Milling around Lucan: Learn about traditional candle- making, take a tour of a flour mill and finally discover how Jacobs put the figs into figroll biscuits.
A talk on the Quaker bakers, Jacobs and other expert discussion on the history of milling and candle-making in Ireland will feature in A Day at Shackleton's Mill, Lucan, Co Dublin next Saturday. Organised by the Industrial Heritage Association, the event will also include guided tours of this 19th century mill which is currently being conserved by Fingal County Council. The mill, which operated from 1859 until 1998 was owned by the illustrious Shackleton family (which included the famous explorer, Sir Ernest Shackleton) and is situated on the Liffey near the Strawberry beds.
For advance booking, tel: 01-8334709. Cost €10 (plus lunch €10). See also www.steam-museum.ie/iha
The future is not Orang: The future of Orang-utans will be the theme of a free public talk by Ashley Leiman of the Orang-utan Foundation in Britain on Tuesday at 7.30 p.m. in the Davies Lecture Theatre, the Arts Block, Trinity College, Dublin. There are less than 15,000 orang-utans left in the wild due to the destruction of their natural habitat, the tropical rainforest. The event is part of Dublin Zoo's Green Scene conservation and environmental focus which continues at the zoo until April 6th. Advance booking for Tuesday's lecture is advisable, tel: 01-4748900. See also www.orangutan.org
Big bird convention: Michael O'Briain from the European Commission is one of the keynote speakers at the All-Ireland Bird Conservation Conference in Derry next weekend. One suspects that his thoughts on the theme, Protecting the Wildlife Jewels of Ireland through the EU Directives, will be echoed by other speakers from the Irish Peatlands Conservation Council, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds and the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust.
Those cumbersome documents from Brussels may yet be the saviours of Ireland's wildlife. For last minute booking, tel: 048-90491547 or e-mail Sylvia.Kelly@rspb.org.uk
Fairtrade to you: As Fairtrade Fortnight draws to a close, Irish consumers are reminded that buying Fairtrade products all year round helps Third World producers of tea, coffee, cocoa, chocolate, bananas, honey and fruit juices (all now available in supermarkets) live self-sufficient lives. Last year, the wholesale value of Fairtrade Mark coffee sales in Ireland topped €1 million.
The promoters of the new international Fairtrade Mark (which replaces seven different Fair Trade marks used around the world) are hopeful that more and more workplace and school canteens will switch to Fairtrade products. See www.fair-mark.org or tel: 01 -4753515.