European Tree of the Year competition

Dear Friends,
There is still time to help us out and vote for our Holm Oak which won the NI tree of the year and is now in the competition for European Tree of the year.   You have to give 2 votes when you register and even if you give us your second vote it will help us tremendously. Voting closes on 28th February.  

The Holm Oak in Kilbroney Park in Rostrevor won NI Tree of the Year.
It is now one of the contenders for European Tree of the Year,
 the winner of which will receive money to help protect the old tree and shore it up.  

We are all very proud of our corner of the world and there's an amazing energy in the village to promote tourism.   For many years the North of Ireland was starved of tourists due to our troubled past.   Now gradually the number of visitors is increasing and here it seems that everyone is involved in one way or another in doing things to help out.  Promoted by Light 2000, this tree initiative, in an area of outstanding beauty, is yet one more way to put us on the map.   Please help out.  

I wrote about the Holm Oak, from Old Homer's own perspective here.  

You can vote HERE or at the link at the bottom of the page.  

This is a piece from the Newry and Mourne Tourist Board. 

Did you know in ancient Greece the leaves of the holm oak were used to tell the future and they were also used to make crowns to honour people...?  

If trees could talk we know he'd say, please vote for the #holmoak in Rostrevor! He can't vote himself though - he needs us all to take a moment and vote for him. We could have the best tree in Europe here in Rostrevor, Northern Ireland.  

Please share this plea for votes and ask your friends throughout the world to support our campaign. Thanks 😃 

Voting closes 28 Feb! #Europeantreeoftheyear #treeoftheyearwww.visitmournemountains.co.uk/Europeantreeoftheyear

Many thanks for your support.

Rostrevor Folk Club

I'm delighted to be passing on the information that Rostrevor will have its very own folk club starting next Monday, 7th November - running initially fortnightly and then monthly in the new year.  

Crawfords Bar is a beautiful intimate venue, perfect for acoustic concerts. To make the evenings even more special, numbers will be limited, there will be no sound system and the bar will be open before, in the break, and after the performances.   Get up close and personal with some of the finest touring artists on the folk scene.  

The first artists are as follows:

Monday 7th November - Lisa Gutkin

"One hot fiddler!" - Cyndi Lauper; "Hauntingly emotional vocals"L.A. Times;  "Genius!" - Pete Seeger
Best known from The Klezmatics, LISA GUTKIN steps out on her own on "From Here On In," her first CD of six warm and wonderful songs featuring her vocals, fiddle, and tenor guitar. The Brooklyn native was a founding member of the downtown Celtic group Whirligig with Cillian Vallely (Lúnasa). Playing klezmer to Celtic, Appalachian to blues.

Tickets £10, available in advance or at the door from the Rostrevor Inn 028 417 39911.

Monday 21st November - Niamh Parsons and Graham Dunne

"Describing Niamh Parsons' singing is like to trying to describe color to a blind person." -Jamie O'Brien Rambles.net

Niamh Parsons has come to be known as one of the most distinctive voices in Irish music.  Dubliner Graham Dunne is a well-known guitarist in the Irish Traditional music scene. He is known for his sensitivity of touch as an accompanist, and his fiery ability as a soloist.  Together "neither Niamh nor Graham wastes a single note or nuance in their matchless renditions of predominantly traditional songs" Dave Kidman

Tickets £10 - early booking advised.  Phone 028 417 39911 or call in to book tickets

Monday 5th December - Avalon Quartet
A special pre Christmas folk club featuring the gorgeous traditional and classical sounds and songs of the Avalon quartet featuring the vocals and uilleann pipes of Brendan Monaghan.   Not to be missed. 

Tickets in advance £10  from The Rostrevor Inn, Bridge Street, Rostrevor - phone 028 417 39911.  

More details can be found on the Rostrevor Inn Facebook and www.therostrevorinn.com.

I'm so excited to see the quality of acts that are scheduled - in the new year you can look forward to Brian Willoughby, ex guitarist with the Strawbs with his wife Cathryn Craig and also to one of Ireland's top songwriters, Mick Hanly and many more to be announced shortly.  

See you there. 

Fil 

The Session

Getting ready for the session

The session is a regular part of life in Ireland and we have several regular ones in Rostrevor. 

Deirdre on the fiddle

These pics were taken at the Tuesday night session a few weeks ago.

The pub is tiny

This one is mostly songs based which is quite unusual as most are tunes based with a few songs punctuating the music.

Jimmy playing whistle tunes

I don't get down very often as it's always a late night or early morning but when I do go down I love it and always have great fun.

Alfie on banjo - he leads the session with Matthew

There are singing sessions in the area every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and an early one on Sunday.   So if you're around and have a song to sing or a tune to play then drop in.   You'd be very welcome.

