Compiled by Nicoline Greer.
YOUNGEST SWINGERS The children of Ireland are being groomed for world golf domination in Mount Anville school this summer. Golf Fun runs week-long summer courses for children aged between five and 14. Children learn to swing, putt, chip and tap and never do the same activity twice in the week, so they won't get bored. Pro golfer Aideen Rogers comes on site every week to coach them on the specially-built three hole golf pitch in the school. Golf Fun also runs children's parties at their homes, based on the same principle of golf and games for small children. The cost is €90 per week. There are places available on weeks beginning July 12th, 19th, 26th and August 9th. Golf Fun, Knocknagarm, Glenageary Heights, Glenageary, Co Dublin, 01-2369680, www.golffun.ie info@golffun.ie.
DO THE JITTERBUG You'll be dancing like you're in an old-time musical after Jamie and Clare Furler (left) get their hands on you. They teach swing dancing, which goes back to the 1920s and was developed in the dance halls of Harlem. Swing includes a wide family of dances from Lindy Hop to East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing to Boogie Woogie, Balboa to Shag, and from Rock 'n' Roll to Jive, dancing to Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra. A partner will be provided if you don't have a willing one. The classes, open to all ages, are at the Metropolitan Bar, Eden Quay, Dublin, on Wednesday evenings from July 14th at 7 p.m., followed by DJ-ed swing dancing from 8.30 to 11 p.m. See www.boogiebeatswing.com.
GET SASSY They look like embroidered armadillos and have names such as Strut, Dolly, Holster and Breast, and Britney bought a couple on her recent trip to Dublin. These are the cult bags of Bracher Emden that seem designed to be noticed and geared to a celebrity lifestyle with their Swarovski crystal, elaborate embroidery, leatherwork, rivets and lacing. David Bracher worked at Erikson Beamon for eight years before joining up with Richard Emden to form their company two years ago after a friend asked them to make a bag. Their flagship store is in Monmouth Street in Covent Garden, where their sassy bags attract the attention of stars such as Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, Beyoncé, Madonna and Kylie. They can now be found in Brown Thomas's increasingly large bag department, where prices start at around €300 for the Duck.
BRING A BROLLY Every performance of the classic dance scene in Singin' In The Rain, which comes to the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on July 14th, requires 400 gallons of water, you'll be interested to know. For some reason, the kindly PR folk also sent us an inventory of all the plumbing bits required: spigots, sockets, drains, bends, connectors, valves, copper pipes, elbows, rings and valves. Poetic, huh? With a 12-piece live orchestra, it stars Paul Robinson, Christian Gibson, Susan McFadden and Shirley McCarthy, and Aonghus McAnally makes a "special appearance". Come to think of it, he is rather like the Donald O'Connor character in the original movie. Tickets on sale Friday, June 18th from Ticketmaster outlets, the Olympia Box Office and www.ticketmaster.ie (from €23.50). Patsey Murphy
LONDON EYE The Hon Maria-Teresa Grant Merry is, as her name may imply, not your average tour guide. Her tours around the historic buildings of London are a far cry from an open-topped bus. With her, you will travel in a chauffeur-driven Jaguar, be in a group of no more than four and have your own personal art historian. A graduate of Classics and History in Trinity College, Dublin, she will introduce you to some of the lesser-known sights, such as the recently re-opened Foundling Museum. It is the old Foundling Hospital, founded in the 18th century to take in babies abandoned on the streets of London due to extreme poverty. It was funded by artists such as Handel, who performed the Messiah as a fund-raiser. At the time, there was no place to display art so the plan to decorate the hospital was revolutionary and it became Britain's first public art gallery. Cultural Tours in London, from £125. Contact 00-44-207-7358002 or see www.art-architecture-tours-london.com.
WORD ON THE STREET Starter Marriage: You know how it is - you're in your late 20s, all your friends are getting married and you feel like you're missing out (also those presents come in handy). You get married because you think you should. Inevitably, the marriage doesn't last but thankfully it's a good, clean break - no kids, no property hassles, no acrimony. As you move into your mid-30s, you come to realise that what you went through was merely a "starter marriage". Brian Boyd
PRIDE OF PLACE The Irish countryside is instantly recognisable, but what is it that makes it so special? Landscapes by Paul Henry, JH Craig, Maurice Wilks and George Gillespie (below) are among the work on show at Dublin's Oriel Gallery until July 31st. "The Permanence of Landscape" celebrates the beauty of the land that has been our one constant throughout history, as well as the painters who brought it to international artistic attention. See for yourself at the Oriel Gallery, Clare Street, Dublin 2. Mon-Fri: 10 a.m.-5.30 p.m.; Sat: 10 a.m.-1 p.m., (01-6763410). Clare McCarthy
GET FRESH Film-makers of the future can start to get busy with the launch of the Fresh Film Festival Competition for 2005. In its seventh year, the Irish Schools Video Competition attracts more than 100 entries from schools, theatre and community groups and individual film-makers. Films can be on any theme and in any genre, from documentary to fiction, science fiction to drama, horror to comedy. The result of letting uninhibited teenagers loose with a camera has been, say the organisers, "mental, mad stuff". This year, Junior Fresh is a new section for seven to 12-year-olds. Full details are on the Fresh Film Festival website: www.freshfilmfestival.net. Closing date for completed entries is Friday, March 11th, 2005. The Fresh Film Festival, c/o The Belltable Arts Centre, 69 O'Connell Street, Limerick. e-mail: info@freshfilmfestival.net.
SIMPLE CITY ITSELF The world's first Virtual Institute of Simplicity has been launched in Dublin. Ideas on how to simplify life in the city can be posted on the site. There are monthly prizes for the best ideas entered. It has been created by Edward de Bono, the master of creative thinking, and the Dublin City Development Board. These are some of the things Dubliners think would make life easier:
- Change the nozzles on petrol pumps so that there are different fittings for diesel and petrol.
- Register all citizens to vote at birth, linked to their PPS number and activated when they reach 18.
- Make the Pringle tube wider so that people can get their hands in.
- Have phone directories available as a searchable database on the landline.
- Ulilities bills delivered by e-mail to customers who pay on-line.