The Big Breakfast Blaa

It's a Friday and Grace is looking back at a childhood filled with films we simply had no business watching at Halloween. From Dolly Dearest to Child's Play, The Fog to Friday the 13th... it was free reign on a Friday night in Xtravision. While she might not be watching any of these titles this weekend, she does recommend the new tv adaptation of Carrie, amongst other spooky series. As for Grace h...

Waterford has an established history involving body snatchers in Waterford... not what you might expect to be hearing on air midweek! Cian Manning joined Ollie and Dymphna for his weekly slot, this time taking a distinctly spookier tone on the approach to Halloween. For this chat, we went back to 1833 when the remains of the recently deceased Johanna Walsh from Hennessy's Road were found inhumanel...

Gary Russell, the official Pride of Carrick-on-Suir has done it again, and he has smashed the glass ceiling of his fundraising target this year for the Solas Cancer Support Centre. Yesterday, he presented Solas with a cheque for €18,800, his biggest target reached to date in his years of fundraising. This comes following his significant efforts this year, including an ultramarathon in aid of...

Waterford company Clem Jacob has won a major international industry award for their efforts in sustainability. At the 2026 International Awards for Powered Access in Istanbul, Turkey last week, the company saw off significant competition to win the award. Clem joined Ollie and Dymphna in studio to reflect on the journey of the company since 2006, from navigating through a national and global reces...

Following a series of bucket collections in the square in Tallow, more than €7,500 in funding is to be awarded to a series of community groups and organisations. The donations coincide with Community Fire Safety Week, during which members of Tallow Fire and Rescue Service and the other stations in West Waterford are visiting schools with life-saving educational advice around fire aimed at sch...

Waterford's Miriam Gallagher was born Miriam O'Connor and was both a pioneering speech therapist, as well as an acclaimed playwright in Ireland. Her work has been produced across the globe, along with being broadcasted on both the BBC and RTE. It was her work as a speech therapist which saw her publish a ground-breaking book in 1977, when she was aged 37. 'Let's Help Our Children Talk' was written...

This Saturday evening in the Dungarvan Town Hall Theatre a night of 1920s elegance, jazz and Dixieland is set to take centre stage as Deise Brass bring their unique 10 piece band offering. Established in 2015, Deise Brass have a long history of using their talents and musical ability to raise money for community efforts and local charities. This year, they are to feature as part of the 48th Intern...

The Book Centre, Waterford was awarded the title Bookstore of the Year at a national awards ceremony held in the Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny last weekend. The Elavon Retail Excellence Awards are a prestigious collection of awards celebrating the best in Ireland. Having made it to the top 30 finalists, the Book Centre, Waterford were named Best Bookstore on the night, an impressive accolade in...

Together with a sea of some 4,000 runners and walkers in a sea of orange, Grace will take part in this year's Run and Walk for Solas in Waterford City on Sunday, October 12th. The action gets underway the previous day in Dungarvan from 10am as part the biggest fundraiser of the year for the Solas Cancer Support Centre. Clad in her bright orange t-shirt, Grace outlined her training plan ahead of th...

Local teacher, Katie Chance was among many reacting to the error on the printed transcripts for students receiving their Junior Certificate results yesterday, of which there were some 74,000 across the country. This year, grading parameters were changed so, for example, a Distinction which was 90%-100% previously is now changed to 85%-100% making it more achievable for students hoping to be awarde...

Waterford's 'Queen of Sport' is arguably, one of the most versatile sporting figures in the 20th Century, Newrath-native Josie McNamara. Josie won Munster Camogie Championships with Waterford, played in All-Ireland finals for Kilkenny, and won County Championship medals with four different clubs across the two counties. This was a female athlete for whom county borders posed no challenge, she simp...

At 19, Christine Franks, an accomplished taekwondo athlete found a lump in her breast. Shortly after, it was confirmed that she had Stage 3 Breast Cancer. Frightened and fearing the worst, she contacted the Solas Cancer Support Centre the very next day and a full suite of treatments, therapies and services were offered not just to Christine but to her family also. These services were, and are, ent...

Bad Apples, The Crash, and a momentous October 2nd with a fainting spell involving The Darkness... Grace has been a busy bee this week. Bad Apples is in cinemas now starring Saoirse Ronan as a teacher frustrated with a challenging student, a distinct lack of support from school management, and a class which cannot be reached with her attentions directed towards managing one student. A fairly grey...

