June 7, 2019

Carlingford Community Newsletter May 2019 Edition

CRA

Carlingford Residents Association

CCD

Carlingford Community Development

(The Foy Centre)

CTT

Carlingford Tidy Towns

CCTA

Carlingford & Cooley Tourism Assoc.

CLHT

Carlingford Lough Heritage Trust

This newsletter is jointly produced by the five bodies representing the Carlingford community,

namely:

Carlingford Community Forum News

Carlingford has been nominated by Louth County Council for the National ‘Pride of Place’

awards under the ‘Community Tourism Category’. This is an opportunity for all of us to showcase this area of great natural beauty and highlight the work carried out by the Community, past and present to enable us to share this space with the many visitors to our area.

The Public Realm Plan prepared by Paraic Mc Kevitt Architect is in the final stages of preparation to go on display in the Station House central space. We are also looking forward to re-engagement with Louth County Council to further develop this plan.

The Town & Village Renewal Scheme, applicable to Strand Lane and part of Old Quay Lane is due for completion by the end of September. We have contacted Louth County Council to assess the current status of the project.

Carlingford was represented at Fáilte Ireland Training in Carrickmacross on Thursday April 23rd. There was a strong message delivered by Fáilte Ireland about ‘working together’, ‘Am I a Community Seller’? Everybody has a part to play if we wish to live in a vibrant connected society. Investment in Ireland’s Ancient East will open up further opportunities. Are we ready and willing as a community to respond to the challenges that exist, and will present, as we move forward?

Would you like to play a part?

Heritage News

Successful Spring Series

We are very proud of the team which organises our Spring Series of concerts. Once again, they have shown that their successful formula makes a significant contribution to the artistic and

cultural offering in this part of Ireland. This year’s series had an innovative twist: a 10-minute spot at the beginning of each concert to showcase Music Generation Louth, a new music service that

aims to help children and young people gain access to vocal and instrumental tuition in their local area, part of a new national programme for music education.

10th Anniversary International Summer Series

Dates are fixed and artists are booked for the Summer Series:

28th July	*Kevin Burke*	Irish-American fiddler of Bothy Band fame
4th August	*Chris Stout and Catriona Mc Kay*	Scottish folk duo on fiddle and harp
11th August	*Niwel Tsumbu and Eamon Cagney*	African-Irish duo on guitar and percussion
18th August	*Jean-Michel Veillon and Yvon Riou*	Breton duo on flute and guitar
25th August	*Yolanda Gonzalez Sobrado*	Flamenco dancer from Spain

Heritage Week 17^th-25^th August

The Heritage Trust will again seek to run events which emphasise the links between heritage, history and the wonderful landscape of the Cooley Peninsula.

Hollywood comes to Carlingford

“Finley, a talented. aspiring violinist, meets Beckett, a famous young movie star, on the way to her college semester abroad program in a small coastal village in Ireland. An unexpected romance emerges …” And it’s all happening right here folks, where the film company has borrowed the

Heritage Centre as its location headquarters for “There you’ll find me”. Obviously, we are sworn

to secrecy about the plot and no stills are available, so here’s one we made earlier.

Carlingford & Cooley Tourism Association News

THE GREENWAY BETWEEN CARLINGFORD AND OMEATH

With the onset of Summer and the good weather it promises, the CCTA looks forward to an exciting programme for visitors and residents alike. One of the great attractions for those wishing to walk and cycle is the promise of the extension of the Greenway from Carlingford to Newry with the new section joining up the Carlingford to Omeath section with the Greenway from Victoria Lock to the Quays in Newry. This will allow those who wish to walk or cycle, the opportunity to enjoy the spectacular scenery and views along almost the whole length of Carlingford Lough.

The full length of the Greenway from Greenore to Newry, when eventually completed, may prove challenging for many walkers, particularly those family groups with small children, However, help is at hand with the recent addition to the tourist offering of a range of bicycle hire companies to suit all tastes and requirements. ‘Ma Bakers’ have offered a bike hire service for some time, but the relatively recent addition of two new dedicated bike hire companies in Carlingford has greatly increased the scope and range of bicycles to suit all ages and family requirements.

