Latest news with #MountCharles
Belfast Telegraph
12-08-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
Mount Charles: a second generation family business putting its team's future first
It remains a leading facilities management company, founded in Belfast by Trevor Annon back in 1988. And it's now evolving into the next generation – with Trevor's sons Gavin and Chris leading Mount Charles into further growth and expansion, while ensuring its people are front and centre, and remain at the core of the business's success. That's been fuelled by the appointment of Mark Dorman in a new role as learning and development manager – building an ambitious leadership and mentoring academy to help team members excel and grow in their roles across the company. 'Business has been really good,' Gavin Annon says. 'We've been on a bit of a growth spurt again.' Mount Charles Group has evolved into a combined services solution which includes catering, cleaning, vending and multi scale events. They operate 350+ contracts in 1,000+ sites across the island of Ireland. Mount Charles now boasts 3,500 team members, and remains one of Northern Ireland's top 10 employers. But according to Gavin, it's aiming to increase team member numbers to more than 5,000 by 2030. 'For us, it's about making our people feel important,' Gavin says. 'It's about making them understand why they want to be here, whatever they want to do: part-time, full-time, or building a career. 'We can build on that and light a fire under that excitement – it's about getting up in the morning and making a difference and having a real impact.' Over the last four decades, it's expanded to include a bespoke events business, Craft Event Co, a casual recruitment agency, Werkit, corporate hospitality business (and joint venture with Yellow Door), Pan & Pour, and in 2023, acquired the Concept Group, a Belfast-based 'one-stop-shop' for facilities management companies. Gavin says Mount Charles eyes three core areas within the business, and the reasons for its success – great people, great service, and great future. 'If we attract and train exceptional talent, in turn, they should deliver a great service, and have a great future together,' he says. Mount Charles is taking its team and its development seriously. Mark Dorman joined the team last year, and has been instrumental in implementing a new learning platform across the business, which has been key for training new starts and maintaining the high standards expected of Mount Charles. And he's developed a Chartered Management Institute (CMI) recognised three-tier management training academy – key to the organisation's team development. 'We have introduced our mentoring and leadership academies, managers and aspiring managers begin with training at the mentoring level, and then they can progress to bronze and silver leadership levels,' Mark says. 'We were able to identify core skills which Mount Charles would need for its future leaders. 'It's been an amazing journey – showcasing the talent which is coming through the business.' The leadership academies are based on hands-on, reflective, on-the-job learning. 'It about showing people in this sector that there is a very clear career progression,' Gavin says. 'You may have someone working in cleaning who wants to become an operational manager, for example. We have a pathway to that trajectory.' Ensuring it remains a family business – with a wider family culture and atmosphere extending to its team – is key for Gavin and the wider Mount Charles business. 'It's the only reason we exist,' Gavin says. 'We have to maintain that as we get bigger and stay true to our values which are – do the right thing, take pride in what you do, have fun and grow together. These define us and tell the world we are one of a kind. 'We are not on a crusade for mass market domination. We are the only business out there which is competing with the very large ones. It's important that we remain strong and ensure everyone is on the same path and journey.' Mount Charles is focused on its contribution to wider society – ensuring it places environmental, social, and governance (ESG) front and centre of its strategy. It's also delivering key insights from some 45 of its executive committee, through to line managers. 'We have a duty around ESG, because of our size and scale,' Gavin says. 'It's not just a nice thing to do any more, it's now key, and it filters down to the suppliers which we work with. 'ESG is around 40% of our current strategy. When you can see the direct impact you are having it helps the company and the team – there's fulfilment in doing the right thing.' Mark says: 'We have signed up the Belfast Business Promise, and hope to move to member status.' That includes adopting eight pledges, helping the firm, and others, network, and play a bigger role within their community. 'It's about making strategic community partners,' Mark says. That includes working with local community groups, including USEL (Ulster Supported Employment). It's also heavily involved with industry organisations such as the IoD, NI Chamber, Belfast Chamber, CBI, and Ibec. And looking ahead towards further expansion and growth, Gavin says that will come through organic expansion, while Mount Charles is also actively looking at making a sizeable acquisition, to give it considerably more market share. 'It's not a race to a larger number,' Gavin says. 'We are a heavily people-orientated business, and can't function without them. 'What we are working on – and what Mark is focused on – is keeping our people for as long as possible, and investing our time in them. 'We are well on our way with our five-year strategy – developing our leadership academy and ensuring our team has a great future. We are also developing and adapting more integrated systems to make us more efficient. 'We will continue to keep pushing forward with our strategy over the next 12 months – keeping positive, and keeping on path. 'All-island growth is a priority. We aren't looking at new markets, but plan on becoming bigger, better, and stronger.'
