Coastal town that just loves to learn And the Oscar goes to ... Ballyfermot College Game on in Perth for three Dubliners

A pAcked schedule has been put together for the third annual Our Balbriggan Loves Learning Festival ‘23, which takes place from Monday March 27 to Saturday, April 1. The festival provides a range of learning opportunities to local people, groups and communities in Balbriggan and surrounding areas.

The Our Balbriggan Loves Learning Festival 2023 celebrates lifelong learning and promotes it through a wide variety of informative, creative and enjoyable activities. These include educational opportunities and workshops in the fields of arts, music and the community. All are welcome. The festival is one of the actions identified in the Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation programme and was first organised in response to local demand for stronger adult learning opportunities.

The Our Balbriggan Rejuvenation programme is led by Fingal county council’s economic, enterprise, cultural and Tourism department. For a full list of events check out: www.balbriggan.ie/loveslearning-festival/

BALLyFeRMOT college of Further education (BcFe) is celebrating its second Academy Award following the success of animation graduate Richie Baneham, who won yet another Oscar for his role as animation supervisor on Avatar: The Way of Water.

The Tallaght-born native previously won an Oscar in 2010 for Best Visual effects on the first Avatar film– the highest-grossing movie of all time.

Richie is one of the country’s most successful animators and visual effects supervisors. He trained at BcFe in the early 90s before chancing his luck at cracking LA’s notoriously competitive film industry. His first big break saw him work as an animator on The Iron Giant before establishing himself as a major player in Hollywood as an animation supervisor for the second and third Lord of the Rings movies.

Richie is one of 12 BcFe animation graduates living the dream in LA as part of a tight close-knit Irish diaspora.

The BcFe animation department has been punching above its weight for over 30 years. In 2021 the college was ranked 18 in the world in a global ranking of top international animation schools, by Animation careers Magazine. The college now boasts 10 Oscar nominations among its former students. deputy principal dr denis Murray prides himself on the standard of teaching and talent the college.

“Ballyfermot college has amazing teachers and their focus is incredible, they are really invested in the students’ future. We don’t take on students for the sake of numbers here. Our animation students spend hours carefully

Mind your moths as spring nears

ReNTOkIL is warning dubliners to be on the lookout for moths as spring approaches, with the pest controller reporting that dublin is the county with the most callouts for the nuisance pests above all other counties.

The spring months are when clothes, stored products, and scavenger moths begin breeding and become more active.

Moth larvae can damage and create holes in clothes, carpets, blankets, and curtains as well as stored goods by feeding on the keratin contained in animal fibres such as wool, fur, silk, feathers, felt, and leather.

The presence of moths can become very costly for home or business owners, both financially and emotionally — nobody wants to find holes in a quilt handed down from a beloved grandparent or in a carefully stored wedding dress. And no one wants to see their hard work wasted with stored products destroyed through moths feeding.

Moths are most likely to be found in spare bedrooms, under mattresses, infrequently used wardrobes, and attics. Be sure to keep clothes in storage clean to avoid attracting them.

studying human anatomy and simple gestures. They must be passionate, driven, and want to draw all the time,” he said. Check out BCFE’s courses in Animation, Film, and Visual Effects at www.bcfe.ie/coursesdepartment/animation-games/

Fourteen Irish transplant recipients — including three from Dublin — will travel to Perth, Australia next month to represent Ireland at the World transplant Games. ranging in age from 36 to 75, the current transplant team Ireland panel of 10 inspirational men and four women travelling to Perth have all received organ transplants including, ron Grainger, from Castleknock, D 15 (kidney); Finbar o’regan, Pearse Street in Dublin 2 (liver) and nick Heather, from Sutton and now living in Melbourne, Australia (bone marrow). transplant team Ireland will have representatives in the following eleven sports: Cycling; Darts; Golf; Lawn Bowls; Petanque; road race; Swimming; table tennis; ten Pin Bowling; tennis; and triathlon.

To find out more about the World Transplant Games and to stay up to date with the team, visit www. worldtransplantgames.org