Yarnbombing The Barber of Seville - A First for Lismore

Lismore's "Opera Lane" aka The New Way

Angela, Brian and Minnie

This June Bank Holiday weekend was marked by the staging of Rossini's The Barber of Seville by the Lismore Music Festival in Lismore Castles's salubrious setting. The Opera was staged outdoors, a risky venture in itself given our unpredictable climate and indeed it didn't disappoint as last  night's performance took place in a veritable deluge. Luckily they had the presence of  mind to erect a tent to protect the audience and hopefully the stage could be covered as well. The previous night was the dress rehearsal which I already blogged about in this post about the visit of our President Michael D. Higgins to the Castle, where we met him afterwards at a reception. 

A yarnbombed pole

In Angela's Window - Mary's knitted banner!

All roads lead from Lismore! 

The Tuesday Knitters from the Design Workshop, our self-styled Knitting Circle, decided a while ago to get into the whole yarnbombing movement, which seems to be a global phenomenon. As the name implies, items made from yarn either knitted or crocheted are bombed into public spaces to decorate street furniture, and it can be themed or random. We decided to mark the Opera weekend with yarnbombing on the theme of Barber poles - lots of red and white stripes along the lamposts of Lismore especially en route to the Castle from the town - our very own Opera Lane.

My Granny Squares pole

What makes Yarnbombing special is the surprise element - not for nothing is it also called Guerilla Knitting - so nobody outside the select members of the Knitting Circle morning and evening groups were told what all this frantic red and white knitting or crochet was about, and it was assumed we were knitting up the Cork colours, our rivals on the fields of sport, who are always pitched against the blue and white of Waterford. Alas no, it was much more than an homage to Cork, and by yesterday morning the town was blitzed. 

En route to the Castle Avenue

Like a duel of old, it was up at dawn for Angela of the Design Workshop and some other trusty members who were out in force with the lengths of knitting and crochet, cable ties, stepladders and darning needles.  Sadly I slept it out till 8:30 by which all the hard work was done and I went around taking photos feeling rather sheepishly guilty for not having been there - but Saturday mornings are sacrosanct and the alarm is silenced - I forgot to reset it.

My crochet stripes - concertina-ing!

My yarn bombs pre-deployment! 

So when I arrived on my bike Angela and fiance Brian and trusty dog Minnie (who is a prima donna star in her own right, with a whole range of greeting cards in her image) were breakfasting on the terrace of the Lismore House Hotel, and I was delighted to see the end result of the poles draped in Barber Pole stripes - some quirkier than others. Mine included a length of granny squares in alternating colours and they looked lovely on the pole, and it was great to see them on the corners of the Main Street too. 

The Barber's this way!

We have plans afoot for next weekend and the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing, so watch this space! Like Arnie, we'll  be  back - and it's gonna be fun. I hope you enjoy the photos of our venture into this brave new world of knitting and crochet! 

New Knitting - My Teal Lace-Trim Jumper

My new cotton jumper

 This is a jumper I finished in time for the Immrama Launch in Lismore Castle so you've seen it being modelled if you read the blogpost on that event - and it's also on my Facebook profile pic, as it was taken by the pro photographer on the night and the quality is great. Better than my Panasonic Lumix point'n'shoot or my iPhone pix!

I thought to share this project with the various knitaholics among my blog readership, apologies to the rest of you who find knitting up there on a par with watching paint dry, but that's the joys of blogging - anything goes.

I got the pattern from the March 2012 edition of Let's Knit, a UK knitting mag, which was new to me, but has lovely patterns in it. I get a lot of American crochet and knitting mags, and find the crochet ones easier if they're American as I use the American stitches in crochet, which means the UK crochet mags wreck  my head. I have to do a translation of the pattern as I go along, and often mess up, and even though I am totally baffled  by pattern charts in crochet, which the Americans favour, I am getting used to reading knitting charts for lacy projects, as in the cast of this jumper.

Bathroom mirror modelling - to show neck detail!

It was designed by Anniken Allis (her Ravelry link) and it was a first for me, working from a lace chart. Also the shoulders were not cast off, just  left on a stitch holder and they involved the Wrap and Turn technique to slope them, and then they were joined by the 3-needle cast-off (bind-off for my American readers). This is a technique I was used to from my sock knitting, as I always use it for the toes, and my iPhone cosy too. It leaves a lovely neat finish, and I will use it ad infinitum!

