Final Event on Thursday

Clon’trepreneur, the event, is upon us this Thursday evening and the finalists are:

·         Irish Atlantic Salt Ltd-  Michael O’Neill, Aileen O’Neill & Tim Houstoun.  Michael is a graduate of UL (Electronic Engineering) has many years experience in shellfish and wet fish sales.  Aileen has 20 years accounts and retail experience and handles general day to day operations administration and accounts for the company. Tim is currently EFO Global Shares Ltd based in Clonakilty Technology Park.

·         OceanaBoost -Declan Moore, David Ryan & Barry Holland are three fifth year students at Clonakilty Community College and have already proven themselves to be innovative and successful.  They were the winning team at BT young Scientist 2011 & 2012 and they were National Winners of Agri Aware Green Dragon Innovation Challenge 2011.

·         Richy Virahsawmy- Chef for 20 years, owns and runs well known popular restaurant ‘Richy’s Bar & Bistro’ which recently celebrated it’s 10th Anniversary. Richy’s wife Johanna looks after the books for the business and will also be involved in this new project. Richy has shown enthusiasim and commitment to Clonakilty.  He has adapted to tough times with new ideas and has created jobs.

·         The Clonakilty Cocoa Company - Steve Clery, Tara Deasy & Owen Clery.  Steve Clery is proprietor of local Café Betty Brosnans, his brother Owen is a mature student studying graphic design in CIT and Tara Deasy works with Steve at Betty Brosnans and on the family farm in Milltown.

As you know George Hook is our special guest and will be the MC for what really will be a special evening for Clonakilty.

Many hours of dedication and effort has been put in by the Clon’trepreneur Team, to bring about this project for the Chamber.  We hope that all members will support their wonderful efforts by coming along and enjoying the evening’s entertainment.  While we expect that there will be tickets at the door, we really would like to get a good idea of our attendance numbers.

Accordingly, I would ask that you contact me at this email or phone Tel: 8858910 or (M) 086-8747558 to book your tickets.  The tickets are also on sale at Richy’s, Betty Brosnans and Tommy O’Donovans and are 10 Euros each.

Looking forward to seeing you on the night.

--- Mick Hanley

Networking Event on Thursday

Our next Networking event will take place this Thursday 24^th  at 9am in the Courtyard Bar, Hartes Courtyard, Clonakilty.

The attendance numbers have been fantastic, & we encourage you all to keep attending and promote new attendances / members were you can. If you can’t attend, please consider sending a member of staff in your stead to ensure your interests are continually represented. In addition, if anyone would like to make a short announcement (business promotion or Chamber related event) please notify me at the start, so that we can prepare timing  / order for the announcements. 

Also if anyone has any ideas to strengthen the event, please let us know. Useful information / presentations on business promotion, accounting or social media could be a consideration for attending business.

Below is a list of the proposed upcoming dates / locations for future events (to be finalized by participating venues). All times are 9:00 am:

The Courtyard Bar:  Thursday 24^th May 
The Emmet Hotel:  Thursday 14^th June 
An Sugan:  Thursday 5^th July
Inchydoney Island Lodge & Spa:  Thursday 26^th July 
Celtic Ross:  Thursday 16^th August  
Lisselan Estate:  Thursday 6^th September 
The Winery:  Thursday 27^th September 
Bean & Leaf:  Thursday 18^th October 

--  Stephen Spill, Events

Networking Event 24 June

Clonakilty Chamber of Commerce is pleased to announce that our next Networking event will take place next Thursday 24^th  at 9 am in the Courtyard Bar, Hartes Courtyard, Clonakilty. We would like to continue to build  on the fantastic turnouts of past  events and would encourage all members / sectors and non members to attend. 

Our key goal is to build a active and inclusive business community, so that we all can remain  focused and aware of what Clonakilty businesses haves to offer in respect of services and products on a ongoing basis. Anyone who may be interesting in joining Clonakilty Chamber is also welcome and encouraged to come along to find out what is involved, meet some of our members and learn more about what we do.

Note: Should you wish to make a short announcement (business promotion or Chamber related) please notify me at the start, so that we can prepare timing for the announcements.

Kind Regards All

--  Stephen Smith

Large Crowds Expected for National Flower Festival in Clonakilty

The National Flower Festival will be held in Clonakilty from 22nd to 24th June this year. (A.O.I.F.A – Association of Irish Floral Artists)

The Opening Night is in the Church of the Immaculate Conception on Friday 22nd June, at 7.30pm followed by a reception in a marquee in Kennedy Gardens.

On Saturday 23rd June the Church of the Immaculate Conception, the Church of Ireland, Kilgarriffe and the Methodist Church on Kent Street will host over 200 floral exhibitions.

A Concert is planned in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, at 8.30pm, and promises to be one of the highlights of the event.

On Sunday 24th June from 12.30pm – 5.30pm the 3 Churches are open for the floral exhibitions. The Closing ceremony will be held in the Church of Ireland that evening.

27 coaches of visitors have now been confirmed for the weekend during the National Flower Festival.  We would encourage you if at all possible to open your premises on Sunday 24th June as large crowds are expected in Clonakilty.

