Residents and visitors from the counties of Tipperary, Clare and Limerick (Ireland’s Mid-West Region) are expected to gather in large numbers, to watch Ireland’s largest Christmas parade which will roll through the municipality of Bunratty, on Thursday November 28th next; as the County Clare village is transformed into a winter wonderland.
Bunratty Castle, in Ireland’s Mid-West Region will host Ireland’s largest Christmas parade in 2024.
Bunratty Castle and Folk Park, supported by the local business community and Clare Co. Council, has announced that 400 parade participants will wind their way through the village to the courtyard of Bunratty Castle, where the annual switching on of the Folk Park’s Christmas lights will take place.
The procession will feature more than 100 elves, Christmas characters, the Tulla Pipe Band, animals from the Folk Park, members of the All-Ireland winning Clare senior hurling team, and Santa Claus, (whose sleigh will be drawn by six horses). Additional musical entertainment will be provided on the evening by the Bunratty Brass Band and two local choirs.
The parade marks the beginning of ‘Christmas at Bunratty 2024’ with 35,000 people expected through the gates of the popular 26-acre visitor attraction during these festivities.
Santa Claus will be making a welcome return to his grotto on the Village Street on Friday, 29th November. Visitors will have full access to Bunratty Folk Park Trail of Lights Experience and can enjoy puppet and magic shows and traditional Christmas tales with Bunratty’s resident Seanchaí, drop into the festive themed shops, meet and greet in the Ice Queen’s Cottage, and take a ride on the Polar Express. The ‘Breakfast with Santa’ event and Christmas-themed castle banquets also return for 2024.
Councillor Mr Alan O’Callaghan, Cathaoirleach of Clare County Council commented, “It is wonderful to see local businesses and the community of Bunratty coming together to support what will be an incredible spectacle for the village. Bunratty never does anything in half measures and this Christmas parade will be no different as the village prepares for its busiest time of the year.”
Ms Charlotte Rebers, Head of Operations at Bunratty Castle & Folk Park said, “We wanted to do something completely different this year by bringing the entire community together to celebrate the magic of the Christmas season. Months in the making, this parade will light up the village up with colourful characters, festive music and a joyful procession along the 700-metre route. Everyone is welcome to attend.”
Following the parade, Bunratty Castle and Folk Park will present a donation to this year’s nominated charity, Down Syndrome Clare.
Spokesperson Ms Bríd Hayes commented, “We are very excited about attending this festive event and we are grateful to Bunratty Castle and Folk Park for their fundraising efforts on our behalf. Such donations enable us to deliver vital services and supports for our members and their families to thrive and for the professionals who work to support them.”
The Bunratty Christmas Parade commences from JP Clarke’s at 6.00pm on Thursday, November 28th. The village main street will be closed to vehicular traffic for the duration of the parade, while public parking will be available throughout the village and at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park in advance.
All businesses in Bunratty will remain open before, during and after the parade. Bunratty Castle and Folk Park will be closed to the public after the parade in line with standard winter operating hours.
Hardly the work of Banksy, latter that pseudonymous England-based street artist and political activist, whose real name and identity remain, as yet, unconfirmed.
The above 35.56 centimetre (14 inch) high, expletive / salutation has greeted the arrival and departure of those using the new Liberty Square / Slievenamon Road, car park, [aka ‘Checkpoint Charlie’], latter positioned just 20 metres from the Thurles Tourist Office, since June 2021. It appeared prior to the removal of the money wasting, two year old Perspex coated, parking ticket shelter the costings of which remain a closely guarded secret, retained only by Municipal District wasting officialdom.
Former eradicated Perspex coated, parking ticket shelter.
One would have hoped that these two worded expletive could have been removed by Thurles Council, along with the two year old car parking barrier system, or even by the well-meaning ‘Refresh Thurles’ grouping, but, alas, it has gone unnoticed over the past 3.5 years, due to the everyday ‘hussle and bustle’ of a now struggling Thurles town centre market place.
Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris).
Graffiti, seen by some as a form of visual communication, usually illegal, involving the unauthorized marking of public spaces by individuals or groups, has become a continuing problem here in Thurles and goes unchecked. Could the planting of climbing Hydrangeas (Hydrangea petiolaris) be the answer to this wanton vandalism?
Autumn shade of the Climbing Hydrangea (Hydrangea petiolaris).
This charming, fully hardy, self-clinging, climber enjoys full sun to partial shade, but will still thrive even on a north facing wall. In midsummer white lace-cap-style hydrangea flowers cover the plant, before the leaves turn slowly to yellow in autumn. Same grows best in a sheltered position in soils rich in organic matter, reaching some 3.048 metres (10 ft) – 6.96 metres (20 ft) in height.
Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) will mark its 140th birthday in Thurles today, Friday, 1st November, 2024.
The GAA was founded on November 1st 1884 at a meeting in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co. Tipperary, by a group of spirited Irishmen, latter who had the foresight to realise the importance of establishing a national organisation to make athletics more accessible to the masses and to revive and nurture traditional, indigenous sports and pastimes.
Michael Cusack 1847- 1906.[GAA’s first President elect.]
Irish teacher and founder Michael Cusack, latter born in 1847, (during the Great Irish Famine 1846-1849), a native of the parish of Carron on the eastern fringe of the Burren, in Co. Clare, would become its first President.
