Cork Garden Club will present a talk by Angela Jupe of Bellfield House and Gardens on the topic: ‘Design Ideas for the Garden & Plants for Structure’ on February 12 at Ashton School at 8 pm.

A moving new song, which celebrates the beauty of a West Cork town at Christmas time and expresses the sense of loss felt by local people forced to emigrate, is to be launched this week.

An ex-child worker rescued from a life of drudgery at the age of 10 by a West Cork schoolteacher is to spend weeks in Ireland highlighting the work of the organisation which saved him.

* Kanturk Flower and Garden Club will meet on Wednesday May 14 at 8.00pm with guest speaker Rachel Budd, Organic Horticulturalist. Everyone welcome, €5 with refreshments served.

Sonnets at breakfast, coffee with Hamlet, and a selection of soliloquies from the jukebox — it’s Clon Upon Avon as one West Cork town celebrates the 450th birthday of the Bard.

¦ Macroom Flower & Garden Club Spring Floral Demonstration & Gardening Talk on Hellebores & Spring Bulbs Thursday, March 13 at 8.00pm, Coolcower House.

¦ Cork Garden Club presents a talk by Ciarán Burke, of The Garden School, on: ‘The Spring Garden — Colour and Design’, at Ashton School, Cork, on February 13, at 8pm.

¦ Innishannon Flower and Garden Club will host herbalist, Colette Healy on Jan 15 at 8pm in Barrett’s Lounge.

BUTLERSTOWN-SHANAGH (Seven Heads Walk, West Cork)

A blueprint for flood risk management in a West Cork town will be available at a special public forum next week, more than a year after torrential flooding devastated Clonakilty.

A local mayor has called a public meeting on the proposed abolition of a town council in West Cork.

A Michael Collins Autumn School — along the lines of the internationally renowned Yeats Summer School — will be held for the first time this year.

Come home to Clon, the kettle’s on: that’s the motto of Clonakilty as it launches a programme of events commemorating its 400 years in existence — and invites emigrants back for a visit.

IT is 22 years since I came back to live in West Cork and 20 years since I began to write this column.

It’s a bartering system ideally suited for the economic times we’re in — a free exchange of labour or skills between people.

FOOD grown within 50 miles of Clonakilty is on the menu this week as the west Cork town focuses on sustainability.

OPEN air markets champion Darina Allen has backed traders who face prosecution after defying a town council to hold a market without a licence.