Leitrim Life Magazine

Issue 1, August/September 2011, €3.80

Ballinamore’s Rachel Geoghegan and Boyle’s Mellissa Walshe model the latest fashion must-haves in our exclusive Carrick-on-Shannon photo shoot

Plus:Ming:

The Emperor’s New Clothes...or the Real

Deal?

Storyfold: Ireland’s next International

Superstar Band?

Festival FeverCloudspotting

GlampingSport

...and much, much more inside your new favourite magazine.

ISSN 2009-4175

Rinn Neimhe Beauty Salon12 Park Lane, Carrick on Shannon, Tel: 071 96 71593

High Street, Ballinamore, Tel: 071 96 45147

Did you know that you had ageing skin from the age of 25?

That’s when the levels of Collagen (strength) and Elastin (elasticity) start to deplete, which eventually leads to fine lines and wrinkles. Ageing skin is caused by two influences; genetic and environmental, both of which you can change. Having a skin care regime is vital to

counteract these influences.

DARPHIN (est. 1958) More than skincare, an ArtThe Darphin Skincare range is a holistic, botanical based skincare line that uses the finest aromatherapy blends and the latest technological advances to create products that pamper our senses whilst offering superior performance.

DARPHIN FACIAL AT RINN NEIMHEAt Rinn Neimhe your skin will be thoroughly analysed to determine your skin type and the most suitable Darphin

products selected for your facial.The facial lasts for 1 hour and includes a hot towel

massage and Shiatsu pressure point massage using an organic essential oil that the client has chosen.

A Darphin facial is €45 and all products are available for purchase for home care.

The Hair PlaceUnit 2, Mercantile Plaza, Carrick on Shannon

Tel: 071 96 23349. Also on Facebook

The Hair Place opened for business at the end of January 2011.

We cater for Ladies, Gents and Children.

• All Hairdressing services are provided• We have a Nail Bar

• We do Eyebrow Waxing/Tinting/Eyelash Extensions

• Make Up Application is also available

We have a Dedicated Kids Corner with brightly painted walls, TV & DVDs to

watch, a Novelty Car to sit in andFree Balloons, Lollipops and Juice with all

Kids Cuts. (Walls by ‘Wall Decoration’ of Carrick-on-Shannon

www.babysdreaming.com)

Special Promotion: Colour, Cut &

3-Step Treatment only €50

present this voucher for 25% off all hairdressing at

the hair place during the month of

august

3August/September 2011, Issue 1, Leitrim

Hello, and welcome to the launch issue of Leitrim Life Magazine, or LL for short - your essential guide to the greatest little county in Ireland.

Anyone who hasn’t been living in a cave at the top of a mountain for the last couple of years will know that the Irish media hasn’t delivered much joy of late. We’re hoping to change that by providing you with a range of writing and images that highlight the positive side of life in Leitrim. Having said that, we will be tackling some of the issues that affect your lives as well. Leitrim Life will be published every two months and each issue will contain a mixture of one-off special features, regular columns and articles about the people and places that make Leitrim tick. Our cover story for this issue features a fashion photo shoot that took place in Carrick-on-Shannon recently, in which two local girls - Ballinamore’s Rachel Geoghegan and Boyle’s Mellissa Walshe - model clothes and accessories currently available in some of Carrick’s many fine fashion outlets. I also caught up with Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan for our first Big Chat Interview. Luke has been creating quite a stir in the corridors of power since his remarkable success in the general election last February, when he became a TD for Roscommon/South Leitrim. He’s something of a controversial figure with challenging views on a number of issues so I was delighted to get the opportunity to have an in-depth chat with him about those views as well as finding out a little more about his life away from politics. The interview with this fascinating man starts on page 15. Two lads from Drumshanbo, Paddy McKenna and Jim McGourty, are making a name for themselves in the music world with their up-and-coming band, Storyfold. You can find out more about them on page 34. There’s a myriad of other great features inside - including articles on cloudspotting, glamping, sport for kids, local businesses and summer festivals - and we’ll be covering a whole lot more in future issues, such as health & wellbeing, gardening, homes & interiors, motoring and some fabulous competitions. We think that there’s something for everyone in Leitrim Life - male, female, young & old - but do let us know if there’s something you’d like to see featured in future issues. This is your magazine so feel free to e-mail your letters, comments, stories and suggestions to us, and visit our Facebook page for regular news and updates on future issues. Finally. I’d just like to extend a massive ‘thank you’ to all those who helped in putting Leitrim Life together. You know who you are. Until the next issue, slán.

Keith Nolan Photographer Keith started his photographic career in 1964

before setting up his own Dublin studio where he worked on book-jacket commissions and held a number of photographic exhibitions. Now based at Caldra House, Carrick-on-Shannon, one of Keith’s recent photos was selected for publication in the ‘Dawn of the 21st Century’, a book featuring pictures by photographers from around the world to celebrate the Millenium. This photograph was one of only 50 award winners worldwide. In this issue of LL Keith has photographs of Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan and the Carrick Water Music Festival.

www.keithnolanphotography.ie

Fiona McGuire Photographer Fiona has been a professional photographer for a number of years and

she now has her own studio in Carrick-on-Shannon. She specialises in Fashion & Model portfolio development but she also creates stunning landscapes and unique wedding imagery. She loves to capture a little of her subject’s personality using natural light whenever possible. Fiona offers a nationwide service and her goal is to provide her clients with natural, relaxed images that portray the story of their day as it unfolds. In this issue of LL Fiona shot the fashion spread, including the cover, and the photos of Storyfold.Tel: 087 9359927www.fionamcguire.ie

You’ve heard of Elle magazine? LL is twice as good!

Brent AdsleyEditor, Leitrim Life

Tel: 086 2352556E-Mail: [email protected]

www.facebook.com/leitrimlifemagazine

Greetings from the Magic Cottage

This Issue’s Featured Contributors:

4 Leitrim , Issue 1, August/September 2011

Contents

NOTE TO NEWSAGENTS/MAGAZINE STOCKISTSIf we haven’t yet contacted you about stocking copies of Leitrim Life and you would like to be included on our distribution list please let us know and we will rectify this oversight immediately.

ADVERTISING WITH LEITRIM LIFEIf you would like to promote your goods or services in the pages of Leitrim Life, to the whole of the county and beyond, please contact us for more information about our surprisingly reasonable advertising rates:Tel: 086 2352556E-Mail: [email protected]

Leitrim Life Magazine is printed in Leitrim by: DPS, Main Street, Carrick-on-ShannonTel: 071 96 71472Email: [email protected]

5 Leitrim Life Likes - A few little things that have recently tickled LL’s fancy7 Fashionable Life - Our Carrick-on-Shannon fashion photo shoot featuring Rachel Geoghegan & Mellissa Walshe 15 The Big Chat - The Dail ’s enfant-terrible, Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, speaks his mind24 country Life - ‘My Love for Clouds’, Hans Wieland introduces the uninitiated to the joy of cloudspotting26 country life - A feature on American senior citizen, Thomas Gilrane, who left Ballinaglera at the age of 18 28 Country Life - Photo feature by current Ballinaglera resident, photographer Gearoid O Loingsigh32 The Unfolding Story of Storyfold - Ireland’s (and Drumshanbo’s) latest contenders for international success in the music world38 Business Life - We profile four Leitrim businesses that are proving that, despite the recession, the spirit of free enterprise is alive and well 42 The Good Life - Good food & good company, what more do you need for a good life?44 New Life - ‘Mother’s Day’ , the first in a regular column by Leitrim mammy, Mairead Higgins45 Outdoor Life - ‘The Glory of Glamping’, Eilish Beirne tells LL about Beirnes of Battlebridge’s recent addition to their camping facilities46 Outdoor Life - ‘Festival Fever’, we review a couple of recent Leitrim festivals and preview a few more50 An Adventurous Life - ‘3 Weeks in India’, a photo feature by Ballinamore photographer, Eunan Sweeney 55 Social Life - Happy faces at the Carrick Water Music and Dromahair Demons festivals 56 Night Life - Carrick-on-Shannon’s newest nighclub, the Landmark Hotel ’s Club 360, is unveiled58 Married Life - Photo feature on a Leitrim wedding...in Malta60 Literary Life - Book reviews by The Reading Room bookshop61 Literary Life - ‘The Ice Cream War’, a short story by Leitrim resident, Ann O’Nymus62 Photo Books - What to do with those boxes of photos cluttering up your spare room63 Sporting Life - Three sports that your kids might like to try, and that you might like to try with them66 Album Reviews - Storyfold’s ‘Rocket Science’, and The Leitrim Equation² dissected and analysed. Are the thumbs up or down?67 Inner Life - LL signs off with some uplifting thoughts about life. In this issue Life Coach Nuala Duignan writes about ‘Positivity in the Face of Adversity’

6 Leitrim Life, Issue 1, August/September 2011

fashionable Life

There are some days in the life of a magazine editor that are tougher than others. For example, on Monday 11th July I had to force myself to spend the whole day surrounded by beautiful

women as they prepared LL’s first fashion photo shoot in Carrick-on-Shannon. I even had to carry a pair of shoes at one point. The cheek of it!

Over the next (?) pages you’ll see the fabulous results of the girls’ hard labour which, to be honest, I had very little to do with other than supplying the sandwiches (prepared by more lovely ladies at ‘The Bakery & Delicatessen’ in Carrick). This was ‘Girl Power’ at its very best. BA

Earlier this year Tesco ran a competition offering all of their staff nationwide the chance to become

the ‘Face of Tesco 2011’. They were looking for three winners - a male, a female and a plus-size male or female - with the prize being the opportunity to model the Tesco Autumn/Winter clothing range. This is the first year that the company has run the competition and it generated

a huge amount of interest amongst the staff, resulting in well over 100 entries. The judges in the final of the competition were model agency boss Rebecca Morgan, fashion editor Bairbre Power and TV presenter & style guru Darren Kennedy.

Ballinamore’s Rachel Geoghegan won the female section of the competition. Rachel is 19 years of age, she’s five feet, six inches tall and she has worked at the Ballinamore Tesco store for almost 2 years. Rachel spoke to LL about entering the competition and the day of the final:

“Just after Christmas a poster was put up on the canteen wall saying, ‘could you be the Face of Tesco?’ A few of my workmates said to me that I should enter it. My mam works at the store as well and she said, ‘you should do it, see how far you get’. I thought I’d enter it anyway as no-one would know if I didn’t get through. I submitted 2 photographs of myself - a head shot and a full length - and the rest was just general information such as my name, my age, where I’m from etc. I didn’t have any problem with doing that and then, when I got through it was, ‘oh my God!’. I didn’t know what to do. I got through to the semi-finals, which was 14 people altogether, including the girls, the fellahs and the plus-sizes. Then the employees had to vote on who they wanted to be their ‘Face’. The final 7 went on to Dublin for a day. We got our hair done at half nine that morning and the competition took place at the Aviva Stadium. We tried on clothes, had something to eat and then the runway show started. At the end, when we were doing our last runway bit we were asked questions by the judges. It was a bit like the Rose of Tralee but I didn’t have to dance or sing or anything. Then the judges went into their deliberations before coming back with their final decision. I didn’t know what to think. I went up and I felt so scared, but it was great and it still is. People are still coming up and congratulating me. I have the Autumn/Winter fashion shoot coming up in September and I’d love to do more modelling in the future.”

Rachel Geoghegan - The Face of Tesco 2011Rinn Neimhe Beauty Salon12 Park Lane, Carrick on Shannon, Tel: 07196 71593

High Street, Ballinamore, Tel: 07196 45147

Did you know that you had ageing skin from the age of 25?

That’s when the levels of Collagen (strength) and Elastin (elasticity) start to deplete, which eventually leads to fine lines and wrinkles. Ageing skin is caused by two influences; genetic and environmental, both of which you can change. Having a skin care regime is vital to

counteract these influences.

DARPHIN (est. 1958) More than skincare, an ArtThe Darphin Skincare range is a holistic, botanical

based skincare line that uses the finest aromatherapy blends and the latest technological advances to create

products that pamper our senses whilst offering superior performance.

DARPHIN FACIAL AT RINN NEIMHEAt Rinn Neimhe your skin will be thoroughly analysed

to determine your skin type and the most suitable Darphin products selected for your facial.

The facial also includes a hot towel massage and Shiatsu pressure point massage using an organic essential oil

that the client has chosen and lasts for 1 hour.A Darphin facial is €45 and all products are available for

purchase for home care.

The Big

ChatOn Friday, 1st July 2011 Leitrim Life visited

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Roscommon/South Leitrim TD, at his constituency office in Castlerea.It quickly became clear that Luke could talk for Ireland, which isn’t particularly unusual for a politician. The difference lies in what he says - no waffle, no party line, no spin!You might not agree with his views, but you can’t deny that he’s done pretty well for a formerly unemployed, self-confessed cannabis smoker who models himself on a cartoon character.

Question Master: Brent AdsleyPhotography: Keith Nolan

political Life

34 Leitrim Life, Issue 1, August/September 2011

The Unfolding Story of

Storyfold

Up-and-coming Irish band, Storyfold, two of whose members hail from Drumshanbo, released their debut album, Rocket Science,

in May this year. Their first single from the album, Delphine Wakes, was a massive radio hit, as was the follow-up, Behind Closed Doors.

Storyfold are Radio 2FM/RTE TV presenter and Drumshanbo native, Paddy McKenna on guitar and vocals, Lindsey Hogan on keyboards and vocals, another Drumshanbo lad, Jim McGourty, on bass, Michael Fortune on lead guitar and Sean McDonnell on drums (why are drummers always listed last? I don’t know, but it would be a shame to break the tradition).

So, the short version of their story is that Paddy used to be just a singer, but now he sings and plays the guitar, Lindsey was a pianist but she became a drummer before stopping that and taking up piano again, even though she’d still like to drum on the odd song, Jim was a guitarist but he started playing bass when Paddy took up the guitar to go with his vocals, Michael plays guitar but he could probably play a number of other instruments if he wanted to (e.g. ukulele, banjo, zither), and Sean? Well, Sean drums. Always did, always will.

LL recently met up with Storyfold at their Dublin rehearsal room. The ever reliable Fiona McGuire was on hand to take the snaps.

Storyfold’s website is: www.storyfold.net


1. Your Company Website• Buildaprofessionallydesignedwebsite

withthekeywordsinthekeyplaces.Donotbeanother‘metoo’website.

• UseGoogleKeywordTool-https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternaltoidentifythekeywordsincludingtheonesyourcompetitorsareusing.

• MonitortraffictoyourwebsitewithGoogleAnalytics-http://www.google.com/analytics/.Calculatethenumberofwebsales/queriesasa%ofthenumberofuniquevisitorstoyourwebsite.Ideallythisshouldbegreaterthan1%dependingonwhatyouareselling.

• Haveaclearcalltoactiononyourwebsitee.g.CallUsorSignUp.Don’tmakethephonenumberhardtofind.

• Addablogtoyourwebsiteandwriteatleastoneblogpostperweek.Mypreferredbloggingplatformishttp://wordpress.org/

• AddyourbusinessdetailstoGooglePlaces-www.google.com/placesforbusiness

2. Facebook• Setupacustomisedbusinesspage.Be

consistentwithyourexistinglook&feele.g.brand,logo,website,message&advertising.-http://www.facebook.com/pages/

• Setupa‘landingpage’andmakethatthedefaultunderEditinfo>ManagePermissions.

• Havea‘calltoLike’onthelandingpagewithareason/incentiveforpeopletodoso.

• Askyourself,whywouldsomeone‘Like’thispage?

• CheckyourpageInsights-http://www.facebook.com/insights/

• Runatargetedadcampaign–youcantargetbyage,gender,maritalstatusandlocation.Thereareafewothercriteriatochoosetoo.http://www.facebook.com/advertising/.Youcanalsocontrolhowmuchyouwanttospendandhowlongyouwanttoruntheadfor.YoucanchooseCostperClick(CPC)orCostper1000Impressions.Animpressionistheadappearing.CostperClickisprimarilyusedwhenyouwantpeopletotakeactionusuallyonline.CostperImpressionaregoodvalueforsheerbrandawareness.

Johnny Beirne is something of a force of nature within the Leitrim business community. If you run your own business and you haven’t already met him the chances are that you soon will. Based outside Carrick on Shannon, he provides training & mentoring in a number of areas of commerce. He has 14 years experience in Business Management, Information & Communication Technology and Business Innovation. He also co-founded and works for Opportune Media Ltd on downloadmusic.ie and Text A Track. Johnny is an expert on online resources for both established and start-up businesses and here he gives some advice to those of us who are just getting to grips with the benefits of an online presence. For more information about Johnny and his services visit his website:www.johnnybeirne.com

Six Steps to Online SuccessJohnny Beirne

3. Twitter• Twitterisusefulfornetworkmarketing

andkeepingyourname(orbusinessname)‘outthere’.http://www.twitter.com

• Usehttp://search.twitter.comtofindpeopleandtopicsworthfollowing.

• YoucansetFacebooktoupdateTwitterathttp://www.facebook.com/twitter/.TherearealsoanumberofwaysthatyoucansetTwittertoupdateFacebook.

4. LinkedInLinkedInisalsousefulfornetworkmarketingandprospecting.Youwillfindthedecisionmakersof1,000’sofcompaniesonLinkedInathttp://www.linkedin.com.Youshouldalsojoingroupsandcontributetotheconversationsthattakeplaceinthem.

5. Blog• Addablogtoyourwebsiteandshare

yourknowledgeregularly.Reportonwhatisgoingoninyourcompanyandinyourindustry.ConnectyourblogtoFacebookandTwitterwithhttp://dlvr.it(thereareothers).YoucanalsoaddyourblogtoyourLinkedInProfile.Blogsaresearchenginefriendlybydefaultwhichisalsocritical.

• Networkmarketbycontributingviacommentsonotherblogs.

6. Research/Increase Knowledge• UseGoogleAlertstoinformyouabout

aparticulartopicorcompanyincludingyourown,i.e.BrandMonitoring.http://www.google.com/alerts

• UseGoogleReadertosubscribetorelevantandinformativeblogs/websites.YoucanalsoaddGoogleAlertsandsearchresultsfromTwittertoGoogleReader.