Another first for me was knitting the three-quarter length sleeves in the round, which meant they were seamless. I was chuffed with that as it wasn't on the pattern, and I managed to incorporate the sleeve shaping with no problems. I also blocked the pieces, which was  a step I've never done before - all those knitting books are paying off - and it really gave it a neat finish.

Detail of neck back

My favourite part of the jumper was the lace detail, especially on the neck back. It is a little triangle, and it was easy enough to do once I could concentrate on the counting. The same trim was in the pattern for the sleeves, and I adapted the pattern to include the same trim on the front and back hem. I think that enhanced it and it turned out lovely. What do you think?

Note seamless sleeve: pre-blocking, a bit too blue.

Swanky launch at Lismore Castle - with hubby Jan

The yarn was adapted too - as long as it was cotton 4-ply (sportweight for American knitters) I was happy to go along with it. I had lovely teal cotton yarn from Lidl, called Lima - but I only had 250gm. That should have been enough, but that wasn't applicable to this yarn, and I ran out before the front was done! Disaster loomed as Lidl only bring out wool about twice a year and don't always run the same ranges from year to year, so I thought I'd  have to park the project. Then an angel of mercy appeared, in the person of Annie, one of the Tuesday Knitters at Angela's Design Workshop. She heard of my dilemma and offered me a pack of the same colour yarn she had bought last year! It was called Spring, and it was a 5-ply yarn with a slightly larger gauge, however, I decided to continue on the 3.5mm needles and it wasn't discernible. So unless you look with a gimlet eye for flaws, and spot a tiny discrepancy at the neck, it's totally fine by me.

Border detail - colour very hard to capture but this is it!

I wore the jumper for the launch of the Immrama Festival in Lismore Castle, and it got many compliments. The photos from the launch have been in the local papers so everyone can see my lovely jumper. I hope you like it too.

Celebrating a Decade of Travel Writing in Lismore - the Launch of Immrama 2012

Me and Jan at the launch (photo by David Clynch)

Last Thursday saw a landmark day in the evolution of the Immrama Festival of Travel Writing in Lismore when the 10th festival was launched to great anticipation as to what the line-up would be for such a momentous anniversary.  It was a special occasion for hubby Jan and the Immrama committee who have done trojan work for the past 9 months to bring this year's festival to fruition; a fitting gestation metaphor for this baby, whose birth is always the fruit of much hard labour.

The 2012 festival will be held from June 7-10, and bookings are already flooding in.  Jan is the administrator and this was his first year doing the presentation for the launch, announcing the speakers and presenters. In previous years the manager of the Lismore Heritage Centre did the announcement presentation, but as she has moved to greener pastures as Tourism Officer for Co. Waterford she is no longer involved in Immrama. So this was a new challenge for the committee as they did all the preparatory work themselves. Jan has been working hard at contacting the speakers and arranging the logistical minutiae of travel, accommodation and venues right from the end of the last Immrama in June 2011.

Immrama Committee at the Launch

Another first for Immrama is the commemorative book they are publishing for the 10th year of the festival. It's a compilation of essays by former presenters and speakers and will be a classic collectors' item, with much local interest as it portrays their individual impressions of Lismore and/or Immrama. It will be ready for sale during the festival, and Jan co-edit it with Paul Clements, a stalwart of Immrama from the outset, as he returns year after year to run Creative Writing Workshops or to just soak up the ambience. The book is called "The Blue Sky Bends Over All" which is the motto of Immrama and is attributed to William Makepeace Thackeray who, when visiting Lismore in the 1800s, noted that while Protestant and Catholics are buried in opposite sides of the same cemetary, the sun shines equally on both and "The blue sky bends over all". It's a lovely image and even if the story were apocryphal it has become embedded in local lore.