Boston Globe
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
Henry Mount Charles, whose castle was a mecca for rock, dies at 74
Slane Castle, some 35 miles north of Dublin, in County Meath, became internationally known as a rock destination. Bruce Springsteen, Guns N' Roses, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Queen, Madonna, Foo Fighters, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Bryan Adams, Eminem, 50 Cent, R.E.M. and Oasis performed there, while VIP concertgoers wandered in and out of the owner's 18th-century hilltop Georgian pile resembling Downton Abbey. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Lord Mount Charles, an Anglo Irish peer turned rock 'n' roll promoter, died June 18 at a Dublin hospital at 74. His family said the cause was cancer. Advertisement For much of his life, Lord Mount Charles, who was dapper and entrepreneurial but thin-skinned, experienced inner turmoil about belonging to the Anglo Irish gentry. Originally from Scotland, his family, the Conynghams, was granted an Irish peerage by King George IV of England in the early 19th century, when the country was under British rule. In the modern-day Irish Republic, they were often identified with British colonialism. Advertisement 'I was an Irishman born and bred but viewed by many as a stranger in my own country,' Lord Mount Charles wrote in a 1989 memoir, 'Public Space -- Private Life.' Before the first Slane Castle concert, he was vilified as 'a British toad' for staging a show while hunger strikers were dying in prison in Northern Ireland during the sectarian strife there known as 'the Troubles.' Appearing on an Irish TV talk show the year the Rolling Stones played, he was asked by a tendentious host, 'Do you consider yourself English or Irish or some sort of strange colonial mixture?' Lord Mount Charles, who became the eighth Marquess Conyngham on the death of his father in 2009, pushed back at what he called prejudice against his position, though it continued to haunt him, including in his fruitless stabs at electoral politics. His reinvention as a rock promoter went a good ways toward restoring his morale, while the long-running Slane Castle concerts filled the accounts of his 1,500-acre estate. The money later helped fund a decade-long rebuild of the castle after a devastating fire in 1991. After their first performance, U2 moved into the castle in 1984 to record an album, 'The Unforgettable Fire.' Brian Eno, who produced it, struggled with the uneven voltage from the estate's hydroelectric generator on the banks of the Boyne. That summer, Dylan played at Slane, joined onstage by Van Morrison and Bono from U2. But the event was marred by violence the previous night, when a mob smashed shop windows in town and attacked the local police station. Lord Mount Charles was blamed in the local press, though he did not end the shows. In 1985, Springsteen drew a record crowd of 100,000 fans to the castle. He rehearsed his full set the night before for an audience of just half a dozen, including the lord of the castle. Advertisement In 1992, arguably the world's biggest rock band of the day, Guns N' Roses, was booked to play. A 'typhoon of chaos' ensued, Lord Mount Charles later recalled, when frontman Axl Rose became a no-show, keeping fans waiting for hours. Lord Mount Charles appealed to the band's lead guitarist, Slash, to find him, their agent having disappeared to fish on the Boyne. Rose was finally located in a Dublin pub, passed out, and was hustled to the castle to perform. The last Slane Castle festival was in 2023, when Harry Styles played for a crowd of 80,000. To further diversify the estate's income, Lord Mount Charles and his elder son, Alexander Conyngham, started Slane Irish Whiskey in 2009. The business was sold in 2015 to Brown-Forman, the powerhouse American maker of Jack Daniels, which built a $50 million distillery on the property. The Conyngham family says that the estate has been its ancestral home since 1703 and that the current manor house dates back to 1785, when a reconstruction began. Lord Mount Charles also persistently, if unsuccessfully, pursued a career in politics. He joined a center-right party, Fine Gael, and supported liberal social policies on abortion and divorce. But he failed to win a seat in the European Parliament in 1984 and in the Irish parliament in 1992. Henry Vivien Pierpont Conyngham was born