Therearefurthertoolsandtechniquestousebuttheitemsoutlinedaboveareagreatstartingpoint.Youshouldreallytrytogettheseinplacefirst.You’llbesurprisedwiththepositiveresults.I’vemanagedtotripletheonlinesalesforaclientbydoingtheabove.

business

49August/September 2011, Issue 1, Leitrim Life

an adventurous Life

The images depicted over the following four pages are part of a large collection of photographs taken by well-known local photographer Eunan Sweeney on a recent trip to India. Eunan teamed up with ceramicist and friend, Peter Fullop, and they spent three weeks travelling the country. Peter, having been to India a few times, was of invaluable help as his local knowledge, combined with Eunan’s natural eye for the unusual as well as the picturesque, have produced some outstanding images. The vibrant red, blue and yellow Saris; the village woman preparing breakfast; the dignity of an old man praying in the Ganges; the contrast of the cool of the Hall of Audiences at Jaipur with the visible heat surrounding

Weeks In India3a man pulling a heavily laden cart; the traditional boat at dawn on the Ganges and the beguiling smiles of the young have captured a small glimpse of the real India.

Eunan’s India collection, along with a large collection of Irish landscapes, including many Leitrim scenes, can be purchased through his website at: www.eunansweeneyphotography.com

Eunan can be contacted at: 071 9645726 or 087 6488660Eunan Sweeney PhotographyWillowfield RoadBallinamoreCo. Leitrim

All India images copyright: Eunan Sweeney


married

In each issue of Leitrim Life magazine we’ll feature weddings that either took place within the county, or where Leitrim couples got married somewhere else in the world. An example of the latter is pictured here, when Edel Mollohan and Alan Byrne of Leitrim Village travelled to Malta for their nuptial celebrations.

Photos: Maria Mollohanwww.avemariaphotography.com

The opinions and comments expressed by interviewees and contributors within the pages

of Leitrim Life Magazine are their own and are not

necessarily shared by the editor and publisher.

Photography:Fiona McGuire, Keith Nolan, Eunan Sweeney, Gearoid O Loingsigh, Maria Mollohan, Xavier

Contributors:Andy David, Hans & Gaby Wieland,

Nuala Duignan, Brian Bohan, Mairead Higgins, Dave Hodson, Leon Quinn,

Orlagh Kelly, Thomas Gilrane, Johnny Beirne


LL likes a really good slice of bread, smothered in creamy Irish butter and topped off with a generous dollop of home-made blackcurrant jam made with our own home-grown fruit. The trouble is, the good slice of bread isn’t always easy to find. Well, help is at hand courtesy of LIDL in Carrick-on-Shannon, who unveiled their new bakery section a couple of weeks ago. Take a look at page 43 to find out more.

LL likes videos.Here at the Magic Cottage we think that the DVD is the best invention since, well, the last best one (the toaster maybe?). However, in these current cash-strapped times perhaps now would be a good moment to re-visit the humble VHS video. According to our extensive research into the subject (i.e. two minutes on Google), U.S. film studios stopped releasing new movies on video in 2006, but this means that there is still a huge number of fairly recent titles up for grabs. Most charity shops are stuffed to the gunnels with them at only 50 cents each. There are 3 charity shops in Carrick-on-Shannon that we know of and at least 5 in Enniskillen so, if you find yourselves a bit short at the end of the month, dig your old video player out of the attic, fire her up, slam in your movie of choice and relax with a slice of pizza and a glass of something red and fruity. The wobbly picture and not-quite-hi-fi sound quality will take a few minutes to get used to, but we all spent around 30 years enjoying the VHS format before DVDs arrived and there’s something quite comforting and nostalgic about watching Arnie and Brucie etc going about their business amidst a bit of fuzzy screen-shake. Drop the movies back to the charity shop when you’re done with them and pick up a new load. You’ve had a bit of fun and your money goes to a good cause - it’s win win.

LL likes alien cows.

LL likes wild flowers. Is it us, or are the hedgerows and fields of Leitrim really more abundant with stunning wild flowers than usual? If this is the result of Global Warming then it’s fine with us. A bit more sun for them to show off in would be nice, though.

LL likes Brian O’Driscoll who, according to Twitter, supports Manchester United, eats Stilton and loves Leitrim. We’re not too bothered about the the first two (although we do like a bit of Stilton at Christmas) but the third one makes him all right with us. LL congratulates BOD and Amy who celebrated the first anniversary of their Leitrim wedding in July.


fashionable

There are some days in the life of a male magazine editor that are tougher than others. For example, on Monday 11th July I had to force myself to spend the whole day surrounded by beautiful

women as they prepared LL’s first fashion photo shoot in Carrick-on-Shannon. I even had to carry a pair of shoes at one point. The cheek of it!

Over the next 9 pages you’ll see the fabulous results of the girls’ hard labour which, to be honest, I had very little to do with other than supplying the sandwiches (prepared by the staff at ‘The Bakery & Delicatessen’ in Carrick). This was ‘Girl Power’ at its very best. BA

Earlier this year Tesco ran a competition offering all of their staff nationwide the chance to become

the ‘Face of Tesco 2011’. They were looking for three winners - a male, a female and a plus-size male or female - with the prize being the opportunity to model the Tesco Autumn/Winter clothing range. This is the first year that the company has run the competition and it generated

a huge amount of interest amongst the staff, resulting in well over 100 entries. The judges in the final of the competition were model agency boss Rebecca Morgan, fashion editor Bairbre Power and TV presenter & style guru Darren Kennedy.

Ballinamore’s Rachel Geoghegan won the female section of the competition. Rachel is 19 years of age, she’s five feet, six inches tall and she has worked at the Ballinamore Tesco store for almost 2 years. Rachel spoke to LL about entering the competition and the day of the final:

“Just after Christmas a poster was put up on the canteen wall saying, ‘could you be the Face of Tesco?’ A few of my workmates said to me that I should enter it. My mam works at the store as well and she said, ‘you should do it, see how far you get’. I thought I’d enter it anyway as no-one would know if I didn’t get through. I submitted 2 photographs of myself - a head shot and a full length - and the rest was just general information such as my name, my age, where I’m from etc. I didn’t have any problem with doing that and then, when I got through it was, ‘oh my God!’ I didn’t know what to do. I got through to the semi-finals, which was 14 people altogether, including the girls, the fellahs and the plus-sizes. Then the employees had to vote on who they wanted to be their ‘Face’. The final 7 went on to Dublin for a day. We got our hair done at half nine that morning and the competition took place at the Aviva Stadium. We tried on clothes, had something to eat and then the runway show started. At the end, when we were doing our last runway bit we were asked questions by the judges. It was a bit like the Rose of Tralee but I didn’t have to dance or sing or anything. Then the judges went into their deliberations before coming back with their final decision. I didn’t know what to think. I went up and I felt so scared, but it was great and it still is. People are still coming up and congratulating me. I have the Autumn/Winter fashion shoot coming up in September and I’d love to do more modelling in the future.”

Rachel Geoghegan - The Face of Tesco 2011


Fashion Photo Shoot Credits:Our two stunning models were Ballinamore’s Rachel Geoghegan and Boyle’s Mellissa Walshe, both of whom are recent modelling competition winners.

Carrick-based photographer, Fiona McGuire, conceived and directed the photo shoot in her usual professional-yet-fun style, with additional help provided by assistant photographer, Caroline Caslin.

Hair creations were courtesy of Ieva Stepana of Karen Tierney’s ‘Hair Place’, Carrick-on-Shannon.

Rachel’s make-up was provided by Shauna Flynn of the ‘Rynn Neimhe’ beauty salon, Carrick-on-Shannon and Mellissa’s make-up was provided by Dromahair-based Niamh McGowan of ‘Beauty on Your Doorstep by Niamh’.

LL would also like to thank all of the Carrick-on-Shannon shops who supplied clothing and accessories for the fashion shoot. They are: Crescedo, Tesco, Jewel, Mooky Wear & Raval, and thanks to Flynns Bar for the use of their interior.

In May this year Papillon nightclub hosted the final of their quest to find their most beautiful female customer to represent them at the Miss Universe Ireland competition

in Dublin. Andrea Roche - still regarded as the most famous of the Irish models so she knows what she’s talking about - was the judge on the night of the final held at Papillon.

Boyle’s Mellissa Walshe was Andrea’s choice to go forward to the Dublin final held on 10th June, where a prize of a trip to Brazil to represent Ireland in the international Miss Universe competition was at stake. Models Pippa O'Connor, Aisleyne Horgan-Wallace, Georgia Salpa and Rosanna Davison were the judges at the Dublin final. In the event, Mellissa was pipped at the post by Aoife Hannon, who represented Kerry, but she really enjoyed the whole process. Mellissa is 20 years of age, she’s six feet, one inch tall (yes, you read that right!) and she recently completed a four year course in Health Promotion at Sligo IT, a field in which she hopes to work full-time. Mellisa spoke to LL about her Miss Universe experience:

“The Papillon competition was run over a five week period when they picked girls out of the crowd. I always go to Papillon because that’s my local nightclub. Me and my sister and one of my friends were there and someone approached me. I said, ‘oh yeah, why not?’, so I had my photograph taken. I was in the local paper and up on Papillon’s website. On the final night all the girls came together and Andrea Roche was there to judge us. We had to do the modelling and then we were interviewed on stage and I was chosen from that. I’ve done a bit of modelling work at wedding fairs but I’d never entered a modelling competition before. It was different. The Miss Universe Ireland final was held up in Dublin in the Burlington three weeks later. There were 25 girls from all over the country. Lots from Dublin, one from Longford, one from Kerry etc and the girl from Kerry won it. We were called up the week before the final and we had to do photo shoots for national newspapers like the Sun and the Mirror. Two days before the final we went up to Dublin again for rehearsals and more photo shoots. It was a really big thing and I was nervous. I was on Ireland AM, which relaxed me a bit because it was all go. It was a brilliant experience. I’m 6’ 1” tall in flats and it was great to be around other girls the same height as me for a change. The competition opens doors for you. The more things you’re in, the more people you get to know. There were modelling agencies at the final so you get your name out there. I would definitely like to do more.”

Mellissa Walshe - Miss Universe Leitrim representing Papillon, Le Club Boutique, Carrick-on-Shannon


This Page & Front CoverRachel Khaki Jeans by Mooky WearNavy Vest by Mooky WearNecklace by JewelBangle by JewelBag by Jewel


This Page & Front CoverMellissa

Top by CrescendoLeggings by Crescendo

Bag by JewelBracelets by Jewel

Sandals by Jewel

Dress by CrescendoNecklace by JewelBracelet by Jewel

Blouse by TescoShorts by TescoShoes by Tesco Beads by Jewel

Dress by RavalHandbag by Jewel

RachelDress by TescoSunglasses by Tesco MellissaDress by Tesco Cardigan by TescoBracelets by Tesco


Right, inside Flynns Bar, Carrick-on-Shanon

MellissaOne-Shoulder Top by Mooky WearShorts by TescoShoes by TescoBag by Jewel

RachelNavy print Dress by Crescendo Bag by TescoShoes (Models Own)

Below

Make-up artists Niamh McGowan and Shauna Flynn put the finishing touches to Mellissa and Rachel

On Friday, 1st July 2011 Leitrim Life visited

Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan, Roscommon/South Leitrim TD, at his constituency office in Castlerea.It quickly became clear that Luke could talk for Ireland, which isn’t particularly unusual for a politician. The difference lies in what he says - no waffle, no party line, no spin!You might not agree with his views, but you can’t deny that he’s done pretty well for a formerly unemployed, self-confessed cannabis smoker who models himself on a cartoon character.

Question Master: Brent AdsleyPhotography: Keith Nolan

political


The conversation started with Luke talking about a meeting he’d attended the previous evening where 2,000 concerned citizens listened to the Roscommon Hospital Action Committee discussing the Health Minister, Dr. James Reilly’s plan to close the hospital’s A&E department. At the meeting the Committee announced plans to stage a demonstration on seven bridges crossing the River Shannon:I wonder would blocking all trade into the West of Ireland be of benefit? I think maybe blocking the streets of Dublin might get them the attention. My ideal scenario would be that everyone at the meeting last night would bring five people with them to a protest in Roscommon. When you get the 10,000 people in Roscommon you say to the crowd that in two day’s time we’re going to Dublin and we want everyone here to bring one person with you and everyone would be excited about it, there’d be a buzz about it. Whereas if we say we’re going to Dublin now we’d be lucky to get the crowd that was there last night. You’re only going to get to fire the shot once, only one go. The worst part of it is that now I’m dealing with negatives. I’m not dealing with what I want to deal with, like agri-food and tourism. I am basically talking about negative stuff. I have no choice. I’m complaining and everyone’s sick of that. I’m complaining about hospitals closing. I’m complaining about them trying to stop us cutting turf. And I have to, of course, but it would be nice to concentrate on something positive.

“This used to be my doctor’s surgery. I’ve been tortured in here.”

I know you’ve had a few run-ins with Dr. Gregory Kelly. This constituency office wasn’t his surgery was it? (Dr. Kelly was a Fianna Fáil candidate and one of Luke’s rivals for a Roscommon/South Leitrim seat in the election. He didn’t win, but Luke did).No, but Dr. Kelly used to be my doctor when I was a kid. He was at the meeting last night and the best part was that he got a good clout from the Hospital Action Committee because he stood up and started talking about how the hospital needed to be saved etc etc. The Committee asked him how many of his patients he sent to the hospital in relation to the ones he sent to Galway? He go booed out of the place because he tries to paint himself as not being political. How can you not be political when you’re one of the people who tried to encourage us to go down the Fianna Fáil road. He actually lambasted people around the town here for even canvassing with me. He tried to bully them.

“It would be nice to concentrate on something positive.”

Where did the ‘Ming’ come from:The reason why I took the name ‘Ming’ is the same reason why people put a worm on a hook when they go fishing. They don’t do it because they want the worm in the belly of the fish when they eat it. They do it to attract the fish and the reason why I called myself Ming was to attract the media. My attitude was that if I’m going to say something I might as well try and get heard saying it. Now, maybe initially it might have led to people not taking me 100% seriously but at least they were actually listening to me. That was the idea behind it and I don’t think anyone can argue with the fact that it’s worked.

“If you don’t vote me in, Flash Gordon gets it.”

Did you develop the look because you had some sort of fascination with Ming the Merciless (from the Flash Gordon cartoon strip, TV show & movie) or did someone call you Ming because you looked a bit like him?At this stage I don’t know which came first, the chicken or the egg, the image or the name, but it certainly evolved. Actually my initial idea, very tongue-in-cheek, many years ago was that it would be very funny to run for election as Ming the Merciless and have only one policy - that if you don’t vote me in, Flash Gordon gets it. It was a kind of a notion we had one night after a few beers and a few smokes but my interest in politics came a long time before that.

Political


I suppose it should have been obvious looking back, when my mother would run me to bed as a kid watching the US presidential election in the early 80s when Ronald Reagan got elected. I was only 9 or 10 years of age at the time but I had a massive interest in it. We also had a teacher called John Kenneally, one of the founder members of the Communist Party of Ireland. After two years with him teaching you, if you didn’t have an interest in politics you weren’t alive so it’s sort of evolved from there. 1997 was the first time I put my name on the ballot paper but I’ve always been disgruntled with the way politics has worked in this country and in particular in Roscommon. You look at County Roscommon and there’s cast-iron proof that the politicians that we have had here since the foundation of the State have been nothing but a disaster. You stand on the bridge at Carrick-on-Shannon and you look into Roscommon, then you look into Leitrim and you see that it’s developed on the Leitrim side. You stand on the bridge straddling Roscommon and Galway in Ballinasloe and it’s developed on the Galway side. You go into Athlone and you stand on the bridge there and look into the Roscommon side, then into the Westmeath side and you see that it’s developed on the Westmeath side. Now that doesn’t say a lot about the people who’ve been running this county. It is not by accident that this has happened. It’s due to incompetence, so if that didn’t inspire you to do something then nothing would.

During your first speech to the Dail on 9th March you said, “It is unfortunate that as a west of Ireland man I will be opposing the nomination of Deputy Enda Kenny as Taoiseach, not because I have anything against him personally but because I do not believe he is the best person for the job”. Yes, and he definitely isn’t the best person for the job as Taoiseach. His own party didn’t think he was the best person, the Labour Party obviously thought Eamon Gilmore was the best person and no-one in Fianna Fáil obviously thought he was the best person, no-one in Sinn Fein and no-one in the Technical Group so a majority of people in the Dail actually agreed with me but unfortunately the majority of people actually voted for him.

But there aren’t many people who would get up and tell him that to his face.No, and especially given the parochial nature of the West of Ireland some people might have been offended given that he’s a West of Ireland man, but it’s not about that. You want the best man for the job.

“We had a bit of a staring match, which I won.”

Do you have any interaction with him on a regular basis?No, not an awful lot, bar a bit of interaction I had with him at the opening of Dennis Naughton’s constituency office. He’s the Fine Gael TD from the South Roscommon part of the constituency. There was a protest organised there about the closure of Roscommon A & E and Dennis invited Enda Kenny down to open his office and there we had a bit of a confrontation and we had a bit of a staring match, which I won. That’s really the only interaction I’ve had with him.

You presumably haven’t changed your view about him not being the best person then?No, he definitely isn’t the best person.

“ I think Mick Wallace would make a good Taoiseach.”

Do you have any views on who would be the best person?I think there are many, many people in the Dail who’d make a good Taoiseach. I think Mick Wallace would make a good Taoiseach. I think he’s very down-to-earth, I think he’s a good person.”

Would you fancy it yourself?Yes, of course. I think I’d do a good job.

Do you think you have any hope of ever doing that, bearing in mind that you’re not allied to a particular party?Well, I suppose you wouldn’t get a million to one on me becoming Taoiseach in the future. You wouldn’t get those odds. You could have got a million to one in the past on me getting elected to the Dail so I’m more than halfway there aren’t I?

You also said during your first Dail speech that Enda should listen to experts like David McWilliams, Constantine Gurdjiev and Shane Ross. Do you think he’s started to listen?No, he hasn’t. They even have one in their own party, Peter Matthews, and they don’t listen to them, which is very, very unfortunate because all the dogs in the street are saying the same thing – we can’t afford to pay this debt. And all the dogs in the street are starting to say that we can’t afford to be in the Euro, so why won’t they listen to the experts. Unfortunately, they never have and I don’t know what the problem is. They don’t want to listen to what they have to say because they know that life will be very difficult for a while if they do what they have to do but the longer we wait it’s going to happen anyway and it’s actually going to be more difficult. That can that they’re kicking down the road is getting heavier all the time and one of these days they’re going to kick it and break their foot.

What did you think of the likes of David McWilliams, Eamon Dunphy and Fintan O’Toole bowing out of standing in the election?I thought it was very, very disappointing and I thought it was very unpatriotic that they didn’t run for election. I thought it was very stupid that they said they didn’t have enough time to do it and actually if that is the case, that they really think that they didn’t have enough time to get organised, well then they weren’t really fit to run the country. There comes a time when you actually have to do something in the space of 24 hours, no matter how difficult it is and you’ve just got to get off your arse and do it. And they didn’t do it. They had the resources, they had the media exposure, they had everything going in their favour. The one thing they didn’t have was balls, which is what they needed and they didn’t have that.