Some visitors from Denmark

Opening the Narnia Trail

"I yearn to see County Down in the snow.  One almost expects to see a march of dwarves dashing past." C.S. Lewis

Well first of all, a belated Happy New Year to you ...  Where has this month gone to!  I can't remember the last time I had so much prep to do for classes and gigs.  Blogging has fallen by the wayside and I'm starting to miss coming here for a chat and reading all your news.  So it's high time to get back into the swing of things ... Hopefully over the next week I'll get reading back on all the blogs I've missed out on.  

Last year I wrote several pieces about the Narnia Trail that was being built here in Rostrevor. ... You can read them here and here ....   The pieces appeared overnight in different parts of the woods and it was very exciting to be among the first to see these lovely works of art.  Kudos to Newry and Mourne Heritage for coming up with the idea.  

The official opening was on Saturday and the sun shone valiantly and huge crowds turned out.   Characters from the Narnia stories were walking around ... I feel very strange taking pictures of children these days, so I've put up a few here that are more atmospheric rather than in full frame.   There's even one very out of focus, but you'll get the idea.  

And the people who had built the willow figures were completing a final piece - an owl - which children could help finish.   Fascinating process - they are attached to a living tree which will eventually outgrow the willow piece.  I really must look closer at the signage to see exactly what each exhibit represents. 

The final willow figure being prepared - an owl to go up in one of the redwoods.

Some images from the earlier blogs about this beautiful exhibition.

The Tree People

The Wardrobe

Where the Pattertwigs live

You have to forgive me sounding like an advert for the Tourist Board - the first time I came to Rostrevor, to record my first CD, from my very first glimpse I fell in love with the place and that love has never diminished.  So you may bear with more of these tributes in future months and years.

You see, tourism is still a bit of a novelty here in the North ... It was only as recently as 2013 when for the first time Northern Ireland had over 1 million visitors in the year.  This area is an area of outstanding natural beauty which was kept well hidden during "the Troubles".   It is simply wonderful seeing people coming to share these fabulous places and exhibitions like this will certainly add to the splendour.  

I think some people here would argue that they're certainly there somewhere! 

I hope your New Year is shaping up well - you know I love to hear from you.

Narnia Part 2

The entrance to Narnia

Well, we managed to get down to the woods again this weekend to see some more of the Narnia surprises.  There were children of all ages exploring the place -  brilliant.

If you haven't read part 1 of this blog, I should tell you that I live in Rostrevor, in Northern Ireland at the foot of the Mourne Mountains, on the shores of Carlingford Lough, with the Cooley Mountains opposite and thousands of years of myths and legends surrounding the whole area.   And C.S. Lewis was so enamoured by it as a child that he told someone that this area was his idea of Narnia.  And our local council have organised a Narnia trail in the woods to honour him.   
It won't be officially opened until 31st October and there is no signage up yet, so I'm guessing at these exhibits.  With each visit new things are appearing and no-one is seen working on the pieces which is adding to the excitement:)   Everyone you meet is talking about it.  

The first place we found was the otters house, I'm guessing - a place for little people at any rate....

Looking up, this is a part of the wood I've walked past on many occasions without paying much attention ...

Some more little people must be living in this part ...  the doors to your imagination for sure..

 and this must be the important person's house ...

I can't wait to get up and see more.  

We're preparing for a concert at the weekend and trying to find time to be in the studio after some family problems and the emotional exhaustion that goes with that.   But these walks in the woods in the Autumn sunshine are a brilliant distraction. 

This is Day 4 of the Sarah Allen's 30 Day blogging challenge.  

Colours of Autumn

I've decided to take part in another blog challenge - I realised that the discipline of regular posting was starting to fade thought it took a while to notice that I missed it.  So this will hopefully get my head back into the swing of things again.   There's no theme but there's a backlog of stuff I've wanted to write about.


For today I had to share the park in its glory on yet another gorgeous Autumn day.

Kilbroney Park belonged to the Bowes Lyons family - that's the Queen Mother's family - and was left to the community.  It's got lovely Victorian style walks as well as access to the mountains behind.   Great use is being made of it - a new mountain biking trail was opened last year bringing lots of tourists and now the Narnia Trail which will open later in the month - more of that later in the week.   You can read Part One here of my visit to the trail.   But with all this the place was packed today.  Well needed and long awaited tourism is coming to Northern Ireland.

The park is starting to look resplendent in its Autumn clothes.  There are a lot of oak around here and Autumn will carry on well into November, fingers crossed.

I once saw the Fall in New England - or rather the trees in all their splendour before the leaves fell.   Actually I had a really crazy day up near Boston somewhere - I'll maybe tell you about sometime....   But the trees were magnificent - miles and miles of orange, red and gold.  The vastness of the landscape took my breath away.  Apparently it all happens so quickly because there's such a difference in temperature between summer and autumn.  

Here things happen much more slowly - usually anyway - I'm hoping that they don't fall took quickly this year since we've had such a quick move into cooler weather.

And in our garden we still have lots of colour - the cotoneaster is beautiful

....and the fuchsia will soon be trying to get in the window totally but I haven't the heart to cut it back yet when it's still in bloom.