Theme of Immrama 2012

Back to the launch of this year's festival. It was held as before in the Pugin Room of Lismore Castle, where Devonshire Day takes place, and thanks to the generosity of the Duke of Devonshire's son Lord William Burlington, who spends a lot of his time here with his wife Laura Lady Burlington and their children Maud and James, the Castle has become synonymous with these events. The Burlingtons were at the launch, as they are in the final stages of preparing the summer exhibition of the Lismore Castle Arts gallery, which will  be opened on May 12th. No doubt there'll follow a blog post on that next month! As there was much interest locally in who'd be coming to the festival this year, there was a nice crowd of locals and "blow-ins" at the launch, and we all enjoyed the cheese and wine while we chatted and smiled for the local photographer, who very kindly sent  me the pic of Jan and myself, as it's often the only one of the two of us I end up with, as I'm so busy taking photos of everyone else.

Lord William Burlington and Jan

After the President and Chairman of Immrama spoke, and the County Manager officially launched the Festival, Jan presented the 2012 programme. There's a great group of speakers this year, with the theme of the festival "In The Footsteps of Marco Polo" and will feature a tribute to the late famed travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor, who died last June and news of whose passing filtered through during Immrama 2011's Friday night talk and was mourned by many of the speakers who felt they'd lost a friend and mentor.

Tony Wheeler, co-founder of Lonely Planet, and Colin Thubron, the renowned travel writer who has written on The Silk Road and Siberia, will  be the main speakers on the Saturday. There's a panel discussion on the Legacy of Patrick Leigh Fermor on the Friday night with Jan Morris making a return visit to Lismore after two years, and the aforementioned Colin Thubron and Tony Wheeler, who will also be joined by Leigh Fermor's biographer Artemis Cooper, who is married to Antony Beevor, and this will be a fascinating evening.

Jan presenting the programme

Patrick Leigh Fermor has connections to Lismore Castle, as he was a personal friend of the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire, the former Deborah Mitford, youngest of the famous - or infamous - Mitford sisters, and her niece-in-law, Charlotte Mosley (yes, that Mosley; she's the daughter-in-law of Diana Mitford who was married to fascist leader Oswald Mosley) compiled their correspondence over many years in a fascinating book "In Tearing Haste: Letters between Deborah Devonshire and Patrick Leigh Fermor". Coincidentally I got a present of that book for my birthday and look forward to reading it before Immrama. I suppose there's a certain complacency in Lismore over the Devonshire connection and the castle, as we live in its shadow, and it's only when we are shown it through the eyes of outsiders we see what a magical and beautiful place it is and indeed Lismore as well!

Audience at the launch in the Pugin Room

Mary Russell will also present at Immrama on the Saturday at a lunchtime talk. She wrote The Blessings of  Good Thick Skirt, a book that I read in Tanzania and which I gave to Dervla Murphy when she visited Iringa and came to dinner with us while she was researching The Ukimwi Road back in 1993. I absolutely loved that paean to women travel writers, and it marked my introduction to Freya Stark, Mary Kingsley, Isobel Burton and of course our own Lismore heroine Dervla who featured in it. Mary has recently published her latest book on Syria, My Home is Your Home and it's very topical with all its current tribulations.

Anthony Sattin will speak at the Sunday Breakfast in Ballyrafter, a year late as he was scheduled for 2011 but fell ill at the last minute and had to cancel. The final speaker on Sunday night is Diana Gleadhill who met some Lismore friends when travelling in Ethiopia last year, and who has written on her travels on the Silk Road including a trip to the Kamchatka peninsula.

Mike Foley serenading Niamh in his bar!

Sunday afternoon is an afternoon of family fun, music and circus acts in the town's Millenium Park. That's become a fixture of the festival from its inception and draws crowds of children and their parents from far and wide. The Sunday will have the Farmers' Market, and there will be a great  buzz around town all weekend culminating in the fun day. I look forward to another great weekend and even though I end up wrecked  by Monday, after being on First-Aid duty in my Hi-Viz jacket all weekend at every event, I am blessed that I get to see and hear all the speakers, even if I have to keep a vigilant eye out for any untoward incident.

Donal, Edward and Jan in Foley's on The Mall pub

After the launch at the Castle, we repaired to the pub, and spent the next few hours enjoying the craic in Foley's on The Mall, where we were entertained by the proprietor Michael Foley, who's a wonderful tenor, and gave the launch a fitting finale. Roll on the second weekend in June, and if you can make it to Lismore, why not drop in on one of the many events during the festival.

