Aoife Murphy began teaching Children’s Art Classes with her father Seamus Smyth in 1998 in Co. Meath. Seamus is a Professional Artist and Art Teacher to both adults and children. He taught Aoife how to craft with clay, paper, and natural materials and of course paint. She particularly enjoys crafting with natural materials to make Dream Catchers, Treasure Chests & keep sake boxes. Aoife teaches children how to make various animals, pinch...

I have a friend called Ellen. She was my best friend from the age of five when we were in ‘Babies’ together right up until she got married and moved to Boston in 1988. We went to Eglantine school when the desks still had inkwells; you could lift up the tops and store your books inside and had benches that could sit two pupils. Our desk was up against the wall. Ellen sat on the inside next to the wall and when she got bored, she would raise...

Straight Ahead provides free surgery for Irish children who need urgent operations for severe orthopeadic deformities such as scoliosis, developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) and neuromuscular limb deformity and are currently on unacceptable waiting lists. For some of these the waiting leads to a deterioration of their condition, considerable pain and a huge reduction in their quality of life. Straight Ahead wants to do something about this...

(By L. J. Wardell, USA) Anne is six years older than me. Growing up, we were very poor, and my mother worked evenings at a factory in a small midwestern town. Not seeing my mother much, Anne took over much of the maternal support, and she was awarded the authority to give me and my younger sister permission to do things. Actually, going to Anne was much better than going to a parent as she could award permission, but never had an urge to punish...

The first time I met her, my jaw dropped. I couldn’t believe that so much bad luck could be visited on one poor, unfortunate person. I was both shocked by her misfortune and humbled by my naïveté that if I was alright then so was everyone else. On the 10th occasion I met her, she was still bleeding on about the same woes and had accumulated new ones to wail about; I started to see her as a disease. I read an article in a magazine once that...