Week to go until TV debut

Only a week to go until the castle appears on TV. The 7th episode of At your service goes on air tonight at 8.30 pm so we will be watching with interest to see what happens. The programme is only around 20 minutes long so we wonder what parts get featured. During the filming here the crew covered our float in the Saint Patrick's day parade in Ardee so hopefully that will make the final show.

Smarmore Castle appearing on RTE’s “At your Service” show

On Sunday October 25th at 8.30 pm Smarmore Castle and Leisure Club will be featured on RTÉ 1’s “At your Service” programme. In this show Francis and John Brennan who operate the five star Park Hotel in Kenmare visit B&Bs, small hotels and other operators in the hospitality business around Ireland to analyse and suggest solutions to problems they are encountering.

We applied for the show because we felt it would be an opportunity to showcase what we offer at Smarmore Castle and pick up some valuable advice from two of the most successful hoteliers in the industry. The Brennans’ first visit was on Saint Patrick’s Day. They stayed for two days and made a number of suggestions about how we could improve the performance of our leisure club and accommodation businesses. They suggested that we should think bigger so over the summer we put on a craft event, redecorated part of the castle’s entrance hall and held a jamboree for the younger members of the club.

We have not seen the final show yet so don’t know what exactly will be featured or how we will be portrayed. The Brennans were friendly and businesslike throughout and do have a genuine interest in helping people. One of the funniest things that happened was when Francis decided to take a “hands on” approach while we were doing a bit of demolition. He is normally renowned for his dapper appearance but spent that afternoon in his overalls and hard hat, driving a dumper around the courtyard.

Redmond O Toole to perform at Smarmore Castle

On Saturday November 14th Irish classical guitarist, Redmond O’ Toole will be performing at Smarmore Castle. The concert is part of the annual Ardee Baroque Music Festival. The concert will take place in the castle’s decorative Blue room and is limited to an audience of forty. O’ Toole is renowned for playing the unusual 8 string Brahm’s Guitar so this will be the first time that this instrument has featured in the festival programme.

RTE panel scupper Trap's joy

Anyone tuning into RTE's panel after the 2-2 draw with Italy last night would have been forgiven for thinking that Ireland had lost or that some catastrophe had struck the nation. The mood from Dunphy, Giles and Souness was depressing to say the least. Dunphy spoke about how 'real' football fans would be crying across the country as they watched Ireland's team fail to keep the ball or do anything constructive. "Andy Reid would make such a difference" they said. That's probably true. But Trap was positively apoplectic in the post match interview when Tony O Donoghue asked whether Reid would make an appearance for the suspended Whelan on Wednesday.

It's great that we have panelist who are willing to say what they think unlike their counterparts on other channels but maybe they miss the point sometimes. "Real" football fans like to win. Supporting a team is usually 90% disappointment and frustration and only 10% success and glory. We would all love Ireland to play like Brazil (or Italy) but there are not too many of this calibre of player knocking around the Irish squad at present. Trap has achieved so far what he was employed to do. He has got into the playoffs. Hopefully in two games time he will have achieved the prime objective and got us to the World Cup finals in South Africa. Andy Reid should be in the squad at least though.

Dull draw at foggy Oriel Park

Maybe it was the fog but Dundalk put in one of their worst performances of the season last night in a dull nil-nil draw with St. Pats. John Gill, the manager who fianlly steered Dundalk out of the 1st division twilight zone got a deserved ovation from the Dundalk crowd when he took his place in the Pats dugout but after that there was not much to cheer about. Both teams had spells when they had good possesion but goal mounth action was scarce. Michael McGowan and Ger Rowe were Dundalk's most creative players. Dundalk's best chance was created by McGowan early in the second half. His beautifully floted cross was completely missed by Darren Mansaram.

World Record

Smarmore Castle is proud to be associated with the new world records set at the Irish bog snorkelling championsips in Castleblaney recently. Watch the video below and see if you can spot our very subtle sign at the side of the bog

Irish Bog Snorkelling Championships

Alice’s Loft & Cottages, Doohamlet, Castleblayney, Co.Monaghan was the setting in early September were the current world record for Bog Snorkelling was smashed twice .The record with stood at 1:38 was broken firstly by Casey Squibb from Dorset, England who covered the 120 meter course in 1:33. Casey who was the Bride to be on her Hen party was just 1 second short on her first attempt of breaking the record and her determination on her second attempt carried her through. The world record was then broken again when Connor Murphy from Portadowm in Co. Armagh covered in course in 1:29.Both attempts were recorded and forwarded to the Guinness Book of Records where hopefully we will see the Irish Bog Snorkelling Championships being written into History. See video of both records on the event website.

John Mc Keown of Lookaroundireland.com and co-organiser of the event was thrilled with the day and said “Having saw the world record broken twice was the icing on the cake for us and would like to commend both record breakers for their fantastic times. The Hen party from Dorset were great craic over the weekend and together with the great weather it made our first championships a fantastic success.”
Declan Connolly of Alice’s Loft & Cottages Self-Catering and co-organiser of the team was equally thrilled “After the success of today we are now planning next years event and hope to make it bigger and better”.

The snorkellers finished the day at Watters, Old coach Inn where the winners were presented with their trophies, certificates and prizes. Each competitor received a specially designed T-Shirt and a certificate with their time. The men’s and ladies winners each received a weekend for two at Smarmore Castle.

St. Mary’s hospital in Castleblayney was the local Charity supported on the day with a donation being made to the Lorgan Unit. The lads would like to thank all sponsors and everyone who helped made the first Irish Bog Snorkelling Championships a huge success.