Adult Classes
We all need a bit of time to ourselves to nurture our own needs. Find your favourite way to chill out and wind down with one of our many diverse classes here at Clonmany Community Centre.
Art Classes
Get inspired and energized within our craft centre with one of our hands-on art classes here at Clonmany Community Centre. Experiment with creative processes, discover and explore your favourite art medium – or try something new. We have art classes for all ages – from drawing and watercolours to oils and paints. Get messy in our creative studio. With a wide variety of classes available all year long – register your interest in a class or a series of classes.
Keep an eye out here & on our Facebook page to be kept up to date with any future announcements on any other upcoming art classes.
Our Art classes are part-funded by Donegal ETB.
Basket Weaving with Brendan Farren
Brendan Farren is a local artist who very kindly comes here several times throughout the year to run his fantastic Basket Weaving workshops.
Brendan has years of experience and has weaved beautiful sculptures all over Ireland, so there is no better person to teach you how to create your own basket with locally grown willow, but don’t just take our word for it, here’s some words from the man himself;
‘My name is Brendan Farren. I am an artist living in Greencastle, in Inishowen. I have called my artistic endeavours Big Green Art, as I’m drawn to make big sculptures with natural materials. Working with wood and, in particular, willow has enabled me to grow and harvest my own materials. I consider it very important to share this nature connection with others. I offer basketmaking classes, as well as working with children and youth in hands-on art projects. Check out biggreenart.com to see some of my previous work.’
These workshops are for ages 16+. If you are interested in taking part in any of them in the future, keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for any announcements on the next Basket Weaving workshop!
The next Basket Weaving Workshop here at Clonmany Community Centre will take place on Saturday, October 14th from 10am to 5pm. The workshop will cost €70, with lunch included & materials and tools provided in this price. Payment is required at time of booking. To book, visit this link or call us on 074 937 6772.
Our Basket Weaving workshops are funded by Donegal ETB.
Yoga
Elma Toland is here on Thursday evenings with both Women’s Yoga & Mixed Yoga. ‘Yoga with Elma’ classes are deeply therapeutic. The movement practices will help relieve body aches & pains, and create better mobility & flexibility in every day movements. The classes will also help address the stresses and tensions of busy lives through breathing exercises, mindfulness and relaxation.
Yoga with Elma is currently on it’s Summer Break so keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for an announcement on when she’s back!
Chair Yoga
In addition to her Women’s & Mixed Yoga classes, Elma Toland is here at Clonmany Community Centre every Tuesday morning running her Chair Yoga classes.
Chair Yoga is an ideal way to exercise the body and the mind if there are underlying health issues that prevent the individual from participating in more strenuous and high impact forms of movement and exercise.
Chair Yoga is also a good practice if you wish to explore a practice session that is more mindful, free flowing and works to build joint mobility, muscle strength and flexibility without being overly challenging.
Chair Yoga with Elma is currently on it’s Summer Break so keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for an announcement on when she’s back!
Martial Arts
Danny has been teaching Martial Arts here at Clonmany Community Centre for years. His style of martial arts focuses on teaching students of all ages simple and easy ways to apply techniques that work best for self defence. He incorporates joint locking, striking, kicking and throwing techniques that are designed to be used against stronger opponents. He also includes the use of pressure points in our system, which can be used to enhance any technique. This is taught to our advanced and adult students only.
- Increased self confidence
- Increased fitness levels
- increased flexibility and movement
- The ability to defend yourself and others if the need arises.
- Self control
Beginner's Patchwork
Patchwork Quilting, is a form of needlework used to make quilts, clothing, cushions, bags, wall-hangings, table runners and other decorative and useful items.
It is a fabulous way to clear out your scrap fabric, using up odd bits and pieces of fabric, old clothes and even ties to make creative and beautiful keepsakes. It is a sociable and bonding activity and many of our class members return time & time again not just for the tutoring but also for the chat!
We are hoping to start a Beginner’s Patchwork course for anyone interested in taking it up as a new hobby, refreshing your mind if you’ve done it in the past or simply giving it a go! To express your interest, give us a call on 0749376772.
Weaving
Knitting is a yarn art that involves looping & interlocking a string of yarn to make loads of clothing items, toys, blankets and lots more bits & pieces. Knitting is a fantastic hobby to start as in addition to being fun & creative, knitting has health benefits several health benefits. It reduces stress, teaches you life skills & studies show that knitting can even keep Alzheimer’s at bay, so there’s no better time to start than now!
We are hoping to start a Beginner’s Knitting course for anyone interested in taking it up as a new hobby, refreshing your mind if you’ve done it in the past or simply giving it a go! To express your interest, give us a call on 0749376772.
