Turfman Festival starts today

The 2nd Turfman Festival starts today (Friday July 30) in Ardee with a number of events including a golf competition, a cookery exhibition and the opening of a Floral Festival in St Mary’s Church to celebrate 40th anniversary of Ardee Flower Club.

At 9 pm all the pubs in town will take part in a simultaneously Pub Quiz. Full details can be downloaded from the festival brochure

Vintage Day at Ballapousta this Sunday

THE Ashville Vintage Club is holding a working vintage day this Sunday 1 August at Ballapousta.

Attractions include threshing, vintage tractor and car display, sheep racing, dog show, home baking and refreshments, live music, children's entertainment, novelty events and much more.

Admission for adults is 10 Euros, children free of charge. Car par where horse ploughing, tractor ploughing, binding, vintage combining and baling will be demonstrated.

Give your canine friend a wash, cut and blowdry before he/she appears in the dog show where prizes will be awarded for the nicest pooch. There will be plenty more to keep the children entertained with bouncy castles, bucking bull, face painting, animal farm and other novelty events.

There will be live music aplenty with something to suit all tastes while those who feel the urge to dance can thread the boards if the mood takes them.

The food stall plays a huge role on a day like this as it is a place to congregate and chat as you watch the activities over a cup of tea. Home baking-cooking will be the order of the day but chips and ice-cream will also be available.

Remember all proceeds will be donated to a good cause.

More details from DundalkDemocrat.ie

Exploring Louth, Meath and Boyne Valley article

We wrote an article about the top 10 places to visit in the Louth/Meath region and are delighted that Michele Erdvig has featured it on her blog. Michele is a travel consultant and writer based in Atlanta Georgia who has specialised in all things to do with travel to Ireland for the past 37 years. She has extensive industry experience and is one of Tourism Ireland's certified Ireland experts.

Her website Irelandyes is a mine of information and essential guide to anyone thinking of taking a trip to Ireland. We have built up a successful relationship with her over the past few years and have welcomed many of her clients here to the castle. We offer a 10% reduction on our normal rates to anyone who books as a result of Michele's recommendation.

Ardee Turfman Festival 2010

Ardee town will be buzzing over the August bank holiday weekend as the annual Turfman festival gets in full swing. The festival starts on Friday night (July 30^th) and has a varied programme of events ranging from sport to culture. It gets its name from the famous Irish folk song “the Turfman from Ardee”.

If you are interested in being active you might consider taking part in a 10km road race/fun run around the town or a treasure hunt. Other sporting related events include a Gaelic seven-a-side blitz, a soccer blitz, a charity rugby match, martial arts and athletics.

Less active options include a Farmers' Market, an art exhibit, a cookery demonstration, a display by Dundalk military barracks, a busking competition, Battle of the Bands and pub quizzes. If you bring your family to stay at Smarmore Castle over the course of festival week you can avail of a great free offer for children under 12.

Details on events can by found at the Festival website.

No replay for Louth

Given the similarities with the "Hand of Henry" incident in Paris and the goal that wasn't on Sunday at Croke park it was sort of appropriate that most people learned about Louth's fate yesterday on Bastille day.

Clogherhead Prawn Festival this weekend

The summer festival season is in full swing and this weekend Clogherhead holds three days of events in the village, on the beach and in the sea. The schedule of events has a fun theme running through it with plenty to keep all members of the family entertained - everything from Tall ships at the pier to the final of the Prawn Idol talent show.
Cloghjerhead is only 45 minutes drive from Smarmore Castle so could be easily fitted into your schedule if you are staying here at the weekend.

Daylight robbery denies Louth victory

By now everyone knows what happened on Sunday. A simple scoreline of Meath 1-12 Louth 1-10 does not even hint at the full story.

Louth's long wait for a Leinster title goes on thanks to referee Martin Sludden failing to spot Joe Sheridan's try in the final moments of the match. Louth's manager Peter Fitzpatrick, summed up the feeling of a county when he said "I honestly thought he (the ref) was Dick Turpin without a mask. It was pure daylight robbery"

The chaos that ensued afterwards hasn't abated. Will there/won't there be a replay? Still no word but as time goes on it seems less likely. The match has made it onto all the news programmes since Sunday and was even raised in the Seanad today. The fairest and most logical outcome is to replay the match but as usual things get very complicated very quickly when administrators, the media, pundits and other vested interests get involved. For once it would be good if the spirit of the sport took precedent over all the spin and posturing

Come on Louth

Come on the wee county!!!!
The big day has finally arrived. We would like to wish both teams good luck in the match but want Louth to win.

Flags wars

We've had mixed reaction to the decision to put flags from both counties outside the leisure club entrance.

We 're in Louth but the border with Meath is only metres from here and many of our members are supporting the Royals. It's the same in Ardee. The vast majority of flags and bunting are red and white but there is also a significant amount to green and yellow to be seen.