---- Karen Buchanan, karen@lisselan.com, On behalf of Lisselan Estate

 

CLON'TREPRENEUR 2012 - THE EVENT

The Entries are In!

The Short-listing has started!

The Time for the Grand Finale has arrived when you can get the opportunity to see the best of the best pitch their ideas to local warhorses in an effort to win the coveted prize worth €20,000.  The event will be hosted by TV & Radio Broadcaster George Hook and will take place as follows:

In:     Fernhill House Hotel

On:   Thursday Night the 24^th May 2012

At:     8.00 p.m.

The Night promises to offer high drama and intrigue as the four final entrepreneurs try to convince local well established and highly successful business people that their idea is the one worthy of support, and has the potential to create further employment in the Clonakilty area.

Simon Coveney T.D., Minister for Agriculture, Marine and Food said when launching the initiative recently that “Clon'trepreneur is a fantastic initiative that was established to leverage the vast amount of local resources available in Clonakilty.  This is the way forward for communities throughout Ireland – more initiatives need to be developed to support local entrepreneurs at local level.”

We have also invited students from local secondary schools the opportunity to showcase their ideas to the local business community and ensure we encourage ongoing innovation.

Don’t miss out on this unique event.

Book your Tickets now for €10 by contacting Mick Hanly at chamber@clonakilty.ie or 023-8858910

Tickets are also on sale at the desk in O’Donovan’s Hotel.

The CLON’TREPRENEUR Team

Jungle City Update

There's a rumour going around that Clon is shortly going to be home to an exotic trail of jungle animals...

If you heard it, you heard the truth and we are writing to make sure that each member of the Chamber of Commerce has had a proper opportunity to be involved.

The Concept

The concept is called 'Jungle City' and will see 24 brightly painted animal sculptures installed in every nook and cranny around the town. The sculptures will serve as a free, all weather visitor attraction for Clonakilty. This is a family friendly concept that children absolutely love! 

The sculptures will be beautifully decorated by local and international artists and will lead visitors on a trail through the town. 

The concept was piloted during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year, where one location recorded a 66% increase in visitors. 

There are all kinds of fun elements to this concept which include a pop-up shop where blank miniature animals can be decorated by families, safari trails, route maps, and talking animals via a downloadable app that will really bring it to life.

Previous Events

Jungle City was created by animal conservation charity 'Elephant Family' - the charity that was behind the elephants at Inchydoney in 2008. Since 2008 the charity has launched similar painted sculpture events in London, Edinburgh and next year, New York. This is a chance for Clonakilty to represent Ireland as part of a global concept and unlike other events, Clonakilty gets to keep the sculptures for as long as they want.

http://www.thesurvivaltour.org/

http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/

http://www.jungle-city.org/ (soon to be populated with Clonakilty!)

Supporters

Backers include the Town Council, the Chamber of Commerce, Cork County Council and Sustainable Clonakilty. With the majority of funding coming from The West Cork Development Partnership. Each sculpture will be 'adopted by a local business who will benefit from being included in the route map and having a highly charismatic sculpture to represent them in Clonakilty. The press are already biting with more than 5 local and national press articles - and that's before the animals have even arrived! Broadcast, print and media coverage will ramp up once the sculptures arrive.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship ranges from €600 to €1,500 and there is also one special sculpture available on a group share €100. If you like this idea and are curious to hear more please get in touch. The sculptures are going on a first come, first serve basis and half have been snapped up already.

Launch Date and Thank You

The sculptures are due to arrive in Clon on May 18th where they will be sent to their artist for decoration. The event goes live on Friday June 29th. All of the animals in the exhibition share one thing in common; they are endangered, so by hosting this event Clonakilty will not only have a major attraction but the town will also be doing something incredibly positive to help raise awareness for endangered animals. All proceeds from the purchase of the sculptures goes to the Elephant Family charity to continue their work. 

Thank you Clonakilty!

PLEASE EMAIL:

Mary.Powys@elephantfamily.org

ddills@hotmail.co.uk

Best Wishes,

Mary Powys and Derek Dillon

Jungle City Project Managers

Mary:  087 257 9869

Derek: 087 927 4166

Elephant Family | 0207 251 5099  | www.elephantfamily.org 17-18 Haywards Place, London, EC1R0EQ

Alternative Energy Info Day

INVITE TO ALL CHAMBER MEMBERS

Venue:   Hosfords Garden Centre, 12 am till 5 pm

We are delighted to attach our Programme for Sunday 13^th May 2012

Featuring-

Alternative Energy from West Cork

-  ProgressiveSolar;  Solar heating systems  for domestic hot water and central heating support.

-  Generating electricity through solar.

-  Heat recovery systems.

-  Heat pumps from alternative heating and cooling

    No more oil or gas EVER!

-  Clonakilty  Tool Hire  with a selection of garden machinery.

-  Jamie grant   TALKING on rain water harvesting and water filtration

-  Piano Recital 2.00pm Carol Arnopp

-  Watercolour Demonstration-Barry Dawkes -3.00pm

    Composting Awareness-Cork County Council

+ + + Fabulous plants grown fresh here on our own Nursery.

Sign up to our Blog on www.hosfordsgardencentre.blogspot.com