Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Kilkenny arts festival 2013, kilsale arts festival, culture tech festival derry, Kilkenny whats on, hen party Kilkenny, stag party Kilkenny

Kilkenny arts festival 2013, kilsale arts festival, culture tech festival derry, Kilkenny whats on, hen party Kilkenny, stag party Kilkenny


Anyone who has been to a Hen Party in Kilkenny will know that Kilkenny is a place to be for fun, anyone who went to Kilkenny for a Stag Party is probably still there. Kilkenny Arts Festival is like a big party, loads of activities, loads of people and loads of fun.


We’re going to be at the Kinsale Arts Festival on July 13 and we’ll also be back in Derry for the Culture TECH festival in September, but we’re also heading to the Kilkenny Arts Festival in August for not one, not two but three very special Banter sessions over the course of a week.

Kilkenny Hen Party Packages

The idea of doing some Bantering in the Marble City first came about at last year’s festival and, with huge thanks to festival director Rosemary Collier and her team, we’ve managed to put together a damn good programme, including one or two sessions which we’ve been hoping to do for ages, for the festival’s 40th anniversary.Stag Party

Banter On Music Hen Party in Kilkenny

Set Theatre, John Street; Saturday August 10

Everybody Loves Our Town

When it comes to the story of the Seattle grunge explosion, Mark Yarm’s fantastic oral history Everybody Loves Our Town is one of the definitive reads on that fabled city and such bands as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Alice In Chains, Mudhoney and more. The Guardian called it “a Herculean work of interviewing and editing which gives everyone a voice, from the biggest stars to the lowliest foot soldiers”. Mark joins us at Banter to talk about the book, the Seattle scene and the grunge legacy.Stag Party

Everybody Loves This Town Kilkenny Hen Party Packages
Around the same time as Seattle was blowing up, Kilkenny was having its own moment in the sun thanks to a host of local bands, a brilliant dive venue called the New Park Inn and a host of other factors. Cormac Battle (Kerbdog, 2fm), Canice Kenealy (Engine Alley) and Malcolm Noonan (Jerusalem Taxis) rewind the city’s musical legacy.

The Neil Hannon Retrospective in 35 Minutes Stag Party
The story of Neil Hannon, The Divine Comedy, “My Lovely Horse” and the Duckworth Lewis Method in 35 minutes .Kilkenny Hen Party Packages

Banter On Music will also feature special guest performances during the course of the afternoon.Stag Party

Banter On Fashion Hen Party in Kilkenny

National Craft Gallery, Wednesday August 14, 7pm

What the hell is Irish style? Kilkenny Hen Party Packages
It’s our favourite kind of Banter panel – one with a lot of questions. What is Irish style? Is there such a thing? How does it manifest itself in Irish fashion? Is Irish style bright orange in colour? Do Irish men know anything about style? What does Irish style look like in the future? Our panel for this walk down the catwalk: Angela Scanlon (TV presenter, fashion writer and stylist) and Sonya Lennon (RTE Off the Rails, Lennon Courtney).Stag Party

Banter on the Big Issues Kilkenny Hen Party Packages

The Parade Tower at Kilkenny Castle, Saturday August 17, 2pm Stag Party

State of the art Stag Party
The Kilkenny Arts Festival turns 40 this year so it’s timely to look at the past, present and the future of the arts sector in Ireland. Colm Tóibín (novelist and playwright), Maureen Kennelly (arts producer, programmer, curator of the Mountains to Sea DLR Books Festival and former director of the Kilkenny Arts Festival and Cúirt International Festival of Literature), Donnacha Dennehy (composer and Crash Ensemble founder) and Willie White (Dublin Theatre Festival artistic director and chief executive) discuss what we’re learned over the last 40 years, the issues which the arts sector believe should be sorted out today and where things go from here.

