All the photos as Wexford Festival Opera volunteers unwind with traditional summer barbecue
The volunteers were joined by members of the Wexford Festival Opera and National Opera House teams for this annual barbecue, to thank them for their commitment and work both throughout the festival and across the year.
Sponsored by Ecclesiastical Insurance, the Wexford Festival Volunteer Programme has over 350 volunteers from all over the county who support the festival and dedicate their time to all aspects of the programme of events.
The 74th Wexford Festival Opera will kick off on October 17. For more see: wexfordopera.com
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Irish Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- Irish Daily Mirror
Hurling for Cancer Research star studded line ups unveiled for charity game
The star-studded teams for Jim Bolger and Davy Russell's annual 'Hurling for Cancer Research' game have been unveiled. Top hurlers, including TJ Reid, Patrick Horgan, Lee Chin, Noel McGrath, Jake Morris and Darragh McCarthy, will take part in the fundraiser, which has raised €1.66 million to date over 14 years. The charity game, which takes place at Netwatch Cullen Park next Monday, August 18 (7.30pm), will be aired live on TG4 and is sponsored by Centra. An array of stars from the world of racing and other sports will also take part, including Niall Quinn and Rachel Blackmore. Jim Bolger's All Stars will be managed by John Kiely and Liam Griffin, assisted by Larry O'Gorman with Davy Russell's Best coached by Brian Cody and All-Ireland winner Tipperary boss, Liam Cahill. Among the glittering list of stars stepping up to act as selectors, commentators, side-line officials, umpires and maor uisce are Paudie Clifford, Marty Morrissey, Anthony Daly, Willie Mullins, Bernard Dunne and Paul Townend. Also featuring on the night are Ursula Jacob, David Gough, Barry Geraghty, Danny Mullins, Michael Duignan, Paul Nolan, Willie McCreery, Jarlath Regan, Cyril Farrell, Jimmy Barry Murphy, Dickie Murphy, Colm O'Rourke, Kevin Manning and Colin Keane. Gates open at 5pm with pre-match entertainment and refreshments before throw-in at 7:30pm. Free car parking is available at Netwatch Cullen Park. Tickets are available from selected Centra and SuperValu GAA ticket agent stores, as well as online at (€10 for adults, €5 for children). Hurling for Cancer Research kits are available from Cúl Sliotars for just €50 with 10percent going to the charity. All proceeds from ticket sales and donations will go directly towards funding life-saving cancer research. Jim Bolger's All Stars Davy Russell's Best Bainisteoirí: Liam Griffin, John Kiely Damien Fitzhenry (Wexford) Mikey Butler (Kilkenny) Huw Lawlor (Kilkenny) Paddy Deegan (Kilkenny) Darragh O'Donovan (Limerick) Dan Morrissey (Limerick) Chris Crummy (Dublin) Lee Chin (Wexford) Ryan Taylor (Clare) Rory O'Connor (Wexford) TJ Reid (Kilkenny) Tom Morrissey (Limerick) Eoin Cody (Kilkenny ( Con O'Callaghan (Dublin) Adam Screeney (Offaly) SUBS BENCH Liam Hoare (Offaly) Walter Walsh (Kilkenny) Jack O'Connor (Wexford) Fergal Whitely (Dublin) Conor Mc Donald (Wexford) Brian Duignan (Offaly) Tommy Walsh (Kilkenny) Jackie Tyrrell (Kilkenny) Brian Carroll (Offaly) Aidan Mc Carthy (Clare) Eoin Ryan (Wexford) Eddie Brennan (Kilkenny) Grace Walsh (Kilkenny) Katie Nolan (Kilkenny) Stephen Hunt (Waterford) Mark Molloy (Wexford) Brian Cadigan (Kilkenny) James Dowling (Kilkenny) Richie Reid (Kilkenny) Adrian Mullen (Kilkenny) Dan Bourke (Offaly) Ollie Canning (Galway) Sammy Mc Evoy (Wexford) SELECTORS Jim Bolger (Wexford) Dave Bernie (Wexford) Larry O'Gorman (Wexford) Bainisteoirí: Brian Cody, Liam Cahill Brendan Cummins (Tipperary) Davy Russell (Cork) Eoin Downey (Cork) Dion Wall (Carlow) Alan Tynan (Tipperary) Robert Downey (Cork) Andrew Ormond (Tipperary) Noel Mc Grath (Tipperary) Brendan Maher (Tipperary) Jake Morris (Tipperary) Peter Duggan (Clare) Mark Rodgers (Clare) Darragh Mc Carthy (Tipperary) Patrick Horgan (Cork) Brian Hayes (Cork) SUBS BENCH Brian Tracey (Carlow) Craig Morgan (Tipperary) Ronan Hayes (Dublin) Brian Hayes (Dublin) Rian Boran (Kildare) Jack Sheridan (Kildare) Billy Seymour (Tipperary) Ciaran Whelan (Carlow) Ashling Thompson (Cork) Laura Murphy (Kilkenny) Mary O'Connell (Kilkenny) David Doyle (Tipperary) Mikey Fogarty (Wexford) Johnny Fogarty (Wexford) Neil Ryan (Tipperary) Gavin Dowling (Kildare) Liz Lawless (Meath) Aisling O'Reilly (Meath) Killian Doyle (Kilkenny) Michael Deady (Kilkenny) Sean Carroll (Kilkenny) SELECTORS Davy Russell (Cork) Andrew Kelly (Carlow)