Lismore's First Sit'n'Knit - The Tuesday Knitters at the Farmers' Market

The Tuesday Knitters - on Saturday!

Today was the first Sit'n'Knit session of a number that may take place over the summer in the run-up to the inaugural exhibition of Knit One, Purl One planned by the Tuesday Knitters from the Design workshop run by Angela Nevin. The exhibition will take place in the off-site gallery of Lismore Castle Arts at St. Carthage's Hall in November 2012.

We have been meeting as a Knitting Circle since late 2010, shortly after the Design Workshop opened, and it is very pleasant to get together every Tuesday evening with fellow-knitters and crocheters, and occasionally I go to the morning session if I'm off, as it's not really an option for those of us working outside the home. As a result, a lot of the morning knitters are retired, and as I wrote before in this blog, some are retired nurses, which shows what a crafty crowd we are! Also that generation knitted regularly and it had none of the cachet that it has today, where it has become practically a celebrity must-do in some circles. I read in one of  my myriad knitting  books that Hollywood stars can now be seen knitting away in the downtime between takes on set, so that can't be bad! There is a children's knitting circle running on Tuesdays as an after-school club which attracts a group of enthusiastic early knitters - the future is safe in their nimble fingers!

Farmers' Market on Lismore Castle Avenue.

Anyway, recently we decided all our multiple and diverse talent should be shared with the wider world and with that end in view Angela hit on the great idea of an exhibition in November. We'll try to do some events in the meantime to shamelessly self-publicise, like getting involved in Knit-in-Public International Day on June 12th, and maybe some guerilla yarn-bombing activities. Of course  by their very nature they have to remain secret and surreptitious till the community awakens to an explosion of colour in their public spaces!

Knitting and cakes - note needle box- not whiskey!

Knitting away! 

The Sit'n'Knit yesterday was the second activity in the past week - Easter Monday saw some wonderfully clad ducks infiltrate and visit the charity Duck Derby in the Strand, Lismore's watering hole for generations of children and indeed where I learnt to swim with an old inner tube, in the shallow waters below the salmon weir waterfall. There was a salmon hatchery in Lismore back in the days of yore - my childhood - and the waterfall was integral to that as it had a sluice gate  nearby that diverted the water to the hatchery. Blackwater salmon were famed far and wide and indeed still are though for the chosen few who have salmon fishing licences. Luckily one of our friends is in a syndicate that fishes the Blackwater and we are always blessed with a couple of fresh caught delicious salmon every year.

The poster for our exhibition

The Duck Derby pretenders wore hats and scarves knitted by stalwarts of the knitting circles, especially Dairiona and some of the children's circle; there are numerous photos on Facebook, and even a videoclip which you can see on the Facebook page.

The afternoon went very pleasantly, with a group turning up in the Millenium Park in the afternoon, with their WIP or their stash to make whatever took their fancy, and we repaired a few yards down the road to the Castle Avenue where the Farmers' Market was in full swing. Normally that takes place on a Sunday but as this is the weekend of the Waterford Festival of Food, it was held on Saturday.

We commandeered a table and chairs in the sunshine by the Castle wall, and we had tea, coffee, and carrot cake from the delicious cake stall run by Helen Fitzgerald, who makes the most yummy carrot, coffee, lemon and other madeira cakes, soda breads and scones. We had chocolate biccies, and passed a very pleasant hour and a half. We attracted some curious visitors, who were probably unaware of our existence, and we had a great laugh with everyone. We even made some  headway with our knitting, and everyone was wearing something they'd knitted themselves.

Farmers' Market Lismore - cakes and fudge and lots more!

Devonshire Day 2012 - Another Perfect Mothers' Day

The Upper Gardens Lismore Castle

Yesterday was the 9th Annual Devonshire Day held in Lismore Castle as the main fundraiser for the annual Immrama Festival of Travel writing and this year will  be the 10th Immrama Festival so it's a very special anniversary - watch this space for updates and programme announcements after the launch on April 19th! I just want to share some of the photos of yesterday with you - and link you to previous posts on Devonshire Day which I've blogged about since 2009 - the first Devonshire Day after I started the blog in December 2008. Here are the links to the 2010 and 2011 posts.