Political reform Stag Party
It is the great cry of the political chattering classes: we need reform! Yet as various opinion polls have showed, the Irish electorate place the need for reform very far down on their list of priorities. Just how serious are we about reforming how our political system works – or doesn’t work? Is it merely a case of some politicians paying lip service to the idea to score points or is there an actual hunger for meaningful, pragmatic change? a conversation with some interested parties, including Harry McGee (Irish Times) and Sarah O’Neill (Dailwatch) about the real issues behind the clarion call for reform. Hen Party in Kilkenny

Tickets are now on sale for all three Banter sessions from the festival box-office. Admission is €13 and €11 or you can buy a special Banter bundle for all three Banters for €30. Stag Party

Of course, there’s a ton of other stuff besides Banter happening in Kilkenny over the course of the festival including some superb work from Bob & Roberta Smith, a performance from Anthony Joseph & The Spasm Band, local boyo Jeremy Hickey AKA R.S.A.G, a discussion on the birth of the Irish trade union movement to mark the centenary of the 1913 Dublin lockout, the luminarium from Architects of Air and AC Grayling giving the Hubert Butler Lecture on how great literature can enrich all our lives.Hen Party in Kilkenny

Kilkenny Hen Party Packages




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Tuesday, February 12, 2013

derry hotels, derry city of culture, derry other voices, others voices festival, maiden city festival

derry hotels, derry city of culture, derry other voices, others voices festival, maiden city festival




It was a good 20 years since I was last in Derry. I can’t really explain why it has taken me so long to go back to the city – after all, I’ve been in Donegal nearly every summer over the last few years and Derry is just a few miles up the road – but it’s been a long time and a visit was long overdue. Back when I was last hanging out in the city, hitting raves and checking out bands in the early Nineties, it was a buzzy, vibrant, proud place. Last weekend, as the Other Voices’ roadshow brought bands (and Banter) to the city, you still found a buzzy, vibrant, proud place, albeit one slowly getting into the City of Culture groove and working out what this meant in the short, medium and long run.

There was one word I heard again and again over the weekend and that was legacy. You’re never far from history here, from the walls to the Bogside, so legacy is something which is in the water in a city which sports so many scars and bruises. This time, the legacy had to do with what the City of Culture designation leaves behind. There’s talk about the lack of buildings and spaces, the need for more physical infrastructure in a city, which people keep reminding you, has never known real prosperity.

Yet there’s also another sort of legacy and it’s a lot harder to pin down because it’s more nebulous than a building or a square. This legacy has to do with mindset and how you realise that everything you need to change things is already out there in front of you. It’s about realising that you don’t need a cool title to make you a cool city.

We held two Derry-centric panels at the Banter Salon and I also chaired the first Civic Conversation at the Void Gallery to try to tease out from local arts and culture practitioners what they wanted or could get from the City of Culture shenanigans. There was, as you’d expect, a bit of whinging and cribbing at the latter about who got what and who didn’t get what from the City of Culture coffers and how it ignored or blanked certain areas and communities in the city. But once you persisted with the questions, ideas began to emerge about positivies and possibilities to be drawn from the current spell of attention. There were also political arguments about the very notion of engagement with the City of Culture project, but even the naysayers had to admit that this conversation probably would not be happening with the same vigour or enthusiasm were it not for 2013 and all that. After all, there wouldn’t be a City of Counterculture project without the existence of a City of Culture project to begin with.

But it’s what happens after the City of Culture bandwagon moves on that’s the most important aspect to consider. A couple of times over the weekend at various panels, I asked people to give a few reasons why people should move to Derry. We got a variety of answers but naturally, no-one mentioned the City of Culture stuff because this is a temporary glittering series of balls and carnivals. It shines a light on the city and brings in people – I met people over the weekend who’d come to the city from Cork, Belfast and Dublin on the back of Other Voices to check out Derry – but it’s not the be-all and end-all because 2014 is only 10 months away and life will have to go on. While the City of Culture thing gives Derry a chance to attract all this attention and make the most of it, the real worth for the city in the long run is in what’s already here: the people, the projects, the culture, the history and the possibilities for a city full of civic pride in taking bold steps.

