When the Greeks, the founders of what may be considered Western civilisation, philosophy and theatre were major players on the world stage, claiming new territories as their own and taking the resources to bring back home they referred to the inhabitants of these places as Barbarians, for all they could hear is bar, bar, bar. They could not understand another culture’s language or way of being or weren’t willing or interested enough to learn. Nothing much has changed as far as our behaviour towards other cultures or creatures is concerned. Humans arrive in an unfamiliar place and we have to either adapt to the culture and try create a space for ourselves to fit in or we remain isolated and form our own community forcing other communities, sometimes begrudgingly to accept our presence. We have all these different cultures and creatures living together, sharing the same environment and we cannot or are unwilling to communicate with each other and yet we are dependent on the same resources.  

We need more than anything to recognize this about our inter-dependent state of existence if we are to do more than survive on this life-giving planet. It is through this conscious awareness and compassion for ourselves that we can recognize our interdependent nature and rather than fear the unknown we can approach life in all its forms as a part of ourselves and thus something we need to respect as having its place and purpose in syntropy with humans. 

What we’re feeling, thinking, emitting and receiving from others as forms of communication is all part of life. Through our consciousness of life we can learn to change the stories and states associated with our behaviour by recognizing that what we are experiencing in the present is not fixed but ever changing and malleable. Even what we may believe now as permanent and cannot be changed, like the past, is not fixed. We say, 'You can’t change the past but you can change how you see it'. Our experiences in between continuously reshape how we remember the past in the present. It may seem fixed by our constant repetition of the same story pattern but even the words, though still the same no longer have the same meaning. We experience them like we experience ourselves over time, growing older as the body and the meaning of life changes with it.  

Change the story or our way of consciously experiencing it in the present and we realise it is no longer the same story and we may be not be able to retrace our steps and relive our experiences as we did when first experienced. Our present shapes our past and try as we may to re-member our lives as once lived, with each telling there is a slight variation, sometimes imperceptible yet there, like the face that greets us in the mirror each day, seemingly the same, yet different and dependent on so many things, like our waking thoughts and dreams before we awoke and observed ourselves and our thoughts in the present. 

The Little Prince by Antoine De Saint-Exupery with aquarelles by the author is a classic story with a simple message: We’re never too old to learn from the wisdom of children and to rediscover our inner-child by letting our imagination run wild with possibilities.

For Cruinniú na nÓg 2019 we’d like to give children free reign to paint with aquarelles and create their own stories and exhibit and read extracts from them in the presence of their parents who are welcome to stay and play with their children.

What we propose is to have a reading of extracts from the book, a watercolour workshop and projection of the animated film The Little Prince that evening: The animated film might help parents remember to allow themselves, as well their children to play in their own way. It is important for the youth to hold onto their creative imagination in this age of technology.

We’d like bean bags and a soft-lettered floor to create a colourful, creative atmosphere and we’ll need a supply of suitable paper, pens, paintbrushes and aquarelles and space to exhibit as well as share the masterpieces of their imagination with the community and not just their family.

To further this day regular use of Claremorris Gallery to have readings, painting and screenings once a month during the summer season: The venue is perfect due to its space and location. It will also allow Claremorris Film Soc. to continue screening films during the spring/summer as the library cannot be used due to the longer daylight hours.

To encourage other cultures living in the community to participate we’ll have the story available for parents and children in English, Portuguese, Polish, French as there is a large community of people from other cultures now working and living in and around Claremorris. It may be possible in other languages if copies can be acquired.

There are a number of animated family films on themes of maintaining our storytelling traditions such as Kirikou, Song of the Sea, The Book of Kells, etc. we hope to screen later on.

Stories are often adapted for the screen and watched but the reading of them has been neglected by children and parents alike. It is necessary for our children’s collective imagination to be able to actively rather than passively recreate these stories themselves in each other’s presence.

We’re encouraging creative practices from other cultures, such as Carnival in Brazil, African textiles, etc. by making connections with these communities in Claremorris and elsewhere to create more cultural diversity and awareness in the community.

Hello Walkers

hopefully, this may stir up a bit of interest in our walking group again

Walking Leaders Training is Saturday the 24th of November 9am – 4pm in An Sportlann Castlebar.

Let us or Deirdre know if anyone from the group may be interested in this which the cost of will be covered by the Sports Partnership.


Community Sports Development Officer,

Mayo Sports Partnership,

Mayo County Council,

Cedar House

Castlebar,

Co. Mayo

E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Phone: 094-90-64386