THE GREENWAY FROM VICTORIA LOCK TO NEWRY

‘MA BAKERS’ BICYCLE HIRE

‘On Yer Bike’, located at the Carlingford Marina, and ‘ebike escapes’ located close to the centre of the town, have bicycle transport to suit all tastes which will comfortably allow individuals, groups and families who wish to traverse the whole distance between Carlingford and Newry, to do this with relative ease.

‘ON YER BIKE’ IS LOCATED AT THE CARLINGFORD MARINA

‘EBIKE ESCAPES’ IN NEWRY STREET, CARLINGFORD

For those wishing to explore further, the Carlingford Ferry offers the opportunity to travel easily and economically to the northern shores of Carlingford Lough and to experience the excitement of walking or cycling in the Mourne Mountains and surrounding areas, and to enjoy the views of the Cooley Mountains, before returning to Carlingford for well-earned relaxation in the many excellent premises offering a range of food, refreshments and entertainment in the town.

CARLINGFORD FERRY APPROACHING GREENORE

THE CARLINGFORD FERRY PREPARING TO CROSS THE LOUGH TO GREENCASTLE, CO. DOWN

THE PROPOSED EXTENSIONS TO THE GREENWAY BETWEEN NEWRY AND GREENORE

With the planned extensions to the Greenway between Newry and Greenore in train, with some planning at an advanced stage, and with the ferry service across Carlingford Lough, the town of Carlingford is ideally located to take full advantage of the many opportunities that visitors to the Cooley Peninsula will experience and enjoy, from wonderful scenery in which to walk and cycle, to fine dining in the many excellent restaurants and cafes located in the town, not to mention the ‘craic’, music and refreshments that the hotels and pubs have to offer the visitor, as well as the many retail outlets offering a wide range of goods and services to locals and visitors alike.

The CCTA, as the principle Association representing tourism in Carlingford and Cooley is delighted to announce that Richard Brennan of Visit Carlingford, and a member of the Steering Committee of the CCTA has been appointed Tourism Officer for Carlingford and the Cooley Peninsula.

FRANK O’BRIEN, CHAIR OF THE CCTA CONGRATULATING RICHARD ON HIS APPOINTMENT AS TOURISM OFFICER FOR CARLINGFORD AND THE COOLEY PENINSULA.

The CCTA and VisitCarlingford have developed a close working relationship, which is expected to benefit tourism in Carlingford and the wider Cooley Peninsula, to the benefit of the whole Carlingford community and to further enhance the employment opportunities for the people of Carlingford and the surrounding areas.

One such opportunity, which promises to greatly promote and expand Carlingford as a high-quality tourist destination, is the development of a new programme, by Cormac McCann and Richard Brennan, which will allow businesses in Carlingford to cooperate more closely to the benefit of visitors, residents and businesses in the Carlingford area. ACTIVITOUR is a powerful cloud-based software solution with the potential to revolutionise the tourism industry. This new innovation will reduce the hassle and time dedicated to booking accommodation, tours and other activities. This facility will be available, free of charge, to all members of the CCTA, which has cooperated closely with the promoters, Richard and Cormac, in rolling out this new and exciting concept.

ACTIVITOUR AT THE TOURIST OFFICE IN THE STATION HOUSE

The concept was officially launched on Thursday 16th May in McKevitt’s Hotel by the founders of Activitour, Richard Brennan(Carlingford Tourist Officer) and Cormac McCann, who gave an open invitation to business providers, with CCTA members and Non-Members invited to a presentation and discussion on Activitour which is essentially a booking system built to allow businesses to resell each other’s offerings and to accept bookings online.

The audience representing all types of businesses and organisations in Carlingford who attended the event, got a better understanding of Activitour. The meeting was originally to last 15 to 30 minutes, but due to audience enthusiasm after the presentation to discuss Activitour, the meeting lasted over an hour.

Anybody who is interested in Activitour should contact either Cormac or Richard at the Tourist Office in the Station House.

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No article on Carlingford tourism would be complete without reference to the National Leprechaun Hunt which took place, in perfect weather, on Sunday 12th May. This is essentially a family day out, and for all who participated, it did not disappoint. With over 1,000 leprechaun pots containing many prizes, scattered throughout the town and countryside, including, an ounce of pure gold, valued at €1,200, the excitement was high.

