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All roads will lead to Borrisoleigh this coming weekend for the annual Borrisoleigh Festival, which takes place from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th July.
Here there will be something for everyone and for all ages over the course of this well planned festival weekend.
 Pictured here prior to the launch of the 2015 Borrisoleigh Festival sponsored by Ryan’s of Camden St., Dublin are:- Back Row: Brendan Maher (Tipperary Senior Hurling Captain), Sean Shanahan, Marie Shanahan, Patrice Cooney, Mayor of Borrisoleigh, Tom Mason, Phil Mason, Kathleen Scanlon, Nuala Ryan, Fiona Max, Breda Ryan. Front Row: Joe Loughnane and members of the Ryan Family, Bernie, Liam, Martin (Snr), Pauline and Brenda. Programme of Events
The weekend will kick-start with the Tomás Max Camogie U10 tournament on Friday evening to be held in the Town Park. Macks Funfair will also be present in the Town Park all weekend. The opening of the Festival will take place in The Square, with this year’s main sponsors, Ryan’s of Camden St. Dublin, making their official declaration at 9:00pm. This will be followed by live music from that hugely popular band ‘Acoustra’.
Walking Tours
Saturday July 25th starts early with walks organised by the Bush and Briar Ramblers to Knockanora (The Tower) and Latteragh, Forest Loop. Registration for these walks takes place in the Community Centre, to the rear of the Church, at 9.30am and 10.30am respectively.
A Historical Walk through Borrisoleigh takes place from 3:00pm to 6:00pm; starting at Shanahan’s Centra Store, coming down to McDonagh Square and finishing on Pallas Street. This event promises as always to be an enlightening and entertaining journey as participants examine Borrisoleigh’s past rich history.
Line Dancers
Borrisoleigh ‘Line Dancers’ will be displaying their fancy footwork from 12:00 noon to 1.30pm in McDonagh Square. A Food and Craft Fair will also be taking place in the Square from 12:00 noon to 6:00pm with local food and handmade crafts for sale.
Bake 4 Borris
A baking competition, ‘Bake 4 Borris’, will tantalise your taste buds also on Saturday. All baking entries must be dropped into the Community Centre before 2:00pm. (Viewing is from 3:00pm with the final results being announced by judges at 6:00pm.) Note: Entry is free and all cakes will be sold afterwards in aid of Festival organisational costs.
Be part of Irish TV
Irish TV will be present to record some of the events on Saturday, so ladies be sure to put on your best ‘Frock’ and you men, your best ‘Bib and Tucker,’ for this most publicised of televised event.
Variety Concert
Also on Saturday a ‘Variety Concert’ featuring talent from Borrisoleigh and neighbouring parishes begins at 7.30pm in The Square. There will be a special guest appearance by the Dubai Rose, Marie Ryan from Ballyroan; latter who will be interviewed by the local Mayor Patrice Cooney. Marie will also present the prizes for the school art competition. This Artwork will be on display to view in the local Community Centre throughout the weekend.
Churn Racing & Salsa Band
A large crowd is expected at 7.30pm for the Churn Racing display on Pallas Street which will feature some of the participants from the All Ireland Churn Racing competition held in Tipperary Town. This is a great opportunity to now see this unique and growing sport. To truly add to the festival atmosphere there will be live music in The Square with ‘Ochy Calderon’ Latin Caribbean Fusion Salsa Band; beginning from 9:00pm.
Family Fun Day
There will be a Family Fun Day in the Town Park on Sunday July 26th from 2:00pm to 5:00pm. This features a number of entertaining events such as a Veterans Hurling Tournament, Bubble Soccer, Vintage Car Display, Strongman Display, Tug of War, Pony Rides, Athletics, Sheaf Tossing, BBQ, Games of Skill, plus much, much more.
Live Music
Live music starts in The Square with Old Time Dancing by ‘The Castle Trio’ from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. They wll be followed on stage by the wonderful ‘Ebony’ from 4:00pm to 6:00pm. The band ‘Silver Dollar’ will finish off the live outdoor music from 8:00pm to 9.45pm with the official closing of the Festival by Lord Mayor Patrice Cooney.
Note: In the event of severe or inclement weather; all outdoor music gigs, due to play outdoor in The Square, will move to the village Community Centre.
Storytelling
Local pubs will also have live music on this weekend and even some Storytelling with the hilarious comic monologues of Fergus Costello; latter performing his show ‘Tell me lies horse’ in Finn’s pub on Saturday at 9:00pm.
For full event listings and more info visit www.borrisoleighfestival.com or follow on Facebook and Twitter.
  
Miss Eibhlis Maher (International Miss Macra festival PRO), reports:-
This year (2015) celebrates the 44th anniversary of the International Miss Macra Festival. The festival is run annually by the Clonoulty/Rossmore Macra na Feirme club; held over the Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights of the annual August Bank Holiday weekend.
Click HERE to view Video in High Definition
(Video Music: Courtesy Richard and Linda Thompson – “I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight”.)
Once again this year’s festival will see young ladies travelling from all over Ireland and beyond and all converging on Co. Tipperary to compete for the honour of being crowned International Miss Macra 2015 (succeeding the much admired, 2014 winner Miss Bríd Cooney.).
