Menu
October Edition
Carlingford Community Newsletter October 2021 Edition
Carlingford Community Newsletter No. 90
This newsletter is jointly produced by the bodies representing the Carlingford Community, namely:
Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust CLHT
Carlingford Traders Association CTA
Carlingford Tidy Towns CTT
Carlingford Community Development CCD (The Foy Centre)
Carlingford Residents Association CRA
COVID – Impact on the Peninsula
Thursday 11th November 7-9pm in the Dolmen Centre, Omeath.
The purpose of this meeting is to:
This meeting is open to anyone in the Cooley Peninsula area who in one way or another serves the community. To book your place, please email eileen.havern@cllp.ie
Cluster Development Programme
Fáilte Ireland is creating a new training programme to develop new or enhance existing tourism visitor experiences. The programme is linked to the development of the new Carlingford Tourism Vision ’31 and the creation of clusters of experiences designed to attract and retain visitors in the area for longer. An information seminar will be hosted online via Microsoft TEAMS on Thursday, November 11th.
This seminar will provide an overview of the development and training opportunities, examples of strong performing clusters and an overview of the new vision for tourism in the area. After the seminar we will invite you to express your interest in taking part in the free training programme. This will equip you with the knowledge on how to develop new saleable visitor experiences and identify new opportunities to consider linked to the vision for the area and collaborating with other members of the tourism industry.
Who should attend: tourism industry, activity providers (land & sea), accommodation provides, food experiences, hospitality, food and beverage, community tourism groups, tourism transport, arts & crafts, visitor service providers e.g. bike hire, guides.
Event Details
When: Thursday, November 11th Time: 11.30am – 1.00pm
How to register: email your contact name and business to ruth.quinn@failteireland.ie
RSVP: Before Friday, November 5th
Living in Carlingford Visiting Carlingford – Public Consultation
The Living in Carlingford Visiting Carlingford regeneration project will develop a detailed design for key public realm areas in Carlingford that will enhance the quality of life for residents of the town and promote sustainable tourism & economic development.
The strategy has 5 main objectives aimed at enhancing the public realm,
Development of the detailed design is being funded jointly by Louth County Council and the Department of Rural & Community Development through the Rural Regeneration Development Fund and is part of Project Ireland 2040.
Louth County Council is working closely with RPS Consulting Engineers to develop the public realm project. RPS has a wealth of experience in this area that will ensure a truly imaginative and innovative approach is taken to the design.
A key element of the design process is consultation with as many people as possible and the first stage of that consultation will begin on Wednesday, 3rd November 2021 with the launch of the project website, https://consultationspace.com/livingcarlingfordvisitingcarlingford/ . The website will include a virtual conference room with information boards and a portal for visitors to submit their thoughts in relation to the project. The portal will be open until Friday, 26th November 2021
There will also be a public “walk in” event in the Four Seasons Hotel, Carlingford on Tuesday, 9th November from noon to 8.00 pm with representatives from RPS and Louth County Council available to discuss the project and answer queries.
10th Anniversary Event of Thomas D’Arcy McGee
Work continues on ‘Carlingford Vision `31 Gateway to the Cooley Peninsula’. Details of the first Seminar entitled ‘Cluster Development Programme’ can be found in the ‘Upcoming Events’ section of this Newsletter. It is recommended that the community engages with the process. All those who can benefit from involvement are listed in the notice. The Steering Committee meets again in early November.
The Rural Regeneration work also continues with traffic management studies carried out over the August Bank Holiday weekend. Topographical and other surveys are being tendered for at present. Public consultation (walk in) will take place in the Four Seasons Hotel on Tuesday November 9th from noon until 8.00pm. A virtual conference room will also be available. For full details see the attached press release. See ‘Upcoming Events’ for information on a meeting to be held in the Dolmen Centre, Omeath, regarding the impact of Covid on the Cooley Peninsula. Community group representatives are invited to attend. It is organised by Louth Leader Partnership.
Carlingford Christmas Discount Day will take place on Tuesday 7th December… regulations permitting. See newspaper and social media posts for updates.
Stay safe, everyone.
Some of the young people playing indoors.
In September Youth Work Ireland Louth, facilitated the start of the Football league. On Wednesday night young people got a chance to play some football from 7-9pm all with the help of local volunteers. In attendance there was up to thirty young people who took part. The league saw our own Local Sergeant John Brady join the play, proving himself to be a talented goalie. Initially the project was meant to only run for six weeks, but our brilliant local volunteers will keep the league running for the next few weeks.