in Dublin on May 25, 1951. He was the eldest of three sons of Frederick Conyngham, the seventh Marquess Conyngham, and Eileen Wren Newsam. A lover of dogs and horses, his mother had grown up across the river from Slane Castle and later had a bit part in 'Captain Lightfoot,' a 1955 movie starring Rock Hudson that was filmed on the estate. Advertisement His father had four marriages, and Henry, whose original title was Viscount Slane, was brought up largely by a housekeeper, Mary Browne. He affectionately dedicated his memoir to her. Henry attended Harrow, a private boarding school in England, and Harvard University, graduating in 1973. He was married twice, first in 1971 to Juliet Ann Kitson, whose mother, Penelope Kitson, was a decorator and companion to oil billionaire J. Paul Getty. Lord Mount Charles and his first wife married young, each seeking stability from the turmoil of their multiply-married parents. They divorced in 1985, and later that year he married Iona Charlotte Grimston, a daughter of the sixth Earl of Verulam. He leaves his second wife; his children from his first marriage, Alexander, Henrietta and Wolfe Conyngham; a daughter from his second marriage, Tamara Conyngham; and brothers Simon and Patrick Conyngham. In his memoir, Lord Mount Charles wrote that rock music's most rebellious bands, like the Stones and the Who, were his favorites, their music echoing his personal storms. 'The internal anger and frustration I have felt about being made to feel an outsider in my own country, and an irrelevant anachronism, has been eased by music,' he wrote, 'and most especially by the concerts at Slane.' This article originally appeared in
Times
26-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Lord Mount Charles obituary: aristocrat who turned castle into rock venue
'Lord Henry', as the 8th Marquess Conyngham liked to be known in his native Ireland, was a figure of riotous incongruity. Aristocrat and entrepreneur, bohemian and businessman, a sometime poet, journalist, publisher, parliamentary candidate, publican and peer of the realm; he was primarily known as the man who transformed his family's estate at Slane, Co Meath, into one of the most glamorous rock venues in Europe. Though born into the purple of the Anglo-Irish nobility, he realised from an early age that it was a birthright which might, had he embraced it more fully than he did, have excluded him from his claim to his Irish identity. Accent, class and an English public school education were usually enough to cause people like Mount Charles to be frequently asked in their own country the derogatory question: 'How are you enjoying your holiday here?' However, Mount Charles ignored the naysayers. He went on to forge an exceptional career whose apogee is sometimes described as the moment he introduced U2 at one of their first main public appearances at Slane Castle in 1981. Had it stopped there, this would have been sufficient to grant him a place in the pantheon of music promoters. A veritable cornucopia of headline acts followed at Slane, including Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, David Bowie, Oasis and Neil Young. The pastoral setting, provided by a natural amphitheatre that sloped down to the River Boyne, wasn't always tranquil. Shortly before Dylan took to the stage, a wave of drunken fans rioted in Slane village, smashing windows and attempting to burn the police barracks. Security was tightened for later events at the 80,000-capacity venue, and Slane Castle achieved something akin to Glastonbury in the international concert calendar. Henry Vivien Pierpoint Conyngham, 8th Marquess Conyngham, Earl of Mount Charles, Viscount Slane and Baron Minister of Minster Abbey in the County of Kent was born in 1951. His mother, Eileen (née Wren Newsome), was of Anglo-Irish stock and a legendary huntswoman. She showed the doughty spirit inherited by her firstborn, Henry, when Slane Castle was invaded by protesters objecting to the Mount Charles ownership of fishing rights over the River Boyne. She let in 50 rescuing police officers by throwing the castle key in a jar of face cream out of her bedroom window. Lady Mount Charles's divorce from her husband, Frederick Conyngham, the 7th Marquess, known as Mount, divided Anglo-Irish Society. From the dashing couple who hosted hunt balls and glamorous dinners, they became estranged when Mount married a lover. Henry's