INDIEPENDENCE TO GIVE €1 MILLION BOOST TO LOCAL ECONOMY

This weekend’s INDIEPENDENCE festival in Mitchelstown is expected to yield in excess of €1 million to the local economy. The two-day event has received nationwide attention and music fans are expected to flock to North Cork from all over the country to see bands like Ocean Colour Scene, Supper Furry Animals, Fight Like Apes and The Blizzards.

Speaking to The Avondhu ahead of the festival, chief organiser Shane Dunne said everything is in place for a great weekend.

“The site is pretty wet in parts but as it’s such a huge space, we have just boxed off these areas and worked out the best access points from the hardcore to the grass. The surface is ok for the most part, I just wouldn’t recommend wearing your best new shoes out there!” he joked.

While ticket sales have been consistently strong throughout the summer, Shane believes the late addition of on-site camping has increased demand.

“Ticket sales are pretty good, Monday and Tuesday were excellent online. It has a lot to do with the offer of a campsite and we really need to say a massive thank you to the Mitchelstown GAA for allowing us to use parts of the GAA grounds and the shower and toilet facilities. Without their help, we would have been in a tight spot.”

What has started years ago as a town festival has grown to what Irish music magazine Hot Press has this week described as “the Republic’s next biggest pop/rock festival after Oxegen and Electric Picnic,” and Shane points out that INDIEPENDENCE is ready to cater for the big crowds expected.

“The bars onsite are up and stocked. You can’t bring alcohol onsite but there are plenty options to suit everyone there already,” he said, adding that the bars will run on a policy that minimises litter and waste from plastic cups.

“The only other thing that people should be aware of is the eco-glass system that we will be operating. The system basically entails patrons paying a refundable €2 for the hard plastic glass that they receive their first drink in. As long as they return the glass, they don’t pay this €2 again and can return the empty when they no longer require it and get back the €2. The reason for this is to stop empty plastic glasses being dropped on the site and allow for them to be recycled after the festival.”

Finally the weather, the make or break of many festivals, and the organisers are hopeful for a good weekend.

“The forecast for Friday isn’t great but the weekend looks like it will be okay. I would recommend that people dress for the odd shower,” Shane concluded.

POSH NOSH TO CLOSE ITS DOORS

Posh Nosh proprietors, Catherine Hickey and Eileen O’Leary, have confirmed that they intend to close their cafe bar and deli in Rathcormac, on Saturday next, August 1.

Catherine and Eileen together with their great team of staff have been running Posh Nosh for the last five years, starting in Fermoy Farmers’ Market and then moving to their premises in Rathcormac. They have built up a highly successful business and their cafe and homemade dishes were extremely popular.

However, as all cafe and restaurant owners will confirm, working in catering is a vocation and not just a job. Both the girls were putting in long hours and for Eileen the decision to retire has now come.

At front of house, Catherine is sad to see the cafe business close as she has developed great friendships with the regular customers who travel from far and wide to enjoy their award winning cuisine.

“We have been part of great occasions in people’s lives, helping them prepare for weddings, christenings, Communions and Confirmations. Posh Nosh has become a popular meeting place and there is always great chat in the cafe,” she said.

The business is renowned for it’s good food and has been listed in the Georgina Campbell Guide and The Bridgestone Guide for a number of years.

“Great food is our passion and always will be. Posh Nosh reawakened my love of cooking and it has been a fabulous experience for both of us. We have had great fun with our customers and great craic with our suppliers and will really miss the banter we enjoyed with the many characters that supplied us with fresh produce daily, some of whom started in the Fermoy Farmers’ Market with us,” Eileen told The Avondhu.

Posh Nosh fans will be delighted to know, that the range of dressings perfected at the cafe will still be available and marketed under the Posh Nosh banner. Catherine is excited about this next phase.

“We expect the Posh Nosh gold medal-winning White Balsamic Dressing to be on the shelves in all good delis and supermarkets nationwide shortly and this will be followed up with the Posh Nosh French Dressing, so watch this space”.

Catherine and Eileen would like to take this opportunity to thank all their customers for their great support over the years. As Posh Nosh closes its doors, their fresh food and their specialist stock will be very much missed by real food lovers everywhere.

MITCHELSTOWN AUTHOR ON BOOKER LIST

Mitchelstown born author William Trevor has made the long list of thirteen titles nominated for the prestigious Man Booker prize.