REGISTRATION ON THE CARLINGFORD GREEN

VISITORS FROM NORWAY

THE HUNT FOR THE LEPRAUCHAN’S POT OF GOLD IS ON

And finally, as we enter the 2019 Summer season, where else in the world would a visitor or local find such wonderful scenery and serenity as that around Carlingford Lough

CARLINGFORD LOUGH LOOKING TOWARDS WARRENPOINT AND ROSTREVOR

GREER’S QUAY ON THE GREENWAY

THE MOURNE MOUNTAINS VIEWED FROM THE CARLINGFORD MARINA

VICTORIA LOCK

The Foy Centre

Professor Tim

The Committee of the Foy Centre would like to extend their thanks and appreciation to everyone for buying tickets and supporting our recent play, Professor Tim.

We had a really good attendance all 3 nights of the play. Your support means so much.

A lot of work is carried out in the background and the committee couldn’t have done it without the support of others from the community. Whether it was selling tickets, donating raffle prizes, making costumes, advertising, make-up, setting up the hall, printing programmes, making the stage surround – the list is endless – but your help is very much appreciated.

A huge thanks to the CAST for their hard work and commitment. They spent many evenings rehearsing – but it certainly paid off.

Lastly – a massive thank you to the lady who was behind the production of this play – Mrs Teresa McKevitt.

Jonathan in the Orchard Bakery prepared a pre-theatre menu which also went down a treat with those that were lucky to get a table booked. A great night of food and laughter was had by all.

See photos below:-

Yoga Meditation Group – Weekend 11th & 12th May

Organised by Dublin’s based Harmony Works Trust, 60 people from 15 countries as far away as New Zealand, USA as well as Europe visited Ireland. Included in their 4-day visit, the group held a concert on St Stephens Green and planted ‘Trees for Peace’ in 3 schools in Dublin by the Sri Chinmoy Oneness- Home Peace Run.

The group also visited Carlingford for a 2-day retreat weekend which was hosted by the Foy Centre. Some of their activities included meditation, musical and theatrical performances, team building games, hiking and trekking.

Here’s what the group had to say:

“The Foy Centre was the perfect venue for the group’s internal and external activities. For many, it was their first visit to Ireland – they were struck by the warm friendly nature and the hospitality of the Foy Centre management team and generally by people in Carlingford, they were also blown away by the sheer beauty and peaceful nature of Carlingford”.

RNLI Charity Concert – Sunday 19th May 2018

A Charity Concert in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was a real treat for the audience. The concert featured St Agnes’ Parents String Orchestra, Crumlin Community Choir and our own Cόr Chairlinne. It is the fourth occasion that this concert has been held in the Foy Centre with the proceeds going to the RNLI.

St Agnes’s orchestra was founded in 2010 by parents inspired by what their children were learning and wanting to become involved. From an initial group of 25 the orchestra at maximum has a membership of 100 plus. 61 of their members were present in The Foy Centre under the baton of musical director Seamus Doyle. Their repertoire included Bach, Hayden, Mozart, Dvorak, Grieg and Laridnov.

It was the first time that the 30 member mixed voice Crumlin Community Choir performed outside of their own neighbourhood and they performed with gusto under the musical directorship of Joe Fitzgerald. Amongst others they sang a medley from Les Miserables.

Cόr Chairlinne under the musical directorship of Clodagh O’Gorman sang three or four pieces they performed for Pope Frances on his recent visit to Ireland as well as a few very popular songs such as Day Oh and Down by the Riverside.

Overall a really great performance right on our very own doorstop. The event was very well worth the

admission charge of €10.

The North Louth fundraising branch of the RNLI saving lives at sea wish to thank all those who supported this event including the many sponsors and volunteers. All monies raised go directly to funding the RNLI. In this maritime community, we will benefit directly from the arrival in early June of a brand-new Shannon class lifeboat costing €4,500,000 to be based in Clogherhead.

If there’s anything you would like to see happening in the centre or on the pitch please contact Debbie Hamilton on 083 8013777.