We were blessed with perfect weather yesterday - and we always say St. Carthage our Patron Saint of Lismore is looking down on his own home town with favour. Well, he came from Rahan in Co. Offaly but we claim him as our own as his name is synonymous with Lismore, whichever one you want - as the Australian Lismore has a St. Carthage's Cathedral also and is our Twin Town, and we have two St. Carthage's - the Church of Ireland Cathedral and the Catholic Church.

The Joseph Paxton Greenhouse/Vinery and raised beds

The Lower Gardens of Lismore Castle

The day is a series of five guided walks through the spring gardens of Lismore Castle with the Head Gardener Chris Tull at the helm, and his love and enthusiasm for the gardens shines through all the way - he never flags even after six hours or more,  he displays the same humour and passion with the final group as with the first. I should know, as I accompany each group, tasteful in my garish yellow Hi-Viz jacket and carrying my First-Aid kit, just in case anyone decides to take a tumble or keel over - all in the name of "elf'n'safety"! Luckily no-one has thus far, although a few years ago in particularly vile weather some of the punters nearly came a cropper on the slippery slopes of the lower garden where the mud had churned up into a veritable mire. At least this year the mild winter meant the gardens were in magnificent bloom and some of the magnolias were a little early while others were late having not fully recovered from the Arctic winter of 2010/11.

Chris and Antony Gormley's Man Out Of Water

The walks are preceded by the piece de resistance - the Devonshire Cream Tea served by the Butlers of the Duke of Devonshire in the Pugin Room - the Ballroom and former Chapel designed by Pugin, the famous designer of Westminster Houses Of Parliament in London. The tea is served on monogrammed china and with full silver service, and is very posh. As two of our sons worked there for years as butlers when they were students we tend to take it for granted, but it is very other-worldly for the visitors. A taste of how the other half (or more like the 1%) live, if you will. And that's a topic for debate another day!

Devonshire Cream Tea in the Pugin Room

But I digress - back to the tea. The punters are treated to a series of talks during their tea - on the history of the Castle, Lismore, the Pugin connection and the Pugin Room in particular, and then Chris talks about the gardens and during the walkabout he is a mine of information on Joseph Paxton who built the Glasshouses and designed the gardens initially, and then the contemporary influences of the Cavendish family who inaugurated a Sculpture Garden throughout the gardens, with many contemporary artists having permanent exhibits. Eilis O'Connell has a couple of pieces, and Antony Gormley is probably the best known with his "Learning to be I" man figure - a mould of his own body on a cold day as Chris tells it! I leave you to judge. Gormley's signature piece is the Angel of the North in Newcastle in England, and 100 of his body figures are dotting the English coastline at Crosby near Liverpool.

Over the Inches at sunset from the Castle Dining Room

The Castle Arts Gallery will be open throughout the summer along with the gardens and the ticket entry includes both. Each year there's a different  exhibition usually with guest curators, and it is always avant garde and of international renown but not to everyone's taste. So if you're expecting art a-la the National Galleries, you might be disappointed! This is also the first year there was no Sotheby's Irish Sale Preview in Lismore Castle Arts, which is missed by me as I loved it. But that's the downside of the recession, and we have to put up with it. I'm sure it cost someone a fortune to tour with those artworks worth millions.

Knitter extraordinaire Agnes, with Kevin 

So I  hope you enjoy the photos  and the post - I met a lady who was here last year and she had the most amazing Aran outfit, which she designed and knitted herself - I was gobsmacked by her skill and tenacity - she had a beret, mittens, cowl, bag and calf-length coat - all in fabulous intricate Aran patterns. You can see the photo here as I took some to send her, and I hope she likes them as much as I did seeing them and meeting her. She's called Agnes and she comes from Waterford.

Chris Tull stands on the Ice-House talking to the crowd

I've been asked to do a Guest Post over on the Immrama Blog that hubby Jan moderates in his role as the Immrama Festival Administrator and coordinator of Devonshire Day, and it's a nice family collaboration. Hope you enjoy browsing the blog which is linked to the Immrama Website. 

You can see the full gallery of photos from yesterday over on the Immrama Facebook page here and do click Like when you visit!

Dates for your Diary: 

• April 19th for the Launch of Immrama 2012 - the Tenth Immrama which will be very special! 
• Immrama 2012 will take place in Lismore from 7th-10th June 2012. Save the weekend! 

