Connacht Tribune
Father Ted ‘TedFest’ returns to Inis Mór next month
After years of staging TedFest on Inis Mór, the event’s co-founder says his absolute favourite part of the mayhem is watching an occasional unknowing tourist react when they find themselves plonked in the middle of the surreal universe of Craggy Island.
“There’s always some hardcore Scandinavian or American visitor who researched the hell out of Dún Aonghasa but didn’t know it was Tedfest weekend,” reveals Peter Phillips.
“Then they see all these priests, nuns playing five-a-side football on the beach, people dressed as Mrs Doyle, My Lovely Horse playing on repeat.”
The festival sells out every year early due to the limited accommodation open in the first weekend of March. It missed out on one year during the Covid lockdowns and was one of the few festivals to be held in the country in 2020.
Originally attracting around 100 fans of the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted, it now boasts 300 revellers, thanks to the addition of glamping pods at the campsite in Kilronan and the chalets behind the Aran Islands Hotel.
Described one year by a criminal psychiatrist who attended with her husband as ‘Lord of the Flies on crack’, events will largely follow the same format as when it first began in 2007.
Returning will be the ‘Lovely Girls Competition’; King of the Sheep; Pat Mustard Lip Sync Showdown; Ted’s Got Talent; The Screeching Competition in a Very Dark Cave; Matchmaking with Nellie, The Priests’ Dance Off; The Reverse Wheel of Death and Hide a Nun and Seek.
The cult favourite originally ran for three seasons between 1995 and 1998 with two of the lead actors no longer alive – Dermot Morgan played Father Ted and Frank Kelly starred as the inimitable Father Jack.
The show won a Bafta for best comedy and Dermot Morgan and Pauline McLynn were awarded Baftas for best actor and actress.
Dermot Morgan died from a heart attack aged 45 on February 28, 1998, just 24 hours after he had finished recording the last episode.
Original cast member Patrick McDonnell will travel to Inis Mór to host Blind Date with Eoin McLove and Joe Rooney will return as Fr Damo.
But after that don’t expect to see Ardal O’Hanlon, who played Fr Dougal, or Pauline McLynn as Mrs Doyle pouring copious cups of tea.
“It’s the opposite of a cheesy TV fan convention. The idea was always about giving people the chance to live on Craggy Island, to experience the madness,” reflects Peter.
“People might think that it’s quite cliquey and it’s the same people year on year. We have 20-30 hardcore fans but what I find is they come back every five years. They say it was the weekend of their lives, but it takes five years to get over it.
“People genuinely have trouble going home, they just get absorbed in this surreal life. In the beginning it’s a novelty dressing up but by Saturday afternoon nobody is batting an eyelid when they see Darth Vader buying a pint of milk in the shop.”
The organiser of the biggest Elvis festival in the world in Porthcawl, Wales, Peter has moved the antics to other locations such as the Irish Centre in Camden, London and Parks, NSW, Australia. The latter was a disaster when the local police closed the bar following noise complaints.
After the inaugural festival, there were complaints from neighbouring Inis Oirr that they were in fact the true Craggy Island because of the show’s opening sequence capturing its shipwreck.
That dispute was settled in true Fr Ted Crilly form with a five-a-side football match on the beach between teams managed by Ireland football legends Tony Cascarino and John Aldridge. Inis Mór won 2-1.
“There’s a certain type of person who fights their way to Inis Mór for three days in the middle of March. It’s just not the same going to Camden. I’d question how those who do the trek to the Aran Islands function for the other 362 days of the year.”
The story of how the whole thing was conceived could well be a Father Ted episode.
The native of Cardiff had lived in Roundstone for a year writing a biography on Connemara politician ‘Humanity Dick’ Martin, who is regarded as the father of animal rights. Peter found himself in a Sri Lankan war zone organising the charity donation of a bus following the devastating tsunami the year before.
He got chatting in a beach bar to Galwegian Fergal McGrath, who was an ardent fan of the sitcom. He was intrigued by the Elvis festival and they agreed to meet up in Neachtain’s pub in Galway City to explore the idea of a similar event celebrating Father Ted.
Inis Mór was the chosen location because they knew publican PJ O’Flaherty, who ran a hotel there.
The island is bracing itself for an influx of visitors keen to visit the spectacular scenes in the Banshees of Inisherin. There is still the possibility of “a seven-fingered throwing contest” in TedFest in a nod to Martin McDonagh’s dark comedy.
Revellers are advised not to buy a ticket for the festival unless they have sourced accommodation “or permission from another ticket holder to sleep with them”.
There is space to pitch a tent which can be booked at irelandglamping.ie. TedFest takes place from March 2-5.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