Is there a formal alliance between the likes of yourself, Mick Wallace and Shane Ross?It’s a practical alliance. It means it gets us speaking time in the Dail, but also I suppose there’s a thing called Stockholm


Syndrome. If we’re in the one room often enough we might come together on all our ideas. I’ve seen an example of that with a man who’d definitely call himself very left wing, Seamus Healy, putting down the exact same amendment to a piece of legislation as Shane Ross, who would be quite clearly in the right wing camp. Other than getting speaking time in the Dail another big advantage of it is that you have a fantastic resource of ideas and expertise there. I can pop next door now and talk to Shane Ross and get his opinion on something. I can pop down to Mick Wallace on the Construction Bill and ask him ‘can you inform me on that’. They can pop up to me and ask me, ‘well there’s an issue around my area of the bog. Can you tell me about that?’ Or other issues, so it’s a great big boiling pot of ideas. Whether you could call us a political party or not – well, you can’t, but I have to say that everyone in the group likes each other and we all get on well with each other, which is kind of interesting given that my experience of people in political parties is that they actually hate each other. Even though we’re not a political party we’ve got more affinity with each other than any people in any political party. It gives great hope and whatever about anything else we might achieve I hope one thing that will be achieved is that people might go, ‘do you know what? I might put my name on the ballot paper’. And in the words of Rage Against the Machine, they might say that it’s time to ‘Take the Power Back’. It shows it’s possible because up until now you could say ‘all right yeah, of course I can run for election but, sure, I won’t get in’. But people look at someone like me and they go, ‘do you know what? I might be able to get in. If that hoor can get in I might be able to’. It shows it can be done and hopefully there’ll be 40 of us in the Dail the next time around. Or 80 of us, even better.

It’s really interesting when you compare how Ireland responds to things compared to, say, Greece at the moment. Why aren’t people rioting on the streets here?Someone said yesterday, ‘because he weather isn’t good enough. You can’t organise a march’. I do think it’s down to the Daniel O’Connell thinking, as in there is a route to solving this through democracy if people really want it, and that is the way to solve it.

The Blue-Eyed Boy of Irish politics

Instead of protesting outside the Dail you go into the Dail and you actually do it. But I don’t think people are going to remain quiet for much longer, no more than a person standing in a swimming pool with the water one millimetre before their nostrils. They might be close to trouble but they can still breathe, but if the water rises one millimetre more, even if they’re a quiet person, they’ll start flailing about. And that water will rise in the form of charges on septic tanks, a new type of payment that you’ll have to make instead of your television licence, water metering, the universal social charge, which is in already, but that water will rise another little bit in the next year and I don’t think that people are going to be that quiet after that. I don’t think they’ll be able to be that quiet and I think it would be a shame if it had to go in that direction but if they want to drive people down that road they will get a reaction. It’s inevitable. On top of that they’re going to try and force people into a situation around

these areas where they go from paying €300 a year to heat their house and cook their food to a situation where it will be a multiple of thousands that’s going to spiral over the next decade. So, it’s quiet now but I can’t see it being too quiet this time next year.

You were elected to the Dail on your third attempt. You must feel a huge sense of vindication?Yeah, totally. I feel a bit of pride and satisfaction. Also for my father and my late mother. They would have been delighted and it was good for them because they went through very, very tough times worrying about me, as parents do. When I put my name on the ballot paper first they were terrified for my future. When I was arrested for possession of cannabis they were terrified for my future. When I refused to pay the fine for possession of cannabis and was imprisoned, inevitably they were terrified for that little baby that they carried out of Roscommon Hospital in 1972.


You were also arrested under the Litter Act.The first one I got jailed for was for not paying a fine under the Litter Pollution Act 1997. I’d been putting up posters to announce that I wouldn’t be paying a fine and my father, under pressure from my mother, went in and paid behind my back. That’s understandable. I have two kids now and I know why they were worried about it. The second time I was imprisoned was for not paying a fine under the Misuse of Drugs Act.

I’ve never heard of anyone else running for office being fined for littering in relation to their posters. It’s interesting. Actually I would have paid that fine but there was a referendum on at the time, I think it might have been the Amsterdam Treaty, and the political parties - Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, and another organisation called the European Movement - had a particular amount of time to take down their posters after the referendum. They didn’t take them all down, I reported them because, as they say, sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, and they were fined, as far as I can remember, about 25 pounds. I was fined 300 pounds. Multi-million pound organisations were fined 8 times less than I was. So I said, fair enough, if you’re going to do that to me I’m not paying the fine and the State will have to fit the bill. Lookit, it’s a sign that I was being effective.

Is there a sense that you’ve ‘got one over’ on the likes of Frank Fahey?Yes, there certainly is, without doubt. When I ran against him in 1997 I got 548 votes and he got about 9,000 votes. To now have a situation where I get 9,000 votes and he loses his seat has to be satisfying. I did make an attempt to get his old office in Dail Eireann but I failed. I would have been surrounded by Fianna Fáilers if I had but that wouldn’t have bothered me. It would have been very pleasurable.

“I’m not sure that they agree with their own policies.”

How do you think the Government is doing in its first hundred days?When they were voting on the Government I was asked if I could support them. I said yes, of course I could because I agree with a lot of their policies. I agree with their policy on Roscommon Hospital, I agree with their policy on turf and I agree with their policy on burning the bondholders. I’m not quite sure that they agree with those policies themselves. Since they’ve got into government they’ve done so many u-turns they’ve had to take a tablet for dizziness at this stage. I don’t think they’re doing a good job because they’re not doing what they told the people they would do. That is damaging to democracy. It can’t be a good job. They’ve reneged on the promise that there wouldn’t be any more privatisation locally of our water services. Things such as bills to design and operate private treatment plants,.Since the election they’ve continued down that road, even though they promised the water caretakers in Roscommon that they wouldn’t do it. Why didn’t they tell them the truth? I told people the truth about the fact that I smoked cannabis. It wasn’t going to do me any good electorally but I said it anyway. I didn’t want to be in there on a lie. I told people I wasn’t that bothered about mobile phone masts because I’m not actually that bothered about them and let me take the consequences. They want you to represent them in there and if you go to them and you pretend you’re someone else you’re not being you and there’s plenty of people out there who’ll represent those views so why not let them away with it. There’s plenty of liars in my game already and I think it’s a bit of a crowded market. I decided I might go for something different.

The Government had a massive mandate and yet they seem to be insisting now that their hands are tied when it comes to things like cutting the salaries of the heads of semi-state bodies, bankers bonuses etc. They were put in largely to get the snouts out of the trough. They don’t seem to be doing it.They have the power to do it if they really want to. A Government can do as it wishes really. A lot of these people are their buddies that they’re protecting. We’ve got a Health Minister now who’s a doctor, and that’s meant to be a great thing. I actually think the best Health Minister would be someone who is a patient. We now have a Health Minister who is expected to cut the salaries of consultants who are probably people he sits down with and drinks €20 bottles of wine with. How will he be able to go drinking with them after that? He might find it difficult. He has a vested interest in it so he’s not going to do the right thing as far as I can see. And he’s already gone back on a promise on our hospital in order to give his consultant buddies an easy time so they can live the high life in Galway City.

Is there anything that you and the other independents can do to put pressure on them?We can put pressure on them and I’m going to get an opportunity on the hospital issue in the Dail on Tuesday and Wednesday because Sinn Fein have put down a private members motion on the future of the hospital. It’s a massive opportunity to hold them to task there and Frank Feighan and Dennis Naughton will have to vote against our hospital if they don’t vote for our motion, so there is something we can do. They have massive pressure on them. I have very good access to media and that gives me the opportunity to put pressure on them. Richard Boyd Barrett, the People Before Profit TD, offered his support because


his hospital in his area is in trouble as well. We can do something about it but ultimately they hold the lever. It’s up to us to hang out of them and drag them., hold onto their legs and make them pull that lever. Whilst we don’t have direct access to the lever we are close to it. That’s our job.

You’ve stuck to your principle of taking a 50% pay cut (of your TD salary)? I have indeed. No regrets at all. I do very well. I get great expenses etc. I am in clover and still at the same time I can give away half my wages. I’m a very lucky person. I’m going to give €1,000 to the Hospital Action Committee campaign and that’s a great thing to be able to do. I’m really lucky I can do that. It’s not a sacrifice, it doesn’t make me a martyr, it’s just what people should do I think. It gives me a great opportunity to provide money for recreational facilities around the constituency and maybe to help people out when they’re really stuck.

“Show that you can do something practical other than talk.”

It would be great if more politicians did that.Actually there’s another side to it as well. I think it would be a good idea if they said we’ll give you €92,000 and €46,000 of that you don’t pay any tax on, but you actually have to use it to create a couple of jobs in your area. Invest it in a business and show that you can do something practical other than talk.

You’ve had two documentaries made about your rise to power.The first one (Dole Eireann) was with Hot Rock Productions. James Finlan, Mike Casey and a cameraman did it and then Mike Casey, with a crowd called Big Yes Productions, did a follow-up one called ‘The Life and Crimes of Citizen Ming’. He followed me around over five or six years. Now they’re dealing with the Irish Film Board and they’re going to put together a documentary called, I think, ‘Luke Ming Flanagan TD’ and they’re taking all the footage from Dole Eireann and The Life and Crimes. They’re also talking to Loose Horse Productions, the ones who did The Naked Election documentary, and they’re going to do a feature length documentary which they’re going to show all over the world. So, that’ll be a good old buzz.

It’ll be a nice little trilogy then?It will, yeah.

What’s the fourth one going to be about? Maybe your Presidential campaign?Who knows? Why not? I wouldn’t rule it out. There’s plenty of room on the ballot paper for me and anyone else who wants to do it.

So you’re enjoying it enough to carry on well into the future?Yeah, but there’s another side to it as well. Who knows? Time will tell but I don’t know whether it’ll necessarily be a good thing from the point of view of freshness or for my family’s point of view to stay in it forever. I’ll definitely do this term and hopefully I’ll get elected the next time and I’d imagine I’d do that term. After that,

who knows what I’ll do? You can get too used to it, too comfortable with it and then you become useless.

“I’d like to go down the road of setting up a micro-brewery.”

Have you got any interests that you could turn to after you finish with politics?I suppose the media would be an obvious way to go. I’d like to go down the road of setting up a micro-brewery, or maybe go down the road of growing my own vegetables. There are many different options. The world is everyone’s oyster.

You have strong views on a range of subjects, for example emigration. How do you think it can be reversed?It can be reversed by opening our eyes to all the assets that we have here. We have fantastic land. We can produce a massive amount of food, I understand it’s fifteen times more than we need. We have beautiful countryside, surely we can attract more tourism and create more jobs out of that. We can survive on this island if we use our heads and there’s no need for us to leave. The more that we leave is like a downward spiral where we lose all our good people and we’re making our economy less competitive because they’re getting all our good people. We have a situation where the country rears its people, then they leave and then a lot of them come back here to retire so you have the sandwich without the filling. That can’t be good for the country. It’s become the default position. There’s a tradition here where you leave the country but you look at places like Spain where they have massive youth unemployment but they’re not leaving their country.

“I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater in a mad race to

become modern.”You lived in Spain, as well as Holland, Germany and the UK. What did you see that they do differently to Ireland?They make maximum use of their resources. They have local economies for a start, local markets. They don’t rely totally on the multi-nationals. They keep a lot of their money local. They use their ingenuity, which we don’t seem to want to use for some reason. I think there’s a part of us believes the whole myth that Irish people are stupid. We’re not, but I think there’s a certain lack of confidence there. John Waters refers to it as Post-Colonial Syndrome and we want to get over that, stand on our own two feet and be proud of who we are. It looked like that was happening but it was all a myth. It was all a massive amount of credit falling out of the sky from the ECB and a whole lot of activity ensued because of that. It wasn’t real economic activity and as a result a lot of things that weren’t a myth got pushed into the background. Okay, things weren’t perfect here in the Fifties from a social point of view, in fact they were an absolute disaster – we were living under the Taliban – but there were a lot of good things as well. We did have a local economy and I think we threw the baby out with the bathwater in a mad race to


become modern. There are different ways to become modern. You can be modern and purchase locally rather than thinking you’re cosmopolitan by purchasing in Sainsburys.

Turf cutting is a huge cause for you at the moment.It is, yeah. Unfortunately the Government and their helpers in the National Parks & Wildlife Service aren’t really doing an awful lot to bring us along and to earn our trust because at every turn they say they’ll do something but they don’t follow on and do it. They can say it’s Europe but the problem in essence wasn’t the Habitats Directive it was the way it was transposed into Irish law. They should have done it in such a way that if someone was being stopped cutting in their bog there would be another one close by that wasn’t designated but they designated wholesale. As a result there’s the potential that they’ll lose all of the bogs, which will be a disaster and I’d hate to see it happen. They are all rainforests, and I agree with that, but if you want to succeed on something you have to bring people with you, not try and force-feed them. If you try and force-feed them they’ll just throw it back up on you.

“It’s going to be absolute and utter mayhem.”

Where does this leave Bord na Móna and other commercial enterprises?Well, the big boys are allowed to keep doing what they’re doing, which is a little bit bizarre. I suppose the attitude of the Government is that these little guys will be easier to beat. They’ll have their eyes opened over the next year if they think that because we certainly won’t be easy to beat. We got a little taste of what’s to come the day before yesterday in Portumna when the turf cutters and contractors organised a protest outside the National Parks & Wildlife Service clinics that were being held and a couple of people who weren’t members of our group decided they would block the gates and wouldn’t let the officials in because they were so disgusted with what was going on. The gardai were called and I was called upon to defuse the situation, which I gladly did because we wanted a peaceful protest. One of the gards said to me, ‘what’s it going to be like next year?’. It’s going to be absolute and utter mayhem. It’ll be a very sad situation if it comes to that but if that’s the road they want to go down they’ll have to pay the price for it.

Do you think the compensation for turf cutters is going to defuse things? (The Government have announced a scheme whereby Individual turf cutters affected by the ban on cutting will be offered €1,000 per year compensation, up to a maximum of €15,000)No. Anyone who looks deep into that would realise that it’s ridiculous compensation to offer people. It’s anything but generous and the main point about it is that we’re not looking for compensation. There’s a lot of groups looking for compensation at the moment that deserve it and need it. Let them give the money to them, we don’t want it. If you look at the €1,000 you might think that it’s a great offer, but you want to look at it in more detail. A good example would be my turf bank. If you gave me €1,000 that would only be €330 a year for my sister, my aunt and myself to heat our houses because there’s three people on that turf bank.

They say it’s going to be index-linked which is all very well, but index-linked doesn’t mean that it will be linked to fuel inflation which will go through the roof, and is going through the roof. They also say it’s for a maximum of fifteen years which means they could get rid of it next year, because maximum means maximum. You also have the problem with it where if they do take the bog off you they’ll flood it. They want to raise the water table in the bog to get it going again efficiently, but what happens then if that subsequently floods your neighbour’s land? Who is liable for that? Also, if you’ve cut turf this year and last year you won’t be entitled to it, so it’s the proverbial vibrator without the batteries. It’s not a lot of bloody use to you. We’ve been advising people not to take it and the vast majority aren’t taking it. More importantly, you can only sell out your heritage once.

How much damage is turf cutting on a domestic level doing to the bog anyway?Whatever the scientists argue and whatever we argue there’s one thing that no-one can argue against. We only own about 5% of the bog and if we cut way every last bit of it, which we wouldn’t as we’d never get around to it, you’d still have 95% left. Obviously it isn’t beneficial to it, but human beings aren’t necessarily beneficial to the planet. The planet would probably be better off without us but do we want to go down that road? I certainly don’t. I’d like my kids to be able to live here in the future. If you want to go into more detail on it you could say that even that 5% would take us a hundred years to cut away at the current rate of cutting and will we be burning fossil fuels in fifty years time? Probably not. So even that 5% isn’t going to go. I think what they’re saying is silly and I think the biggest danger in what they’re saying is that they’re turning people off environmentalism. You’ve now got a situation where, when people go out and do vital studies such as species counts other people are saying, ‘what the hell are they doing that for, going around counting frogs?’ Now, instead of people saying it’s a good idea they probably feel like stamping on a frog to kill it. You’ve got to bring people with you, not turn them against you. I’ve learned that over time. You’ve got to be a little more careful. Other times I’m not careful but there you go, you can’t be perfect all the time and I wouldn’t want to be because I wouldn’t be human, would I?

Is the story about your ‘suicide’ comment likely to develop? (Luke was recently accused of telling a senior HSE official to get a rope and commit suicide)I’ve pretty much said all I’m going to say on it. I could certainly have phrased it better but when you sit down in front of a man and he tells you that you’ve a decent health service - the same health service where I saw my mother sitting in A&E dying in front of people, with mayhem around her, tears streaming down her face - you do certainly see red. The same health service that discharged my mother from hospital and then rang our house to ask us where was she. And then some man says that it’s a good health service. I could definitely put it better but if I had said, ‘I don’t know how you live with yourself’, it would have been acceptable. I didn’t say that I didn’t know how he could live with himself, I pretty much said that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I actually believed that it was a decent health service.


Do you find that you are misquoted and that your words are taken out of context a lot?You’ve got to be careful not to give them that opportunity. I’m not going to complain about it, I’ve just got to learn bit by bit. I’ve learnt a lot, there’s definitely been progress without a doubt.

In relation to Leitrim and Roscommon, do you think there are particular issues facing either or both of those counties?We have a massive amount in common when it comes to emigration, or when it comes to people going out purchasing things and virtually every bit that they purchase comes from outside the area. If that happens the money inevitably leaves the area and if the money leaves the jobs leave and the people follow the jobs and then there’s no people around here. That is our common problem. There might be a river between us but there’s no difference between us. We’re the same people.

“I would like to see a situation where the whole of Leitrim

was in the one constituency.“The fact that, politically, South Leitrim is tacked onto Roscommon and North Leitrim is tacked onto Sligo seems a bit weird to me.Yeah, Roscommon has roughly four times the population of South Leitrim. I would like to see a situation where the whole of Leitrim was in the one constituency. Ultimately though, what Leitrim and Roscommon needs from a political point of view is real local government, where you have someone living in Leitrim who has a vested interest in Leitrim going well to be running and driving Leitrim. And the same in Roscommon, the same in Longford. That’s how you do it. Until we reform local government this country is going nowhere. They need to give the power back to the people who know most about the issues - people living locally who experience the issues first hand every day when they get up. Issues such as whether we’re ever going to get our swimming pool covered, because there’s no money but when they’re digging up the bloody footpath there’s no problem. You don’t get to make those decisions, they get made on high.