mother never married again. The marquess moved to the Isle of Man as a tax exile when Ireland introduced a wealth tax. Lady Mount Charles lived on in Ireland until the age of 92, claiming, jokingly, that her longevity was solely aimed at annoying her children. Mount Charles was educated at Harrow and Harvard. His father was disappointed that he did not take the more traditional Oxbridge route, dismissing Harvard as 'not the sort of place where a descendant of Sir Christopher Wren will find solace'. At Harrow, he was known for his wit and dramatic flair rather than for any scholastic achievements. Prowess on the sporting field also evaded him. He only ever won a running event, memorably wearing odd socks, a habit he then adopted as being talismanic for the rest of his life. The young Viscount Slane, as he then was, adapted quickly to the American way of life. He described his time at Harvard as 'both a cultural awakening and a moral education, which shaped my confidence to speak out on a whole range of topics that might have escaped me had I become one of the oafs at the Bullingdon'. One of the topics was the Vietnam War. In his journalism, he often referenced his Harvard-era student debating background, especially noting the parallels between Nixon's Watergate and later American political turbulence. Mount Charles married Juliet (née Kitson). They had a daughter and two sons, the eldest of whom, Alexander, succeeds his father in the peerage as the 9th Marquess Conyngham. He divorced his first wife in 1985 and married Lady Iona Grimston, daughter of the 6th Earl of Verulam, who was a Conservative MP and later sat as a Conservative peer in the House of Lords. They had one daughter. He is survived by his wife, children and two brothers. In the mid-1970s, when Lord Mount Charles, as he had then become, took over Slane Castle from his father, Ireland was navigating a challenging economic malaise during which the large estates of the Anglo-Irish struggled to survive. Mount Charles had been working as an editor at Faber & Faber and enjoying a London life when he was obliged to return home to take over a chipped and faded mansion and a substantial tract of land. On inheriting, he said that he was 'ill-equipped' to run a large estate because the only thing he had learnt from his father was 'how to drink good claret at an early age and how to stand still while wearing heavy tweeds'. On moving into Slane Castle, he immediately set up a restaurant and a nightclub in the castle, which attracted patrons such as the controversial politician Charles Haughey, who had recently been embroiled in a law trial in which he was charged with the importation of arms into Ireland for use by the IRA in Northern Ireland. The Troubles cast a long shadow over Ireland at the time, and the houses of people like the Conynghams were sometimes viewed with suspicion by republicans. In his autobiography Public Space — Private Life: A Decade at Slane Castle (1989), he wrote: 'I was an Anglo-Irish anachronism … returning to an Ireland I loved but still a country bedevilled by division and much hypocrisy.'' In the television documentary A Lord in Slane (2024), he commented on the difficulties of navigating sectarian suspicion and the threats aimed at him by republicans when he hosted the U2 concert in 1981. Politically, he was aligned with the Fine Gael party, led until 1987 by Garret FitzGerald. Traditionally, it was seen as the Irish party more sympathetic to the Anglo-Irish ascendancy class as it embraced a policy of pluralism and inclusivity. In the 1992 Dail elections, Mount Charles stood as a Fine Gael candidate, polling a respectable 4,161 votes but failing to win a seat. He was also approached by the party to run for the European parliament, but eventually became disillusioned with what he called 'the stagnation of the party's constitutional agenda'. Mount Charles leaves behind a unique cultural legacy that paved the way for other enterprising landowners in Ireland to save their crumbling houses and breathe new life into an often-stagnating heritage. A gifted raconteur with a flair for publicity, he became a flamboyant media personality unafraid to express his controversial views on politics in a changing Ireland. He became the master promoter of the idea that the old Irish aristocracy could embrace change without surrendering its identity. Mount Charles was not beyond sending up his ancient background. He particularly enjoyed telling stories of his great-great-great-grandmother's affair with King George IV and pointing out items at Slane Castle which he would describe as 'got through the King's mistress'. Lord Mount Charles, 8th Marquess Conyngham, rock promoter, was born on May 23, 1951. He died of cancer on June 18, 2025, aged 74
