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A year of starts and sudden stops for local singer

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CHRISTMAS EP: Local singer Grace Foley is releasing her full Christmas EP today (Friday). Photo: Michelle Crean

 

It's been "a year of starts and sudden stops" for local singer Grace Foley - and this is the opening line in her brand-new song which is set to be released as part of her full Christmas EP today (Friday).

Grace will launch the EP with a Facebook and Instagram live, today (Friday) at 8pm. There she will be singing the songs from the EP and telling stories behind the songs.

The singer who has been narrowly avoiding lockdowns all year tells us what 2020 has been like for her.

This has been a very mixed year. Like all of her peers in the entertainment industry, the Killarney singer desperately misses performing live in front of an audience. She misses the buzz, the sharing of stories and songs and the interaction with people after her concerts. On the other side of things, 2020 has been a great year in terms of her creativity. Grace recorded three of her singles for the year back in the spring and then her music videos on March 12, the day it was announced that the country was starting to close down due to COVID-19. Since then, Grace has gone on to perform many live online concerts, both on her own social media platforms and on pages across Ireland and America as well as a live concert in St Mary's Cathedral Killarney which was broadcast via the parish webcam. She wrote and released a song called ‘Together Apart’ which she recorded in her wardrobe and the songstress even appeared on RTE television on the 'Today Show' where she sang live from her living room with her little dog Kerri on her lap!

Grace was thrilled when she received the news that she had been awarded Arts Council funding to write and record her own songs which she went on to record at Ventry Recording Studio in Balbriggan, County Dublin. Yet again, Grace couldn’t believe that she had just finished her songs when it was announced that Dublin was facing further restrictions meaning she would not have been able to record had she arrived a day later! Her last near miss with lockdown came in late October when she recorded her last music videos for the year only to finish up for the day and get a notification on her phone that the entire country was moving to Level 5 lockdown.

One of the songs recorded with her Arts Council funding is a Christmas song and, with a nudge from her husband John, Grace decided to throw caution to the wind and release a full Christmas EP! This is released today (Friday), and features four festive favourites, recorded at Little Dylan Studios Killarney, as well as Grace’s own song, ‘Goodbye to Dublin’. The EP titled ‘A Time for Christmas, Vol. 1’ is available on www.gracefoley.ie from November 27 and on all online platforms from December 11.

"Those who buy physical copies of the record will be awarded with a song that is not available on digital platforms," Grace said.

"While the future for performers is still very unsure, I will always look back on 2020 as the year when music became so much more than a career. It became a lifeline for the present, a connection to the past and a ray of hope for the future."

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Five local postmen retire with 185 years service

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Five local postmen retire with 185 years service

RETIREMENT NIGHT: Pictured at the retirement party held at Killarney Racecourse on Saturday, October 3, celebrating a combined 185 years of service with An Post, are Connie Brady, James Foley, Terry Potts, Pat Cronin, and D.J. Cahill.


Five well-known local postmen celebrated their retirement at a special function held at Killarney Racecourse on Saturday night, October 3.


The event brought together current and former An Post colleagues to mark the combined total of 185 years of service delivered across Killarney and surrounding areas.
Delivery Services Manager Terry Potts retired after 43 years with An Post. He began his career in Dublin, where he worked for 10 years, before moving to Killarney in 1993 for a further 33 years.
Pat Cronin completed an impressive 51 years of service between Killarney and Farranfore, spending 44 of those years delivering post on the Farranfore route.
James Foley served 35 years with An Post, delivering on routes across Killorglin throughout his entire career.
D.J. Cahill marked 32 years of service based out of Killarney post office, delivering mail across Killarney town, Killorglin, Kilcummin, and Headford.
Connie Brady retired following 24 years with the postal service, spending 17 years in Killarney town before completing his service in Killorglin.
The celebration offered local postal staff an opportunity to gather and catch up ahead of the busy Christmas rush.

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New Streetscapes murals launched at College Square

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A colourful collaboration between the Kerry Local Creative Youth Partnership (LCYP) and the Architecture Kerry Festival at Kerry County Council launched yesterday evening at College Square.

Titled Streetscapes, the open-air public art installation officially opened at 5pm on Thursday, accompanied by a performance from the Killarney Youth Drumming Band THUMP! under the guidance of Urs Wenk from Drum Dance Ireland.


The public art project features a series of wall murals depicting Killarney through the eyes of local children, exploring freedom, play, and potential future evolutions of the townscape.

The artworks reimagine Killarney’s iconic landmarks and streets, blending youthful imagination and curiosity.


Supported under the Creative Ireland Programme, the installation is mounted on the gable wall of Reen’s Life Pharmacy in College Square, where it will remain on public display until March 2027.


Speaking at the launch, Daniel O’Shea, Youth Development Officer at Kerry ETB, stated: “Streetscapes is a wonderful celebration of how children see things. Their creativity brings new perspectives to the townscape, and we are proud to support their ideas and their art through this public artwork.”


Deirdre Enright, Co-Ordinator of the Local Creative Youth Partnership at Kerry ETB, acknowledged the community support behind the initiative: “We are very grateful to Reen’s Life Pharmacy who have shared their built space with us. Huge credit is due to the artistic team from Me+The Moon whose dedication to creativity and to children’s art shine through in this work.”


The project forms part of the annual Architecture Kerry Festival and receives funding through Creative Ireland and the Department of Education and Youth via Kerry ETB and Kerry County Council.


Victoria McCarthy, Festival Organiser and Architectural Conservation Officer at Kerry County Council, welcomed the continued inter-agency project: “It’s always a great event for Architecture Kerry and we are so pleased with this collaboration between public sector organisations. It remains a key feature of the Architecture Kerry programme.”
See next week’s Killarney Advertiser for full photographic coverage of the event.

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