paula’s second trip abroad with SERVE, having previously volunteered with them in 2009. “I’ve been involved with SERVE on and off since 2009, when I volunteered in the Philippines with them. I’ve been doing some fundraising and then an opportunity came up to work with them for a year, and I jumped at it.” Paula became involved with Serve having attended an information session in college in Cork. “They were recruiting in CIT (Cork Institute of Technology), where I was studying. I seen it advertised and decided to go to the information session and it all went from there.” Paula, Pierce and Tony, go back along way, having all grown up together in Timahoe. While Pierce become involved through Paula, he is looking forward to the experience and helping those in need. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I had to drop out of a trip to Zambia when I was in 5th year in the CBS in Portlaoise because of my studies. I wasn’t going to miss out when the opportunity came again.” Pierce continues: “What you see on television is not really real, I wanted to go and see it and experience it for myself. Even if I help one person, it will be worthwhile.” The Heath Golf Club barman said that his family were naturally a bit worried when he first said he was going. “They were a little bit worried and they had lots of questions about what I would be doing and my safety and vaccines, but they trust me to look after myself too,” he said. In Beira, Mozambique, Tony and Niamh will be working on the construction of Young Africa’s new agricultural skills training centre, which will train people from the local area in agricultural working practices and techniques. The volunteers will also be taking part in arts, sports and youth leadership workshops. Young Africa’s aim is to provide young people with the technical, business and life skills to support themselves, their families and their communities. Tony decided to volunteer after hearing what a life changing experience it was from other people who had experience of it. “Everybody I have discussed this with who has experience of volunteering says it is a life changing experience.”  He continues: “What impressed me and gained my interest is the fact that SERVE realises that throwing money at people in these severely disadvantaged areas will not solve their problems. By investing in infrastructure, education, and working in partnership with people to empower themselves real and sustainable.” Ratheniska’s Sarah, who recently graduated with a degree in Social Care, will volunteer with Morning Star in Bangalore, India. The Morning Star Learning Centre project provides care and education for orphaned and abandoned children. Many of the young people there have learning and physical disabilities, and the centre also encompasses a residential home. Similar to Paula, Sarah signed up after attending an information day while in college in Waterford IT.  “When they came to the college I just decided to do it. I finished college last year and I’m just working part time, so now is a good time to go while I have the time.” With her background in social care, Sarah will be working with children in an orphanage with disabilities.

Running for Rise charity in Portlaoise

Fri, 10 May 2013 17:09:34 GMT

Calling all walkers, runners and joggers to take part in the Portlaoise Mini-Mini-Marathon on Friday, May 17 in aid of the RISE Foundation.

New Seat Leon

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:10:02 GMT

Seat as most will know is part of the Volkswagen Group. Seat however while benefiting from VW’s undoubted engineering expertise produce a very different car to the mainstay offerings from VW.

Abbeyleix heritage town goes online

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:34:15 GMT

The Irish Heritage Towns new documentary style website was launched in Heritage House Abbeyleix, last Tuesday, April 23.

Time for some homebaked treats

Thu, 02 May 2013 13:23:53 GMT

www.leinsterexpress.ie/lifestyle

Ladies leave the lights on

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:44:21 GMT

LAOIS ladies like to shine - and a new survey shows that the women of Laois are the country’s most likely to cause a flat battery by leaving their car lights on.

Listen to the Rock’s story

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:39:45 GMT

visitors to the Rock of Dunamase can now listen to an expert guide as they walk through the heritage site near Portlaoise.

‘It’s Strictly Dancing’ for Portlaoise rugby

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 10:35:13 GMT

AHEAD of the special event in May, Portlaoise Rugby Club launched details of their ‘It’s Strictly Dancing’ fundraising initiative on Wednesday, April 17, in O’Loughlin’s Hotel, Portlaoise.

Why am I so tired?

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:45:20 GMT

Very often I see many individuals who complain of feeling exhausted, even though they’re sleeping well. Often it’s been going on for several months.” At any given time, one in five people feels unusually tired, and one in 10 have prolonged fatigue, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Women tend to feel tired more than men.

Going all vegetable based

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:49:01 GMT

The hedgerows are full of wild garlic at the moment, so get out there and make some wild garlic pesto.Its great with many things,try stirring a big dollop of it into mashed potato, its great.