History of the Miss Macra Festival
With regards to the history of this most prestigious of events, the International Miss Macra Festival is one real example of a ‘personality competition’. This festival was originally founded by Mr Paddy Heffernan, Mr Tom Horan and Mr Michael Slattery back in 1972 and has grown from strength to strength every year since conception.
In the very beginning after approaching Macra National Headquarters, the founding members received little enthusiastic support for their idea, however they were determined to succeed and decided to organise the competition ‘of their own bat’. Major success followed and by 1987, for the twenty-fifth anniversary there were thirty-two contestants, one from every county in Ireland. Also during the 1980’s the festival began to attract participation from rural youth and agricultural organisations abroad, such as the 4H clubs in America, the Scottish Young Farmers and many more.
The International Miss Macra competition is unique, due mainly to the fact that it is organised solely by a local Macra Club and not via any County Executive. The Miss Macra festival has a huge community base also, with the contestants staying with host families from around the locality for the duration of the festival period. The pinnacle point of the festival is that it is, perhaps, the best example within Macra of what a local club can achieve, demonstrating strong dedication and team-like commitment.
The local community play an important part in this festival, with many households taking on the role of a host family for each of the contestants, year after year. The tradition of the contestants staying with host families is very strong and contestants are adopted into the very heart of each host family’s home for the full duration of the festival, where a warm welcome is guaranteed. The host families are a very important part of this community based festival and Clonoulty/Rossmore Macra na Feirme club are very grateful each year for this support, generosity, commitment and loyalty.
International Miss Macra Festival Venue – Dundrum House Hotel, Tipperary
The luxurious Dundrum House Hotel (latter winner of a certificate of excellence in 2012) has once again been chosen as the prominent venue for this year’s festival. Described as an oasis in the Golden Vale; Dundrum House Hotel boasts the perfect setting for those seeking relaxation and fun. The historic, picturesque building was originally constructed in the early eighteenth century by the O’Dwyers of Kilnamanagh, as the centrepiece of their vast estate.
Continue reading 44th International Miss Macra Festival – Friday July 31st 2015
 The Hidden Tipperary Tourism Group, (Latter which includes Upperchurch Hill Walking, Upperchurch Climbing Wall, Lar na Pairce & Semple Stadium, St Mary’s Famine Museum, Cormackstown Heritage Centre, Cabragh Wetlands, Holycross Abbey Tours, Farney Castle, The Source, Templemore Town Park and Hayes Hotel) are inviting everyone to a Barbecue at Cabragh Wetlands, here in Thurles on Friday next July 17th.
This fund raising event will begin sharp at 6.30pm and run until 10:00pm with tickets costing €10 per person or €30 per family.
The event on the evening will include Food, Music and other entertainment; with those attending permitted to bring along their own beer/ wine.
This event is being held in order to raise funding for the publication of a Secondary Schools Brochure, latter which will highlight primary source educational opportunities here in Mid-Tipperary and thus encourage participating schools to visits the many educational primary source facilities now available in Thurles and surrounding areas.
For further information and tickets please contact the Cabragh Wetlands Office, Tel: 0504-43879, or Mobile: 086-3179919.
 Racket Hall Country House Hotel in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, which like so many other Munster based hotels, has spent time in receivership, is finally being offered for sale after eight years.
This 40-bed hotel goes on the market via agents Savills on behalf of KPMG receiver Kieran Wallace.
The popular venue, which today is trading successfully, has a history going back some 250 years as a former coaching house and popular roadhouse and is located just off Junction 21 of the Limerick-Dublin M7 motorway.
Situated on a roadside site containing some 2.85 acres, just two kilometres from Roscrea town; Racket Hall Country House was first developed back in 2003, when 40 guest bedrooms were added to an existing 18th century Georgian building which previously had operated only as a Licensed Hostelry and Restaurant business.
The premises currently operates as a Bord Failte three-star hotel, with 40 guest bedrooms, bar, restaurant, four conference rooms and banqueting facilities for up to 250 guests. The venue also boasts parking spaces for some 140 motor vehicles and an attractive garden space especially laid out for outdoor events and which in particular is highly regarded by photographers for weddings and other events.
Asking price via private treaty for Racket Hall Country House Hotel, in Roscrea is €800,000.
 Almost 300 years of Catholic Parish Registers, containing valuable information on births and marriages and held by the National Library of Ireland, are now currently available online, as and from today.
Dating from the 1740’s to the 1880’s, these records cover the entire island of Ireland and can now be accessed free of charge.
This new dedicated website [See http://registers.nli.ie/] now offers over 390,000 digital images of parish registers.
Parish register records are considered the single-most important source of information on Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census. Covering more than a 1,000 parishes across the island of Ireland, these registers consist primarily of baptismal and marriage records and typically includes information such as dates of baptisms and marriages and the names of key people involved, e.g. Witnesses or Godparents.
With the making of these records available, same will mean that those interested in research will now be able to trace their ancestry free and online from as far back as 1740.
For most genealogy researchers, parish registers provide the earliest direct source of family information making available real evidence of direct links between one generation and the next.
Those seeking details of persons known to have been born here in Thurles for just one example, can access all local registers at link http://registers.nli.ie/parishes/0280.
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