Irish Times
11-08-2025
- Irish Times
‘An out-of-tune fiddle': Irish trad music is alive, but the pubs it is played in are dying
As the Fleadh Cheoil wraps up in Wexford , there will be plenty of time to reflect on the popularity of traditional music in Ireland. The previous weekend in Waterford, the 11-piece all-female trad group, Biird, drew a huge crowd at the All Together Now festival , and were later seen playing an impromptu session with Ed Sheeran during the Fleadh. Music festivals across the country now prominently feature traditional music being performed next to contemporary genres. Line-ups, support and main act combinations, and even the sounds within groups themselves are often in collision between the traditional and the new. These revolutions are both radical and referential, but none of this would be happening without the countless players, families and places that have held and passed on tunes over centuries. At the core of this heritage is the traditional music session. Over the past 20 years, a quarter of Ireland's pubs have closed, with rural areas the most adversely impacted. Like an out-of-tune fiddle, there is discordance at play with regards to the hunger for traditional music among younger generations, and the disappearance of places where it can be played, honed, shared and learned in unamplified sessions. READ MORE This brings us to Co Clare, probably the most important site of traditional music in the country. Kilfenora is a village with a storied musical history, especially with regards to the Kilfenora Céilí Band, making the place the home of céilí music. And yet if you are a musician in the village, and you want to drop in on a regular session in a pub, you'll have to drive to Doolin, Ennis or Miltown Malbay. Kilfenora Corner: A group of people has come together with a plan to purchase and reopen Linnane's Pub as a community space and social enterprise, with a focus on safeguarding musical tradition. Photograph: Ben Taylor Crucially, Kilfenora has its own sound. This subset of our intangible but vital heritage comes from the people, the land and the place. It is a sound that generated and infused tunes across the centuries through families, house dances and sessions. But where to play and pass on these tunes today? A group of people has come together with a plan to purchase and reopen Linnane's Pub in Kilfenora as a community space and social enterprise, with a focus on safeguarding the musical tradition of the area and promoting local culture. They are currently crowdfunding the project, asking for the public's help, and they need €350,000 to buy the pub and €150,000 to bring it back into use. Kilfenora Corner: 'These are the kinds of spaces that Ireland's rural villages and towns need more of. It's an idea with integrity.' Photograph: Ben Taylor The pub was the headquarters of the great Kitty Linnane, where many legendary musicians played. The plan for the project, entitled Kilfenora Corner, includes reopening the pub as a hub for unamplified sessions, with potential for a community garden, market space and creche. The project has also been approached by someone looking for a space in which to make flutes. These are the kinds of spaces that Ireland's rural villages and towns need more of. It's an idea with integrity, and imbued with a collective spirit and love of heritage and culture. Aoife Kelly is one of the people behind the project. A concertina player from a family of fiddle players, she comes from a long line of musicians, which now includes her siblings' children. Her family are all from Clare - her mother from Kilfenora and her father's side from the west of the county - and she divides her time between Kilfenora and Dublin. Her paternal grandfather was John Kelly, a member of Ceoltóirí Chualann, alongside Seán Ó Riada and founding members of The Chieftains . Aoife Kelly is one of those behind the Kilfenora Corner project. Photograph: Ben Taylor Her maternal grandfather is Jimmy O'Donoghue, aged 96 and from the townland of Clogher. When Kelly found rare photographs of house dances from the area in his home, 'Jimmy could tell me everybody in the photo, where it was, when it was, how there was an American wake for a woman in one of the photos - his memory is amazing.' She also discovered old tapes of local musicians, which formed the basis of her Sounds of Kilfenora project. Kilfenora, 1955. Aoife Kelly's maternal grandfather is Jimmy O'Donoghue (96), from the townland of Clogher. When Kelly found rare photographs of house dances from the area in his home, 'Jimmy could tell me everybody in the photo, where it was, when it was...' A recreation of the 1955 Kilfenora photograph, taken in 2022. 