Is rural broadband provision an area that’s important to you?Oh, it’s essential. As the Mayor of County Roscommon I got to cut the ribbon on the celebrations for the 150th anniversary of the railway arriving in Castlerea. I thought it very interesting that 150 years ago we had the fastest mode of transport on the planet. Now the modern form of delivering things is broadband and if you compare your average connection around this town it is thousands of times slower than the connection in South Korea. So we’ve gone from being the fastest to being thousands of times behind. I used to run a business on the Internet years ago and I couldn’t stay in

Roscommon because I couldn’t get the broadband to run it. It would have required images being e-mailed to Australia and all around the world to put on t-shirt and mousemats and mugs. We couldn’t do it without the broadband. It’s more vital than decent roads at this stage.

‘Fracking’ (hydraulic fracturing - a method for extracting oil and natural gas that’s being planned for use in Lough Allen) is hitting the headlines at the moment. Are you for or against it? From what I hear about it, it doesn’t sound too promising. I’m a member of the All Party Oireachtas Committee on the Environment and I have, along with other members of the committee, invited in anyone on that issue - people who think it’s a good thing, people who think it’s a bad thing.

We’ve invited them in to give us their views and on that basis I’ll decide whether it’s good or bad. My instinct tells me that it’s not a good thing. Why did they ban it in New York State? Why have they banned it in France? There’s a moratorium on it in Britain. They’re not doing that for the craic, but I’ll wait for the details because the details are important. On issues that I’ve discussed in the past the details haven’t been teased out and you get arguments that don’t stand up. That’s my only position on that at the moment.

“People appreciate being told no sometimes.”

Parish pump politics is probably still alive and well so do you still get people asking you to do favours for them?Oh yeah. Help me get my passport and all that sort of stuff, and I’ll try and help them but ultimately our job shouldn’t be filling in the holes that Government should make sure shouldn’t be there in the first place. But if I can’t do something for someone I’ll tell them. Lookit, the politicians are lying to you. Politicians can’t do these things. And actually people are very appreciative. They say, thank you for telling me, I know where I stand now. They don’t get 15 letters off me making them think that I’m doing something for them. People appreciate being told no sometimes.

What other interests do you have away from politics?I’m into running, but I’ve a bad bloody hip at the moment. I don’t know what the problem is. I haven’t been able to run for two weeks, which is annoying because I’m committed to doing a couple of runs within the next few weeks. I’m going to have to ring them and tell them I can’t do it. I hate doing that but I’ll never be able to run again if I do them.”

Have you done any marathons?I’ve done two marathons, two half-marathons and about fifty or sixty 10ks. I run about 30 miles a week.

I haven’t seen any references about you being into music.I’m big into music but I don’t have the time to source it and sit through it to find what I do and don’t like. I might listen to shows that have music I like.


I like everything from Rage Against the Machine to Debussy. I like bands like the Dead Kennedys and Joy Division. I used to be a Cure head at one stage. There’s no particular genre. If I like it I, like it. I love dance music as well. I love going out to dance clubs and dancing the night away.

What about film and books?I wouldn’t be a massive fan of film. I love a good film but it’s hard to find one. French films tend to be excellent, films like Delicatessen and Europa. My favourite film is the Seventh Seal by Ingmar Bergman. Just absolutely brilliant. I read quite a lot but I don’t read a massive amount of books. My favourite writer would be Charles Bukowski. He’s absolutely brilliant. No veneer at all about describing his life. It’s there. He pisses off a few feminists along the way. I like feminists but I think it’s interesting the way he used to approach them. I wouldn’t win any awards for the number of books I’ve read but if I find a good one I’ll read it. I read the Irish Times everyday and I scan the Internet for articles. I try and keep up to date with the Economist magazine. There’s so many ways of getting information now anyway, through television, radio and all that sort of stuff. I’m not someone who thinks that the written word is superior to the spoken word. If it’s interesting and it has facts in it I don’t care what the format is.

Are you into technology and gadgets?Not excessively. I like my IPhone, it’s an essential piece of kit for a politician, you know.

What about food?I’ve been vegetarian for about twenty years but at the same time I’d fry a steak for my wife. I don’t ram my views down anyone. I have one daughter who’s vegetarian and the other one isn’t. One will drink the blood out of a cow just to annoy her sister.

You and your wife, Judy, have two girls. They must be very proud of daddy.They’re six and eight. It’s funny, I found a letter from my eldest the other day – she’ll kill me now, but anyway – she wrote to Jedward and she goes, ‘I’d love to meet you, I think you’re the coolest thing ever. Some of my friends think you’re not cool but I think you are and

I’d love to meet you. By the way, my daddy is Luke Ming Flanagan’. I was going,’oh my God, it’s in her consciousness now that I’m so important’. I’m not bloody important at all but it’s interesting to see it. It’s funny, the Mayor thing would have left more of an impression on them than a TD. Like, what’s a TD? There’s no TDs in Noddy, but there’s a Mayor in Noddy. There’s a Mayor in all the kids programmes and the kids really, really think that the Mayor is so much more important.

Suddenly Luke’s mobile phone rings, the first time during the interview that there’s been an interruption of any kind. He reads the screen on his phone. Ah, someone from Leitrim. That’s going through to the office. You’ll hear it ring in a second.

Sure enough, a second later the office phone rings. Never a call missed here. That’ll be put on a spreadsheet and this evening at 6

o’clock I’ll go back through every one of them to ring them all back. We get a massive amount through the phone, through Facebook, through e-mails and all that. The first week was hell. 3,500 (messages) through various different things. I thought, how in the hell am I going to deal with this? But now I have a system whereby it would be a disadvantage to answer that call there because I would end up talking to them and the phone would ring again, someone would leave a message and I wouldn’t get to it and the call wouldn’t be logged. There must be a thousand people out there calling me a traitor because they got lost in the whole thing but I have a system now. What can you do? I’m only human, you know?

Luke, I’m very conscious that you have other meetings to attend so I’d just like to thank you for your time and it was a pleasure to meet you. Thanks a million.

A few days after the interview there was a dramatic vote in the Dail on the future of the Roscommon Hospital emergency department. Deputy Flanagan and many of the Roscommon/South Leitrim constituents urged the other two constituency TDs, Frank Feighan and Denis Naughten, to support the Sinn Fein motion to reverse the decision to close the department. Deputy Feighan sided with the Government but Deputy Naughten voted with the Sinn Fein motion, resulting in the latter having the party whip withdrawn, effectively casting him out of the Fine Gael fold as a new-born Independent. This story is going to run and run. No doubt, Deputy Flanagan will have plenty more to say on this, and numerous other issues, in his continuing fight for fairness, justice and the power to do something about the mess we’re in. WATCH THIS SPACE...

“There’s no TDs in Noddy.”


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“Cloudspotters must surrender themselves to the gentle shifts of the clouds’ formations. If they cannot identify a cloud form, then so be it – they should just relax and let it develop.” (Gavin Pretor-Pinney)

I was always looking at clouds in my youth because my late father was a glider pilot. His eyesight wasn’t good enough to become a “real pilot” but he taught me about looking at clouds to find out about the weather. I forgot all about clouds in my student heyday and I owe my getting hooked on them again to one of my all time heroes, the late Brendan Mc Williams from The Irish Times. He was asked about the most common type of cloud in Irish skies and in a column titled “Ireland is the raining champion of clouds” he answered, ‘Stratocumulus’. I was in my early thirties when I moved from Germany to Ireland and I think it was destiny that in July 2007 I bought “The Cloudspotter’s Guide” and got really addicted. I also realised that what I was doing

My Love for Cloudsby Hans Wieland of

The Irish Cloud Appreciation Society (TICAS)(with a little help from Sally McKenna)

for many years was something that thousands of other people were also already doing. As author Gavin Pretor-Pinney says in his introduction “I have always loved looking at clouds.” He founded the Cloud Appreciation Society in 2004 and he will headline TICAS’s brand new Cloud Festival in West Cork on the 26th and 27th July this year. The Irish Cloud Festival is the first of its kind internationally, and it aims to satisfy the fast growing trend of cloud spotting. I have already predicted in the film “Homeland” by Leitrim’s Johnny Gogan that cloud spotting will become part of the new eco-tourism trend and Ireland in the future will attract visitors for finding and spotting clouds as it did with painters who came for “the light”. Mr. Pretor-Pinney was recently quoted in the New York Times as saying that cloud spotting “is a way of training yourself to be aware of the natural world, of being receptive when something is happening in the sky and noticing it’”. The Society has grown to 25,000 members throughout the globe, and Ireland, especially the West Coast of Ireland, is well placed to offer a fulfilling experience to people who love clouds.

We like to look up, and see what’s going on up there.The Irish Cloud Appreciation Society (TICAS) was founded in 2010, and is focused around

a Facebook group, where people share their pictures of clouds, and discuss clouds and other ideas. The Society was founded by Sally McKenna of the Bridgestone Guides and Hans Wieland

of The Organic Centre in Rossinver in Co. Leitrim and now has over 600 cloudistas. Our group likes to explore the many facets of clouds and in particular their cultural and environmental content. Clouds can be studied in many different ways – you can use them to forecast the weather; you can name their varieties, genera and species; or you can simply

admire and enjoy them, seeing different shapes and pictures in them (called paradoilia). They are part of great nature’s poetry, in motion.

Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s...a cloud.

Surfing was unheard of in Ireland until relatively recently but it has developed into a tourist activity in which Ireland is a world-leader and, in the same way, Ireland could now take advantage of this new trend for examining and appreciating the natural elements of our habitat.

Luke Howard’s Cloud Classification It is surprising to learn that, despite the comprehensive classification of just about everything in our natural world, clouds were first classified only just over two hundred years ago, by an otherwise unknown meteorologist called Luke Howard. Howard, a thirty-two year old Quaker, came up with a simple system that can classify clouds, despite the fact that they move, change shape and relationships with each other within seconds. “As indistinct as water is in water” wrote Shakespeare - but Howard’s deceptively simple system makes cloud spotting and collecting an achievable pursuit. Using Howard’s method means we can reduce clouds into ten basic shapes and in a way that tells us just where we can find them in the sky. The current World Meteriological Organisation (WMO) Classification of the Ten Principal Cloud Genera


is the most refined and updated version:

Low Clouds, base usually below 2km/6 500ft: Stratus, Stratocumulus, Cumulus and Cumulonimbus.Medium Clouds, base usually between 2 and 6km/6 500 and 20 000ft: Nimbostratus, Altostratus and Altocumulus.High Clouds, base usually above 6km/20 000ft: Cirrostratus, Cirrocumulus and Cirrus.

Being on Cloud 9Cumulonimbus is probably the most famous cloud, sometimes called the storm cloud. It is massive and stretches across the sky with its base with the lower clouds, and its head up in the region of the upper clouds. The character of clouds is also inherent in the name. Cumulus clouds are the puffy, white, cotton wool clouds that often signify good weather. I call them good weather clouds others call them the start of The Simpsons. Stratus clouds are flat and often opaque, and sometimes carry rain. Stratus are the most unexciting clouds covering the sky at low level and are grey and undistinguished. Nimbostratus is even worse, because most of the time it means rain or drizzle. Nimbus is the Latin for rain. Stratocumulus is, according to the late Brendan McWilliams of Weather Eye fame, the most common type of cloud in Ireland, a broken layer or blanket of cloud, whitish grey and common on dry, cloudy days. In the upper atmosphere, Cirrus clouds are wispy, and are often messengers for changes in the weather, they can tell us lots about the winds in the upper atmosphere.

Before I finish let me tell you the most important rule of cloud spotting ever and it has to be taken really serious: Never spot and drive!

More information can be found on our Facebook page and also on our website: www.ticas.ie

Further reading: The Cloudspotter’s Guide by Gavin Pretor-Pinney.Must have: The Cloudspotter’s Handbook (pocket guide) by Gavin Pretor- Pinney.

Hope to spot you soon!

Low cloud: Stratus Low cloud: Stratocumulus

Low cloud: Cumulus Low cloud: Cumulonimbus

Medium cloud: Nimbostratus Medium cloud: Altostratus

Medium cloud: Altocumulus High cloud: Cirrostratus

High cloud: Cirrocumulus High cloud: Cirrus


Thomas GilraneJust the Way it Was

In 1947, at the age of 18, Thomas Gilrane emigrated from Ballinaglera, County Leitrim to America. By all standards, he has been successful. Tom found work, served in the US Army, married and earned his American citizenship. His childhood of farming, family, hard work and religion provided him with all he needed to succeed. With his wife Lorraine, he made a life in America, earning his way and raising four children. His memoir details life growing up in a thatched cottage without electricity, water or any modern conveniences. The simple joys, challenges and difficulties that were typical of living a traditional farm life in rural Ireland are described in vivid detail. It is a fascinating journey, and one that is typical for thousands of Irish families in the early 1900’s. This story of emigration is bitter-sweet, full of emotion, humour and sometimes harsh realities. He tells his story matter-of-factly, as he remembers it - Just the Way It Was.

Tom has kindly allowed LL to reprint a few of his anecdotes about his early life growing up in and around Ballinaglera, a place that is still very much in his heart. LL is a big fan of social history and we think that it’s really important to preserve the memories of what went before. Hopefully, more people will be encouraged to do as Tom has done and record the little things that make us who we are for the benefit of future generations.

If you were out working the fields all day, the grass and rushes are wet most of the time, so your shoes and socks are soaked. If you were wearing the Wellington your socks are wet with sweat. So getting ready for bed we would leave our wet shoes and socks close to the fireplace. The fire would have been raked for the night but the stones around it were still hot, so getting up in themorning we had dry shoes and socks. So what does all of this to do with crickets? The old story goes that if you happen to step on a cricket, accidental of course, the rest of the cricket family would put holes in your socks, and that’s “just the way it was”.

So Why Doesn’t the Bull Look Happier?

For one thing he has only a once a year play time with the cow,

but then again if he has three or four cows a day, well one would think! We had a few old cows. They were quiet and never made much noise, a few months after the cow had a calf she would come in heat. Now this quiet old cow became wild, she would run around the fields, she would jump on the other cattle, and if she got out on the road she would take off. If you do not want a calf in nine months, the best thing to do would be to put old “Betsy” in the byre for a

few days. Most small farmers in my time did not have their own bull. The Buggy McGorties had a bull, also the Flynn’s down by Dowra had one. To take old Betsy to one of them was easier with two people, one in front and one in back. The Flynn’s had an enclosed yard close to the byre where they kept the Bull and it was there we put old Betsy. Mr. Flynn or his daughter would open the door and the old bull would stroll out with that “get out of my way” look on his face. It did not take him long to do what he does best. Now it is back into the byre for the bull with that same look on his face. Before the end of the day he might have a few more visitors, could life get better? This old bull might have known what was in the future and that is what kept that mean look on his face. Today most farmers have their cows artificially inseminated, they refer to it as calling the ‘A’ man. I have one question. How do they get the semen from the bull? Our little dog’s name was Diamond, he always looked happy and it looked like he had a smile on his face. Our cat purred as he looked at you with a smile on his face. That old bull never looked happy!

Don’t Step on the Crickets

We have heard the crickets chirping after dark in the

summer. They spend most of their time in old stone walls that have plenty of hiding places, some of the old walls have the white thorn tree growing with their roots intertwined with the stones, a perfect home for the critters. In the winter the weather gets cold and some of the little critters come in the house, they make their winter home by the fire in the kitchen, and some times during the day you will see one scurrying across the floor from one hiding place to another. When the old kerosene lamp is turned off for the night and all is quiet now it’s the cricket’s time to sing his song and the chirping begins.

You can order Tom’s book from his website at: www.justthewayitwas.com

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The Bringing of the ButterIn my days growing up in Ballinaglera most families churned their own milk. This gave them their own supply of butter, and the buttermilk was fed to the pig and young calves. If you were to go in the neighbour’s home when they were churning, you would go up to the churn and take the churn dash and move it up and down for a short period, then turn it over to the husband or wife that was using it. This custom goes back hundreds of years, and we still did it in my youth. Before radio and television we went out to the neighbours’ homes at night - it was called rambling. Some nights there would be four or five ramblers there. The conversation was usually the weather, ghost stories and the bringing of the butter or taking of the butter. The old story goes that some people had the power to take the butter from your churn and when you finished churning your milk there would be no butter there. On the other hand the people with the powers would have a churn full of butter. So by taking the churn dash and moving it up and down this would break any spell you might have. The story also goes that the wife was churning when the husband noticed a black Salamander (a thousand legger) walking on the kitchen floor. He hit it with the broom but it got away. Believe it or not, the dark haired woman two townlands over was limping for a month. If you happen to go in to a home and they are churning, just take your turn. You know what I mean.

Cottage Interior: photo by Xavier

For more information about Ballinaglera visit www.ballinaglera.com

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The haunting images depicted over the next four pages were shot by

Ballinaglera resident,

Gearoid O Loingsigh At first sight they may evoke feelings of abandonment and loss, but they could equally signify moving forward. Perhaps the family who once occupied this home left it to find a brighter future elsewhere in Ireland or overseas, much like former Ballinaglera resident Tom Gilrane on the previous pages. Whatever the case, Gearoid’s composition and fabulously rich colour technique make for a fascinating document of a bygone era.

Gearoid studied black & white photography in California in the

early 2000s before switching to digital and colour in 2009. His exhibition ‘’Unlocking Palestine’’ was held in Dublin and some of those images were contained in an anti-war exhibit shown in London and New York. Since moving back to Leitrim nearly three years ago he has quietly concentrated on Letrim’s unspoilt but threatened landscape, its forgotten homeplaces, its amazing changing light and its wildness, where no two days are the same.


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See more of Gearoid’s local photography on Facebook at

“Leitrim Photography by Gearoid O Loingsigh”

Contact Gearoid at:Tel: 087 0570122

E-mail: [email protected]


Up-and-coming Irish band, Storyfold, two of whose members hail from Drumshanbo, released their debut album, Rocket Science,

in May this year. Their first single from the album, Delphine Wakes, was a massive radio hit, as was the follow-up, Behind Closed Doors.

Storyfold are Radio 2FM/RTE TV presenter and Drumshanbo native, Paddy McKenna on guitar and vocals, Lindsey Hogan on keyboards and vocals, another Drumshanbo lad, Jim McGourty, on bass, Michael Fortune on lead guitar and Sean McDonnell on drums (why are drummers always listed last? I don’t know, but it would be a shame to break the tradition).

So, the short version of their story is that Paddy used to be just a singer, but now he sings and plays the guitar, Lindsey was a pianist but she became a drummer before stopping that and taking up piano again, even though she’d still like to drum on the odd song, Jim was a guitarist but he started playing bass when Paddy took up the guitar to go with his vocals, Michael plays guitar but he could probably play a number of other instruments if he wanted to (e.g. ukulele, banjo, zither), and Sean? Well, Sean drums. Always did, always will.

