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Weekend Baking Project: Easy & Nutritious Pint Glass Soda Bread.

During lockdown many of us are discovering the joys of baking as a pastime, not to mention the self-sufficiency and satisfaction gleaned from making something from scratch.

One item we’d surely all like to master is the art of bread making. There’s nothing like the taste and smell of freshly made bread in your own home. What’s more; during lockdown, being able to make your own bread saves an almost daily visit to your local food store – helping us to keep that bit safer.

Many of us, however, avoid making bread thinking it’s too difficult, but we at Thurles.info are here to help. We have tracked down and tested what is arguably one of the easiest recipes for making bread you could find.

You don’t even need a weighing scales to measure ingredients, just a pint glass!

Ingredients to make an easy and delicious Irish soda bread:
1 pint glass of coarse flour.
1 pint glass of white flour.
3/4 pint of buttermilk.
Enough salt to coat the bottom of a pint glass.
Enough bread soda to coat the bottom of a pint glass.
Enough butter to coat the bottom of a pint glass, (or about 4 teaspoons).

This recipe was devised by a Tipperary man, Mr. Peter Ward of Country Choice, Nenagh Co. Tipperary.

View his YouTube video shown above to watch how easy it is to make this nutritious soda bread and enjoy!

Learn to Knit & Crochet Free During COVID-19 Lockdown

With level 5 restrictions set to stay in place until at least April, many people are taking up new, stay safe, hobbies; chief among them knitting and crochet.

As well as the personal pride and satisfaction one gets from creating something from scratch, knitting and crocheting have other great benefits.

Research confirms, what many knitting and crochet enthusiasts already knew, that knitting and crocheting is great for our mental health. The repetitive nature of knitting and crocheting reduces anxiety and increases a sense of calm and well-being. Knitting and crocheting also have valuable social benefits, because they bring together people who share an interest in these crafts.

Where to Start?
YouTube offers thousands of videos on beginning to knit and crochet, but the one we recommend is the HappyBerry Knitting and Crocheting Channel. The presenter uses craft materials, terms and measurements used in Ireland and presents clear and easy guides on how to get started.

Knitting for Absolute Beginners.
For step by step clear demonstrations on basic knitting stitches and patterns, visit the YouTube channel by clicking HERE.

Crochet for Absolute Beginners.
For easy to follow tutorials on the basic crochet stitches, as well as great beginner crochet projects, visit the YouTube Channel by clicking HERE

Top Tip.
ALDI regularly offer ‘special buy’ crafting events. Watch out for great deals on wool and needles in your local Thurles ALDI store, located at Kickham Street, Thurles, soon.

Share Your Ideas.
If you have recently come across any good videos or websites dedicated to knitting or crochet post a comment on this website and share your link.

Transport Infrastructure Ireland Failing Thurles Town

We here at Thurles.Info always give credit where credit is justified.

To this end we have sought nominations for Thurles Municipal District Councillors Mr Sean Ryan (Fianna Fáil) and Mr Jim Ryan (Independent) to be considered for the Kluge Prize, which recognizes the highest level of achievement and impact on public affairs, and today is considered one of the nation’s most prestigious awards.

According to my copy of the Tipperary Star Newspaper, both men demonstrated what was observed by a reporter as demonstrating unreasonable or foolhardy contempt for danger, by verbally speaking out, accusing Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) of neglect in relation to investment and an overall failed responsibility for roads, here in our rapidly deteriorating Thurles town.

Their remarks were addressed through Mr Marcus O’Connor, (Director of Services Roads, Transportation, Infrastructure), who appears to have taken on the role of Chief Executive (CE) within Tipperary Co. Council, in an as yet unpublished Coup d’état, dislodging the reigning Chief Executive Mr Joe MacGrath.

Mr Marcus O’Connor of course felt that it was not right to be criticizing Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) at this time, because quote “they are playing their part”.

Evidence of failed ability either by Mr Marcus O’Connor himself or TII however is evidenced in the video hereunder.

The video above shows again the same repair work being carried out every 3 days, using cold tarmac; while wasting taxpayers money, through the use of necessary machinery, inferior materials and man hours.

