Lough Ree Environmental Summer School and Arts Festival

The Lough Ree Environmental Summer School and Arts Festival, now in its 11th year, will take place in Lanesboro from 10th to 13th July. A unique event, which takes place in the surrounds of the picturesque Lanesboro/Ballyleague area. The Summer School down through the years has grown in significance. The remit is to increase awareness among locals and visitors with regard to our local environment through field trips and seminars. The Summer School has become one of the most important festivals of its kind on the island of Ireland. Each year a theme is explored and this year the theme in ‘Air’. The school is open to everyone, even those with just a passing interest in the environment. It now attracts visitors from all over Ireland as well as an increasing international audience. Over the years, the school has developed a core of repeat visitors who return each summer to sample new additions to our programme as well as partake in the old favourites. On Saturday 12th of July, Dick Warner, Eanna Ni Lamhna, Richard Collins and Dr. Harmon Murtagh will research our waterways, woodlands and bird life. You can take a trip with Dick Warner north on the River Shannon, passing under the Bord na Mona bridge on which the peat is transported from the west of the power station. The boat will travel on to Tarmonbarry, through the locks and then return. Along the way, you will learn about the bird life and angling on this part of the river. You can explore the local Thureen Bog with Eanna Ni Lamhna. The way into the bog is along a tree-lined track that is home to a range of wild flora and butterflies, while the bog itself offers a rich environment for sphagnum mosses, lichens, insect-eating plants and rare flowering plants. Dr. Harmon Murtagh will take you on a visit by rigid inflatable boat to Inch Cleraun to view the ruins of six churches, with early Christian Romanesque and Gothic features. Other remains include an extensive monastic enclosure, a cloister and significant field works. Lanesboro is home to many bird species in summer. You can take a field trip to the nearby woodlands and the reedbeds along the banks of the Shannon with Richard Collins. As we face the challenge of increased energy demands, rising food costs and plummeting house prices, each community must calibrate to form a solution to our exhaustive standard of living. The Rathcline Sustainable Projects Group presents its unique Energy and CO2 Minimisation Project on 12 existing dwellings in the community. The heritage night will be full of fun with Paddy Egan from Glanmore, Kenagh, Co. Longford as he separates the cream from the milk and throws in a joke here and there. On Sunday evening, the Summer School will close with a céili in the Lough Ree Arms from 6 – 9 pm. Music by the great Anally Céili Band. There is much, much more so don’t miss this unique event. Come along and take part in the 11th Lough Ree Environmental Summer School and Arts Festival. Should you require any further information, or if you need a brochure, please call the Co-Op, Lanesboro on (043) 27070.