LL recently met up with Storyfold at their Dublin rehearsal room. The ever reliable Fiona McGuire was on hand to take the snaps.

Storyfold’s website is: www.storyfold.net


The band started two years ago, and you already have a loyal fanbase. Was that built up through gigs?Paddy: You start from scratch and like any band we discovered that gigging is where you make your fans. There’s nothing to replace the whole magic of a live gig, especially in this day and age when you can pretty much get anything - all the music MP3s etc - for free on the Internet. The live experience is the one thing you can’t replicate or pirate, so live is where you build up your fanbase. We’ve got some super fans. There’s a lot of people that you’ll see at lots of gigs, which is great. There are people that’ll travel to see us and we can only encourage that. And we see new faces all the time. You can only ask your friends to come to the gigs so often, but you have to build up your fans from there. It’s been happening. Is there a particular age group that you appeal to?Paddy: That’s a good question. Because of the nature of some of the songs being ‘pop’ you can definitely see that they appeal to a younger age group. People who listen to the first singles from Rocket Science, like Trick of Light, think that’s what Storyfold is about, but that’s wrong because there’s more depth, more layers to it. There’s more melodramatic, epic stuff in there as well, which will appeal to a more multi-generational audience. At the end of the day you hope you’ll appeal to a wide spectrum of people. That’s what big bands like Coldplay and U2 try to do. Ultimately, some of the stuff on Rocket Science is very poppy, and I love pop so there’s no point in classing it as a dirty word, but we have to make sure that we cover other things as well.

Michel (guitar) only joined the band 10 months ago and we’ve only been a 5-piece since then, so the sound is evolving. He wants to introduce more ‘country’ to the sound (laughs all round). Lindsey objects to that. I don’t think we’re ever going to be a country band, that’s safe to say.

How did you come up with your style of music, given that you grew up in Drumshanbo where country is pretty strong?Paddy: Myself and Jim (bass), when we were growing up we played in bands from the age of 16 or 17. We were in a band called Waif, which was all Drumshanbo lads. We were disaffected teenagers, which is where the name came from. We won a national song contest and it went well. We were ostensibly a covers band but we mixed in some originals. We were playing all over the county and then we went to college. We kept gigging but eventually ‘musical differences’ happened where various members of the band developed other interests so Waif broke up. Jim was the guitarist back then and I was the vocalist. Then, three years ago I met Lindsey through a drumming forum on the Net. We met up and she joined the band, then Jim came in as the bassist. He was learning the bass and I was learning the guitar because I hadn’t played it in Waif. Lindsey was playing drums initially but we coaxed her to play piano. We were very lucky when we met Sean at our first drummers’ audition. He blew us all away with his amazing drumming talents. So, that was Storyfold. There’s only ever been 4 or 5 members. The original line-up is more or less all there’s ever been. It’s been

a good process in that respect. No Major bust-ups yet.

Lindsey, how do you feel about having to hand over the drumming duties?It was a funny thing. For years I’d played piano as a child but as soon as I started playing drums my head was turned. I ditched the piano and only played drums in

Lindsey Hogan

Paddy McKenna


Jim McGourty

Michael Fortune

Sean McDonnell

cover bands. I was good at picking stuff up from other people’s songs. I was self-taught as a drummer but I wasn’t as confident at interpreting original songs. The lads said, ‘you do what you want to do’, but I knew I was better on piano. Once Sean arrived and there was someone else behind the kit I suddenly knew what we wanted from the sound. Sean would sit there, not knowing the songs, and I’d say, ‘oh, try a bit of this or that’. I could hear what we needed from a distance but I couldn’t hear it when I was behind the kit. It was a good decision. If I’d kept at it I’d have been a ‘grand’ drummer, but not an amazing one, whereas I know I can be a much better on the keyboards.Paddy: Lindsey is a really good drummer but she’s an amazing pianist.Lindsey: The first thing I asked Sean was, ‘can you play anything else (other instruments) so we can do swapsies? Can you sing?’ He said no.Sean: I’m just a one-trick pony.Lindsey: I had visions of us swapping around on stage with me getting my moment of glory, drumming on one song.

You’ve been playing a lot of festivals lately, like Sea Sessions in Bundoran. How did that go? Paddy: Yeah, it’s been a lot of fun. Sea Sessions was amazing. We played to a full tent. The biggest gig so far was when we supported Feeder in the Academy in Dublin, that was pretty rockin’. We sold out Whelan’s in May as well. We were headlining there. It was our album launch and it was stuffed. It was a bit shocking at first that they were all there to see us, but it’s all good. When you’re based in Dublin there’s no point in playing Dublin every month because you’re just going to exhaust everyone.

Does the fact that you’re all still in your day jobs affect how you travel around as a band?Lindsey: It does to the extent that there’s no way we could get to the point where we’re gigging five week nights. Paddy: We’re looking for a tipping point.Lindsey: There’s plenty of times where I’ve come home from work, got changed and jumped into the car and driven to Galway or Limerick and then come home and got up for work the next day. Paddy: It really takes it out of you, and I work weekends. We can’t suit everybody so we try and make it as equitable as possible. I remember doing a gig where I was doing a thing in Mozambique working with Trócaire. I flew back on the Saturday and worked with 2FM for the day and then we did two gigs that night, one in Shercock, County Cavan and then we drove back to do one in Dublin and then work the next day. I was absolutely demented by the end of it. But it becomes muscle memory. Even though you’re tired, the more shows you’re doing the tighter you’re getting. It doesn’t really mater if you’re tired, you put the game face on and you just perform.

You’re obviously doing the rock & roll. What about the sex and drugs?Paddy: I’ll refer that question to Michael Fortune and Sean McDonnell (laughs). We’re not Coldplay but we’re not Motley Crue either. Michael: The longer you stay playing rock and roll, the less rock and roll it gets. We go to gigs in four cars so you can’t get messed up after a gig because we’re all driving.

Paddy: Yeah, I think the whole idea of rock and roll has changed. If you’re going to be an asshole, if you’re going to be ‘rock and roll’ and off your face

“We’re not Coldplay but we’re not Motley Crue either.”

it’s just seen as unprofessional. You’re not going to get anywhere. Michael: I don’t think bands can be rock and roll in the romantic or traditional sense anymore because nobody would deal with you. In essence you have to do so much by yourself now. Back in the day on Sunset Strip when people would compete to sign bands you could be off your face and they’d spend 3 million dollars renting you a house that you could trash. Then you’d come out with an album that would potentially sell enough units that you could make it all back from. We made a record ourselves, paid for it ourselves, put it out ourselves, did the videos ourselves.Paddy: The only ones we can blame if we mess up is ourselves. We don’t have anyone to blame so the responsibility is ours. We had a PR company for a while but it didn’t quite suit so we handle the PR ourselves. It’s a lot of work and it’s such a tricky sell all the time. Lindsey: There’s a couple of people who’ve voluntarily started helping us out in an advisory capacity. One of them is very highly respected in the industry so people will listen to her.

It’s funny how things have turned around. Years ago bands used to tour to sell the album but now they give the album away to promote the tour because that’s where the money is.Michael: Yeah, and there’s the merchandising too. T-shirts and ring tones. If you come up with a catchy ring tone you’ll buy a house with it.

I was streaming your album on your website the other day and I was surprised that you have the whole

“If you come up with a catchy ring tone you’ll buy a house with it. “ of each track on there. Most bands only stream samples. Why did you do that?Paddy: It’s quid pro quo. You give people something for free and in return they’ll buy something from you. We decided to stream it and not make it downloadable so that people could stumble across it and go, ‘oh, I’ll give it a listen’. I couldn’t tell you the number of times in my day job that I get told about a band. I’ll google or Facebook them and there’s no music. That’s a full stop then. I’ll never look at that band again unless they send me something. At that moment I couldn’t find any of their music and that opportunity’s gone. It’s like videos. We’ve spent a lot of time and money on videos and every one we’ve done we’ve taken it up a step. At the moment we’re doing the video for our next single, The Battle. It’s like Youtube. If you hear about a band it’s one of the first places that you go to. You type in the name and whatever pops up you make your judgment based on those videos.

There’s at least one track on the album with an orchestral backing. What size orchestra was it?Paddy: There’s more than one, there’s 5 or 6.

Lindsey: It was actually a 5-piece and they multi-tracked. There were two violins, one viola, cello and a double bass. The engineer, Clint, was telling us that he used to say that you needed the real thing (i.e. a full 25 piece orchestra) but after it was recorded there was no difference. In fact, he thought it was a cleaner sound. It’s a really full sound.Paddy: The human ear can only hear so much. You could put a 1,000-piece orchestra in but at the end of the day you’re only going to hear the lead violins, bass and viola. Lindsey: Myself and Paddy were there when the strings were recorded and when we heard The Battle the two of us just whimpered.

Paddy: These guys are top dogs. We caused them nightmares because we de-tune for nearly all our songs so they were playing in all these weird keys that they weren’t used to. They were brilliant. They’ve worked with the Manic Street Preachers.

Who are Welsh, of course. Greg Haver, who produced the album, seems to have worked with every Welsh band on the planet, including Lost Prophets, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals etc.


Paddy: Yeah, it’s Greg’s 50th soon and I reckon it’s going to be the who’s who of Welsh music, you know. Expect Tom Jones to be there (laughs).

Who would be your musical influences?Paddy: We’ve been compared to Ash because of the power pop thing, and Weezer would be the same. I’d listen to a lot of Weezer, and Jim would too. There’s an obvious American influence with Ben Folds as well. Michael and Sean would tell you a different story. Lindsey: Sean would be into Metallica and Slash…and En Vogue. (I’m not quite sure if Lindsey was entirely serious about the last one - Ed.).Sean: INXS, Guns ‘n’ Roses, Slayer, UB40, Led Zeppelin - 70s. 80s, and 90s music. All the classic drummers. and

Lindsey: In terms of my drumming, I remember watching Travis Barker (from American punk-pop band, Blink-182). I don’t know the rudiments, I’m just four to the floor and I’m happy. I never got into the technicalities. It’s the same with the piano.

Is there a group of bands that Storyfold would fit into?Paddy: No, is the short answer. Michael: Definitely more American stuff. Bands that are left of centre. Paddy: Like R.E.M. We’re trying to make pop that’s clever and melodic. I think our references long-term, whilst we’re doing our own thing, would be R.E.M. and Talking Heads. The more I hear Talking Heads the more I think that they’re pretty much the bar when it comes to clever pop music. It doesn’t have to be deliberately copied but you can push it towards that. Emulation’s a good part.Michael: Subconscious plagiarism is the best get-out clause ever. You never want to say that you just want to sound like another band because you just end up like Airbourne. They’ve got their one influence (AC/DC) and they do it great, but…Paddy: It’s such a slavish homage. I can think of a couple of bands like that but I’d better be careful what I say. There are bands in Ireland right now who are obviously completely influenced by Kings

of Leon, the Killers, U2, The Script. You think, it might work, but…Michael: You think about how long it takes to produce a body of work and get it out and you’ve missed the boat. It can take a yearand half and you want to be pre-empting everything. The bands that they’re trying to copy have moved on. Paddy: For instance, how many bands are trying to copy Mumford & Sons? It’s too late. Folk-pop, country - whatever you want to call it - that’ll be dead. It’s probably gone now and yet there are a thousand imitators that are folk-pop. Jim: We’re lucky enough because we’re not just a typical guitar band. The piano is like a lead instrument along with the guitars and we have two vocalists as well, a boy and a girl. It’s hard to find that mix anywhere else. Lindsey: Name another band out there that has that combination. We need to capitalise on that. Paddy: We’ve made an album, we’re very proud of it. Some people love it and some people don’t. That’s just life. Not everyone is going to love it. Lindsey: The first half is pop and

commercial and the second half is much more rocky and indie. You can get different opinions of it depending on what order they listen to the songs.

The stand-out track for me was Hasbeen, which is one of the last tracks on the album.Lindsey: Yeah, that’s my favourite as well.Paddy: It’s one of those albums where it will grow on you. It’s like the current Bell X1 album for me. The first time I heard it I thought, ‘that’s all right’, and then the more I heard it and the more singles that were released I began to realise that there are a lot of really good songs on it. Maybe our album is one of those where you need to give it few listens. Hasbeen has been the song that’s surprised me. There’s no question that it’s a great song. A lot of people like it. Lindsey: It’s near the end and yet a lot of people have commented on it. We didn’t play it live for a long time so when the album came out people didn’t know it. We weren’t confident enough to play it live for a long time. Sean and Jim championed the song to be on the album but I was concerned about it because the vocals are so high. Paddy: We dropped it half a key to make it work live. It’s in the right place on the album. You begin to think that there’s a message there for us. That’s what people are enjoying so it will inform what we’re going to do next.

Do you all contribute to the writing?Paddy: It’s growing. At the start it was nearly all myself and then Lindsey started. Hasbeen was a co-write between us. It’s important that it happens. Michael joined us ten months ago and that’s the first time we’ve really started to jam and elaborate stuff. Jim is planning on releasing a ‘zouk’ album (laughs all round – zouk music is Afro-Caribbean dance music). There’s an element of surf rock there.

How far do you think you can take this (Storyfold, not the zouk music)?Paddy: I don’t know but I hope we can take it to the feckin’ top!

Do you feel like you’re progressing?Lindsey: For the first six months of this year we were bang, bang, bang, and then suddenly it was, ‘what’s next?’ We’ve achieved an awful lot.Paddy: We’re all committed to it totally, but I think we just need a couple of breaks. I think they’ll come but I don’t think we’ll see them coming. Something’s gonna break. There’s a lot of great bands flitting around Ireland. I went to Oxegen and there were all these great bands scrapping like dogs for the bottom place on the bill, with ten people seeing them. There are super bands like ‘O Emperor’, ‘Miracle Bell’, ‘Shouting at Planes’ that can’t even get on the bill. It’s such a small market. You have four million people here, the same population

as Birmingham. You can make it here but we tend to import our talent. It’s all well and good but I think we will look beyond Ireland. We have faced a little bit of bias here. I work in the industry myself and there’s people here who aren’t prepared to give us a chance because it’s like, ‘oh, he works for a rival radio station’. That’s only going to matter in Ireland. Once we fly the coop it won’t matter. I love the idea of being free of all that. It would be good if people would judge us just on our merits.

Are you aiming at the UK or America?Paddy: I think if we had to work from scratch in America we wouldn’t be any further back. We all have jobs, but I think if we went there and played ten gigs we’d very quickly make an impression whereas it would take five years to do that in Ireland because the market’s that much smaller and we’re in a niche. We might be in a niche in America but it might be forty million people. Here it’s more like a hundred thousand. Can I just say that we’re realists as well, though? We don’t believe in a silver bullet. Lindsey: We’re a good bit older than a lot of bands as well, we’re in our late twenties, and that’s a good thing. We’re copped on. This seemed like a good point to leave Storyfold to continue their rehearsal for world domination. LL really enjoyed meeting the band and we look forward to charting their progress…especially Jim’s Zouk album.


Have we reached the point where we need to remind the last entrepreneur leaving Leitrim to turn the lights out? LL doesn’t think so...

Over the last couple of years Leitrim has experienced more

than its fair share of economic hardship, with both new and well-established business ventures either struggling to survive or going to the wall altogether. Take a leisurely stroll around many of our towns and villages and you’ll see a growing number of empty business premises and closed shops. Despite this, however, Leitrim is still humming with the spirit of free enterprise. It may not be as ‘in your face’ as it used to be and perhaps the traditional high street business is on its way out to some extent, at least temporarily, but entrepreneurs are thriving in industrial units, home offices and garden sheds throughout the county. They produce a wide range of goods and services, from hi-tech to traditional arts and crafts and all points in between. LL will regularly showcase these talented, forward-thinking go-getters and in this issue we take a look at four very different local entrepreneurs and businesses that are ignoring the ‘R’ word and forging ahead. The common thread is their energy, innovation, passion and committment.

LL would like to hear from Leitrim businesses about the issues that matter to them. If you have an opinion on what could be done to improve conditions and promote enterprise growth within the county let us know at:

[email protected]

Low Cost ShippingBuy Irish Online has negotiated very competitive shipping rates for delivery anywhere in the world, which makes it easier for businesses and crafts people to sell their goods abroad and also leaves it a lot less expensive for people in Ireland to send gifts to family and friends abroad.

Key Facts• buyirishonline.com is a FREE sales

channel - it costs nothing to be involved as the service is offered on a no-sale, no-fee basis. A very reasonable sales commission of 10% applies to all sales completed through the website.

• There are one million Irish-born people living abroad (almost 20% of Irish-born people live outside the island of Ireland).

• Today the Irish Diaspora - those who claim Irish descent - is believed to consist of an estimated 80 million people - a powerful marketplace full of potential.

• In the Irish context, Irish people spent over €2.1 billion online in 2009, but most of this went outside the country - Irish suppliers are missing out!

• Online sales are currently 17% of all retail sales in Ireland, it is predicted that 30%-50% of all retail sales will

be online within 5 years.• This project is best described as a

recession fight-back initiative - so get involved and help Leitrim play its part in driving exports and creating employment locally.

Who are we?The Buy Irish Online partnership brings together a team of proven internet entrepreneurs. Based in Co. Leitrim we understand through our own experience that Irish businesses are missing out on significant sales potential. Smaller businesses simply do not have the budgets nor the expertise to tap into the world wide potential for authentic Irish goods and services. By bringing independent businesses, and product ranges together at one internet address, we are making it easy for the consumer to connect with and support the wealth of Irish talent and creativity. Our high impact online campaigns will be backed by print advertising and coverage in the worldwide Irish press and on Irish emigrant and Diaspora websites. Check out buyirishonline.com today for great value on a wide selection of products from sellers throughout Ireland. New products and shops are being added every day in preparation for the official launch in September 2011.

Retailers/Craftspeople in LeitrimDo you have products or crafts you want to sell online to the worldwide market for Irish goods? If so, contact us at:

Tel: 071 9640631 email: [email protected]

We can open your shop today and have you online and selling within 24 hours.