Trevor, 81, has been previously shortlisted four times for the annual prize, and is long listed for his new novel ‘Love and Summer’. He is the third Irish author to make the list, along with previously twice nominated Colm Toibin for ‘Brooklyn’ and first-time nominee Ed O’Loughlin ‘Not Untrue & Not Unkind’.

The winner of the Man Booker prize will receive a ?50,000 prize and literary commentators believe a nomination for the respected award can see book sales jump by some 50%.

‘Love and Summer’ will be released in late August, with the high-profile approval likely to boost demand for Trevor’s book. Liam Cusack, a member of the organising committee of the Trevor / Bowen Summer Literary School, which is named jointly in his honour and held in Mitchelstown every year, paid tribute to Mr Trevor’s longevity.

“It is nice to see a man of 81 years of age who can produce such fantastic and well received work. As a fan of his I’m delighted, it is astonishing given his age. I would imagine very few people listed for such a renowned literary prize at 81 years of age,” Mr Cusack said.

In paying tribute to William Trevor’s extensive cannon of work, an entry into which the summer school examine every year, Mr Cusack revealed that the organising committee hope to look at film adaptations of Trevor’s material next year.

He added that there is another Mitchelstown connection to this year’s Man Brooker prize; Ed O’Loughlin’s ‘Not Untrue & Not Unkind’, is published by Penguin Ireland, whose CEO, Mr Cusack said, is Michael McLaughlin who was also born in Mitchelstown and whose father was former owner of Clongibbon House.

FROM ‘ART ON THE PARK’ TO MTV FOR SIMON

It’s a far cry from when he sold paintings on ‘Art On The Park’ days in Fermoy, but soon Clondulane man Simon Allen will showcase his creativity on a much bigger canvas.

The former St Colman’s College pupil will soon see his music video for tabloid target Peter Andre’s new single hit screens across Europe in the coming weeks. Speaking to The Avondhu from his home in London, Simon explains how he first got into making music videos, and the crazy world of showbiz and reality TV.

“Having graduated with a degree in Communications in DCU I came over to London with the idea that I would move into the visual arts.” Simon, who left his job as a photographer for Tipperary Crystal to move to England, explains, “Working with photography in Dublin, I had done well to get a job right out of college- but I wanted to go to ‘the bright lights’ in London, to see what work I could do over there. I was keen to work with someone who could teach me more, either working as a photographer’s assistant or collaborating with a creative partner.”

Then came the chance meeting with Stephen Lally, another Irish media graduate who has similar aspirations.

“I randomly bumped into Stephen one day, we knew each other briefly from our time in Dublin, and we were both lamenting how much we wanted to do something in our own style, something that we could really get our teeth into. He was already a big fan of music videos but looking at the output on MTV was often disappointing. There’s surprisingly little imagination in the vast majority of European music videos- the concept is often ‘Here’s some scantily clad girls on a beach in Ibiza, or a crowd dancing in a club,’ - there’s seldom much thought behind it.” Simon and Stephen then set out to make their mark on the scene in London.

“We wanted our own project, to make some sort of video piece we could use as a launch pad into more commercial projects. We picked a song and worked with a record company who needed a music video for an act, but had little money. We created a video for them, and they helped pay the expensive final machine costs.

“It gave us the impetus to make a music promo- it is very hard to get video commissions in the industry without one, no matter how good your other work is. In the end, we invested about ?5,000 of our own money into the project and between our jobs and the production of the video it took a year to do.

“We had massive help from the Wimbledon School of Art, and Stephen worked for a production house as a runner, so we could bag free lighting and equipment as favours from his company; a lot in the industry in London is done on the promise of favours.”

The video acted as a calling card for the pair, who went under the collective name of FauxTales, and soon their fledgling career as music video directors took off. Simon and Stephen started to treat on new songs and artistes, pitching ideas to record companies for further music videos.

“Through this first video we started to get to pitch treatments on other songs. We did another video for a band called Bad LayDee, then got signed to a production company of our own, Davey Inc., who represented us as directors.”

Signing to this company made the difference for the duo. The production company receive songs from record labels, distribute the tracks to their signed talent who in turn can pitch their treatments for the video. This was the case when Peter Andre, reality TV star and estranged husband of glamour model Katie ‘Jordan’ Price chose their pitch.

“He really liked it,” Simon beamed, “It just shows that if you get the songs sent to you, and the chance to pitch your idea, that anyone can get the job.”

Working with Andre, and allowing for the filming of his new reality television show documenting his pop comeback and relationship breakdown, wasn’t without its difficulties.

