Limerick Federation ICA Notes Week ending September 24th

IF THE CAP FITS………..
The knitting needles are busy all over the country. ICA ladies and their friends are busy knitting hats scarves and wrist warmers in support of the Heart Foundation. If you haven’t started yet then now is the time to get going. Knitting is fun so spread the news around and get everyone involved. Get in touch with the schools in your area, arrange a public knit-a-thon, knit at your local library and get the whole community involved. September30th is National Volunteer Knit-a-thon day and Limerick Federation has organised a special knitting event at the Milk Market in Limerick from 11am to 4pm approx.
DEVON AND CORNWALL
Sunshine blue sky and blue sea greeted the ICA ladies as they reached their destination near Plymouth in the South of England. Their hotel situated on the verge of Dartmoor National Park was comfortable and welcoming . This is the territory of The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall better known as Prince Charles and Camilla.
Day one took them on a visit to the lovely city of Exeter with its famous Cathedral. Here they had a guided tour and some shopping time in the afternoon. They also visited Paighton with its unusual beach huts and the lovely old fashioned town of Torquay.
Next day they travelled to St Ives and took the ten minute train trip into this pretty fishing village. The beaches around it were beautiful and the temperature 30 degrees so their stay was all too short.  On the way they stopped in Corbis Bay and were treated to Cornish Cream Tea in the Corbis Bay Hotel. Penzance famous for The Pirates and the old world village of Mousehole were all included in the trip.
Thursday was the final day and they went to visit The Eden Project . The site was an old Cornwall clay pit and it was developed into the world famous gardens by Tim Smit .It has the largest green house in the world with one glass house devoted to a rain forest.
As they packed their bags for home all were talking of a return visit.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CRECORA
Crecora ICA celebrates its fortieth birthday this year and Elizabeth Lahiff tells us that the celebrations start with An Ecumenical Service on Thursday September 29^th. The Service will be held in Crecora Church at 8pm and refreshments will be served afterwards in the club house. All members, past members and families of deceased members are welcome.
PLOUGHING
All roads lead to Athy this week for The National Ploughing Championships. The ICA stand will be a busy place all during the three days with many workshops and presentations. These include Flower Arranging (Hey-Day Flowers), Hats by Imelda Byrne, Art with Fiona Marron, Farm Safety by Martin O Halloran, Vintage Bags by Mary Connan, Gardening by Yvonne O Connor and Women’s Way Presentation. Do call in and you will be sure of a Céad Míle Fáilte.
ONCE MORE MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE
This is the theme for an extensive public awareness campaign by The Love Irish Food organisation. The aim is to convince shoppers to add one more Irish brand to their grocery shopping. Watch out for the logo and play your part. The Irish food and drinks industry is Ireland,s  largest indigenous industry, and is responsible for the direct and indirect employment of over 230,000 workers. It deserves our support. www.loveirishfood.ie
COMPETITIONS
Best of luck to the Pitch and Putt team who are travelling to An Grianán for the finals on September 24^th.
Two federation competitions this month  -these are handwriting and scones so Mary Moloney and Marie Hayes hope to have lots of entries and they will all go on display at the Federation Meeting on September27th.
FÓGRAÍ
Sept.22^nd Closing date for handwriting competition
Sept27th Limerick Federation meeting and closing date for scones competition.
Sept.30^th Knit-a thon at Limerick Milk Market.
Oct.31^st Halloween Lunch.