Alice in Wonderland in our own Wonderland - Off the Ground Theatre in Lismore Castle

Alice down the Rabbit Hole

Last month saw the return of the terrific English Touring Theatre Company Off The Ground Theatre to their annual gig in Lismore Castle. This year they put on a terrific, insane, wacky and wonderful Alice in Wonderland for their Irish tour of various castles and big houses. They were here for one night only, in the courtyard of Lismore Castle as they have done for the past decade, and after a few years of Shakespearian comedies they produced a totally different show - Alice in Wonderland and a cast of all the characters in the original Lewis Carroll book. The Mad Hatter, The Cheshire Cat, Tweedledum and Tweedledee, The Queen of Hearts, the Dormouse, The White Rabbit, and Alice shrinking and growing very convincingly by varying the size of the sets - a big door or a small door, a big key or a small key, and a big or small bottle saying Drink Me! I loved Alice in Wonderland and Alice through the Looking Glass as a child, and the magic came right back when I soaked up the atmosphere of the show.





The only downside was the rain - it was a relentless Irish Mist worthy of Hollywood trying to find an Irish stereotype - it didn't pour and if you glanced out the window you might be forgiven for thinking it wasn't raining at all - that the wet ground was the aftermath of a recent shower. However, a few minutes outside would disabuse you fairly fast - it was a fine spray mist that invaded every crevice of clothing and slowly drenched from the outside in - and made for misery in no time. I went down to the castle for the 7:30pm start armed with a large shopping bag equipped with the following -

• a beach towel (optimist!) for the chair; 
• a roll of black bag bin liners as I didn't have a mac and to put under the towel, over my shoulders, on my head, and on my lap; 
• a couple of cotton shawls for extra warmth;
• bottle of water;
• a few packets of Tayto crisps - ubiquitous and indispensible for any outdoor event
• a roll of Rowntree Fruit Pastilles for a sugar rush 



Painting the trees for the Queen of Hearts

• a Twix Bar - for more sugar rushes. 

Song and dance with Alice

The posh people in the audience who came from further afield for the show were much more organised and had brought proper outdoor theatrical fare - cheese and wine in proper glasses, with wicker hampers and Tupperware full of tasty tapas and fancy vittles - but I was far too disorganised to be so pretentiously upmarket. Aspiring to be an Irish Glyndebourne or Tanglewood is great but as this is on such a small scale with an audience of about 100 you get all sorts of people turning up. There are a smattering of locals, a few from the surrounding area, and a number who travel from further afield, and who evidently see this event as a high point on the social calender of the summer.

Things are getting curiouser and curiouser!

Alice in Wonderland

The castle's upper garden is accessible during the interval, and there was an opportunity to meet and greet the cast, all very informally. I managed to scrounge a plastic poncho from either Tweedledum or Tweedledee at the interval - I think he felt sorry for this dripping black-bag lady and when I asked if there were any leftover he went off and got me one. Many of those who'd arrived earlier than me had snagged one and I was quite impressed with its effectiveness in keeping the elements at bay. Umbrellas are a no-no at these gigs as they ruin the view for the punters sitting in the rows behind and also they drip relentlessly down everyone else's neck. I love that the show starts at 7:30 in daylight and goes on through dusk to floodlit darkness in the beautiful courtyard - and as befits every Off the Ground performance they intersperse the play with terrific song and dance routines - and plenty of audience participation for the kids sitting on the grass in the front row!

The well-wrapped audience in the floodlights - not sun!

I took some photos and videoclips so I hope you get a sense of the atmosphere of the misty August night. If you ever get a chance to catch this company's tour you'll be in for a rare treat, as they only do a dozen or so gigs in Ireland every year.

Immrama 2011 Launch - An Evening of Anticipation in Lismore Castle

Lismore Castle in evening shadows

Last Tuesday saw the launch of the Immrama 2011 - the 9th Lismore Festival of Travel Writing - in Lismore Castle's renowned Pugin Room. As in previous years, the launch is a much anticipated event as people wait to see what the lineup for this year will be. As ever it didn't disappoint and while the names may not be as familiar to everyone as in other years it still promises to be a great weekend. It has become a tradition for me to blog about the launch and the fundraising events like Devonshire Day and the Table Quiz, so I'll continue that with this short post and some photos.