True, it’s a whole lot harder to tease these things out than apply for a grant or funding to some organisation. True, the need for financing has to be addressed and this is hard to come by in Derry (and, in fairness, everywhere else) right now. And true, the dialogue about jobs and making a living will always come to the fore quite quickly in these conversations (it certainly did last weekend). But the need to address these issues from the get-go may well be acting as a brake on possible ideas and scenarios which could well sort out those issues later on.

Because right now, Derry has so many possibilities. Over the weekend, it was Derry acts like Little Bear, Bronagh Gallagher and Soak (Bridie was everywhere over the last few days, even saving the Banter bacon by sitting in for an unplanned interview when Bronagh Gallagher was running late) who had people talking. Other local acts like Ryan Vail and Rosie Carney also impressed me hugely with their performances.


Soak playing Other Voice at The Glassworks

Sure, there was also great music and art from elsewhere to entertain you – Savages were quite immense in the most searing, intense and emotional way on Friday night at the Glassworks, while Candice Breitz’s fantastic Him + Her video installation at the Void, featuring Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, is worth going to see a few times – but it was the homegrown fare which really tantalised your tastebuds. Even if it will be the outside spectacles that will get the big wows and all the oxegen of publicity, Derry already has the goods in spades. It just needs to realise they’re there and how best to big them up.


Savages at Other Voice at The Glassworks

Jack Nicholson from Candice Breitz’s Him + Her now showing at Void Derry

There will be plenty of other opportunities to head to the north-west this year – I’m looking forward to the return of CultureTECH in September and the arrival of the Turner Prize in the city – but it will be interesting to watch how this blast of attention will colour the city’s cultural outlook in the future. Derry will still be around in ’14 and ’15 and it’s then that you’ll begin to see just how much this year’s fandango has worked its way into the fabric.

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

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derry hotels, hotels derry, city of culture, derry city of culture

City of Culture status could do for Derry what the Olympics did for London, organisers have claimed.



It is hoped the year-long event will transform perceptions of a city blighted by some of the worst violence of Northern Ireland’s troubled past.

Shona McCarthy, chief executive of Culture Company 2013, said the plethora of art, music and drama planned for every month next year would also restore civic pride and rebuild confidence.

“Derry has suffered from being at the epicentre of the Troubles but also having second-city syndrome,” said Ms McCarthy.

“But it has punched above its weight in terms of cultural output during the Troubles and now it can make a very significant statement about its own self-confidence, its own self-belief and its own cultural richness in this City of Culture moment.”

Derry staved off competition from Norwich, Birmingham and Sheffield to take the inaugural City of Culture mantle.

Highlights of the programme include a pageant on the River Foyle to celebrate the return of Colmcille – a warrior monk said to have founded the city – by Frank Cottrel Boyce who wrote the much lauded Olympics opening ceremony.

Ms McCarthy said: “I think one of the defining moments for the City of Culture year is going to be the return of Colmcille.

“It hasn’t quite sunk in just what type of thing it is yet.

“It is a large-scale public performance spectacle that uses the landscape of this city to literally bring St Columba back and that is going to really blow people away.

“That is going to be very special – that is going to be our Olympic moment I think because that is something that is so of, and from and about this place that will leave people feeling wow.

“If we can get close to what the Olympics achieved I would be a very happy person.”

Other key events include the all-Ireland Fleadh in August; a military tattoo in August; and the Turner Prize which will be at Ebrington Square from October to December.

Ms McCarthy said Derry had won the title because the whole community had been galvanised.

She added: “It was a very forceful bid because it was bought into by everybody and it was delivered with such passion.

“After that it was the strength of the concepts.

“Also, in the same way as Glasgow and Liverpool when they won European Capital of Culture they could probably see that this city had most to gain. It was a city emerging from a troubled socio-economic past as well as literally a troubled past.”

