Tag Archives: Wexford

Local viking John Cox (left) and Gavan Murphy at Wexford’s quayside prepare for the inaugural Viking Fire Festival

This is no Viking Splash.

This is Wexford, 900ad.

Ann Power writes:

A brand new epic festival is set to take place in Wexford town on Saturday, September 28th.

The first annual Viking Fire Festival will be hosted on Wexford’s quayside by the Irish National Heritage Park.

The historical Wexford town will be transformed back to Viking times, as the Wexford Quayside will be turned into a real-life Viking Village hosting an immersive experience akin to life over a thousand years ago.

The Vikings founded Wexford town sometime before 900AD when they first settled and the street layout today can be attributed to these early settlers.

The ancient settlement will be populated throughout the day with a host of re-enactors who will be going about their day-to-day life….

and offering visitors the opportunity to enjoy storytelling, a Viking market, coin striking, spinning, weaving, leatherworking, metalwork and woodwork, with some Viking music performances and even the chance to participate in some slave trading….

Viking Fire Festival

Pic: Patrick Browne

This morning

Bannow beach, County Wexford

Ann Power writes:

May 2019 marks the 850th anniversary of the arrival of the Normans to Ireland, onto the beach at Bannow in County Wexford and a year-long programme of public events have been announced to honour the anniversary.

This morning, the programme of events was officially announced with a flavour of what is to come as a hoard of Norman Knights made their way ashore just as they would have done some 850 years ago and this May Bank holiday weekend the anniversary will be commemorated at the Bannow 1169 Norman Festival taking place in the village on May 4th and 5th….

Norman 850 (Visit Wexford)

Pic: Patrick Browne

A lone furze bush (above) fightsfor survival following the blaze last month (top) which ravaged Curracloe Beach, a stand-in for Omaha Beach during the the D-Day scenes in Saving Private Ryan (second pic).

Yesterday.

Curracloe Beach. County Wexford.

Eamonn Farrell writes:

A large section of the sand dunes on the famed Curracloe Beach in County Wexford, still bear the scars of the fire which swept through them on the 22nd of July, during the height of Ireland’s Summer heatwave.

It is believed the fire started from a disposable BBQ. Today the blackened ash, shining from a weekend of badly needed rain to help ease the current drought, causes the landscape to resemble a scene from a post-apocalyptic movie, rather than the war movie it is most famous for Saving Private Ryan…

Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

 

Ferns – Fearna Mór tweetz:

A 5am start this morning for two of our volunteers who were out watering the hanging baskets before the mad rush of passing traffic. The beautiful sunrise set a magical cast over our beautiful historic village….just breathtaking and so worth the early start 🌅 🌞

This afternoon.

An Garda Siochana has renewed its appeal for help in tracing the whereabouts of William Bushner who is 89 and has been missing since January 4, 2018.

He was last seen in the Kilmore Quay area of Wexford.

He is described as approximately 5ft 10 in height, of medium build and short grey hair. It is unknown what he was wearing when last seen but he is known to drive a 141 WX-registered brown Nissan Qashqai.

Anyone with information is asked to contact gardai at Wexford on 053 9165200 or the Garda Confidential Line 1800-666-111

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All Tvvins – touring and playing the Marquee

What you may need to know…

01. Unlikely to have flown under very many radars in the past year or so, Dublin/Wexford duo All Tvvins‘ DIY pedigree makes their polished pop all the more of a departure.

02. Emerging properly from their former bands in late 2013, they’re comprised of a core membership of Lar Kaye (Adebisi Shank) on guitars and Conor Adams (The Cast of Cheers) on bass/vox, and joined live by Lewis Hedigan (Elk and Guilty Optics) on drums.

03. Streaming above is the video for most recent single Unbelievable, a big aul’ pop tune with more than a few hat-tips to their math-rock roots.

04. Obligatory soccer reference for the week that’s in it – the band appeared on the soundtrack to this year’s instalment of the annual FIFA videogame, with single Darkest Ocean.

05. Playing the Marquee in Cork on July 5th in support of Foals, the band come back in October from extensive UK/EU touring to play Dolan’s in Limerick on the 29th, and Belfast’s Limelight on the 30th.

Verdict: An adjustment, admittedly, for fans of the lads’ previous outfits, All Tvvins has grown over the last year or two into very much its own beast, and you can expect bigger things from the Warner-signed group in the years to come.

All Tvvins

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French riot police and refugees at the ‘jungle’ camp in Calais, France this morning

You may recall reports from Saturday about how nine refugees had been found in a truck in Wexford.

It’s since been reported they are Kurdish men, and that eight of the men are now seeking asylum in Ireland, while the ninth man has been “detained for immigration offences”.

This morning officials started to dismantle sections of the refugee camp in Calais, France.

Further to this…

The Immigrant Council of Ireland writes:

The discovery of refugees in a container [in Wexford] from France is the direct result of the EU’s failure to honour commitments on resettlement and funding in response to the crisis.

Those involved have come through an ordeal and must be provided with every possible support – including medical aid, access to swift immigration procedures and legal representation.

Brian Killoran, Chief Executive of the Immigrant Council says: “While the arrival of refugees in containers in Ireland is unusual it is not unprecedented and it again highlights the fact that EU Government’s including our own have not honoured their commitments to offer protection, help and support to those fleeing war and conflict.

“The first priority now is to ensure that those found are treated with humanity. Any request they make to restart their lives in Ireland must be swiftly processed through fair and transparent immigration procedures.

“The next Government must immediately honour the promises already made by restarting the lifesaving operation by the navy on the high seas, end the unacceptable delay in Ireland offering shelter to men, women and children fleeing for their lives and implement policies to ensure proper integration of those arriving here.”

Meanwhile, in Dimitrovgrad, Serbia, near the Bulgarian border…

Andrew Connolly reports:

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) estimates that just under 30,000 refugees entered Bulgaria in 2015, a seemingly small percentage of the total arrivals in Europe, which passed the million mark.

Yet no other EU state has seen anywhere near a comparable number of allegations of violence committed against refugees. In a continent increasingly torn by how to deal with the ceaseless arrival of people fleeing the world’s worst conflicts, Bulgaria’s tough approach is silently tolerated, if not publicly endorsed.

In December 2015, British Prime Minister David Cameron met with his Bulgarian counterpart (and former bodyguard to Communist dictator Todor Zhivkov), posed for photos at Bulgaria’s fence with Turkey and praised the border regime for doing “vital work” for Britain in stemming the flow of refugees.

…In March 2015, the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee reported that two Iraqi Yazidis fleeing ISIL and whose legs were reportedly broken by Bulgarian police were brought back to Turkey by friends and, unable to move, eventually froze to death in a remote village.

Refugees in container a result of Europe’s failures (Immigrant Council of Ireland)

Letter from Dimitrovgrad: Europe’s most hostile port of entry (Andrew Connolly, Politico)

France begins clearing part of Calais migrant camp (Reuters)

Previously: Found In A Truck

Choice Would Be A Fine Thing

Pawns In The Game 

Pics: MSF