Youth Work Ireland Louth will be taking an office in the Foy Centre, its great to have the organisation on hand. If there are any young people who want to get involved in programmes. The office will be a great source of information on the different activities which are suitable for young people from age 10 upwards in the Louth area.
Erin Finegan is looking into sourcing funding to convert the café room in the Centre into a Youth Café. The café will also act as a community room for other groups, who may wish to use the space. The Rugby club will also use the room at weekends, to welcome visiting teams and for parents who wish to watch their children taking part.
The funding being sourced will provide 75% of the total costs. Erin and the local young people will be fundraising, they hope to contact local businesses for financial assistance. If you are a local business that would like to support this very worthwhile cause, please feel free to contact Erin on 0876803450.
Carlingford Knights under 15s took their first win this season against Malahide at home in Carlingford on Sunday October 19th. It was a hard-fought victory against a solid Malahide side. The 20- 14 victory which favoured the home side was due to three tries from Captain and No.8 player Ben O’ Hare.
Rory Allen made his debut at inside centre and secured the win with a fourth try. Carlingford couldn’t put the game out of reach, and it was a close and tense last 10 minutes with full back Tiarnan Hanniffy, who had a fine game, ended up in the sin bin. However, the knights held on with a heroic defence, the whole squad really stood up, and it was a sense of immense relief and joy when the final whistle blew.
The Under 15s are back in Action this Friday with an away trip under floodlights to Skerries. The under 13s are at home to North Meath on Sunday while in the mini section our under 10s are away to Boyne and our under 11s are in Dundalk.
Carlingford Heritage Centre has experienced lots of changes this month. We welcomed a new manager onto the team, Geraldine Kieran. “It’s been a fantastic start to the new role. Everyone in the centre have been so kind and welcoming. I am really looking forward to getting some interesting projects started.” Geraldine Kieran
October has been full of surprises and excitement as we enter the autumn months. The Tourist Office has remained open this month to provide information on Carlingford, Walks, local businesses and of course our excellent Town and Castle tours. We were delighted to welcome on a Castle Tour the lovely Roz Purcell, who took an excellent tour with Gerry Hoey.
Roz Purcell at Carlingford Castle with New Manager Geraldine
This month saw the return to the Heritage Centre of musicians in residence Zoe Conway and John Mc Intyre who held a fantastic concert on October 10th. Later in the month we were treated to a wonderful Operatic & Musical Theatre performance on October 17th by Aris Nadirian, Roisin Toal Bradley and Brian Connor. The Concert series ended with a sold-out show by the Sands family on October 24th.
Colum Sands Aris in studio at Dundalk Fm.
We were delighted to host two special tours this Samhain season, a Graveyard Tour on October 23rd which was facilitated by Patricia Morrissey and The Spooky Town Tour by Sheila Boyle.
A big congratulations to Megan Woods who was nominated for a Heritage Council award, for the excellent work on the ‘Grandson- Grandfather interview about the Hugh Moore stain glass window.’ The trust was delighted with this nomination as it was an amazing achievement to be considered among so many wonderful projects this year.
Heritage For All Ages
Returning this December – Our Castle Tour with Ghan House.
On Saturday December 11th & December 18th, we will host two fantastic Castle Tours. The tours are in partnership with Ghan house. Come along take a tour of the castle, followed by some mulled wine and warm mince pies. A wonderful festive treat ahead of the Christmas season. Call to book the tour. Tickets €18.00. Contact details: 042-937 3650
“This project is supported by the Department of Rural and Community Development and Pobal through the Community Services Programme”.
This month we have been continuing to plant 4500 Spring bulbs most of which are beneficial to bees. Next Spring Carlingford should be an explosion of Spring Colour. We have planted Tulips, Alliums, Snowdrops, Muscari and Crocus. We have continued to weed and add planting to the existing flower beds. We are very pleased to receive lots of compliments about the colours still in the beds in October. We are very happy that this is the case, and it’s all down to a great selection of perennial plants chosen to flower in different seasons. Most of the plants are perennial, they come back every year or can be grown easily from seed. So, it’s much more sustainable. We are also very happy that our application for the Community enhancement fund was successful. This will enable our group to purchase a shed to store equipment for Tidy Towns. We look forward to Louth Looking Good competition in November and a night out hopefully!
When you visit any web site, it may store or retrieve information on your browser, mostly in the form of cookies. Control your personal Cookie Services here.