Derry is where the Troubles broke out in 1969.

During the height of the 40-year conflict, the streets were blighted by some of the worst scenes of violence including the 1972 Bloody Sunday massacre where British paratroopers opened fire on a civil rights march killing 14 civilians.

More recently, the city has been targeted by dissident republicans who have twice tried to bomb the offices of those organising next year’s festivities.

The actions of the dissidents have prompted hundreds of people to take to the streets to protest for peace.

Ms McCarthy said they would not be deterred.

She said: “It is always a concern but any city that you go to in the world is going to have the issues that are specific to that city.

“London has its own problems and it didn’t stop London from doing the Olympics. Look at what happened in Delhi prior to the Commonwealth Games.

“Every single city in this world, anywhere you would go to do something of this scale and magnitude will have its own particular bespoke issues to counter and to get around.

“We are no different. Of course it’s a challenge but we are here to put together an incredible cultural programme that speaks for itself and that people want to come to because it is something wonderful in its own right.”

The festival – officially known as Derry-Londonderry 2013 – will begin on January 20 with a free Sons and Daughters concert on the banks of the River Foyle, to be broadcast by the BBC.

Ms McCarthy said: “In this place right now – even with the economic crisis - there is a real hopefulness, an ambition and a self-belief that you would not have seen had the city not won the City of Culture title.

“I genuinely think it will transform perceptions of the city both from its own people but also from outside.”

Sunday, November 18, 2012

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hen party, stag party, spa hotel deals, special offers, best rates, cheap hotels, short break offers, win spa weekend, golf and spa specials

It you've got to organise a hen night, fear not - there are plenty of options from murder mystery evenings to farm bootcamps.

So your best friend is getting married and has appointed you chief bridesmaid. Congratulations. It’s now officially your job to listen to the endless details, wear the unflattering dress and, worst of all, organise the hen night.

A poison chalice if ever there was one – what if nobody comes? What if everybody comes but nobody enjoys themselves? What if no one wants to totter round Temple Bar in an L-plate all night?

Relax. The good news is that, after years of telling us they didn’t want noisy hen dos lowering the tone, Ireland’s hoteliers are falling over their stilettos trying to attract them. What’s more, there are now loads of hen-oriented activities that you can combine a hotel stay with, to ensure everybody has a good time.

At the White Lady Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in Kinsale, they gave one of their store rooms a makeover and devoted it to hen parties. Now known as The Powder Room, it’s a suitably girly space which hens can use as base camp for a range of different activity packages.

Hens often, for example, use it to book a make-up class, before heading into the nightclub next door where management reserve the VIP section for the group.

Another option is a Murder Mystery Ireland stagandhenweekends.ie hen event. Apparently, dead bodies are a guaranteed way to break the ice between friends and future family, no matter how frosty the initial relations.

Based in Mayo, the MMI team operates nationwide and provides costumes to ensure everyone is safely in character before the backstabbing starts, with a facilitator laid on to ensure any blood on the carpet is fake.

For something a little more sedate, how about a pottery session? With marriage on the way, it’s only a matter of time before plates get thrown, so start by throwing them on a potter’s wheel.

At The Pottery Experience stagandhenweekends.ie in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, hens produce personalised tableware for the bride and groom, which makes for a nice memento.

Everyone gets to either decorate a breakfast or dinner set, or design and decorate a commemorative platter. Bring your own food and drink and make a night of it. The Pottery Shed stagandhenweekends.ie offers a similar service in Kilkenny.

In Galway, hen parties are a speciality of Dance Divas stagandhenweekends.ie, a studio in Dominick Street. Choose a style of dancing – anything from Michael Jackson’s Thriller zombies to 1950s Grease style – don the costumes, learn the moves and have your picture taken afterwards on the specially dressed set. The additional bonus here is that you’ll all have a great new dance routine for the wedding.