If you click on the link to the Immrama blog on the website here,  you will see the entire programme on a page - and the revamped website hosted as usual by Déise Design (see, the Deise name - with or without the fada - keeps cropping up in Waterford!) from Dungarvan. There is no point in repeating everything that you can read from that blog; suffice to say that there is already a surge in bookings and there will be as good a following as in previous years - the brand alone inspires such loyalty that people book from year to year without even knowing the line-up.

Jan and me at the launch (thanks to David Clynch, Photographer)

Conor O'Clery, the peripatetic former Irish Times correspondent, is the keynote speaker on the Saturday afternoon, and he should be an entertaining and riveting speaker, with his 33 years of foreign correspondence and his books to draw on for inspiration. What I also like about this year's Immrama is the recognition of blogging in travel writing with the presence of Rolf Potts and a conversation forum on blogging with veteran friend of Immrama and former literary breakfast speaker Manchán Magan facilitating. He will include couchsurfing, a terrific phenomenon I wish had been there in my backpacking youth and which is embraced by one friend here in Lismore with great enthusiasm - go Jane! Social media in this era of Twitter and Facebook can't be ignored and it is good to elevate the oft-maligned world of blogging to give it some parity with the published hard-copy written word.

Ed Lynch, MC for the evening

Other speakers include Alex Von Tunzelmann and Sara Wheeler, Irish Poet Theo Dorgan, and Anthony Sattin and William Blacker, whose book inspired the theme title for Immrama 2011 - Along the Enchanted Way...Travellers Past and Present.Of course there's a nod to On Raglan Road, that wonderful Irish poem by Patrick Kavanagh turned hit ballad by Luke Kelly of The Dubliners, which includes the line Along the Enchanted Way.

Peter Dowd, Immrama President

A large part of the attraction is the venue of Lismore as a beautiful town with its own charms and this has been documented far and wide by previous Immrama visitors and speakers. This includes luminaries like the aforementioned  Manchán Magan, the eccentric Irish writer, eclectic traveller to far-flung parts and intrepid house-builder of an eco-dwelling extraordinaire in the Irish midlands which has earned him the soubriquet of an Irish Hermit by John Murray in a recent Radio One programme on people who chose to live outside society as we have come to know it! He's written glowingly on Lismore here in his Irish Times Travel Supplement - there's a whole archive of his articles but many of the older ones are subscription only (which is really stingy of the Times).

More internationally, Michael Shapiro, who visited Lismore last year for Immrama with his fiancée Jacqueline Yao, wrote a great piece on Lismore and Immrama that has a lovly romantic twist at the end! There's an audio link here to an interview he did recently for Arthur Frommer's Travel Show He's interviewed Dervla Murphy, our own Lismore travel writer of acclaim, and she has lent her illustrious name to Teen Travel Writing Award, a new venture for Immrama supported by the County Library. Fitting, as Dervla's Lismore roots began when her father arrived here to take up the County Librarian post a few months before she was born in 1931.

All in all we had a pleasant couple of hours in the Pugin Room of the castle. There was a nice crowd there, a mix of Immrama organisers and committee members, officials from the Co. Council who have seconded some staff to the festival, and the many friends and supporters of Immrama over the years, without whom the festival just wouldn't happen as their goodwill as well as financial sponsorship is crucial for the ongoing success of such a community venture. We are very proud here in Lismore of Immrama's commitment to maintaining its community core - long may it continue well into its second decade. As the Chairman of Immrama said at the launch - it would only work in Lismore - take it out of this location and it just wouldn't be the same.

Orla Russell, Mayor of Lismore

Ger Barron, Deputy County Mayor

Ray O'Dwyer County Manager

Margaret O'Sullivan, Immrama programmer

Bernard Leddy Immrama Chairman

Audience at Immrama Launch

Attentive Audience

I hope you enjoy the photos and get a sense of the launch atmosphere - it wasn't just all speeches, there was a lot of chatting and cheese and wine - and afterwards we repaired to Foley's on The Mall for a few scoops, as they say. It wasn't great to have such an event in the midweek with work the next day but I was very prudent, and was home not too long after midnight!