Danish label Noa Noa is taking its floaty feminine embroidered and quilted clothes, shoes and accessories to a new shop on Oliver Plunkett Street, Cork. Get ready for an autumn collection of well-designed individual pieces in muted greys and silvery blues - and mostly under €100 Nicoline Greer
HE AIN'T HEAVY "Japan will soon know about the little mean green sumo machine," says Corkman Colin Carroll, Ireland's first representative at the Sumo World Championships. Carroll is taking his mawashi, or belt, to the Japanese city of Sakai on October 15th. At just 70kg (11 stone), Carroll is the lightest ever international sumo entrant, but don't write him off. Last year he came fifth in the Austrian Open. And he's determined. "I wear my nappy with pride. My nappy is Ireland's nappy," he says. NG
DIGESTIBLE ART HISTORY Two of life's greatest pleasures - food and art - will be indulged at the National Gallery of Ireland in Dublin this October with an Art and Supper lecture series. Starting at 6.30pm on Thursday, and running for four weeks, each evening involves a lecture by a distinguished guest speaker about a masterpiece from the collection, to be followed by supper in the gallery's Winter Garden Restaurant. Tickets cost €35 per night, or €130 for a season ticket, and they are available from the gallery shop. Call 01-6633518. Eimear McKeith
FIREWALK WITH ME Fundraising for a charity these days takes imagination. Gone are the days when a trek through the deepest, darkest Amazonian jungle was unique. The ISPCC has come up with a charity walk with a difference. You won't have to leave the country; you won't even have to get out of breath - unless you count hyperventilating with fear.
It's a firewalking event that's being billed as "the shortest and hottest trek in Ireland". Participants will spend two hours being trained in mind-over-matter, a technique also used for curing phobias other than walking on fire. The firewalkers then proceed to the seven-metre (20ft) path of fire, where they will go for a short barefoot walk. (You must be over 18 to join in.)
Register for your firewalk pack and sponsorship cards to raise the necessary €350. Firewalking takes place from November 6th to 10th in Dublin city and county. Contact Rory Murphy on 01-6794944. Nicoline Greer
GET YOUR KICKS Tomorrow, 66 motorcyclists from Ireland will travel across the US, following the old Route 66, in aid of Temple Street Children's University Hospital. This is the third time the "Irish 66ers" will travel the path of the famous US highway; so far they have raised €440,000.
Angela McNulty, the hospital's fundraising manager, says the target this year is to reach €1 million. "Our current project is to help with the funding of a CT scanner, which costs €1.2 million. Each individual coming on the challenge raises a minimum of €8,000."
The challenge will take the 66ers - who are each paired with a patient "buddy" at the hospital, such as three-year-old Ben (left, with biker Joe Heffernan) - a whopping 3,940km (2,448 miles) across eight states in eight days, from Chicago to Los Angeles. "We have farmers, businessmen, hairdressers and gardaí," says McNulty. "We have one lady biker, Gail Smith, a member of the Garda motorcycle corps. David Mitchell from Fair City is also doing the challenge." On the final day the group will be escorted into Santa Monica by California Highway Patrol. "It's like an episode of CHiPs," says McNulty. You can follow the 66ers' progress, or make a donation, at www.route66.ie. Michael Kelly
TURNING THE TABLES MP3s and iPods may have taken over the music world, but you'd be forgiven for feeling a bit nostalgic for the good old days of record players. The Steepletone Roxy 1 turntable is likely to appeal to anyone feeling wistful: based on a 1960s design, these funky retro record players come in red, black and pink, play at three speeds, and have built-in amps, speakers and FM/AM radio (€159). The next model up, the Roxy 2, also has a CD player (€189). Available from Peats World of Electronics, 25 Parnell Street, Dublin 1. Eimear McKeith
LET BATIK COMMENCE This summer, the papermaker and fibre artist Tunde Toth opened Kozo, her studio and gallery, in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny. Toth has been working with natural fibres, handmade papers, textiles and found objects for almost a decade. Some of the techniques she uses, such as Japanese woodblock printing, go back a lot longer - to the eighth century, when they were developed by Buddhist missionaries.
Now Toth is holding workshops in the arts of papermaking, batik and Japanese woodblock printmaking, using traditional methods based on recycling or eco-friendly processes. If you make paper with Toth, you'll probably want to frame it rather than use it - she shows people how to incorporate dried plants, herbs, seeds and fabrics into the pulp, to create beautiful sheets of paper.
This Thursday the Kozo Gallery and Studio will hold Jigsaw, a literary evening and exhibition by artists such as Debra Bowden, who uses natural pigments and ink on carved plywood, Brian O'Loughlin, who makes bog oak sculptures, and Bláithín Quinn, a batik artist. Workshops cost from €135. Call 056-7754418 or 056-7793265. Nicoline Greer
WET WET WET Puddleducks clothing (pictured right) has expanded its range to include waterproofs for children aged one to 15. Puddleducks also now donates 1 per cent of sales to the Jack & Jill foundation, which helps children who require medical care at home. 021-4372917, www.puddleducks.ie. Nicoline Greer