Stiúrthóir/Director of Red Shoe Productions in An Rinn, Maggie Breathnach is motivated and inspired by people, their stories, their traditions, and their 'why.' Having seen The Lost Children of Tuam which premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh, she was 'moved' by the courage, tenacity and determination of 'an ordinary woman.' It was this tenacity and doggedness which saw historian Cathe...

Miss World Ireland 2026 finalist Loren Flynn is using her platform to shine a light on an issue she believes deserves far more attention: women’s cardiac health. Loren has just completed her BA in Psychology in SETU and while she is originally from Douglas in Co. Cork, she has been embraced by the Déise and now works with young people with intellectual disabilities. While the Miss Wor...

Tallow GAA, Lismore GAA, and Shamrocks GAA are all celebrating the news that Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have made a donation of €150,000 to be divided evenly across all three clubs. This is the Chan Zuckerberg's first philanthropic donation since their purchase of Strancally Castle in West Waterford last month. Kieran Geary is the treasurer of Tallow GAA Club and he joined Ol...

The foundation of Universal Pictures in 1912 remains a major moment in the history of Motion Pictures. Remarkably, among its founders was Waterford’s own Patrick A. Power, known in the United States as Pat Powers. The Barrack Street-born son of a coachbuilder went on to become closely associated with Thomas Edison concerning the development of the gramophone. Later, Powers’ Celebr...

Two giants of film and small screen hit households this week- Practical Magic 2 and Monster: The Lizzie Borden Story. Grace saw both and Grace has lots to say about both. Back in 1998, we fell in love with the Sally and Gillian Owens in Practical Magic, the sisters who battle a family curse and strengthen their own familial bonds in the process. A return to Practical Magic has been on our bucket l...

Eadaoin Griffin is many things, an English and Geography teacher, an SEN co-ordinator for third year, and the literacy co-ordinator in Mount Sion CBS in Waterford. As part of One Day Many Voices, The Big Breakfast Blaa visited the school and we sat surrounded by books, beanbags, and an atmosphere of active learning. It was in the company of Eadaoin that students offered to share their experiences...

In Mount Sion CBS, sometimes, it is the smallest things that can make the biggest difference. A smile. A kind word. A moment of friendship. For Shakhib, who travelled for 15 months from Afghanistan before reaching safety in Ireland, those moments have helped him build a new life in Waterford. And for Antonio, who moved here from Portugal, kindness and inclusion helped turn an unfamiliar place into...

All-Ireland winners’ medals are a rare currency in the Gentle County and certainly in the code of Gaelic football. Na Déise’s sole appearance in an All-Ireland Senior Men’s final came in the 1898 championship.  However, the 1900 All-Ireland football winners were neighbouring Tipperary, who boasted 8 players from the Clonmel Shamrocks club. Two of whom were from County...

There are some dogs who are pets, and then there are dogs who become part of the very fabric of a family. Riley was one of those dogs. He was Ollie’s dog, his companion, his shadow and, without question, his very best friend. There are heavy hearts around the Broadcast Centre today as everyone remembers a very special member of Ollie’s family, who has left what the late, great Seamus H...

Two Waterford students are taking on a unique challenge that will see them rear five Angus calves while researching the future of sustainable beef production. Daniel O’Neill and Edward Moore from Ardscoil Na Mara in Waterford are among five finalist groups selected for this year’s Certified Irish Angus Schools’ Competition. The students were presented with their Angus calves at t...

In Memories We Grow — Imagine Arts Festival turns 25 in 2026, and the festival is marking it with six days of theatre, music, dance, visual art and heritage across Waterford City, 20–25 October. The official programme launch took place on Culture Night, MC'd by our own Oliver Carroll. Festival Director Sinead Dunphy caught up with Ollie to look back at 25 years of Imagine Arts. Looking...

Last night, Westlife took to the stage at the 3Arena in Dublin while a host of women littered the stage at their feet with bras. Grace, Ellen, and Mary Goes Nowhere were there (bras fully intact) and they reported back live to The Big Breakfast Blaa. Clad in their custom-made dressing gowns adorned with the floating heads of the Westlife singers, they painted a picture of a night featuring Garret...