Cooley Kickhams GFC

The 6th Annual Bammell Malone International Under12 Boys Football Tournament will be held on Saturday 8th June 2019 in Cooley Kickhams GFC, Co. Louth

This year teams from all over Ireland will be attending as well as teams from England, Scotland and Wales, adding a real international flavour to the event.

The Carlingford Pipe Band will start proceedings with a parade of all 32 teams at 10am, followed by our National Anthem being sung by Carmel Rice. Group matches commence at 10.30am, and as usual the future stars of the GAA will provide us with a great day’s entertainment.

Since this tournament started in honour of a great clubman Michael “Bammel” Malone, who passed away in 2013, it has become one of the top U12 tournaments in the country with a waiting list in place and enquiries for the 2020 tournament from as far afield as France!

This tournament has given teams the opportunity to explore the Carlingford and Cooley area with some of the teams staying locally.

Last year the two English teams were so impressed by the area that they have returned with their families so apart from it being a festival of football, it is actually becoming a tourist destination.

For all enquiries please contact Gerry Fearon (086) 6052716.

Carlingford Tidy Towns

We are most grateful to CTT volunteers, Siobhan McParland and Micheal Martin for tidying up the river bank and flowerbed in River Lane at the end of April. As you will see later, others were also inspired to do likewise!

We have filled our planters on the promenade with perennials for what we hope will be a permanent and therefore sustainable display.

Meanwhile our committee members have taken delivery of a quantity of Plug Plants which we intend to grow on for a couple of months until they are large enough to add to our displays. This was part of our strategy this year to enable us to purchase relatively high cost perennials for our containers whilst finding a way of reducing the cost of the bedding plants which we also require to add colour to our displays.

As the pictures below show, the plug plants are tiny when they arrive, growing in no more than a thimble-full of soil.

These were potted on into larger individual containers and were transferred to a polytunnel for the next 6 weeks until large enough to join our displays.

Our volunteers found it most satisfying to be able to plant up our hanging baskets with some of the plants we had grown from plugs. Once they have gained just a little more growth they will be ready to be installed in Market Square and on Dundalk and Newry Streets.

We have been supplied with 25 various saplings which we will install around the town.

Our volunteers and TUS workers spent Wed 24th Apr weeding and sweeping on Grove Road.

Our committee member Denise together with TUS worker Chris planted apple trees and fruit bushes outside Ghan House and weeded along the wall opposite on 8th May.

Another evening’s work saw additional perennial plants added to the Welcome Signs.

Four volunteers from Carlingford attended a highly informative Bio-diversity Course in Monaghan on Saturday 27th April and returned buzzing with ideas.

We are glad to report that another request from CTT has now been implemented by the Council. Carlingford now has a brand-new finger sign indicating the Town Centre to replace one which seemed to have been ‘loaned’ from and indicating Dundalk some years previously.

CTT organised a Beach Clean on Sunday 5th May which ended with a barbeque and music provided by ‘The Ramblin’ String Band’. The event was a great success much enjoyed by all the volunteers and the watching public.

We hope that the event showed that volunteering can be fun and that the anti-litter message was appreciated and spread a little wider as a result.

Our volunteers continue to be busy attending to the many flowerbeds and containers all around the town. Thank you, guys – keep up the good work!

On Saturday !8th May we conducted a sweep of Dundalk Street as part of our preparations to welcome the National Tidy Towns judges to Carlingford in June.

Some volunteers then went on to assist Clean Coasts with a beach clean of the Ballagan shore.

On Thursday 23rd May our volunteers swept and weeded the pier under King John’s Castle.

Further work has continued out at the Observation Point on Ghan Road and elsewhere around the town adding welcome touches such as that shown below.

Work has also been undertaken recently to tidy up the various corners in Back Lane.

Residents Groups have been working to good effect as well, tidying and filling their displays with new planting.

Well done to the residents of Abbey Court who have planted perennials in their boxes and borders this year. Perennials need less watering, the bees love them and they are much more sustainable.

St Oliver’s Park

We notice there have been several ‘concrete’ changes up at King John’s Castle!

As Carlingford once again becomes a living set in 2019 for the film ‘There you’ll find me’, some folk remember the making of ‘Saints and Sinners’ back in 1949 when many locals also took on roles as extras.