The Strand Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in Limerick has residential hen packages with a mix of cocktails, clubbing or discounted hair and beauty treatments to choose from.

Then, depending on what you prefer, the hotel can also organise, for a supplement, hen activities such as a roller disco session, private dance lessons, make-up sessions and even a nude art class. Just to be clear, the hens keep their kit on, the model guy doesn’t.

If it’s more practical help your bride is in need of, check out An Grianan, in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, headquarters of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) Bootcamp, as seen on RTÉ. The D Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in nearby Drogheda has special discounted rates for group bookings headed for the ICA.

Finally, how about a hen party in a place where there really are hens? Causey Farm stagandhenweekends.ie, in Meath, attracts brides-to-be and their buddies to find out how to chase chooks, milk cows and catch banbhs.

There’s art too, as guests are encouraged to paint their life stories on the walls of barns. And there’s a spa element – in that hens are led to a strip of bog, told to take off their tights or socks and walk, barefoot, through it, for a pedicure like no other.

Causey’s owners can arrange accommodation packages with local hotels, leaving hens free to address practical skills such as how to bake soda bread, play the bodhrán and dance jigs, possibly all at the same time.

On-farm fun is guaranteed and you’ll all be BFFs, like, forever.

Hotel Best Rates BOOK NOW

Win a spa break for two at The 5* Heritage Golf & Spa Resort

                Heritage Golf & Spa Resort

The Irish Times has teamed up with The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort to offer you the chance to win a luxurious two night bed and breakfast stay for two people.

About The Heritage:
Set amidst the unspoilt countryside of Co. Laois, and located just an hour's drive from Dublin off the M7 motorway, the Five Star Heritage Golf & Spa Resort offers guests a truly luxurious hospitality experience. This award winning resort boasts comfortable and elegant guestrooms, a luxury spa and health club, state of the art meeting & conference facilities, a championship golf course, a selection of restaurants and above all a warm welcome for guests! For information about The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort, click here to visit their website.

The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort is offering a wonderful Pamber Break Gift Voucher for two. Relax and unwind with two nights' bed and breakfast in a deluxe guestroom, dinner in The Arlington Room on one night and take time out to journey through The Heritage Spa Experience  for up to 3 hours; plus you can also choose from one of the following one hour treatments:

- 1 hour full body massage
- 1 hour prescriptive facial
- 1 hour seaweed detox body wrap.

Guests also have complimentary access to their health club with leisure pool, 5km walking track, tennis court and trim trail. 

For your chance to win this fantastic prize, simply submit your details and answer the question below: CLICK HERE

Friday, September 30, 2011

Derry Hotels, County Derry, Ireland

hen party, stag party, spa hotel deals, special offers, best rates, cheap hotels, short break offers, win spa weekend, golf and spa specials

It you've got to organise a hen night, fear not - there are plenty of options from murder mystery evenings to farm bootcamps.

So your best friend is getting married and has appointed you chief bridesmaid. Congratulations. It’s now officially your job to listen to the endless details, wear the unflattering dress and, worst of all, organise the hen night.

A poison chalice if ever there was one – what if nobody comes? What if everybody comes but nobody enjoys themselves? What if no one wants to totter round Temple Bar in an L-plate all night?

Relax. The good news is that, after years of telling us they didn’t want noisy hen dos lowering the tone, Ireland’s hoteliers are falling over their stilettos trying to attract them. What’s more, there are now loads of hen-oriented activities that you can combine a hotel stay with, to ensure everybody has a good time.

At the White Lady Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in Kinsale, they gave one of their store rooms a makeover and devoted it to hen parties. Now known as The Powder Room, it’s a suitably girly space which hens can use as base camp for a range of different activity packages.

Hens often, for example, use it to book a make-up class, before heading into the nightclub next door where management reserve the VIP section for the group.