Further along Cabragh Road heading out, towards the stronghold of Mr Michael Lowry TD; run-off areas designed to remove water off the road surface are blocked. Outside Cabragh Business Park the footpath, for at least the past 10 years, has remained 10 centimeters (4 inches) below the actual road surface itself, gathering muck and troughs of water, rendering it useless to pedestrians.

Further wasted Money.
In the past few weeks a new tributary of the river Suir has emerged to flow on the Mill Road, flooding out through the gates and through the walls of residential gardens.

Believing that a pipe had burst, immediately Irish Water were summoned. Tests were done, showed no presence of Chlorine. Thus this water was deemed to be a “newly developed underground spring”.

Today this new river Suir tributary continues to flow along the surface of Mill Road, passing residential houses, local businesses and forcing oncoming pedestrians to use the wrong side of the road.

A few hundred metres further up, on higher ground, the new half completed housing estate is flooding our ‘Double Ditch’ (near to its centre) as the estate builder, now in lockdown, is allowed to drain this land, latter a flood plain of a choked River Suir.

This drain, ripped out by Tipperary Council contractors some years ago, for the first time in its history, now contains thousands of gallons of contaminated water, 1.3 Metres deep (Over 4ft), carrying clay, sand, and what appears to be an oily paint-like substance.

This created trench ripped out at the side of the Great Famine Double Ditch by these Tipperary Council contractors, has no proper drainage pipes connecting it to the river thus allowing this contaminated water to pass through the Double Ditch into the adjoining fields on the other side.

One must ask is this the same water causing this new fast flowing Suir river tributary to appear at a lower level in the Mill Road gardens.

Meanwhile, our video clearly demonstrates the complete failure by Mr Marcus O’Connor and Transport Infrastructure Ireland (TII) in serving the needs of Thurles town.

Perhaps Mr Marcus O’Connor might like to get up from his office desk and visit the streets of Thurles and surrounding roads, to experience at first hand the failures now being tolerated by the people of Thurles.

Jigsaw – The National Centre For Youth Mental Health Comes To Thurles

We understand a lease was signed on February 5th last, on a premises to house the ‘Mental Health’ charity ‘Jigsaw’, [Registered Charity Number CHY 17439], at the Technology Park, Nenagh Road, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Services from the new premises are expected to be delivered from May/June next, depending on future current national public health guidelines, regarding Covid-19 virus restrictions within the building trade.

Building modifications will be required internally to facilitate Jigsaw’s preferred design and layout, however the recruitment process will commence soon, to select some seven permanent positions to staff the new unit. This qualified team is expected to include a Lead Manager, a Psychologist, a Mental Health Nurse, an Occupational Therapist and a Social Worker and Administrative Staff.

The new Thurles central venue will be the base, which will serve outreach hubs in both Nenagh, to the North and Clonmel, to the South of Tipperary; both as yet to come on stream.

Thurles – Looking Back

Hereunder, view the sad current demise of Westgate, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, situated on the junction of ‘Liberty Square’, ‘Friar Street’, ‘Croke Street’ and ‘Wolf Tone Place’.

Today, the area is sadly a place of dereliction and is disintegrating at breakneck speed, despite the odd coat of grey paint brushed on, in the vain hope that same will turn a ‘pig’s ear into a silk purse’, to the detriment of nearby rate paying businesses, attempting to trade.

**Westgate, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, photographed in January 2021**.

Here readers can view Westgate, Thurles, Co. Tipperary in better days, **demonstrating a high level of business activity in the area.** *[This scene was possibly photographed in the early 1950’s, dated by the model of Morris Minor shown in the picture, latter manufactured between 1948 and 1952.)*

The latter ‘Wolf Tone Place’ named above, gets its name from Theobald Wolfe Tone, (posthumously known as Wolfe Tone). Wolfe Tone was a leading Irish revolutionary figure and one of the founding members of the United Irishmen, latter a republican society that revolted against British rule in Ireland, where he was a leader going into the failed 1798 Irish Rebellion.

Wolfe Tone was also commemorated, with the erection of the 1798 monument erected in 1901, today positioned in Liberty Square, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, and affectionately referred too, most often, as simply ‘The Stone Man’.
The decision to move this Statue was called into question recently by Thurles.Info, following the publication of a misleading video, published by Tipperary Co. Council, and entitled ‘Liberty Square Enhancement Scheme’, (please view above video), which did not contain any reference to this 1798 monument remaining in the area.