The Journal
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Journal
Family of Lord Henry Mount Charles tell funeral service they will 'party on in his memory'
THE FAMILY OF Slane Castle's Lord Henry Mount Charles will 'party on in his memory', his funeral service has been told. His funeral was held at St Patrick's Church of Ireland in Slane today, following his death at the age of 74 last week. He had been diagnosed with cancer more than ten years ago. During the service, Alex Conyngham said his father 'truly loved' Ireland despite initially struggling with his Anglo-Irish identity. Since 1981, Mount Charles, a rock fan, hosted a series of open-air concerts at his ancestral home of Slane Castle in Co Meath. The Slane estate, which acts as a natural amphitheatre due to its sloping lands, has played host to several top acts including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Queen, U2 and Madonna. The last Slane Festival was in June 2023, when Harry Styles performed for 80,000 fans. His son recalled a joke by Frank Kelly that described his father being 'born with a silver dagger in his back' with his unconventional but privileged position at Slane Castle. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo He said his father was 'immensely lucky' to have had a 'colourful string of people' working on the estate for which he was grateful as they 'rolled through the good times and the occasional dark days' including when the castle was significantly damaged by a fire in 1991. Alex Conyngham said: 'Dad initially struggled with his Anglo-Irish identity, and described it as feeling like he had a leg either side of the Irish Sea with each side treating him as something of an outsider. 'It was when he went to Harvard and immersed himself in the study of Irish history that that fog of uncertainty lifted.' He said it was there that he realised that, as an Anglo-Irish aristocrat, he belonged to one of the 'many streams' that fed Ireland and could make positive contributions towards the country. 'Politically, he was a passionate constitutional Republican, and he truly loved this country, its culture and people, and he counted himself blessed to be an Irishman.' However, he noted that not everyone agreed with this perspective and the castle walls had previously been defaced with aggressive, negative graffiti. Former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar arriving at St Patrick's Church of Ireland in Slane. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo 'But this only emboldened dad to strive all the harder.' Alex Conyngham said his father had a great commitment towards peace, and it also came to him that he had to open up the castle gates while being 'driven by a conviction that music is a universal language that brings people together.' Advertisement The first 'real breakthrough' came with a Thin Lizzy concert in 1981, with U2 and Hazel O'Connor also on the bill. At a time of financial difficulty, he said Slane Castle was 'saved by rock and roll'. Alex Conyngham also paid tribute to Mount Charles's interest in politics, saying his father 'loved to connect'. Although his political ambitions were unrealised, he found other ways to express his opinions – including the 'Lord Henry' column in the Irish Mirror. After saying Mount Charles was blessed to enjoy the love of two remarkable women – his first wife Eileen and his second wife Iona, he thanked his father for trusting him with his legacy. He added: 'Dad's thanks and mines to all of you in Slane and online who have gathered here to say 'slán' to Henry.' Adam Clayton (right) arriving at St Patrick's Church of Ireland in Slane. Alamy Stock Photo Alamy Stock Photo The service featured readings by Lord Simon Conyngham and Wolfe Conyngham, as well as U2 member Adam Clayton. Mount Charles's daughter Tamara read a tribute called 'lessons from my dad', which included: 'Never give up, ever.' She said: 'Dad was one of the most determined people that I know and he proved what can be achieved when you truly put your mind to