Local notes: Countdown to TikTok Ballina Fest
At Ballina Arts Centre to watch Heroes for Hospice theatre group perform 'One Day More' were, from left: Zoe Butler, Ava Butler, Audrey Coleman, Fiona McLoughlin and Ava McLoughlin. Picture: John O'Grady
A partnership between TikTok and The Mary Robinson Centre, Ballina is bringing the ground-breaking 1.5° Youth Climate Change Festival to Ballina from September 23 to 29, the first youth-focused climate change festival to take place in the west of Ireland This dynamic, fun and inclusive festival is jam-packed with events that are centred on celebrating sustainability, nature and the community, and is aimed principally at 13 to 30 year olds.
The 1.5° Fest is part of The TikTok Youth Climate Leaders Alliance, a-year-long programme launched earlier in 2024. Much of the week’s activity will take place in 1.5° Quarter, at the newly-developed IQ Ballina plaza.
This TikTok-funded festival is dedicated to empowering young people to take action on climate change while celebrating sustainability, nature and community through a fun and inclusive series of events which will draw thousands of young people to the area.
Events will cater for people from the ages of 13 to 30, and for all those who are young at heart, so everyone is welcome to come along to the open events in the heart of Ballina town.
The 1.5° Fest kicks off with four days of interactive workshops at the Mary Robinson Centre, running from Monday, September 23 to Thursday, September 26. These sessions will welcome local secondary school students to explore topics like sustainable living, biodiversity and advocacy, all in engaging and hands-on ways.
The festival’s main events begin on Friday, September 27 with an unforgettable evening of music and nature. The festivities start with Bogadh Silent Disco, set amidst the enchanting Belleek Forest, followed by a Stargazing session with Mayo Dark Skies under the night sky.
Saturday, September 28 promises to be a day to remember, with activities spread across the IQ Ballina Quarter, The Mary Robinson Centre and Ballina Arts Centre.
As the sun sets on Saturday in IQ Ballina Quarter, the festival’s energy peaks with an electrifying fusion of beats and traditional Irish music at the over-18s event Trad Rave, supported by local DJ’s. Gates open at 7.30pm, and this gig promises to be one of the highlights of the entire weekend.
Sunday, September 29 offers a serene conclusion to the festivities, with a focus on mindfulness and nature. Unwind with Eco Anxiety Safe Space sessions, Forest Bathing and a guided Woodland Biodiversity Walk with Vincent Lang, leaving you refreshed and inspired.
Over the weekend, the 1.5° Quarter will become a Youth Hangout and Fun Zone, and host a half-pipe skateboarding ramp, live DJ and mixing workshops, a giant Snakes and Ladders with a climate twist, eco-friendly vendor sales, a kite energy exhibit and woodcraft demonstrations. There will even by a group bike ride led by a DJ, turning the streets of Ballina into a mobile party!
Workshops in the Mary Robinson Centre include The Biodiversity of Our Seas presented by Fair Seas, and accompanied by a beach walk to explore local marine life, and Effective Waste Management with Mayo County Council’s Sharon Cameron, followed by a Trash Dash competition.
There will also be a plant-based cooking demonstration with Holly White and some advice from local horticulturist, Aisling Kilcullen.
GOAL and Concern will present an Advocacy in the Global South workshop, shedding light on global climate justice.
Ballina Arts Centre will see a fascinating session on Saturday afternoon with percussionist Peter Crann that brings a new life to rubbish, creating musical instruments through a Waste Jam.
Tickets for the Bogadh Silent Disco, Trad Rave and Waste Jam (a free event) are available online at www.maryrobinsoncentre.ie/1point5fest or through Eventbrite. All other events are free to attend and do not require booking. You can also follow the Mary Robinson Centre on TikTok and other social media platforms.
The TikTok Youth Climate Leaders Alliance, in partnership with the Mary Robinson Centre, is part of TikTok's wider climate commitments, which includes the overarching goal to become operationally carbon neutral by 2030, as well as advancing climate literacy and educational content within TikTok's platform.
As The United Nations International Day of Peace takes places next Saturday, a ‘Walk in Nature’ through Belleek Forest, Ballina will mark the annual event, taking participants on a gentle stroll through the woods to experience the tranquillity of its environment.
The walk starts at 11am, finishing at 1pm, and is open to everyone. Bring along your own cup of tea or coffee.
Walkers will gather at Belleek Forest North Car Park (Knockatanna) at 10.45a.m. on Saturday, September 21.