To mark today’s birthday, the GAA’s History Committee will attend at Hayes’ Hotel for a meeting at 12:00 noon, to make a presentation to the hotel. They are expected to be joined by Munster GAA President and GAA Vice President Mr Ger Ryan(Tipperary), as well as other Tipp GAA officials including Mr Patrick McKay, great grandson of John McKay, the former who was elected first secretary in 1884. To mark the event a meeting will be held in the same room where the Association was initially founded.
All are welcome to attend this event in Hayes Hotel.
‘Monsters, Misfits and Mayhem’, from all over counties Tipperary, Clare and Limerick’s Mid-West Region will gather, before descending on Bunratty Castle & Folk Park this October Bank Holiday Weekend (October 26th-28th), as the County Clare visitor attraction becomes transformed into a haunted Halloween village.
The traditions and superstitions of ‘Samhain’ will be on display during the October Bank Holiday weekend with Halloween games, ghostly characters, witchcraft, a Bed of Nails, tarot reading, street entertainment, and Haunted Train rides past ghosts, grim reapers, and zombies that will appear from the shadows throughout the 26-acre folk park.
Ms Marie Brennan, (Events Manager at Bunratty Castle and Folk Park), commented, “Our Halloween event is hugely popular with people from across the Mid-West Region and beyond. We are very excited about welcoming everyone back to Bunratty, where history meets the haunted.” “It is an eerie time of year, and we have pulled out all the stops to create an unforgettable experience full of fun, frights and festivity for the whole family,” added Ms. Brennan.
Age-old Halloween traditions will be re-enacted at the Golden Vale Farmhouse where the Bean an Tí will speak about the types of food that typically would have been eaten in Samhain and recall the peculiar superstitions of the time. The Farmhouse also will host Halloween-themed fun with traditional games such as Bobbing for Apples, Blind-Man’s-Buff and Snap Apple.
Adult visitors will be invited to step back in time at a Victorian-era parlour séance, where the secrets of the past will be unveiled as the spirits of the departed are summoned. The Wicked Wake will be hosted in The Shannon Farmhouse where the resident MacNamara family will mourn the loss of their beloved Mickey, whose ghostly presence suggests he has unfinished business in the land of the living.
Visitors can experience a re-enactment of a Witch Trial each day at 11.00am, 12.00 noon, 2.15pm, and 3.30pm, by following an angry mob from the village street to Ardcroney Church. Meanwhile, a bewitching duo will take up residence in the kitchen of the Loop Head Farmhouse, where mysterious concoctions will be brewing.
At Corry’s Pub on the Village Street, Bunratty’s resident seanchaí Mickey Joe will recount fables of Samhain and hair-raising tall tales passed down through the generations. Other performances include Halloween puppetry with Konor Halpin each day at 11.30am, 1.00pm, 2.30pm, and 4.00pm in the Village Street Alleyway; Escapologist Monsieur Gusto will showcase his juggling, escapology, and acrobatic skills on October 28th, and fun and frightening frolics with Dracula King of Vampires, The Minister of Death, Escaped Convicts, and Mad Musicians.
The Red Devil and the King of the Vampires will lurk in the shadows ready to pounce at a moment’s notice, The Talking Head guarantees to entertain and frighten guests at the Mountain Farmhouse, Dr. Jekyll’s surgery will open its doors for anyone who is brave enough to enter, a shrinking illusion will be on display in the Castle’s basement, and the Bed of Nails returns this year in the Castle’s Torture Chamber.
Visitors to Bunratty Castle also will get to see the deadly dungeon and monstrous murder hole and meet Maleficent’s Wicked Sister.
‘Monsters, Misfits and Mayhem’ takes place from 10.30am to 1.30pm and 2.00pm to 5.00pmeach day from Saturday October 26th to Monday October 28th.
Ms Maura Barrett, (Cashel Library) reports on two upcoming events:-
Event No.1
Following on from the wonderful Cashel, “Our Playground” project with Cashel Arts Festival this year, Cashel Library will screen the documentary by Mark Fitzell in the Library building, on tomorrow morning, Saturday October 12th, beginning at 11:00am until 12:15pm.
So, please do drop in and take a trip down memory lane, while enjoying a ‘cuppa’ with the liberary tomorrow morning.
Event No. 2
Cashel Library will host a talk entitled “Harry Gleeson and the Criminal Procedures – was Harry a saint?” by Eddie Dalton, on Tuesday evening, October 29th at 6:30pm.
Eighty-three years after he was wrongfully executed for murder, the remains of Harry Gleeson were laid to rest in his native village of Holycross, this summer, to the accompaniment of music from his own fiddle. He was granted a posthumous pardon by the Irish State in 2015, having always protested his innocence.
You canlocate the Cashel Library building, situated on Friar Street, Lady’s Well, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, HERE. (G487+RX) Note: Booking for this FREE event is essential please to Tel: 062-63825.
UPDATE OCTOBER 16th:The “Harry Gleeson and the Criminal Procedures” lecture by Eddie Dalton, due to be held in Cashel Library on Tuesday 29th October at 6:30pm, is now fully booked out, with an existing waiting list, so unfortunately we have reached max capacity for this event.
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