Free Events at the Cloughjordan Festival Sure to Please the Pocket

Everyone has had to tighten their purse strings over the past few years, but
that doesn’t mean you can’t go out and enjoy yourself. The Cloughjordan
Festival is full of free events to help us all have a good time without
breaking the bank.

On Sunday, 26 June, Cloughjordan welcomes Cantoral to Saints Michael and
John church at noon. Cantoral is a female early music ensemble based at the
World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. The group
has a special interest in medieval Irish repertoire, and their festival
programme is titled Cantemus in Omni Die: Let Us Sing Every Day, which is
the title of a hymn written by a monk of Iona in the 8th century. The
programme includes songs of praise to St Patrick, Mary, and Christ. If you
have not visited Saints Michael and John church before, this is the perfect
opportunity to also see the wonderful stained glass windows by Harry Clarke
and Evie Hone.

There is a full programme of free event on Sunday, 26 June at Cloughjordan
House. In addition to DJs and Kaleidescape from 2pm, the Cloughjordan Arts
and Craft Collective Summer Exhibition continues, and there are two free
talks. At 2pm, FEASTA in conjunction with Transition Ireland and Northern
Ireland welcome everyone to Networking for Resilience, a series of
conversations sharing ideas and exploring how best to pool resources and
work collaboratively to maintain and develop strong, flexible communities
that can withstand environmental and economic change. At 4pm, members of all
faith communities are invited to Cultivating Hope, a forum for sharing ideas
of hope and resilience in response to economic, social, and environmental
turbulence. At 5pm, everyone’s spirits will be lifted by Ceoltóirí na
Sionainne, who showcase the best of Tipperary and Munster traditional music.

Great and free traditional music continue on Monday, 27 June, with Seisiún
Mór an Oiche Ghaelach at Grace’s pub, which always features some of the top
traditional musicians in north Tipperary. On Thursday, 30 June, the
Cloughjordan guild of the ICA will host A Night of Midsummer Music. Everyone
is welcome to listen and sing along, and, as always, this night is sure to
be one of the highlights of the festival.

The second week of the festival features daytime and evening sessions.
Tuesday, 5 July to Thursday, 7 July at 1.30pm, Grace’s pub hosts slow
sessions – sessions for beginners and improvers. Slow sessions help new or
shy players experience session playing in a comfortable atmosphere. Everyone
is welcome to attend the slow sessions and the evening sessions on the same
days. And don’t miss the Grúpa Ceoil performance by students of the
Cloughjordan Summer School of Music on Friday, 8 July at 1.20pm.

From Monday, 27 June, everyone can enjoy this year’s children’s art
exhibition, Lovely Bugs, which will be launched Monday evening at 7pm. Kids
will definitely want to attend Kids’ Karaoke and Beat on the Street with
Dave O’Gorman on Friday, 1 July from 2-3pm.

If you like being outside, the walk to Sopwell wood on Sunday, 3 July might
just be your thing. Hosted by the Walks Group of the Cloughjordan Community
Development Committee, walkers will start from the Meadow, Main Street, at
10am, walking through the rich habitats of Knockanacree Wood and Scohaboy
Bog to Sopwell wood, and will return the same way. The following Sunday,
families will enjoy Nature Detectives at 2pm in Knockanacree Wood. Teens are
invited to join the workshop How to Build Bat boxes on Saturday, 25 June at
11am, which is also free. Workshop attendees will hang the bat boxes in
Knockanacree Wood on Sunday, 26 June. Bat enthusiasts will also want to
attend the bat walk in Knockanacree Wood at 10.40pm on Saturday, 25 June.

As a community-based organisation, the Cloughjordan Festival Committee is
committed to always hosting a good selection of free events. To accomplish
this, the committee relies on the generosity of businesses and other
organisations that make free events possible. North Tipperary County Council
and the Cloughjordan Community Development Committee have been strong
supporters since the very first Cloughjordan Festival, and the Cloughjordan
business community has also got behind the festival, especially by
advertising in the Cloughjordan Festival programme.

Despite the recession, 2011 has seen significant growth in support for the
Cloughjordan Festival, especially for food and tourism-related activities.
New supporters include Bord Bia, Arrabawn Co-op, Procter & Gamble, Tipperary
Food Producers, FBD, Bosch, inox.ie, Carter Engineering, and Patagonia. The
Sarah Baker Cookery School, Austin’s Centra, and Sheelagh na Gig bookshop
are also key supporters of the festival. Through the support of hard-working
volunteers and community-minded businesses and funding bodies, the
Cloughjordan Festival has grown from a few days of events in 2007 to 15 days
of events that are entertaining local people and bringing tourists into
north Tipperary. Help celebrate this achievement by joining in the party and
attending a festival event!

Cloughjordan Festival press contact:

Elizabeth OShea 087 09789087

Totally Tipperary press contact:

Pat Whelan on 0872433100
Oliver Moore on 086 8047854

—

Cloughjordan Festival and Summer School of Music 25 June – 9 July 2011
——————————
Elizabeth OShea
Coordinator
Cloughjordan Festival
Cloughjordan, Co. Tipperary.
t: 087 0979087
m: cloughjordan.festival@gmail.com