it.' Also recalling an anecdote about being admonished for going to bed before the last of our guests, she added: 'He fought for so long because he didn't want to leave the party and all we can do now is party on in his memory.' The final tribute during the service came from Mount Charles's friend Nick Koumarianos. Koumarianos said he knew Mount Charles as a 'hell of a cool dude', adding: 'He was tall, he was handsome, he was titled and, by the way, he knew it.' However, he said there was 'no silver spoon' for the aristocrat, saying the castle needed serious attention. Amid stories about Mount Charles's business abilities and 'sense of mischief', he said his friend had 'put Ireland on the map' for generations of pop music fans around the world. In a remark met with widespread laughter, he added: 'He had real commercial skills although on one occasion I do remember him saying: 'always do your accounts in pencil – and don't press too hard'.' Koumarianos said Mount Charles was a glutton for punishment who seemed to be refreshed by adversity, including clashing egos at concerts, the fire at the castle and its reconstruction, success of Slane whiskey and then his final illness. He said Mount Charles was 'always relished the challenge, adding that he was a 'mighty man' who bore his illness with 'remarkable courage'. Following the service, his coffin was carried out of the church while Bad by U2 played.
BBC News
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Spiritual experience' of Slane recalled at aristocrat's funeral
The bass guitarist with U2, Adam Clayton, was among those who paid tribute at the funeral of Lord Henry Mount Charles, who hosted world famous music acts at his Slane Castle home in County funeral on Wednesday, heard that U2 were a support act when Thin Lizzy headlined the inaugural concert at Slane Castle in the summer of a tribute, delivered by his son Alex, the ninth Marquess Conyngham, the congregation heard that Lord Mount Charles often described the Slane live music experience as "something of a spiritual one".He added that "for many it remains a rite of passage". 'Truly loved this country' Lord Mount Charles' son described his father as an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who was "a passionate constitutional republican".He said Lord Mount Charles "truly loved this country, its culture and its people, and he counted himself blessed to be an Irishman".He said his father had a great commitment towards peace, and had opened up the castle gates while being "driven by a conviction that music is a universal language that brings people together".Lord Mount Charles who was the custodian of Slane Castle, died last week, after a "battle with cancer", his family said. He was introduced the small village of Slane to generations of music fans at home and abroad, when he decided to host some of the world's biggest stars in the grounds of the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Queen, Bob Dylan, Robbie Williams, David Bowie, U2, Eminem, Bruce Springsteen, Kings Of Leon, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Oasis, REM and Metallica are just some of the world-renowned acts that headlined the venue. 'Never give up' Lord Mount Charles' daughter Tamara read a tribute called "lessons from my dad", which included the words: "Never give up, ever."She said: "Dad was one of the most determined people that I know and he proved what can be achieved when you truly put your mind to it."Recalling an anecdote about being admonished for going to bed "before the last of our guests", she added: "He fought for so long because he didn't want to leave the party and all we can do now is party on in his memory."The final tribute during the service came from Lord Henry's friend Nick Koumarianos, who said Lord Mount Charles had "put Ireland on the map" for generations of pop music fans around the world. The funeral service was held in St Patrick's Church of Ireland in the village of Slane and was conducted by the Rev Canon John Clayton delivered the second reading. The service also featured readings by Lord Simon Conyngham and Wolfe Taoiseach (Irish prime minister) and the Tánaiste (Irish deputy prime minister) were represented by Commandant Joseph Glennon from the Irish Defence funeral was also attended by the former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and the Minister for Education Helen McEntee.