Pottery
Our Pottery Tutor at Clonmany Community Centre is Brian McGee of Brian McGee Ceramics. A lifetime of working in pottery from his studio in Donegal while also teaching his skills has ensured that Brian McGee has a broad and intimate knowledge of his craft. He has expertise in a very wide range of techniques over the years including throwing, Raku, modelling, pit firing, and kiln building and is an enthusiastic and generous teacher.
Brian was born in Derry and studied Art and Design (Ceramics ) at Birmingham Art College. He worked in a variety of potteries until setting up his own studio in 1987 in St. Johnston. He was the director of Craftworks Pottery School in Derry from 97 to 2001, training people to work in the pottery sector.
His work includes public sculpture such as St. Finian Mural 2014 at Scoil Naomh Finian Quigleys Point Donegal, the Mosaic Plinth and sculpture 2013 (In collaboration with Maurice Harron) Clonmany National school and the Seeing it through Mural 2007 (Bloody sunday memorial) Gasyard Wall Derry
He works part time as a lecturer in ceramics at the North West Regional College in Derry.
Brian is here throughout the year at different times running several Pottery & Raku classes and workshops. His classes are extremely popular and participants love it, always going home with lovely ceramic pieces. If you are interested in taking part in any of his future classes/workshops, keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for any announcements of dates!
Our Pottery classes & workshops are part-funded by Donegal ETB.
Wood Turning
Walk and Talk Group
Clonmany Community Walk and Talk first began as part of the Donegal Green Prescription, an innovative programme based on the theory that physical activity in nature affects physical and mental health in a positive fashion. It was introduced to the community by the then manager, Kathleen Coady who assisted members in registering for training. Two community members partook in a 6-week course at Clonmany Community Centre followed by a weekend training course in Letterkenny in order to become fully certified leaders and succeeded in growing an enthusiastic group of walkers now with four fully qualified leaders!
Our walks accommodate all fitness levels and are open to any member of the community looking to become more active and/or meet new people. We meet every Thursday morning at 10:50 outside Clonmany Community Centre, no matter what the weather, and we go for a stroll and a chat. In the Summer we bring lunch & tea and eat at a bench along the way however in the winter we pop back to the Centre for tea, biscuits and a natter!
The walk and talk group is very relaxed, people come and go as they please and are always welcomed back. We take it in turns to pick the walk and have just two simple rules– No Pets and No Social Media.
Wooden Pallet Upcycling
We are all about sustainability here at Clonmany Community Centre. Our ongoing project that is the Community Pantry is a fantastic initiative to reduce waste that members of the community near & far absolutely love. Our wonderful partnership with FoodCloud enables us to get weekly deliveries of food, drink & other products to put into the Pantry that would have been otherwise been left to waste. But one thing we started to notice was the build up of wooden pallets here from the deliveries, and with our aim of sustainability & recycling in mind, we had the idea to run a course just before Christmas in which participants would learn how to make some big & sturdy Christmas Tree pieces out of our wooden pallets to take home with them!
Such was the interest in that course, that we now run several Wooden Pallet Upcycling course throughout the year! They are so popular in fact, that our last course, which was a course in making outdoor Garden Furniture, was fully booked with 15 participants the same day it was announced.
If you are interested in taking part in any of these courses in the future, keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for any announcements on the next Wooden Pallet Upcycling course!
Wellness Café
Mental Wellbeing is very important & something we do our best to promote everywhere we can, and a big part of that is our Wellness Café! Every Monday morning to start the week off on a positive note, we invite everyone to come to the Market House Café in Clonmany between 11am & 12:30pm to simply sit down for a cuppa to clear your head. You can come to the Café during the Wellness Café hours to have a chit-chat with others, play cards or a board game, read a book, or whatever we can offer to stet your up for a great week!
Cooking
We run several cooking courses throughout the year that the participants always have great fun on while learning how to cook or expanding on their own cooking knowledge! Our cooking courses vary from our Christmas cooking courses in the run up to the most wonderful time of the year, to our most recent course which was focused on lost cooking skills, namely techniques & recipes that were commonplace in Irish kitchens in the late 1900s but have since been nearly lost to time!
Be sure to keep an eye out here & on our Facebook for any announcements on any new cooking course announcements to get your name down.
Rocky Shore Trek
Join The Sea Collective in 2 weeks’ time as they are taking a group on a Rocky Shore Trek & Exploration at Pollan Bay, for adults, ages 18+!
Pollan Bay, Ballyliffin
Tuesday, August 1st
10:30am to 12pm
Spaces are limited & the trek costs €15, to be paid in advance to secure your place. To book, give us a call on 074 937 6772.