Follow us on Facebook:www.facebook.com/buyirishonline

Buy Irish OnlineBuy Irish Online is a Leitrim-based online shopping company that is preparing

for its official launch in September. It will sell an extensive range of Irish products sourced from shops and crafts people throughout Ireland, creating a worldwide shop window for Irish products and services. This innovative Internet shopping website will reach a huge target market of over 100 million people. The company is niche-marketed to the Irish community around the globe as a one-stop destination for all things Irish. Bernie O’Hara, one of the company’s partners and co-founders, explains more below.

business


Stephen Keane is a primary school teacher in Drumshanbo, Co. Leitrim. Having taught in the senior end for 6 years, he felt it was high time something was done about addressing current affairs and news headlines with the children in a safe and secure forum. Who can argue with that! Printed and designed in county Leitrim and with a team of 6 writers (four from Leitrim) The Primary Planet, although a national initiative, is very much rooted in Leitrim and very much proud of that fact!You can contact Stephen at [email protected] for more information about The Primary Planet Newspaper.

business

Ireland’s first children’s newspaper is finally here. News, sport, music, entertainment and, dare I say, politics are among some of

the many topics featured in this exciting new paper each month, as well as children’s own contributions in the form of book reviews, short stories, poetry, school profiles and news reports. From a farmer’s journal to your dream car and from scientific inquiry to Hollywood gossip, The Primary Planet is doing its utmost to create a world for all interests. With the attributes of a newspaper, dressed in the garb of a glossy magazine, The Primary Planet’s appeal seems to be bang on the button! Children right across the country have taken to the first three editions with great aplomb and April 6th 2011 looks to have heralded a new beginning in news print and current affairs for children. With news pieces such as ‘OMG, it’s the IMF and the ECB’ it’s clear the writers from The Primary Planet are having fun yet tackling the big issues with ease and

presenting them to the children in a language they can easily relate to. To showcase the talent from children all across Ireland the newspaper’s website www.theprimaryplanet.ie is providing a national platform for publishing the pupils’ work and along with extra reading material, video clips, blogs and surveys, The Primary Planet is very committed to giving the senior primary school children real reasons to read and write. Created by teachers for all the right reasons and with a teachers’ planning aide to accompany the order each month, this creative endeavour is definitely worth supporting. You can email its creator Stephen to subscribe or request a sample paper to be sent to your school at [email protected] . The Primary Planet has over 170 schools already subscribed for the 2011/12 school year so, if you’re like me and see the value of a real newspaper for children, the wait is indeed over. www.theprimaryplanet.ie

Born and Read in Leitrim... and beyond!


1. Your Company Website• Buildaprofessionallydesignedwebsite

withthekeywordsinthekeyplaces.Donotbeanother‘metoo’website.

• UseGoogleKeywordTool-https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternaltoidentifythekeywordsincludingtheonesyourcompetitorsareusing.

• MonitortraffictoyourwebsitewithGoogleAnalytics-http://www.google.com/analytics/.Calculatethenumberofwebsales/queriesasa%ofthenumberofuniquevisitorstoyourwebsite.Ideallythisshouldbegreaterthan1%dependingonwhatyouareselling.

• Haveaclearcalltoactiononyourwebsitee.g.CallUsorSignUp.Don’tmakethephonenumberhardtofind.

• Addablogtoyourwebsiteandwriteatleastoneblogpostperweek.Mypreferredbloggingplatformishttp://wordpress.org/

• AddyourbusinessdetailstoGooglePlaces-www.google.com/placesforbusiness

2. Facebook• Setupacustomisedbusinesspage.Be

consistentwithyourexistinglook&feele.g.brand,logo,website,message&advertising.-http://www.facebook.com/pages/

• Setupa‘landingpage’andmakethatthedefaultunderEditinfo>ManagePermissions.

• Havea‘calltoLike’onthelandingpagewithareason/incentiveforpeopletodoso.

• Askyourself,whywouldsomeone‘Like’thispage?

• CheckyourpageInsights-http://www.facebook.com/insights/

• Runatargetedadcampaign–youcantargetbyage,gender,maritalstatusandlocation.Thereareafewothercriteriatochoosetoo.http://www.facebook.com/advertising/.Youcanalsocontrolhowmuchyouwanttospendandhowlongyouwanttoruntheadfor.YoucanchooseCostperClick(CPC)orCostper1000Impressions.Animpressionistheadappearing.CostperClickisprimarilyusedwhenyouwantpeopletotakeactionusuallyonline.CostperImpressionaregoodvalueforsheerbrandawareness.

Johnny Beirne is something of a force of nature within the Leitrim business community. If you run your own business and you haven’t already met him the chances are that you soon will. Based outside Carrick on Shannon, he provides training & mentoring in a number of areas of commerce. He has 14 years experience in Business Management, Information & Communication Technology and Business Innovation. He also co-founded and works for Opportune Media Ltd on downloadmusic.ie and Text A Track. Johnny is an expert on online resources for both established and start-up businesses and here he gives some advice to those of us who are just getting to grips with the benefits of an online presence. For more information about Johnny and his services visit his website:www.johnnybeirne.com

Six Steps to Online SuccessJohnny Beirne

3. Twitter• Twitterisusefulfornetworkmarketing

andkeepingyourname(orbusinessname)‘outthere’.http://www.twitter.com

• Usehttp://search.twitter.comtofindpeopleandtopicsworthfollowing.

• YoucansetFacebooktoupdateTwitterathttp://www.facebook.com/twitter/.TherearealsoanumberofwaysthatyoucansetTwittertoupdateFacebook.

4. LinkedInLinkedInisalsousefulfornetworkmarketingandprospecting.Youwillfindthedecisionmakersof1,000’sofcompaniesonLinkedInathttp://www.linkedin.com.Youshouldalsojoingroupsandcontributetotheconversationsthattakeplaceinthem.

5. Blog• Addablogtoyourwebsiteandshare

yourknowledgeregularly.Reportonwhatisgoingoninyourcompanyandinyourindustry.ConnectyourblogtoFacebookandTwitterwithhttp://dlvr.it(thereareothers).YoucanalsoaddyourblogtoyourLinkedInProfile.Blogsaresearchenginefriendlybydefaultwhichisalsocritical.

• Networkmarketbycontributingviacommentsonotherblogs.

6. Research & Increase Knowledge• UseGoogleAlertstoinformyouabout

aparticulartopicorcompanyincludingyourown,i.e.BrandMonitoring.http://www.google.com/alerts

• UseGoogleReadertosubscribetorelevantandinformativeblogs/websites.YoucanalsoaddGoogleAlertsandsearchresultsfromTwittertoGoogleReader.

Therearefurthertoolsandtechniquestousebuttheitemsoutlinedaboveareagreatstartingpoint.Youshouldreallytrytogettheseinplacefirst.You’llbesurprisedwiththepositiveresults.I’vemanagedtotripletheonlinesalesforaclientbydoingtheabove.

business


Inspirational Homes Leitrim showcases diverse ways of constructing sustainable homes, offices and other buildings by facilitating the shared experiences, knowledge and skills of builders, homeowners, architects - in fact, anyone with an interest in making ‘sustainable’ the future of building in Ireland. IHL’s ever-evolving website features over 40 homes and buildings from hi-spec offices to carefully renovated 100 year old cottages, showcasing many options for sustainable building, renovating and extending. The IHL website and Green-Door Weekend was officially launched on June 30th in Dublin. Eco-builder and architect and TV personality Duncan Stewart was on hand to endorse this innovative project. IHL’s Project Manager, Jo Lewis, told LL a little more about the company, its aspirations and the Green-Door Weekend.

Inspirational Homes Leitrim aims to provide a network for builders,

self-builders, architects, designers and home-owners who have an interest in the future of sustainable building and rural living. At a time when the environment as well as the economy is ever-changing, people are looking for alternatives and ways of making things easier on the planet as well as their pockets. Homes and buildings that are featured on the site offer many examples of the use of new technologies, designs and materials. The Green-Door Leitrim weekend will be held from the 9-11th September where over 30 homes and buildings will be open to the public. Project manager Jo Lewis says: ‘This is a festival of rural architecture; an opportunity for people to be inspired and encouraged to look at sustainable ways of building, technologies, materials and ways of life’. With architects, builders and home-owners on hand to give tours and answer questions, this is a unique chance to get real first-hand honest information. The weekend will start with a very topical debate: ‘Can architects help to

make rural living sustainable?’ With an eminent panel of architects and planners and chaired by Dr Sandra O’Connell this will leave people with thoughts and questions ringing in their ears as they head off to visit homes around the county. With exhibitions, films and children’s workshops throughout the county, this weekend is guaranteed to entertain and inspire. Check out the website for more details. At the launch Duncan Stewart said ‘there should be projects like this in every county - it is going to be a most useful network’.

Duncan hopes to make it down to the weekend in September where he will be encouraged to take the cycle tour of a number of homes in North Leitrim. This project received grant aid from the Leitrim Development Company Rural Development Programme which is financed by the Irish Government under the Rural Development Programme Ireland 2007-2013 and by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: Europe investing in Rural Areas.

www.inspirationalhomes.ie


the good

Gaby Wieland inherited her love for herbs and cooking with fresh produce from local markets from her grandmother. Born in Frankfurt/Main in Germany, she trained as a nurse. Cooking for a family with small children led to shopping for fresh and organic ingredients in health food stores. Making yoghurt, baking with freshly milled flour and experimenting with new ingredients like spelt became part of daily life. In search of a more sustainable and simple way of living Gaby moved to Ireland with her family in 1985. With her husband Hans they began growing organic vegetables for the family, baked sourdough bread for a local health food store and founded Cliffoney Organic Farmhouse Cheeses. Her love for herbs and her medical background led to her becoming a Naturopath and Herbalist, qualifying to practice after 4 years of study and training at the College of Naturopathic Medicine in Dublin. Gaby has also been a qualified Reflexologist and Reiki Master for over 10 years. She gives courses in growing and using herbs, wholefood cooking and baking, and living foods. Besides giving courses at the Organic Centre in Rossinver Co.Leitrim and at Neantog, Gaby is giving customised courses all over Ireland. She also works as a lecturer and cooking instructor with community and schools garden projects. She is visiting numerous Donegal schools at the moment to teach how to identify wild and cultivated herbs and how to use them. Gaby launched ‘Neantog Cookbook - Gaby’s Favourite Recipes’ in 2008 which is available from her website and in local bookshops and healthfood shops in the North West of Ireland.

[email protected] 087 902 9893

This salad is super high in Vitamin C and just delicious. And it’s so easy to make!

1-2 heads broccoli (or mix of broccoli and cauliflower)1 small red onion chopped finely

Dressing: Raw cashew mayonnaise

130g Cashews (soaked for a couple of hours, rinsed and drained)2 tbsp Lemon juicePinch of Sea salt1 tbsp spring onions, chopped125ml water1 tsp honey or agave syrup1 tsp cider vinegarA pinch or two of cayenne pepper Bunch of Silverweed herb, chopped finely or herb of your choice like Dill, Lemon Balm , Basil or Thyme

Blend all ingredients beside the silverweed in a high speed blender until smooth. Add silverweed and blend very briefly.

Here, Gaby shares her recipe for her Broccoli & Silverweed Salad - perfect for a sunny alfresco Leitrim lunch.

Directions:Cut up broccoli florets (or/and cauliflower) into bite-sized pieces, leaving just a little stem. Add chopped red onion and cashew mayo and mix well. Either serve immediately or cover, and marinate for a couple of hours in the fridge. Decorate with edible flowers like nasturtiums, calendula or heartsease or a couple of rose pedals and some red onion rings just before serving. Enjoy!

Note: This is just a basic recipe. You can also add finely sliced celery, olives, sunflower or pumpkin seeds or any other ingredients of your choice.

Silverweed


the good

LIDL in Carrick-on-Shannon recently unveiled their new in-store bakery - motto: “freshly baked throughout the day” - and LL gives it a big thumbs-up! Here in the Magic Cottage we’ve always found it tricky to source good quality bread that has texture and taste but we’ve already become hooked on LIDL’s pumpkin seed and rye & linseed oil loaves at €1.79 each (the latter is a triangular shape - weird, but it works). They also provide various other breads as well as a range of rolls, croissants, pastries and pretzels at very reasonable prices. Forget bread that has the texture (and probably the taste) of loft insulation and treat your family to something they can really get their teeth into.

LIDL employees, Dermot O’Brien and Barry McPadden, present the new in-store bakery in Carrick-on-Shannon

Victoria Hall Restaurant

Quay RoadCarrick-on-Shannon

Tel: 071 96 20320

www.victoriahall.ie

Open 7 DaysHours 12.30 – 22.00

Serving an eclectic mix of

Irish & Thai dishes

Great value menus - bring your own wine

(Corkage applies)

Gaby’s Broccoli & Silverweed Salad


Picture the scene: You put your 17 month old toddler down for an afternoon nap. You recently decided to take the sides from the cot in the hope that one day

you may be able to move her into a proper bed. You soon discover that this is a BIG MISTAKE. You’re sitting downstairs, relaxing with your other half (otherwise known as OH!) enjoying the peace, when you hear the pitter-patter of tiny hooves running around the landing. You hold your breath and pray that your toddler will become bored or, even better, tired and fall asleep at some stage, somewhere…anywhere! Half an hour later, the pitter-patter is accompanied by little squeals of mischief so you reluctantly make OH! go and investigate the situation. You know it can’t be good when he stands at the top of the stairs and calls you. To your horror and amusement, you get to the top of the stairs and discover that every visible surface is covered in white, fluffy, murder-to-remove cotton wool. It’s everywhere, and I do mean everywhere! Every inch of carpet is covered in the stuff. Trying not to laugh, because that would be your downfall, you ask your toddler what she’s doing. She replies, ‘look mammy, it’s snowing inside!’ You can’t help but laugh at the innocence because, even though it takes two hours to pick all the bits out of the carpet followed by hoovering on your hands and knees, it was effectively your own fault for leaving the stuff in a cupboard that would surely be investigated by tiny fingers at some stage. I have two little girls. My eldest ‘Darling Daughter’ (DD1) - the culprit in “The Cotton Wool Incident” - is now 3 years old and my youngest (DD2) is 13 months. I am convinced that

DD2 was ten days overdue because they say that babies can hear what’s happening outside the womb. If this is true then I don’t blame her for staying in there, where it’s nice and peaceful, until someone forced her out. She doesn’t talk yet. Not one word. This is because the position of house chatterbox has already been filled by DD1 and, to be honest, the poor child wouldn’t get a word in anyway. DD1 wakes me up in the mornings by stroking my face and saying ‘Mammy, you’re so pretty’, which I love, as it’s marginally better than later in the day when she tells me, ‘Mammy, you’re so fat.’ (I’m not, by the way. The Weight Watchers lady says I only have 3 stones to lose. I’ve lost two pounds already and it’s only been 6 months!) It’s hard work being a mother. It’s a day filled with washing, ironing, cooking, hoovering, wiping up spills, changing nappies, changing clothes, watching Waybuloo and trying to make sure they don’t fall, trip, hurt themselves, or torture the dog too much. It’s also the most rewarding job you’ll ever have. From when they wake up in the morning with sleepy smiles and big cuddles to during the day when they make you laugh until you cry, or manage to do a puzzle on their own, or stand up for a few seconds before falling over, to when you put them to bed at night and you get big kisses and they tell you they love you ‘this much’. And you know that you’ll get to do it all over again the next day, and that each and every moment with them is truly a blessing. It’s even worth the chocolate cravings...and the dreaded Weight Watchers weighing scales.

Mairéad is a mother of two and a resident of Carrick-on-Shannon. She is a Eumom ambassador and

she runs a regular mums and babies group for the Carrick area. You can find out more at:

www.facebook.com/Leitrim.Mums.and.Babies

Join Mairéad again in the next issue of LL for Episode 2 of Mother’s Day.

Mairéad Higgins writes for LL on the trials, tribulations and - ultimately - the joys of

being a Leitrim mammy.

EPISODE 1: “IT’S SNOWING INSIDE!”

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outdoor

The Glory ofGlamping

“Joe’s grandmother, who died in 1960, ran the pub all her life, then her daughter ran it for a while before it closed in 1963. Joe inherited it and we started renovating it in 1993 and opened it again in 1995, so it was untouched for over 30 years. It was completely derelict when we started work on it, with trees growing through the roof. It was a typical rural pub when we started. The local people were fantastic and they came in and supported it, people who’d come to it back in the fifties and sixties before it closed. In 2000 we opened the caravan park and campsite and dug out a marina. It was a gradual process but it all grew up around the pub. The drink-driving laws and the smoking ban started to affect the pub trade but the campsite means that people can have a drink without worrying about getting home. I had my own business in Carrick, which folded two years ago and Joe retired from his job in the public sector last October. We have kids that we still need to provide for so the business needs to keep us going. We’ve spent a few quid on the roadways and we put a new extension on the pub and we’re gradually increasing the standard all the time. We put in a kitchen and started serving food as well. It’s gone from being a small rural pub to being a much bigger business. The pub is an integral part of it and it’s all very complementary. People come on a Friday evening, check into their caravan or tent, they eat, go to our trad session and have a pint or two before rambling back out. We get a lot of repeat business. Then we got picked by the Brennan brothers to appear on ‘At Your Service’, which was a huge boost. We did the progamme last year and it was broadcast in February. We set up the glamping tents last year while they were filming and we were delighted to have the TV people there to highlight it. They’d never done a campsite before, they usually do hotels, but we had great fun with them. There was a lot of pressure and we worked really hard. They encouraged us to stay within our budget, even off-camera. It wasn’t just about the programme either because they’ve kept in touch with us.

They’re genuine. We were very lucky as the programme had 550,000 viewers. The week before the progamme went out our website had 35 hits. Twenty four hours after the programme we had 6,000 hits and the website crashed. The bookings are flying and I’d recommend the Brennans to anyone. It was all positive. They helped us with marketing our food as well and now we’re getting locals coming here to eat. They didn’t know we did food until they saw the programme. As a result of our increased profile we got picked by the Irish Independent as the third best campsite in Ireland. We’ve also won a Black & White pub award and we’ve been featured in several national newspapers and magazines. We’re now booked out until September. We’re getting hen parties and families and it’s working well. The glamping tents are really well-equipped, with proper bedding, carpet, a wood-burning stove, barbeque, outdoor furniture. There’s electricity in the tent and a water tap just outside. The feedback has been incredible. Everyone who comes loves it. There’s lots to do around here. Battlebridge Paintball is just up the road and they’re introducing zorbing now as well as the paintball (‘zorbing’ is the sport of rolling downhill inside a plastic globe. It sounds like great fun and we’ll have to check it out - Ed.). We’re a bit chuffed really because we don’t have business backgrounds. Joe’s a civil servant and I’m a nurse, so it’s great that you can achieve these things.”

The cost of a two-night stay in a glamping tent for four people is €160.Also, in September Beirnes are offering combined glamping and cruiser breaks. For details of these and other offers visit their website at: www.battlebridgecaravanandcamping.ie

What’s this ‘Glamping’ all about then?The idea of roughing it during a camping trip might sound appealing if it weren’t for the bugs, wild animals, sudden storms, leaking tents, smelly sleeping bags and questionable food. For a number of people, their first camping experience often becomes their last, but there is now a camping option growing in popularity. Welcome to the world of glamorous camping, otherwise known as ‘Glamping’.

