CLAPS and cheers heralded their arrival and while it wasn’t all a song and dance, students plumbed, painted and plastered as they saw a shell transform into a first-ever home for three generations of a family that had lived in a dark shack.

THE Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT) is on course to meet its target of housing 100,000 people in South Africa in the next number of months and will complete 3,500 homes this year.

THERE are contradictory, pre- and end-of Celtic era touches to Kilkenny’s Coolmore estate, on 242 acres.

A REPORT by Government officials into the work of the Niall Mellon Township Trust (NMTT) raised concerns that the house-building charity may be depriving local contractors of work in South Africa.

SCHOOLS catering for children from Southill yesterday opened up new links with young students attending schools in Cape Town, South Africa.

A BITTER war of words between the founder of the Niall Mellon Irish Township Trust and the Government intensified last night.

Five hundred Irish volunteers have begun work on the latest building blitz by the Niall Mellon Township Trust in South Africa.

BUILDING houses under the searing South African sun, legendary GAA commentator Mícheál Ó Muircheartaigh is a far cry from the comfort of his commentary box.

Five hundred Irish volunteers are heading to South Africa this morning to take part in the latest blitz of house-building by the Niall Mellon Township Trust.

A TELECOMS tycoon, who used €1 million of his fortune to found a charity, has appealed to the people of his home county for help building or repairing 3,000 homes in poverty-stricken Haiti.

IRISH people should count their blessings and put their economic woes in perspective, according to Nobel Laureate and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

A NEW Irish charity is aiming to build or repair 3,000 homes in poverty-stricken Haiti over the next three years thanks to a €1 million kickstart from its founder.

Support for X Factor contestant Eoghan Quigg has spread across the world, with children in a South African township now rooting for the singer.

Army tanks will be parked alongside tractors and livestock at the Ploughing Championships later this month.

PHILANTHROPIST Niall Mellon has raised his ambitions for this year’s South African township building blitz by 25% despite the downturn in the construction industry.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today announced €5m in Irish Aid funding for the Niall Mellon Township Trust.

HOLLYWOOD star George Clooney has been nominated for the Tipperary Peace Prize for his work on Darfur, it emerged today.

Hollywood star George Clooney has been nominated for the Tipperary Peace Prize for his work on Darfur, it emerged today.

A FIERCE wind drove coarse, dirty sand across the Freedom Park township in Cape Town throughout the weekend, caking a layer of grime over skin, clogging ears and turned the snot in your nose jet black.

FRACAS, down in class, gets the vote to win a less than inspiring Listed Gallo Family Vineyards Silver Stakes at the Curragh this evening.