Finding good Irish-made gifts under €20 for the page today was easy. 

Do check out these hampers: Bandon-based Urru (www.urru.ie) and the magical Diva Boutique Bakery (www.divaboutiquebakery.com) has an online pop-up Christmas food shop;

The Glenisk and Cloughjordan House initiative, a ‘Chef Star’ competition for secondary school students, is aimed at finding Ireland’s best student chef.

Sending Italian- style biscuits to a French cosmetics company based in Belgium is just one example of what an enterprising West Cork company can do.

Cork Free Choice Consumer Association: On February 28 at the Crawford Gallery Cafe you can learn how to grow your own fruit and nuts, when to plant, how to prune and care for apple and nut trees, raspberries, strawberries, etc. With Paul McCormick and Jacinta French of Woodkerne Nurseries, John Baker, Caroline Robinson and other experts. Admission, €6, including tea, coffee, etc.

THERE’S a theme song for those buying at Bandon’s Mill Race scheme — it goes “we’re here, because weir here, because.....”

EVERY year I swear I’ll never again be wrapping and delivering presents on Christmas Eve — yet, despite my endless resolutions, I somehow end up doing just that the following year.