Donoughmore

Don’t forget to watch RTE Nationwide this weekend on the 6th July - lend Don Attig some of your support on his sponsored river Shannon trip. Good luck to Don and everyone else involved!

I wanted to let you know that Don Attig has set off today from Donoughmore again to begin his second sponsored river Shannon trip - only this time he is doing it alone. The engine on his little camper boat (that his late son Omar built) is being locked when launched so that he can only use the oars, a pole or sail when the wind is right for the entire trip. It is being followed by RTE this year, on their program Nationwide who have already been out to Donoughmore (2 weeeks back) and done some filming. The first show (there are to be several) goes out on Nationwide on 6th July. After that you’ll have to check the website for the next one. Again this is being done by Don (almost 73 years old) for the child I care for here in India ( for almost the last eight years in fact)and there are hopes that a trust fund may be able to be set up this time for him.

I’d ask that as many people watch the RTE show as possible on the 6th and afterwards, and also, if any of you happen to be on the Shannon (he is travelling from the source to the sea again) and see Don (he’ll be on “Omar’s River Bird” - a black and red chinese looking camper boat) in the next 6-8 weekd - yes, that’s how long it’s going to take under man-power alone - to shout your support. There’s a real turf burning stove and a loo on board and I’m sure he’ll have taken along some of his famous home-made hooch. He has of course got a house-sitter for the time he is away.

The child, Tony, has just received prosthetic legs from Otto Bock here in India and we spent two weeks in Bangalore getting them fitted and altered etc… he also has little claw hands and arms but unfortunately they seem to handicap him further. He is in the process of being accepted to study in Germany at a wonderful school in Niedersachsen, so we’re hoping that Don’s great effort will allow him to go there soon.

Anyways, from India we send our regards and hope you’ll pass the word out about this wonderful challenge that Don is doing for us for the second time.

Many thanks to all and have a great weekend!

Maureen (& Tony)

According to this post by the Irish Towns Guide, Donoughmore water supply has been named as unsafe due to E.Coli in a recent study by the Environmental Protection Agency. It is one of a number of towns in Cork and elsewhere that failed to meet the required standards for drinking water.

The Corkman newspaper carries this story, stating that broadband has finally become available in Donoughmore, thanks to the Donoughmore Broadband Action Group.

THE Donoughmore Broadband Action Group has confirmed that a broadband Internet service is now available in the area.

A local company, Cork Community Broadband, has been working closely with the local local organisation in recent months and following a period of successful testing a service is now active.

A number of customers have already been connected in recent days.

The service consists of fixed wireless access (FWA) with subscriptions from €25 per month.

How well the product performs in terms of reliability, stability, latency, etc., remains to be seen, but at €25 per month its bound to be head and shoulders above any other locally available option.

Update: My broadband was installed soon after this post - plenty of bandwidth, good ping times, and quite stable so far. A pat on the back for Cork Community Broadband!

Donncha has photos up of last year’s Vintage Festival in Donoughmore. Have a look at the photographs here on his site.

Please let me know if you have any ideas what to do with this site.