LL spoke to Eilish Beirne of Beirnes of Battlebridge, just ouside Leitrim Village, to find out how, with a little help from Francis and John Brennan of RTE’s ‘At Your Service’, she and her husband, Joe, turned a derelict pub on a few acres of scrubland on the banks of the River Shannon into the modern, scenic camping and caravan site - now with added Glamping - that it has become.

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In the Summer, whatever the weather, Leitrim becomes all singing, all

dancing, all fun and frolics as Festival Fever takes over our towns and villages. LL reviews a couple that have already taken place and previews three more that will take place in August - one that’s well-established and two that are brand new.

The Carrick Water Music Festival

The Carrick Water Music Festival recently completed its 7th year, having begun life in the heady days of 2005. The original aim of the festival was to make classical music, and opera in particular, accessible to the area and to bring top

quality musical artistes across all genres to Carrick-on-Shannon. Since 2005 the Festival has enjoyed great success, introducing touring opera, classical music, folk, world music and jazz as well as providing unusual and entertaining side-shows for youngsters. Last year new ground was broken by bringing the first ever Proms to the West of Ireland and this July the feat was repeated with another Gala Proms. Headlining this year’s festival was the iconic music legend Joe Brown, making his first show appearance in Ireland since the 1960s. Now in his 70th year, and still rockin’ like a teenager, Joe is a legend in the music industry and is held in the highest esteem by musicians throughout the world, having played with the likes of George Harrison, Johnny Cash and Eddie Cochrane, to name just a few. The ‘Folk the Recession’ tour featuring Eleanor Shanley, Paul Kelly, Frankie Lane, Mick Hanly and Seamus Begley, also came to town. Many other events for both children and adults were staged over the course of the three-day Festival and LL is delighted to showcase some of them in our Festival Photo Feature. We can’t wait to see what’s on the menu in 2012.

All Carrick Water Music Festival photos by Keith Nolan.

Here’s “A Picture of You” Joe, looking thrilled to be in Carrick

outdoor


outdoor

Dromahair Demons FestivalFor one day each summer, the little village of Dromahair is transformed into a hub of activity, music, arts and craic. A parade of elaborate characters and revellers wind through the main street and people dance until the early hours, which can only mean one thing – the Dromahair Demons Festival. The festival, now in its fourth year, was started by a group of local visionaries who saw an opportunity to utilise the creative minds in the village to create a day with something for everyone. “There are so many artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians living in Dromahair, which is great for an event like this. Everyone has something to offer and we’re lucky that so many people want to contribute” Each year is themed, with the 2011 festival using the legend of Fionn mac Cumhaill. This resulted in two giant models being made by local artists (and ended with both being pummeled with paper mache boulders). Throughout the day there was an array of different activities, which change from year to year. Buskers of all ages line the streets to entertain and compete, and there is always something to entertain kids. This year it was a bouncy castle and bungee run, as well as a mechanical bull. The local theatre group, the “Loch Gill Players” hid around various points of an archeological walk, ready to leap out and regale participants with tales of Dromahair throughout the ages. There were a few walks throughout the day – as well as Sam Moore leading the archeology tour there were wild flower walks and a “Start the Day!” amble through the hills. When the parade finishes, the music begins. With so many great acts living locally, the village is spoilt for choice when it comes to gigs. Easy Rider and the Venusians have played for the last two years, as have Raw Chocolate. Headlining in 2011 were Joe Fury and the Hay Ride, who wrapped the night up with some great crowd pleasers. The Dromahair Demons Festival has grown from a small gathering to an integral part of village life, with help from local businesses and for 2011 the Leitrim Development Company Rural Development Programme. Thanks to their assistance and the fantastic community spirit of the village, the Demons Festival is set to put Dromahair on the map. The Dromahair Demons Festival runs each June. For more information, pictures and video visit www.dromahairdemonsfestival.ie

More photos of the Dromahair Demons Festival can be seen in the ‘Social Life’ section on page 55

More photos from the Carrick Water Music Festival can be seen in the ‘Social Life’ section on page 55


outdoorThe 46th Annual

Ballinamore Family Festival7th to 14th August 2011

By the time LL is published the Ballinamore Family Festival will be well under way and the 46th version of this annual event promises to be bigger and better than ever with seemingly every bar, business and tourist attraction in the area getting involved. There’s a wide spectrum of entertainment on offer to entertain the several thousand visitors to the town over the course of the 8 day festival, from great bands in the pubs and on the main stage in the centre of town to fun and games for the kids. The musical attractions cover all possible tastes; Big Generator, the Vibes, Jump the Sun, Red Light Inferno, Reverb and the Meatloaf Tribute, to name a few, will rock you from the stage and every other genre, including trad, country and pop and will be covered with a host of D.J.s spinnng your favourite tunes. Some of the other events include fishing, soccer, swimming, skittles, golf and photography competitions; art and local history exhibitions at the Solas Gallery and the Library; table quizzes, discos, a Housewife of the Year award, the Ultimate Ladies Night at the Commercial Hotel, the 51st Agrcultural Show, the Funfair at the Golf Links Road, a 10k road race and 5k fun run, Inter-Pub Dodge Ball; all wrapped up on th night of Sunday 14th August with a spectacular fireworks display. It would be unfair to single out any

particular event for praise, but who said life - especially Leitrim Life - was fair? LL’s personal Festival Favourites are Derry’s finest funksters, the Mindbenders, local artists Niall Megahey and Some Might Say, and the Adult Fancy Dress Hooley parade and ball on the night of Friday 12th August. As can be seen in the photos of previous Fancy Dress nights to the left, the Hooley is always guaranteed to bring out the locals’ sense of fun and great inventiveness as they ‘act the maggot’ in the best possible way. Pick up a copy of the 12 page Festival brochure for full details of the events and attractions.

Only at the Ballinamore Festival would you see Smurfette cuddling up to Austin Powers

The Seven Dealy Sins

The Gnomes are Revolting

The Mohill Bluegrass Festival 12th to 14th August 2011 (www.mohillbluegrass.com) Mohill resident and musician Tommy Kelleher was the man

who came up with the idea to run the first International Bluegrass Festival in his hometown. This year is the centenary of the birth of Bill Monroe, who is fondly known as ‘The Father of Bluegrass’, and the Festival’s aim is to promote Bluegrass music on a local & national basis. The bands playing include Waterford’s ‘Southern Welfare’, Athy’s ‘Woodbine’ and Cork’s ‘Southern Bluegrass Union’. Clarkes Hotel is the main venue.


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The Leitrim Free Fringe Festival Ballinamore

25th to 28th August 2011

The Leitrim Free Fringe Festival is an Irish local voluntary non-profit group solely dedicated to promoting community and cultural diversity of expression through the arts. Tracy Murray from Aughlin,Ballinamore, originally from Edinburgh, Scotland, grew up with and became involved in promoting the internationally acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe Festival and has always been inspired by people’s need to self express. The idea for a fringe festival in Leitrim was born out of living the experience of multidiverse indivuals coming together in one place to celebrate creativity that involved local community. Tracy says, ‘I felt that Leitrim needs this focus right now, where people can celebrate what they have instead of worrying about their futures, Our aims are not only to promote & encourage local and national, amateur/professional & multicultural talent in all its diverse forms, but particularly to facilitate free performance space and therefore inspire communities to embrace & celebrate the wealth of talent that exists all around them. We fundamentally believe that facilitating freedom of creative expression, especially for young people will help to refocus our concerns and connect through celebration of diversity which enriches communities at all levels. Money comes and money goes. Throughout all life’s ups and downs our ability to laugh, sing, dance, be moved by beauty/tragedy, be delighted by the amazing/bizarre/different remains…this is what makes life worth liiving. Though mostly the performances and events will centre around music off allsorts including, Trad, Alternative, Rock, Progressive/Metal, Folk/Medieval, Classical, other events include theatre, Poetry, Dance and a Film Festival. Some of our line up includes,Whipping Boy, C O’Neil, Cold Comfort, Cool Hand Dukes, Ilenkus, 21 Outs, Leonardo Torres, Nuada, Casper Hazelton, Claire Roche, Charlie McGettigan, Chance Your Arm, Pete Courtney and Fiachra O’Regan. Ballinamore offers a hotel, B&Bs, restaurants, cafes etc. We have secured so far at least 2 free camping venues with toilet facilities within the town centre and are working on more options...so come and celebrate humanity and all the joy of varied human expression at the Leitrim Free Fringe Festival’.

Claire Roche

Claire Roche

Charlie McGettigan

Fiachra O’Regan

LL will review the Ballinamore Family Festival, the Mohill Bluegrass Festival and the Leitrim Free Fringe Festival in the next issue.


an adventurous

The images depicted over the following four pages are part of a large collection of photographs taken by well-known local photographer Eunan Sweeney on a recent trip to India. Eunan teamed up with ceramicist and friend, Peter Fullop, and they spent three weeks travelling the country. Peter, having been to India a few times, was of invaluable help as his local knowledge, combined with Eunan’s natural eye for the unusual as well as the picturesque, have produced some outstanding images. The vibrant red, blue and yellow Saris; the village woman preparing breakfast; the dignity of an old man praying in the Ganges; the contrast of the cool of the Hall of Audiences at Jaipur with the visible heat surrounding

Weeks In India3a man pulling a heavily laden cart; the traditional boat at dawn on the Ganges and the beguiling smiles of the young have captured a small glimpse of the real India.

Eunan’s India collection, along with a large collection of Irish landscapes, including many Leitrim scenes, can be purchased through his website at: www.eunansweeneyphotography.com

Eunan can be contacted at: 071 9645726 or 087 6488660Eunan Sweeney PhotographyWillowfield RoadBallinamoreCo. Leitrim



Water from the well, Rajasthan

Morning prayers in the Ganges, Varanassi

Three Wise Men, Pushkar, Rajasthan

Villager preparing breakfast, Rajasthan


52 Leitrim , Issue 1, August/September 2011All India images copyright: Eunan Sweeney

Left: Hall of Audiences, Amber Fort, Rajasthan

Centre: Man pulling cartload of steel rods, Pushkar, Rajasthan

Below: Pilgrim boats on the Ganges, Varanassi

Right: A member of the Hijra community.

Hijras are physiological males who have feminine gender identity, women’s

clothing and other feminine gender roles.

They have a long recorded history in the Indian subcontinent, from the Mughal

Empire period onwards.

Many hijras live in well-defined, organized, all-hijra communities, led

by a guru.These communities have sustained themselves over generations

by “adopting” young boys who are rejected by, or flee their family of origin. Many work as prostitutes for survival.

Since the late 20th century, some hijra activists and Western non-government

organizations (NGOs) have been lobbying for official recognition of the hijra as a kind of “third sex” or “third gender,” as neither man nor woman.

an adventurous


54 Leitrim , Issue 1, August/September 2011 All India images copyright: Eunan Sweeney

Blue Sari, Pushkar, Rajasthan

Traditional Musician,

Pushkar,Rajasthan

Holy Man,Pushkar,

Rajasthan

Musician,Pushkar,Rajasthan

Dawn on the River Ganges, Varanassi.

an adventurous


social Some happy people attending the Carrick Water Music Festival (All CWMF photos by Keith Nolan)

...and a couple of shots of more happy faces at the Dromahair Demons parade.


night

The night of Friday 22nd July saw the opening of Club 360, Carrick-on-Shannon’s newest nightclub.Open every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night from 11pm

this stunning new dance venue in the Landmark Hotel is the place to be and be seen and admission is free. Club 360 takes late night clubbing to a new level offering the complete nightclub experience wih great tunes, a vibrant atmosphere, a friendly welcome and efficient service. There are several bars, a cocktail corner and ample seating areas to chill out amongst friends old and new or take to the dance floor where great local DJs will combine hip-hop, house, funk, contemporary rock and chart topping hits. Club 360 also offers a free shuttle which takes you to the front door. For more information about Club 360, or to book a private booth: phone 071 96 22 222 or email [email protected] You can join the Club 360 Facebook page at: www.Facebook.com/Club 360 for all the latest pictures, events, promotions and competitions.

Pictured to the right are just some of the of the happy club-goers who packed Club 360 over the opening weekend.

club 360


married

In each issue of Leitrim Life magazine we’ll feature weddings that either took place within the county, or where Leitrim couples got married somewhere else in the world. An example of the latter is pictured here, when Edel Mollohan and Alan Byrne of Leitrim Village travelled to Malta for their nuptial celebrations.

Photos: Maria Mollohanwww.avemariaphotography.com


Contact: Niamh McGowan, Dromahair, Co. Leitrim Tel: 087 2870986

www.facebook.com/NiamhsBeautyonyourdoorstep

Niamh McGowan is a professional Makeup Artist and Beauty Specialist offering beauty treatments including Makeup, Facials, Waxing, Nails, Shellac, Tanning and much more.

Niamh also works closely with Brides to create the perfect look to suit their personality and style, ensuring that they look radiant and beautiful on their Big Day.

Niamh has over 8 years experience within the beauty industry. She runs her own salon from her home in Dromahair and also operates freelance within Leitrim, Sligo and South Donegal.


Literary

Orlagh Kelly of

The Reading Room bookshop, Bridge Street, Carrick-on-Shannon has some great holiday reading suggestions for wiling

away the hours on that sun drenched Spanish beach (or, failing that, for when you’re stuck indoors at home

watching the rain fall out of the heavens).

A Game of ThronesGeorge RR Martin

Fancy a bit of greed? Treachery? War? Then this fantasy tome is for you. Set in a fabulous world scarred by battle and catastrophe over 8,000 years of recorded history, it tells of the deeds of men and women locked in the deadliest of conflicts and the terrible legacy they will leave their children. In The Game of Thrones, you win or you die. And in the bitter-cold, unliving lands beyond the Wall, a terrible winter gathers and the others - the undead, the neverborn, wildlings to whom the threat of the sword is nothing - make ready to descend on the realms of men. This has been successfully and faithfully turned into a mini series by the American channel HBO. Filming in Northern Ireland for series two has already begun.

PluggedEoin Colfer

Dan, an Irishman who’s ended up in New Jersey, finds himself embroiled in a world of murder, kidnapping and corrupt cops. Dan works as a bouncer in a seedy club, half in love with hostess Connie. When Connie is murdered on the premises, a vengeful Dan finds himself embroiled in an increasingly deadly sequence of events in which his doctor friend Zeb goes mysteriously missing, a cop-killing female cop becomes his only ally, and he makes an enemy of ruthless drug-dealer Mike Madden. This is Colfer’s first foray into adult fiction and it is crime fiction that manages to honour the genre while also being witty and warm. This isn’t the last we will hear from Dan McEvoy.

A Visit from the Goon SquadJenniger Egan

This Pulitzer Prize novel circles the lives of Bennie Salazar, an ageing former punk rocker and record executive, and Sasha, the passionate, troubled young woman he employs. Although Bennie and Sasha never discover each other’s pasts, the reader does, in intimate detail, along with the secret lives of a host of other characters whose paths intersect with theirs, over many years, in locales as varied as New York, San Francisco, Naples, and Africa. It is funny, irreverent, random and exceedingly well written.

Visit The Reading Room’s website at:www.thereadingroom.ie


Literary

The Ice Cream WarA short story by Leitrim resident, Ann O’Nymus

It happened every evening. Somewhere between seven thirty and eight the little fecker would show up in his scummy, battle-scarred dirt-box, stop

outside my apartment and set off his fanfare. I’d be in the throes of Sally and Kev’s latest row on Corrie, already in a sour mood about my ailing business, when all of a sudden the air would be rent by a thousand decibel rendition of Popeye the Sailor Man, so distorted by volume and insufficient speaker wattage as to be barely recognisable. When this first happened I assumed that a thrash metal band had, for some bizarre reason, decided to rehearse a cover version of Popeye directly outside my front window. When I peeked through my blinds I was astonished to see a shirtless skinny gurrier with weeping pizza skin hanging out of a window that had been inexpertly hacked out of the side of a decrepit van the colour of venal blood. He was dispensing a small, sickly-looking ice cream cone to a solitary small, sickly-looking child. After a few consecutive nights of this uproar I asked him to reduce the volume, only to be told that I was interfering with a man’s right to make an honest living, followed by a most creative suggestion as to where I could stick my complaints. I suppose I could have sorted it out there and then but I didn’t want to draw undue attention to myself. He may even have had a point back then, at the tail end of the summer, but it carried on into the middle of November, for Christ’s sake! Who in their right mind was going to want a Zoom or a 99 when it was two below zero? Very few kids seemed to buy his wares, which was totally understandable as any parents who’d seen the microbe-smeared van would have decided that, rather than treating their offspring to a virus cocktail, they’d save time and money by injecting them with neat salmonella in the comfort of their own home. I finally figured out what was going down, though. Following a regular audit of the van’s to-ings and fro-ings I realised that Popeye’s customer base was largely made up of the local thuggery from my estate, many of whom I recognised from my own previous dealings with them. Why would a constant stream of Neanderthals drag their knuckles to his van for an ice cream? Maybe that wasn’t the only confection on offer. I collared one of the troglodytes one evening as he

What do you do when your peace of mind is shattered? Accept it, or take direct action?was passing my front door on his way back from the van. Sure enough, it turned out that Popeye was using his van as a cover for cocaine deliveries. Pure genius. I had three choices. Well, two really - shopping him to the Gardai wasn’t an option. Setting the health inspectors on him was, but I discounted this idea as too lengthy a process. I wanted his operation shut down a.s.a.p. so I decided instead to pay him a visit with my old mate, Big Louis. One dark and rain-lashed evening me and Big Louis - a heavy wooden Louisville Slugger baseball bat

that I’d held onto from my amateur softball days - followed the ice cream van in my Jag. After visiting a couple of other local estates Popeye eventually drove to a remote and secluded alleyway. We found him in the act of totting up his earnings. I didn’t say a word as Big Louis set about systematically reducing the van to its constituent parts, but Popeye obviously got the message as I’ve seen neither hide nor hair of him since then. I’m much happier now. I’m the proud owner of five spanking new ice cream vans that do the rounds of council estates in some of the less salubrious parts of town. I make sure that the vans are spotlessly clean and that their drivers, unlike Popeye, are well-groomed and courteous. I also ensure that their signature music - the rather appropriate ‘Come Fly With Me’ - is played at a reasonable volume and for no longer than thirty seconds. It’s great for business…and business is great.