Another option is a Murder Mystery Ireland stagandhenweekends.ie hen event. Apparently, dead bodies are a guaranteed way to break the ice between friends and future family, no matter how frosty the initial relations.

Based in Mayo, the MMI team operates nationwide and provides costumes to ensure everyone is safely in character before the backstabbing starts, with a facilitator laid on to ensure any blood on the carpet is fake.

For something a little more sedate, how about a pottery session? With marriage on the way, it’s only a matter of time before plates get thrown, so start by throwing them on a potter’s wheel.

At The Pottery Experience stagandhenweekends.ie in Portmarnock, Co Dublin, hens produce personalised tableware for the bride and groom, which makes for a nice memento.

Everyone gets to either decorate a breakfast or dinner set, or design and decorate a commemorative platter. Bring your own food and drink and make a night of it. The Pottery Shed stagandhenweekends.ie offers a similar service in Kilkenny.

In Galway, hen parties are a speciality of Dance Divas stagandhenweekends.ie, a studio in Dominick Street. Choose a style of dancing – anything from Michael Jackson’s Thriller zombies to 1950s Grease style – don the costumes, learn the moves and have your picture taken afterwards on the specially dressed set. The additional bonus here is that you’ll all have a great new dance routine for the wedding.

The Strand Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in Limerick has residential hen packages with a mix of cocktails, clubbing or discounted hair and beauty treatments to choose from.

Then, depending on what you prefer, the hotel can also organise, for a supplement, hen activities such as a roller disco session, private dance lessons, make-up sessions and even a nude art class. Just to be clear, the hens keep their kit on, the model guy doesn’t.

If it’s more practical help your bride is in need of, check out An Grianan, in Termonfeckin, Co Louth, headquarters of the Irish Countrywomen’s Association (ICA) Bootcamp, as seen on RTÉ. The D Hotel stagandhenweekends.ie in nearby Drogheda has special discounted rates for group bookings headed for the ICA.

Finally, how about a hen party in a place where there really are hens? Causey Farm stagandhenweekends.ie, in Meath, attracts brides-to-be and their buddies to find out how to chase chooks, milk cows and catch banbhs.

There’s art too, as guests are encouraged to paint their life stories on the walls of barns. And there’s a spa element – in that hens are led to a strip of bog, told to take off their tights or socks and walk, barefoot, through it, for a pedicure like no other.

Causey’s owners can arrange accommodation packages with local hotels, leaving hens free to address practical skills such as how to bake soda bread, play the bodhrán and dance jigs, possibly all at the same time.

On-farm fun is guaranteed and you’ll all be BFFs, like, forever.

Hotel Best Rates BOOK NOW

Win a spa break for two at The 5* Heritage Golf & Spa Resort

                Heritage Golf & Spa Resort

The Irish Times has teamed up with The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort to offer you the chance to win a luxurious two night bed and breakfast stay for two people.

About The Heritage:
Set amidst the unspoilt countryside of Co. Laois, and located just an hour's drive from Dublin off the M7 motorway, the Five Star Heritage Golf & Spa Resort offers guests a truly luxurious hospitality experience. This award winning resort boasts comfortable and elegant guestrooms, a luxury spa and health club, state of the art meeting & conference facilities, a championship golf course, a selection of restaurants and above all a warm welcome for guests! For information about The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort, click here to visit their website.

The Heritage Golf & Spa Resort is offering a wonderful Pamber Break Gift Voucher for two. Relax and unwind with two nights' bed and breakfast in a deluxe guestroom, dinner in The Arlington Room on one night and take time out to journey through The Heritage Spa Experience  for up to 3 hours; plus you can also choose from one of the following one hour treatments:

- 1 hour full body massage
- 1 hour prescriptive facial
- 1 hour seaweed detox body wrap.

Guests also have complimentary access to their health club with leisure pool, 5km walking track, tennis court and trim trail. 

For your chance to win this fantastic prize, simply submit your details and answer the question below: CLICK HERE