Then, on Sunday morning, Ballina Arts Centre will be the venue for a workshop which will celebrate International Peace Day through gentle movement, sound bath relaxation and meditation. This free two-hour session begins at 11am, and over 18s are welcome. Numbers are limited, so booking is necessary.
Further information about both events is available from Anne on 087-9337121 or Angelika on 087-7444481.
The Roman Catholic Parish of Kilmoremoy has congratulated two couples on their recent marriages.
Katie O’Hora, Greenhills Estate, Ballina married Brendan Melody, Attymass, Ballina, while Áine Cooke, Belleek Lodge, Ballina married Jesse Beagel, New Jersey, USA.
Ballina Feis, which was held in the Great National Hotel Ballina on September 7 and 8, proved to be another successful competition, with young dancers from many parts of the country taking part.
Feis adjudicators were Dearbhail Bates, Dublin; James Keegan, Manchester; and Vincent O’Connor, USA.
The competition results are available on the Ballina Feis Facebook page.
To mark Culture Night 2024, the NCF Cultural Co-Op in Ballina is bringing Ethiopian DJ Hewan Mulugeta to Ballina Arts Centre this Friday night, September 20.
Hewan Mulugeta, aka Ethio Grooves, is Dublin based, and continues to make her mark across music festivals and music venues in Ireland.
She is a vinyl collector with a special interest in Ethiopian modern and trad music from the 1960s and 1970s, and all African grooves from the same era. Her selections cover afro-funk, afrobeat and highlife, and rare finds of all genres of music from Africa.
Besides her monthly radio show on a Dublin digital radio station, Hewan has been part of Donal Dineen’s ‘Backstory’ and has played on stages at Body & Soul and Cork Jazz Festival, and in different venues in Dublin and across other counties.
She has also supported and played with local and international DJs and artists like Hailu Mergia and Def Nettle.
The NCF is a creative co-op based at Pearse Street, Ballina that is a community of artists, volunteers and patrons who meet regularly and organise events together.
Hewan Mulugeta’s show starts at 9pm.
Bonniconlon GAA Club is promoting a programme on suicide alertness which is open to both club members and non-members, and which will help towards reducing the risk of suicide in the community.
The training programme will be delivered in the clubhouse by Keverina Hannon.
The safeTALK (suicide alertness for everyone) course is an initiative that prepares participants who are over the age of 18 to identify and engage with persons who may be having thoughts of suicide. Participants learn how to provide practical help by using the steps of TALK (tell, ask, listen and keep safe), and also gain information on the supports and resources available locally, regionally and nationally.
These specific skills are called suicide alertness and are taught with the expectation that the person acquiring them will use their skills to help reduce suicide risk in the community. On completion of the training participants will receive a certificate.
Bonniconlon GAA Club requires that as close as possible to 20 people are booked into the training programme by one week prior to the event in order for this training go ahead. The maximum number of participants is 30, and the minimum age to take part is 18.
The safeTALK training evening takes place on Monday, November 4 from 6.30pm to 10pm and is run under the auspices of HSE Community Healthcare West.
The programme is not recommended for anyone bereaved by suicide within the last 12 months.
Follow the link on the Bonniconlon GAA Club Facebook page to book.
The death has taken place of Caroline McHale Corcoran, Rockwell, Ballina, and formerly of Garden Street, Ballina.
Caroline was the beloved wife of Thomas, and adored mother to Charlie and Conor. She will be sadly missed by her loving husband, sons, sisters Lorraine (UK) and Geraldine (UK), brother Sean (Ballina), brothers-in-law, sisters-in-law, nephews, nieces, relatives, neighbours and friends.
She was predeceased by her parents John and Mary McHale (Garden Street), her aunt Maureen Clarke and her mother-in-law Annemarie Corcoran.
Caroline reposed at McGowan’s Funeral Home, Ballina on Friday of last week. Requiem Mass was celebrated in St Muredach’s Cathedral, Ballina on Saturday morning, followed by burial in Leigue Cemetery, Ballina.
The value of understanding the benefits and threats of a smartphone are critical to the proper use of this personal device, something which will be explained at new smartphone and computer classes now taking place in Craoibhín Ballina. The classes are on a Monday afternoon, from 2.30pm to 4pm, with the services of a dedicated instructor. The cost is €5, but booking is essential. Call the centre, which is located at Cathedral Road, Ballina, on 087-2785365 to book your place or to find out more information.
Tomorrow, Wednesday, September 18, sees the return of the monthly quiz for members of Ballina Active Retirement Association. The quiz, in the Pastoral Centre next door to St Muredach’s Cathedral, will begin at 1pm.