“We had to work with him for weeks ahead of the shoot, as you would with anyone, and taking him and the record company through the concept. To make the whole thing even more ridiculous, he had his reality TV show following him at the time, we had to conduct our meetings in front of a camera crew for the sake of the show.”

Regardless of the subject matter of the new video, Simon is thrilled to have gotten this opportunity to showcase his and Stephen’s talent.

“It’s our first big name music video. People may well think of him as cheesy, but it’s a chance to show what we can do, and for a brief period I got firsthand experience in the surreal media circus that is Peter Andre.”

The video was well into the post-production stage as our interview was conducted, with the finishing touches on the video’s effects completed. All that remained was the ‘Harding test’; a process by which the piece is rigorously tested to ensure it is suitable for broadcast and does not, for example, trigger epileptic fits, before it is legally allowed to be censored and aired.

“Then it will be ready for distribution and it could well be on the television by next weekend,” Simon concluded.

Peter Andre’s new single ‘Behind Closed Doors’ is out next week. Look out for the video, directed by Simon and Stephen, on MTV.

INDIEPENDENCE FESTIVAL AND THE BEAST OF BALLYHOURA REDISCOVER BALLYHOURA COUNTRY THIS AUGUST BANK HOLIDAY WEEKEND

2009 is becoming the year where more and more Irish people are deciding to get out and rediscover their very own island as they choose to holiday closer to home.

Ballyhoura Country is no different and with tonnes of fun to be had over the August bank holiday weekend it will be the place to be for thousands of people from right across Ireland as they travel to the area to take part in the Indiependence Music Festival and get out and active at the Beast of Ballyhoura Adventure Races.

With a wealth of fun festivals and outdoor activities on offer throughout north Cork and east Limerick, Mary Coffey, chairperson of Ballyhoura Failte, highlights the importance of the home holiday market of the local tourism industry in Ballyhoura.

“While the motives for staying in Ireland vary from the recession making people tighten their spending, the airport taxes making overseas travel more expensive and concerns about the environment and security the outcome is that people are starting to realise that Ireland has a lot to offer for families and individuals looking for adventure and fun”.

“The home holiday market is worth €1.4 billion to the tourism industry in Ireland and is far and away the largest tourism segment and very important to an area such as Ballyhoura.

If we can get more Irish people, and indeed local people, to discover the variety of outdoor activities and attractions across Ballyhoura they will discover that there is a lot happening on their doorstep from festivals to value for money days out in the outdoors.

This August bank holiday weekend is the perfect time to start to rediscover the area with a great line up at the Indiependence Music Festival in Mitchelstown and the Beast of Ballyhoura Adventures races on the Ballyhoura Mountains”.

For the Beast there are two new races the Ballyhoura Blitz and Blackrock Challenge that are sure to appeal to those looking to try out some of the Ballyhoura Mountain Bike Trails.

Covering 30 km the Ballyhoura Blitz gives people the opportunity to experience some of the invigorating hill climbs of the Ballyhoura hills and tacking the challenge of the world class Ballyhoura mountain bike trails while finishing in a more reasonable time frame!

The races are one day events everyone will be finished well in time to travel the short distance across the mountain to Mitchelstown for the final night of the Indiependence Music Festival to dance the night away to some top class live music.

Meanwhile for those interested in a more laid back weekend Mitchelstown is the place to be with some of Ireland top acts headlining a weekend of live music across two days turning the entire town into a venue.

GREAT RESPONSE TO CORRIN COTTAGE OPEN DAY

Peter and Margaret McCormack hosted a very successful open day last Sunday when members of the public were invited to visit their self-sufficiency garden at Corrin Cottage a short distance outside Fermoy.

Margaret is heavily involved in the Malawi Orphans Appeal Fund, which has raised thousands of euro for underprivileged children in this African country. Margaret and her friends are in regular contact with Malawi and receive updates about how and where money is being spent.

Thanks to the generosity of Fermoy people a new school has been built and this is seen as critical in improving the lot of orphans.

This was Margaret’s first time hosting such an event and she was thrilled with the response. Together with her husband Peter they’ve created a garden that supplies them with fruit and vegetables. It’s been a particularly good year for the garden which has yielded excellent red onions, turnips, leeks, potatoes, peas and rhubarb.

Margaret also invested in 3 well bred Rhode Island hens which have settled in well at Corrin Cottage. Protected from predators and living a free range existence the hens are each producing an egg a day for the McCormack household.

Margaret and Peter said they were delighted so many people took time out to support the Malawi Orphans Appeal Fund and take this opportunity to thank the public for their generosity and support.