Photo Books – Pure Genius

There has recently been a revolution in the publishing world thanks to the advent of ‘Print On Demand’ (POD), which is a form of self-publishing (also known as vanity

publishing). Years ago, if you wanted to get your novel, cookbook, autobiography or non-fiction history of Cloontyprughlish into print but you couldn’t persuade an established publisher to do it (due to it being too esoteric, too complex or just plain rubbish), you had to pay for it to be published yourself. This was an extremely expensive business, with costs often running into thousands, as most publishers wouldn’t consider printing less than several hundred copies. You would then be left with a garage full of rotting tomes that you couldn’t even give away. Now, with POD, you can order a single copy of your masterpiece online for not much more than you’d pay for Dan Brown’s latest epic in a bookshop (personally, I wouldn’t pay anything for Dan Brown, but you get my point). This is where photo books come in. So, imagine you’re just back from your summer holiyers. What’s the first thing you do when you arrive home? After doing the unpacking, chucking your dirty undies in the washing machine and recovering from jetlag and Montezuma’s Revenge? Okay, what’s the fourth thing you do? You look at your photos, don’t you? All those happy memories sitting in your camera just waiting to remind you of the sunburn, the sessions, the people you met and fell out with, the IHOP breakfasts, the extra four inches that you added to your waistline after those IHOP breakfasts. In the olden days you had to take your 35mm film to your local chemist to be developed so you had to wait and hope that the person doing the developing wasn’t having a bad hair day, the result being that you’d be handed an envelope containing 36 black rectangular pieces of paper. The beauty of digital photography is that you already know that your snaps are half decent because you’ve seen them on the little screen on your camera. So you upload them to your PC as soon as you set foot inside your home. You ooh and aah over them for a few minutes as they scroll past your eyes in slideshow mode. Then what? They sit in a folder, unloved and forgotten for all eternity. Sure, you can print them out but after the first couple of times you do this you realise that you’ve just gone through a couple of print cartridges at twenty quid a pop so you tell yourself that you’ll do it later. And as we all know, mañana never comes. Even if you do print them, what happens then? They end up in an album or just stuffed into a box, never to see the light of day, along with all the old black ones that you got developed at the chemist’s.

Well, Leitrim Life is happy to inform you that there is now a solution to this problem. I recently decided to do somethingabout all of the boxes of photos that we’ve amassed over the years. My first thought was to go online to see if any companies were offering cheap bulk orders of photo albums. I’m not a great fan of traditional photo albums as I get a bit fed up with turning them around every time the photos change from portrait to landscape, but it seemed to be the most cost-effective solution. So I googled ‘cheap bulk photo albums’, only to see the phrase, ‘photo book’, pop up everywhere. I clicked on a link to a company called Blurb.com (there are many others) and I was immediately intrigued. The process involved in preparing your photo book is quite simple; you download a piece of software called ‘booksmart’ from the Blurb site and upload whichever photos you want printed. You then click and drag your photos onto Blurb’s page templates, of which there are many. For example, you can choose to fill a whole page with one large photo or you can have twelve small photos on a page, with many variations in between, including montages. And it doesn’t matter if your photos are portrait or landscape so you avoid the turning thing. You have a choice of three covers - soft, hard with a separate dustjacket or printed hardcover. There are also several book sizes and formats to choose from and a huge range of coloured backgrounds and themes. You can also add text, from short captions to full pages. My first Blurb photo book was a gift for a couple of close friends (photo books make fantastic presents). It was 70 pages containing 220 snaps of weekends away and parties that we’d been to with them, spanning a couple of decades. I chose a black background on premium paper with a dustjacketed hardcover, for the princely sum of €35 and delivered to our door within three weeks, all the way from America. Does this sound a bit pricey? Well, I thought so until I did some quick calculations. The price of printing 220 photos would be at least €20 and a half-decent photo album would set you back another €15 or more. So it would be the same price (you can spend less if you go for a softcover with fewer pages). But what you end up with is so much more than a mere photo album. It’s a beautiful, high-quality, visually stimulating coffee table book that you’re much more likely to return to. I’ve also put together a couple of holiday photo books. Blurb is great for this as you can scan pieces of ephemera as well as photos, e.g. tickets from shows, train journeys & visitor attractions, receipts, menus, adverts - you name it. It’s not just for digital photos either. I’ve also scanned a load of hard copy photos onto my PC and uploaded them onto Blurb. The only downside with this is that the resolution isn’t as high as with digital so you can’t usually display them as full page photos. If you try to do this a little yellow triangle appears to inform you that the resolution is insufficient so you just reduce the size until the triangle disappears - very clever. However, it is possible to overcome this problem using a negative scanner as scanning the photo negative results in a much higher resolution. Enough already! As you will have guessed by now, I’m becoming quite evangelical about photo books. And the absolute best thing about them? Once you have a bookcase full of them you can clear out all those boxes of photos that you never look at from the spare room and put them in the attic. Photo books - the best invention since the DVD.

www.blurb.com Words: BA


The Summer is with us and parents are once again faced with the perennial question of what to do with the kids on these long, hot, stone

splittingly sunny days (who said we don’t have a sense of humour?).Leitrim possesses a wealth of sporting activities that appeal to both

children and adults and there are many clubs and trainers that are more than willing to give you a hand to get started. We take a look at three very different sports that your kids might like to consider giving a go.

Traditional Archery at Drumcoura City

Dave teaches Evan Murphy, on holiday in Leitrim with his family from Co. Wexford, the art of archery. Evan had never picked up a bow and arrow before but under Dave’s patient tutelage he still managed to hit the target 9 times out of 9 attempts.

sporting

Dave Hodson, a member of the Irish Traditional Field Archery Society (ITFAS), has been a traditional archery coach (ITFAS accredited) for the last 4 years.

At his static and field archery site based in Drumcoura City a few miles outside Ballinamore he teaches adults and children from 8 years old and upwards the finer points of the sport. Dave started his company in January 2011 and the Drumcoura site was officially opened by Frank Feighan TD, who seemed to greatly enjoy his first attempts at the range (one can only guess who he imagined he was aiming at). Dave gives taster and practice sessions and he has also introduced a forest hunting trail through the woodland surrounding Drumcoura. On the trail, following two full practice seessions, budding archers can simulate the hunting experience by firing their arrows at targets set around the forest. This sounds like a lot of fun and LL will definitely be in the queue. Dave also travels around the country with his assistant and partner Kim - without whose management skill he’d be lost - to various shows around the country, such as ‘Medieval Midsummer’, where he showcases his craft skills, gives archery displays and teaches beginners to ‘have a go’ in 12 arrows. Traditional Archery at Drumcoura City is open Tuesdays to Saturdays with prices ranging from €5 to €25 depending on the session required. For further details about the archery coaching, the forest hunting trail or Dave’s craft products contact:

Dave or Kim on 086 16 08 354or visit the website at: www.drumcoura-archery.webs.comDave is also on Facebook at Mircat Manufacturing

Mircat ManufacturingDave has also been making bows, arrows and associated equipment for the last 2 years under the title, ‘Mircat Manufacturing’. He was laid off from his job in 2008 and a week later he made his first bow. His first products, known as ‘Woodies Specials’, were made from timber purchased at Woodies DIY stores but he now uses a variety of woods. He also produces leatherwork such as forearm protectors used in archery. This has led to other interesting projects, for example, making leather accessories for Stíofán de Roiste of celtic rock/pagan metal band, ‘Celtachor’. Dave can supply a beginner with a starter bow - either a medieval longbow or an American flat bow - for around €100.


sporting

with Brian BohanEslin Bridge-based Brian Bohan has been fishing the lakes and rivers of

Leitrim all his life - since he was a ‘gosson’ - and he’s now passing on his passion for the sport to his daughter, Roisin. He is a member of Ireland’s International

fishing team and he’s off to Scotland at the beginning of August to take part in the Celtic Cup.

Brian set up the Leitrim Youth Fishing Club about a month ago and he is keen to attract new members. The club is also seeking a main sponsor. Any teenage

boys and girls with an interest in fishing, or any potential sponsors for the club can contact Brian at: Tel: 087 4124851 / e-mail: [email protected]

Brian lands a very healthy looking pike...

County Leitrim has some of the best fishing in Ireland, whether it’s bream, tench, trout, pike, roach, rudd or hybrids. There are numerous lakes,

rivers and canals to choose from and it can be daunting to choose where to fish and how to fish certain waters. For me, fishing and walking with foot beagles is a big part of my life as I was brought up to it by my father. With a number of fishing clubs in the county there will always be somebody to start you off. The newly-formed Leitrim Youth Fishing Club will be holding open days over the summer and it is a great opportunity to get youngsters involved in the sport. The club recently had 6 of its members represent Connacht in the Inter-Provincials, which were held in Mullingar. The team were all from the Leitrim-based club and they did very well. The object of the club is to teach youngsters to fish for pleasure and if they wish they can move into the sporting end of things against other clubs all over Ireland, at all Ireland Inter-Provincial open days and so on and move onto the international teams. The members of the team that represented Connacht this year were: Diarmod McKieran, Josh Kelly, Stephen Meehan, Kevin Moran, Roisin Bohan and David Wynne. Tench fishing begins in April and continues on through the summer with numerous lakes holding good stocks.

There will be a lake near you that holds tench, which is a hard fighting fish that does not give in till it’s in the net. Fish to specimen weight of 6lb are not uncommon in Leitrim.

(Just before LL went to print Brian proudly told me that Josh Kelly has been selected as a youth international and he, too, is travelling to Scotland in August to represent Ireland in the Junior Celtic Cup - Ed.).

Join Brian again in the next issue of LL for more ‘On the Hook’.

...and a fine selection of tench

The Community Soccer Academy has been operating in the Ballinamore/Mohill area since April 2010. Our objective is to bring together

children from different communities and give them the opportunity to avail of coaching by qualified soccer coaches on a structured pathway of development. Our emphasis is on the development of the individual as both a player and a person and we encourage them to reach their full potential and to understand the importance of teamwork. CS Academy provides a pathway for young people to develop new skills and become more confident in their own ability. Through participation they can have fun, learn and develop life skills, make new friends and experience life in a way that will enhance their personal growth throughout the course of their lives. In the 16 months that the academy has been in operation our numbers have risen to over 90 members - girls and boys - ranging in ages from 6 to 13 years, of all abilities and levels. There are growing concerns within the medical community about inactive children and the increase in obesity rates. The best defence against these problems is to introduce fun fitness activities and healthy eating to young pre-schoolers with the intention of building a fit lifestyle throughout their childhood and into adulthood. It was with this in mind that we introduced our Mini Kickers physical activity programme for 3 to 5 year olds into childcare facilities earlier this year. The program has met with enormous approval from parents and facility managers and we now run Mini Kickers on Saturday mornings throughout the season, which runs from 22nd August to 22nd June. As we are an academy and not a club our coaching pathway is open to players from other clubs as well, so they can take advantage of extra tuition at one of our sessions during the week and continue to play for their respective clubs at weekends. Player development starts with our soccer school for 6 to 9 year olds and then moves on to the junior academy for 10 to 13 year olds. We also run an elite development programme and players for this will be selected from the junior academy. The selection process will be determined

Andy David is the Head Coach of the Community Soccer Academy, based in Mohill.

In the first of a regular column about underage soccer, Andy writes about the Academy’s aims.

sporting

Some of the CS Academy lads on the hallowed turf at the Falkirk FC football ground in April this year.

by players showing technical ability, good attitude, good work ethic and ability to work as a team. The programme will allow players to maximise their potential earlier and introduce them to more advanced skills in keeping with their age bracket and developmental stage. Once a player reaches 14 years of age they then move into our youth academy. We are proud to be linked with Falkirk FC in Scotland who run a community soccer programme for over 3,000 children. Tom Elliot, their Head of Community Coaching, has been instrumental in the growth and success of CS Academy with his ‘always available’ attitude and valuable advice. We took our U-11 squad over to Falkirk to play in the Falkirk Cup in April this year, a tournament that involved 116 teams playing 10 matches each in 2 days. It was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend for all concerned, with the highlight for our players being the guided tour of the Falkirk Stadium and discussion with Tom himself. We are bringing Tom over to Leitrim in the coming weeks where he will conduct a ‘Coerver’ coaching session and we will be inviting the three other clubs in Leitrim - Abbey Rovers (Ballinamore), Carrick Town FC (Carrick on Shannon) and Manorhamilton Rangers - to attend Tom’s presentation of this unique approach to developing soccer skills. Tom’s presentation will be open to coaches as well so check our website - www.communitysocceracademy.com - over the next few weeks for confirmation of dates.

Is the next Messi, Ronaldo or Keane (Roy or Robbie) living in Leitrim?


AboutLeitrim.ie is a constantly updated online news resource for what’s happening in Leitrim under the topics of Jobs, Property, Tourism, Arts, Sport and Local Services. It has been live for just under 2 years now and regularly attracts a healthy number of visitors per month. It was an idea born out of the Leitrim IT network that I was a part of and I decided to take on the building and running of it myself as a way of giving something back to the county I moved to in 2003 and have gained so much from ever since. It was intended from the beginning that a resource such as this would benefit the visibility of county Leitrim on the web and attract people who maybe intended to re-locate here and were wondering about the availability of property, business support, events, community, etc. before they committed. The site is mostly automated and gathers articles in one place from numerous Leitrim related sources, categorises them and re-publishes them on the AboutLeitrim.ie site with credits to the originator. Every article published also goes to the dedicated Facebook page at Facebook.com/AboutLeitrim and a Twitter account at Twitter.com/AboutLeitrim. The site also takes manual registrations from anyone who wants to write and publish articles themselves, the only criteria being that all articles must me Leitrim related in some way. Leitrim based or focused businesses can promote their services for free this way. Image ads are also accepted for a low monthly fee of €30 (or whatever you can afford!) mostly just to cover costs of hosting, maintenance, etc..profit is not really required and if there ever is one, it will be used to advertise the site more effectively. AboutLeitrim.ie is always open to new feeds, registrations, articles or just useful feedback!

Leon QuinnReverb Studios Designwww.ReverbStudios.ie

Leon Quinn of Reverb Studios Digital Design, Keshcarrigan, writes about a great online resource for promoting Leitrim: ABOUTLeitrim.ie

Album ReviewsWe review two very different CDs by artists with strong Leitrim connections - one is contemporary, up-to-the minute pop with rock leanings, the other is a more traditional affair altogether. Both are hugely enjoyable and each contains tracks to get you dancing. Just decide what you’re in the mood for and crank up the volume.

Rocket ScienceStoryfoldRocket Science kicks off with the shimmering pop of ‘Ciara, Don’t Be Angry’ and you immediately know that summer has arrived, as you’re overcome with smiley, happy, sunniness. The feeling continues throughout the album which, as a whole, is a big production slice of bouncy joy where the two vocalists, Lindsey Hogan and Paddy McKenna, gel together to beautiful effect. Musically, the band are on top form as well. Paddy’s rhythm guitar chugs and jangles in all the right place, Lindsey’s piano work is gorgeous, guitarist Michael Fortune delivers powerful riffing and tasteful, well-constructed solos and bassist Jim McGourty and drummer Sean McDonnell have forged a rhythm section partnership that drives the band like a well-oiled performance engine. In addition, judicious use of a string section fleshes out several of the tracks. Great anthemic pop and rock songs that you can’t help bawling along with, excellently produced, superb musicianship - what more could you ask for? If Storyfold don’t crack the big time there’s no justice! Ten out of ten!

The Leitrim Equation²Various Artists (Feat. Dervish)Following on from the first Leitrim Equation album - released in 2009 and featuring Lunasa, the Leitrim Traditional Band in Residence at the time - comes this second volume of trad music performed by Leitrim musicians, this time with members of Dervish, the most recent Band in Residence. The album is a fine mix of trad songs and instrumental jigs and reels, some that will get you singing along, others that will get your feet stomping. Cathy Jordan and the band sound like they had a high old time recording with the cream of Leitrim’s musical trad and folk scene, including Eleanor Shanley, Charlie McGettigan, Noel Sweeney, the Ward Family, Mary McPartlan, John McCartin and many more. The jigs and reels are skillfully played with gusto, often with a driving back-beat courtesy of Cathy’s bodhran, and the songs are sweetly sung. You’ll recognise many of them but I doubt whether they’ve been played better. The recording quality is also superb so hats off to the Glens Centre in Manorhamilton for a great job. Highly recommended!


At this point in each issue we’ll leave you with some uplifting thoughts from someone in the community with something to say

about Life and how best to live it.

In this issue Nuala Duignan, a qualified Life Coach, writes about

‘Positivity in the Face of Adversity’ “Life Coaching will assist you in becoming more aware of all the positives that

surround you. Life Coaching will support you in reaching your goals.”

You can contact Nuala at:Tel: 087 2532675/e.mail: [email protected]

Website: www.nualaduignanlifecoach.comLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nualaduignanlifecoach

“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe it can

achieve” Napoleon Hill

For so long things were booming economically. There was cheap credit, high

property prices and tremendous jobs growth. Now, all is utterly changed. We have gone from boom to bust and it has affected us all. It’s as though we were sold a false vision of what’s important and in the process we became blinded to what really counts. We now have a chance to look with new eyes at our lives and what we’re about. We must bear in mind though, that all this negative news can get over-emphasised by the media. Fear can act as a means of persuasion. Are you allowing the media to persuade you into a doom and gloom mindset? Consider actively avoiding the negative news on T.V., the Internet, radio and in the newspapers for the next month. It is often the negative input you feed into your mind that consumes

your thoughts and prevents you from viewing the positives in your life. It’s all about filling your mind with positive input. This can come from what you read, what you listen to and the people you spend your time with. With that positive attitude you will find yourself with more motivation each day to take the necessary actions towards a positive life.

Begin today by focusing on what is right in your life, rather than what’s wrong. Since we are so conditioned into noticing the negatives we often overlook the good in our lives. We should celebrate the good things, which are very often the simple things. Social and economic changes have been known to affect our health so it is imperative for each one of us to look after our thought processes. Try to prevent outside circumstances from determining how you feel. It’s how you react to, and deal with those circumstances that matters. Learn to create a trail of happiness as you go forward in your life. Not many people achieve all they want in life by themselves. Without support, it is all too easy to feel overwhelmed about what to do first. Somebody walking alongside you makes life infinitely easier.

“Take that first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole

staircase, just that first step” Martin Luthur King

We should celebrate the good things, which are very often

the simple things. We can feel helpless, negative and lethargic, sometimes even frustrated and resentful, by the situations we find ourselves in. We can live in fear determined by circumstances we perceive as being beyond our control. The opposite of powerlessness, however, is being in control - an ability to tackle the situation head-on, identify the stressor and then take a problem-solving approach to deal with it. It is a calm conviction about who we are, and our ability to deal positively with our current situation and with success.

Photo: Fiona McGuire

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