Connacht Tribune
Fledgling festival finds its feet
Lifestyle – Trails Festival puts the focus on Oughterard’s scenery, history and wildlife. Judy Murphy hears how a neglected area intends to put itself on the tourist map.
“I wanted to organise a festival that my family would enjoy,” says Sinead Grimes of Discover Oughterard about the upcoming Trails Festival which will take place in and around Oughterard next weekend, June 23-25.
Discover Oughterard is the voluntary group behind this festival, which is now in its second year and the organisers have indeed programmed an event that’s ideal for families as well as for people who want something more challenging.
It kicks off next Friday with the Inchagoill Island Trail, a one-hour guided walk on the historic island, led by Coillte’s Environmental Officer, Sean Quealy. The boat to Inchagoill, captained by David Luskin, will leave Oughterard Pier at 6.30pm and the cost is €15 per adult and €5 per child, all inclusive.
Other villages have food festivals, history festivals and or walking festivals but the Oughterard Trails Festival brings these strands together, says Sinead.
That makes sense as it’s a scenic area, rich in history and wildlife. However, Oughterard has an issue when it comes to attracting visitors, as people tend to simply pass through the village on their way to North Connemara.
“It’s a hidden gem and once people realise what’s there, they’ll keep coming back,” she believes.
Originally from Castlebar, Sinead has lived in Oughterard for 14 years. The mother of two works in IT, and idea for this festival evolved from her own experience growing up in Mayo.
The annual Castlebar Walking Festival, which was set up in 1967, is an annual fixture and attracts people from all over the world. Sinead felt something similar would work in Oughterard and the Discover Oughterard Group got on board to run it.
The 2017 Oughterard Trails Festival will run from Friday to Sunday, with the Inchagoill outing on Friday, followed by three events on Saturday and two on Sunday. The organisers have gone for quality over quantity, as Sinead feels it’s important that the festival finds it feet before growing.
“I want to get it right before we get bigger,” she explains.
Last year, the organisers’ aim with the Festival was to give people “a good experience at a good price”. That’s still important and the pricing is excellent – but more of that later.
While walking is growing in popularity as a pastime, the Discover Oughterard group felt they could offer participants something extra.
“You mightn’t be into walking but you might be into photography and we have Mick Bourke giving a walk on Saturday” says Sinead.
The award-winning photographer and member of Galway Camera Club will be giving tips on composition, lighting and location as the group visits various places in the locality via a car-pooling arrangement. That walk, Photography with Mick Bourke, is listed as being Grade C.
There are three levels of walks in the Festival – Level A outings are for experienced walkers; B are for people of average fitness and C are suitable for all the family.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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.
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Download the Connacht Tribune Digital Edition App to access to Galway’s best-selling newspaper.
Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
Get the Connacht Tribune Live app
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