This is Day One of the Sarah Allen's 30 day blog challenge
How's your Autumn shaping up?   Do you still have much sunshine?   What's it like at the minute down in the Southern Hemisphere - has Spring shown up?

Narnia Part 1

Sometimes when you're walking around the woods or the mountains here, I imagine Frodo Baggins on his great quest - and apparently C.S.Lewis felt exactly the same.

“I have seen landscapes, notably in the Mourne Mountains and southwards which under a particular light made me feel that at any moment a giant might raise his head over the next ridge.” C.S.Lewis

“That part of Rostrevor which overlooks Carlingford Lough is my idea of Narnia.” C.S.Lewis

He was born in Belfast in November 1898 and used to come to Rostrevor on his holidays as a child - (so did Queen Elizabeth and Princess Margaret as children, and before them thousands of Victorians came for the waters - but that's a story for another day.)  

Add caption

To honour this connection our local council, who deserve huge kudos for this, have decided to put a Narnia trail into the forest.   Figures have been appearing overnight for weeks now - apparently it's due to be officially opened in another couple of weeks.

I've only been to see one little part yet, and I'll show you more as I discover them.   So here's a wee glimpse of what's going on in the woods today ... and a bit about the man himself.

Clive Staples Lewis (1898–1963) was one of the intellectual giants of the twentieth century and arguably one of the most influential writers of his day. He was a Fellow and Tutor in English Literature at Oxford University until 1954, when he was unanimously elected to the Chair of Medieval and Renaissance Literature at Cambridge University, a position he held until his retirement. 

Lewis wrote more than thirty books, allowing him to reach a vast audience, and his works continue to attract thousands of new readers every year. C. S. Lewis's most distinguished and popular accomplishments include Mere Christianity, Out of the Silent Planet, The Great Divorce, The Screwtape Letters, and the universally acknowledged classics in The Chronicles of Narnia. To date, the Narnia books have sold over 100 million copies and been transformed into three major motion pictures.  (courtesy of the official C.S. Lewis website)  

He was a friend and colleague of J.R.R. Tolkien - they met in 1926.

“I yearn to see County Down in the snow; one almost expects to see a march of dwarfs dashing past. How I long to break into a world where such things were true.” C.S.Lewis

I love the fact that these chairs are growing out of tree stumps.

Five of these beautiful figures in the bluebell wood

27th Fiddlers Green Festival

Last Friday night was the launch of this year's Fiddlers Green Festival which will take place between 20th and 27th July with a few small events on the Friday and Saturday before hand and probably a hangover party the Monday after .... so 10 or 11 days in total ... It's time to get into training :)

This is a unique festival in that it is organised by lots of different groups of people and then put together in one umbrella programme.   The main concerts each night are mostly folk - the opening night features 20 singers and 20 songs - all local, mostly young people, singing one song each as a fund raiser for the festival.  Luka Bloom is playing Monday night, Tuesday sees the Henry Girls, Wednesday is a new group to me - NASC - which has a Scots Gallic singer and an Irish language singer and some amazing musicians that play both classical and traditional.

Peace activist and songwriter Tommy Sands

Thursday night sees The Music of Healing combined with the Creative Arts Award - this is a very special night which was first created during the Troubles by Festival President Tommy Sands, as a platform for two opposing politicians to have a stage together and answer questions to an invited audience - there have been some strange combinations on that stage down through the years and it has truly been a place of healing.   The song from which the event title came, the Music of Healing, was co-written by Pete Seeger and Tommy Sands and looks to a future that we could have if we could get along together here.  Tommy's Music of Healing project has travelled the world since and is a peace education project at the Irish Institute of Pittsburgh.
About 5 years ago, the Creative Arts Award was incorporated into the evening - and this year the recipient is Martin Lynch, one of Northern Ireland's best known playwrights, who has made a profession out of writing plays for the man in the street rather than the intelligensia.

Playwright Martin Lynch

Moving on, Friday night at the Festival sees another award concert - the Hall of Fame - this award has been given for 27 years to a musician or group who have furthered the development of Irish music across the globe.   This year it will be given to Cherish the Ladies, a New York based traditional Irish band of women who are really at the top of the folk and traditional tree now.   Joannie Madden the founder of the band lead the St Patrick's Day Parade in Yonkers, NY this year.   This video is from a gala spectacular on PBS so the band are augmented .... but you can clearly see the brilliant musicianship...  It'll be a brilliant night - they always have dancers with them and the singer is usually kept secret until the night of the concert.


Saturday night's concert is still a surprise - but rumours are circulating about a well known Scottish performer - and then the main stage closes on Sunday night with a regular concert by the Sands Family.  Oh and I should mention that we're playing Sunday afternoon at 3.30.

Around those headline concerts there are pub sessions, an afternoon concert series which Tom and I are included in, a lunchtime folk club, an outdoor stage, several art exhibitions, open mike sessions, a couple of organised walks through the mountains, an event on the water where local boatsmen will take you out for a spin on the bay, a Duck Derby!!, lots of pop up cafes, readings, films and a complete children's programme with games and events for the very young up to mid teens.