We're firmly supporting Louth and the size of the flags show where our allegiances lie.

Florida Irish recommend Smarmore Castle

We were delighted to receive an e-mail from Tim Lunney, the Executive Director of the Florida Irish Heritage Center who visited the castle in 2004 with some of his family.
In a post headed "planning a trip to Ireland" Tim writes a glowing report of his stay here.
Tim finishes a very extensive description of the the castle by saying

"This is not a paid advertisement. It is an enthusiastic personal testimonial, based upon my own family’s wonderful stay at historic Smarmore Castle. I can’t think of enough nice things to say about the Castle, it’s facilities, or our hosts, the Mullen Family."

The Florida Irish Heritage Center's website is well worth checking out. We usually think of New York, Chicago and Boston as the main areas with strong Irish connections in the USA but according to the centre one in 9 Floridians claim Irish roots - that's over 2 million people.

Dundalk march on in Europe

Dundalk beat CS Grevenmacher from Luxembourg 2-1 in the 2nd leg of their UEFA Europa League 1st Qualifying Round last night at Oriel Park. Dundalk won the tie 5-4 on aggregrate and now face PFC Levski Sofia in the next round on Thursday July 15th. The large home crowd were put at ease early on as Dundalk scored twice in the opening 20 minutes through Neale Fenn and man of the match Faz Kuduzovic. Grevenmacher scored a deserved consolation goal in injury time but by then Dundalk should have added to the two goal tally.

The management and team should now be given time to concentrate on the trip to Bulgaria next Thursday. Levski Sofia is a serious team with several internationals. Before that Dundalk must take on Shamrock Rovers at Tallaght on Sunday. It's a game that neither Dundalk or Rovers need or want as both have important European ties looming. Many Dundalk supporters would also like to be in Croke Park for the Leinster final.

How can an organisation like the FAI that purports to want Irish teams to succeed in Europe force Dundalk & Rovers to play so close to such important games? It seems that the needs of supporters and teams must not interfere with the FAI's admin. It's yet another example of how out of touch the FAI is with reality in the game.

On in Drogheda this week

Thursday July 8th - Des Smith Foundation BBQ in the Garden
of the Boyne Vallet Hotel

Friday July 9th -Leinster Fleadh Cheoil - Various venues in Dunleer

Friday July 9th - Airtricity League of Ireland - Drogheda United v Bohemians - Hunky Dorys Park - 7.45pm

Friday July 9th - Summer Garden Party - celebrating the 100th anniversary of the ICA, An Grianan, Termonfeckin

Saturday July 10th - Teddy Bear's Picnic - Newgrange Farm from 2pm . Adm €8

Saturday July 10th - Leinster Fleadh Cheoil - Various venues in Dunleer

Saturday July 10th - Living History Displays - Black Powder Musket firing and cavalry displays - Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre from 11am

Saturday July 10th - Duck Derby - In aid of Drogheda United on the River Boyne

Sunday July 11th - Gaelic Football - Leinster Senior Football Championship Final - Louth v Meath - Croke Park 2pm

Sunday July 11th - Leinster Fleadh Cheoil - Various venues in Dunleer

Sunday July 11th - Living History Displays - Black Powder Musket firing and cavalry displays - Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre from 11am

You can check the details above and information on Drogheda's pub entertainment at
Drogheda.ie

This poem was written for us by one of our talented members, Mr Sean Ross.

Smarmore Castle

Spider webs on the iron gates mysteriously
Move my energy
Trying to recoup the wisdom
In the mists of fading time.

The castle stands in storied silence.
The noisy clip clop of horses
In the courtyard’s cobbled stones
Beside a hinterland of exotic trees.

Italian restaurant’s war photographs portraying
Monte Casino’s murky past
While Italian cuisine is served
At evening sittings in La Cucina.

Today a modern leisure centre,
Swimming, gymnasium, sauna and Jacuzzi
Steam room providing the marrow
Baths of the golden heroes of old.

Ancient Australian red wood
Guards the inner sanctum of the castle
A rav4 toyota with “Failte Micko”
As a flag of the Wicklow maestro.

Summer demise leading to Autumn’s
Leafy beginnings as a cat crouches
In attentive curiosity patiently
Licking her wound, the wound of humanity.

Reminders of my own wounded nature
As the plough appears in starry stillness
Dogs, bark, lambs bleet melodiously
Peeping through autumn’s doorway.

Football fever hits Ardee

The world cup has taken a back seat in county Louth because the county's footballers have reached their first GAA Leinster football final in 50 years. They defeated Westmeath last Sunday and now face neighbours at Croke Park on July 11th.

Red and white flags have sprung up everywhere and there is a real feel factor in Ardee following the teams performance.

To celebrate the series of great performances we are giving free B&B to children under 12 who stay as part of a family group this summer. Our offer will run for as long as Louth's footballers remain in the championship. We dearly hope that we can keep it open until the end of September.