Tag Archives: Cork

Midleton Food & Drink Festival – 10/09/2016

The Midleton Food and Drink festival 2016 celebrated culinary excellence during the period Sept 4th to the 11th. The festival has been running for almost 15 years and brought a range of culinary excellence to Midleton showcasing the incredible food offerings from well know local food producers in the region. An array of colour ful stands with a taste of authentic and locally produced food dominated the main street of Midleton on Saturday the biggest and busiest day of the festival. This year and every year since the festival commenced has attracted food enthusiasts from local areas and afar sampling the food and drink delights of the event. Musicians and bands entertained the crowds adding to the fun of the festival.

A number of daily events during the festival period were arranged including Demo food Theatres by local chef personalities, Whiskey Talks and tastings at the Midleton Distillery and special demonstration on the art of barrell making by Master Cooper Ger Buckley in his unique workshop at the distillery.

ECCG was also on hand on the Saturday with a stand displaying a variety of images from ECCG’s finest! The weather was mixed with sun in the morning changing to rain in the early afternoon but this not prevent ECCG members from capturing a flavour of images of events on the day.

Click here to see a gallery of images from this shoot. Enjoy!

– Noelle Lowney.

Youghal Medieval Festival – 27/08/2016

On a bright sunny Saturday August 27th 2016, the Youghal Medieval Festival took place. The venue was the St Mary’s College gardens within the 13th century walls Raleigh Quarter of Youghal . Now in its 10th year, the Medieval festival celebrated National Heritage week and attracted visitors from local areas and and afar.

The festival was awash with the rich heritage of Youghal town and featured an array of colour ful activities including displays of Falconery and Birds of Prey, fascinating Archery and Medieval battle re-enactments. Visitors to the event including ECCG members were all blessed with great weather and blue skies and

were brought back in time with a journey through many aspects of medieval life back in the day with wool spinning, medieval recipes, weaving on hand looms couple with an array of artisan and craft stands.

ECCG members were treated to opportunities to capture images on camera of the medieval festival which showcased Youghal’s rich history and heritage.

Click here to see a gallery of images from the shoot. Enjoy!

– Noelle Lowney

Coal Quay Festival – 20/08/2016

On a wet Saturday August 20th 2016, the annual Cork Coal Quay Festival took place. The festival saw the Corn market and North Main street traders come together in the Coal Quay area in the centre of Cork city -regarded as one of the oldest parts of the city to join in the festivities. Now in it’s 5 year, the festival celebrated the rich tradition, heritage and culture of music, song, stories and more resonating the nostalgia of Cork city.

At 12 noon on the day, the bell chimes of the historic Shandon bells could be heard with the Banks of My own lovely Lee to celebrate the opening of the festival. The Coal Quay Shawlies began the celebration as they set off from the North Gate bridge walking along North Main street to Kyle Street finishing at Cornmarket street where they were met by the Lord Mayor of Cork who officially opened the festival. The Cobh Animation team as well as the People of the Middle Parish traders were also present dressed in traditional costumes adding to the atmosphere of yester year. Prayers were said in remembrance of the deceased Coal Quay traders and doves were released in their memory. Various musicians performed including the Roaring Forties entertained the crowds.

The damp and torrential rain did not deter some brave ECCG members dodging the odd downpour of rain attending the festival to capture images of the festivities in the one of Cork City’s most historic areas.

See a gallery of images from the shoot here. Enjoy!

– Noelle Lowney

Courtmacsherry Strand Races – 10/07/2016

The poor weather was a disappointment for everyone concerned but couldn’t dampen the excitement at Courtmacsherry Strand Races held in the west Cork town on Sunday 10th July 2016.

The oval track is on a sandbank that can only be used at low tide and is accessible only via a temporary bridge by pedestrians. On our arrival, groups of stewards in hi-vis vests were busy putting the final touches to the track, installing the marker posts, winning post, starting rope and the all important last-lap bell. Being at the mercy of the tide, racing had to get underway so at a little after 3pm the runners and riders in the first race came onto the track having splashed their way through the low water. The young jockeys, in their colourful silks and tinted goggles, looked totally enthused and up for the contest as they loosened out their horses with a few short strides on the sandbank prior to lining up at the start.

Then, with encouragement being roared from the spectators on the road, they were off on several circuits of the course, sand flying in all directions as they galloped at full tilt around the track. The final lap bell signalled the last chance for the jockeys to squeeze the last bit out of their mounts and was also a signal for us that we had just one more time to get a decent photo of this race.

Then, to the sound of applause from across the water, the muddy-faced horses and jockeys crossed the finish line and while the winner headed for the parade ring to accept the prize, the others stabled their horses and prepared for the next race. This was repeated several times over and was a fantastic event despite the poor weather. Definitely one for the calendar next year.

Well done all in Courtmacsherry.

Click here to see a gallery of images from this shoot.

The Emerald Isle Explorer – 18/06/2016

Emerald Isle Explorer FOShea-2

sd_poster It was with a sense of excitement that we heard during the week that a Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, steam-hauled train would visit Cork City on Friday and Saturday as part of a six-day private charter tour, The Emerald Isle Explorer.

Saturday 18th June promised be the best day to view and photograph the train in the Cork area as the locomotive, WT Class 2-6-4T No.4 Tank Engine, would haul the 09.35hrs train from Kent station to Killarney. She would run, boiler first, to Mallow where, after taking on water, would proceed bunker first to Killarney. A recce of prospective vantage points was hurriedly done on Friday in preparation for the run for which the weather forecast was looking very favourable.

Emerald Isle Explorer DB-2 By 8.30am on Saturday, the locomotive was already well in preparation for the run as it sat, puffing silently, alongside two modern siblings in the sidings of Kent station. The coaches were also in preparation with staff attending to the final details.

Shortly after 9am, a diesel shunted the coaches into position alongside the mainline platform in the station while the locomotive ran around the outside of the station building, into the tunnel and reversed back to be coupled to them. Right on time and to the accompaniment of huge volumes of steam, smoke and a loud whistle, the train departed into the tunnel leaving many wide eyed children (and adults) behind who were only too glad to have caught a glimpse of times gone by.

Emerald Isle Explorer DB-20