IT'S a brand new year, and that means we have another twelve months of brilliant events organised by the ever-busy people of West Cork.

To most, it’s a rusting hulk of a wreck, an ugly scar on the coastline, but for island artist Majella O’Neill Collins, the ghost ship MV Alta has brought inspiration and changed her life.

There are no plans to remove a shipwreck that has languished off the Cork coast for almost four years, becoming a beacon for antisocial behaviour and fires.

The rusting hulk of the MV Alta has become an unlikely attraction since running aground outside the East Cork town of Ballycotton during Storm Dennis in February 2020.

‘A BALANCED life is a better life and we only have one, so we better make the most of it and help those around us that need it,’ says Richard O’Flynn of The Yellow Door in Baltimore, the organiser of Freezin’ for Good Reason.