The group reconvened following its summer recess on Thursday, September 12 when new member Louise was welcomed into the association.
The executive committee of Ballina Active Retirement Association will meet on Thursday of this week following a general meeting that morning.
Other activities during the month include a whist session at 2pm on Wednesday, September 25 and chair yoga on Thursday, September 26. All events are in the Pastoral Centre.
Ballina Golf Club President Clair Cooke and Captains Kathryn Foley and Brendan Kilgallon were among those to celebrate the recent Gold Standard Award for the club in the R&A Women In Golf Charter.
In 2018, the R&A launched the Women in Golf Charter, which aims to increase women and girls' participation and membership in golf, encourage more families to enjoy golf as a leisure activity and encourage more opportunities for women to work in the golf industry.
The Ballina club has acknowledged the help of everyone who made this award possible.
The St Muredach’s College Golf Classic due to take place on Saturday next, September 21 has been postponed because of unforeseen circumstances.
The fundraising event in aid of the Ballina boys’ secondary school, which was to take place at Ballina Golf Club, will now be rescheduled for 2025, with a date yet to be announced.
Plans are already in place for the annual Christmas Day Goal Mile in Ballina, a run, walk or crawl charity event that raises money for the Irish-based international humanitarian organisation.
The 2023 charity event attracted over 500 participants to Belleek Forest in ideal weather conditions on December 25 last. In terms of the fundraising figure achieved, Ballina Goal Mile ranked 14th out of the 160 Goal Miles which took place around Ireland, raising €8,977.20.
The Goal Mile, supported by AIB, is held throughout December in villages, towns and cities across Ireland and in other parts of the world.
The event sees tens of thousands of people run or walk a mile to raise funds for Goal. It is a Christmas tradition for thousands of families, especially in Ballina, and it attracts huge numbers from all around the area, no matter what the weather.
The fundraising activity helps Goal to provide nutritious food and cleaning water, shelter families forced to flee their homes, support communities with lifesaving healthcare and medicine, provide vulnerable children with access to education, and help people find sustainable work to support their families.
Local community activist Marion Mattimoe is among those behind the organising of the Christmas Day fundraiser in Ballina and, earlier this year, Brenda Gately, Community Fundraising and Events Manager of Goal, made a presentation to Marion in recognition of 20 years helping to organise the Ballina Goal Mile.
Ballina Library has Little Library Bags available for free for every child who has started school in 2024.
The aim of this initiative is to help young children navigate school for the first time. The Little Library Bags contain a book, a wallet and the child’s first library card, available in English and Irish.
Call into Ballina Library on Pearse Street to pick up a Little Library Bag for your young child.
Ballina’s Ronan Quinn and The NCF Cultural Co-Operative have come together to bring the unique, and often crazy, The Totally Made Up Orchestra to Ballina for the first time, taking place as part of this year’s Ballina Fringe Festival.
Musicians and music lovers of any age, any instrument and any ability are invited to become part of the beautiful, monster music machine and phenomenon that is The Totally Made Up Orchestra, a community music-making project under the direction of the inspirational Brian Irvine.
Brian is an Ivor Novello award-winning Northern Ireland composer who has collaborated and made works with artists from vastly different disciplines, including Seamus Heaney, Primal Scream, David Holmes, Joanna MacGregor and U2.
Guided by the inspirational Brian, you will devise, create and perform a completely new work from scratch over the course of just a few hours. And it doesn’t matter if you have been playing for years or minutes, or if you are 9 or 90. If you can read music, that’s great. But, if you don’t read music, that’s even better! All you need to become part of this amazing ensemble is a desire to be heard, a desire to play with other people, an open mind and a big creative heart.
Anyone who has previously taken part in The Totally Made Up Orchestra has found it a joyous, uplifting and unforgettable experience.
The pre-performance workshop takes place in the Kennedy Glasgow Centre, The Quay, Ballina on Sunday, October 6 from 10am to 1pm, followed by a live, half-hour show in the same venue at 2pm that same afternoon. The public show will be a free, but ticketed event.
Workshop places are limited and the organisers are looking for a spread of age groups from 9 years of age and upwards. To express an interest in joining the orchestra visit www.ballinafringefestival.ie or see the Mayo Arts Office Facebook page. Participants must bring their own instruments, where necessary, including amps, etc for electronic instruments.
The project is funded by a Creative Ireland Community Grant and Mayo County Council.
The 2024 Ballina Fringe Festival takes place from October 4 to 13.