'You have Doolin, which has a lot of mic'd sessions. But we say 'unamplified', because that's what we do. You want to go into a pub, get a gang together, and play. There are house sessions, and that's all well and good, but they're for our friends – you're not playing with new people and meeting other people. It sounds strange, but when musicians find a place to play, it's quite special.' Linnane's could be that place once more. [ A Breton in Ireland: 'My wife calls me a culchie, which I completely embrace' Opens in new window ] Across Ireland, there is a growing number of people exploring community ownership of pubs and other third spaces. Accessing and administering finances for this are difficult, because our system around loans, mortgages and ownership is geared towards the individual and the corporate. But if the public got behind Kilfenora Corner, and the project was successful, it wouldn't just be a space for a community with a great spirit, a place to showcase Kilfenora's heritage, and a new hub for traditional music to be played, shared and passed on. It could demonstrate a people-powered model to save, preserve and invigorate villages and towns with a sense of potential and joy, not to mention to create jobs and attract tourism. Kilfenora Corner: all about preserving musical traditions of the past. Left to right are Noreen Lynch, Bridget Lynch and Tom Hegarty in a historical photo from Kilfenora. 'People are on screens, they're at home, they're lonely,' Kelly says, 'If you can have something like this to bring people together, then wouldn't that be a wonderful thing to do?'
Irish Daily Mirror
07-08-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Dublin Zoo announce arrival of new orangutan as heartwarming mural unveiled
Dublin Zoo has officially announced the arrival of Miri, a female adult Bornean orangutan - as it unveils a mural paying tribute to a beloved pair of apes who died within the last two years. Miri, who is 34 years old, arrived from Duisburg Zoo in July and has been settling in extremely well, developing a friendship with 20‑year‑old Mujur, the other female Bornean orangutan in Dublin Zoo's Orangutan Rainforest. Visitors have been getting their first glimpses of Miri over the past few weeks, with her favourite spot to relax being at the very top of a tree in the habitat. Her arrival is the first step in rebuilding the much‑loved orangutan group at Dublin Zoo, following the passing of the Zoo's beloved orangutan pair Sibu and Leonie in 2024 and 2025 respectively. Sibu and Leonie had been inseparable companions for over 40 years, and their loss has been keenly felt by the zoo's staff, volunteers, and visitors. To ensure their legacy lives on, Dublin Zoo commissioned Wexford‑based artist James Kirwan to paint a mural commemorating Sibu and Leonie. Sibu and Leonie had been inseparable companions for over 40 years, and their loss has been keenly felt by the Zoo's staff, volunteers, and visitors (Image: Dublin Zoo) The mural, which took four days to complete, is located just opposite the Orangutan Rainforest and is sure to spark fond memories for visitors who grew to love them over the decades. It depicts Sibu and Leonie at their most content – side by side. Ciarán McMahon, Team Leader at Dublin Zoo, said: 'Welcoming Miri to Dublin Zoo is a truly special moment. We hope she will play a central role in shaping our new Bornean orangutan family, even as we remember Sibu and Leonie – the iconic pair who were at the heart of our orangutan group for more than 40 years. "Since her arrival, Miri has settled in wonderfully and is already forming a close bond with Mujur. She's an impressive character with a strong personality, and we're excited for visitors to meet her and see her shine in the weeks and months ahead.' To mark World Orangutan Day on August 19, Dublin Zoo is offering a 25 per cent discount on adult, child and family tickets for visitors wearing orange between August 15 and 19 or those who pre-book for these dates via using the discount code ORANG25. Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest news from the Irish Mirror direct to your inbox: Sign up here.
