Announcing a year with the fairies in Creative Ardagh

100 years ago two English girls took pictures of fairies at the end of their garden. The Cottingley fairy photos sparked the imagination of millions of people from that day to this. For the remainder of 2017 Creative Ardagh will be celebrating this centenary. We have secret plans involving fairies of all sorts (especially of local ones). A number of themed events will be happening throughout the year. We have already delved into the Sidhe (Irish fairies) origins of St. Brigid and will be chasing down some leprechauns and fairies on March 18th, scary fairies might make an appearance around Halloween and we hope to add to our fairy trail during the year. We may even have some Midsummer fairy folk revealing themselves in June. Full details of our events calendar will be available soon. Watch out for this logo:

Lots of fun at St Brigid's Cross workshop

We had a lovely afternoon with a mix of old and young participating in our annual St. Brigid's Cross workshop on Saturday. Many a tale was told of Brigid the Goddess, half-sister of our Midir and Brigid the saint who reputedly walked two miles with hot coals dropping them in a field near the village where they instantly turned into a holy well. We will share more information here about her local connections soon. In the meantime listen out for us on the Joe Finnegan show on Wednesday morning. The local tradition of visiting the well after Mass on St. Brigid's Day, 1st February still continues, why not drop into us afterwards for tea?

St. Brigid's Cross workshop

St. Brigid's Day is by tradition on the 1st February, also known as Imbolc. Come along to our workshop on Saturday 28th to prepare. €5 per person. Tea/Coffee provided.
Brigid had strong connections with Ardagh as is evident in the naming of the local Catholic Church and the Holy Well in the locality. She is reputed to have been ordained a bishop by St. Mel in Ardagh and to have established her first convent in the area. We will have a brief discussion on her local connections and her story, links to celtic traditions and get our participants to try their hands at making a St. Brigid's Cross to bring home.
(This workshop can also be adapted for schools/groups at our usual group rates)