Hand in Hand Parenting workshops

Zsuzsanna Egry a specialist instructor is visiting from Europe for two days only on 22nd and 23rd April. Explore this cutting edge approach to gentle parenting. Workshops expected to fill fast, book your place now.

Saturday April 22nd:

HELP! Tantrums!

Our otherwise sweet child drops herself on the ground, cries her lungs out, and shakes her limbs in trance… for some kids it happens in a shop, for others when getting dressed, or when having to leave the playground. What is common in these situations is that we, the parents, live the carousel of feelings : shame, anger, desperation, exasperation, powerlessness etc.

We may try to ignore, shout louder, threaten or bribe our child out of the tantrum, but even if our attempt works for a while, the success is short-lived, as our child - more often than not - starts the same scene all over again.

Why do children cry and tantrum, and what can we, the parents do to help them (and ourselves) with the difficult feelings? How can we handle tantrums in a way that does not erode, but on the contrary, strengthens our relationship with our child so we come out of it with a deeper sense of trust and connection?

In this one-day workshop, we will explore and gain insights into these issues and you will get practical tools to:

- prevent tantrums (that are preventable)

- reach your child when he is having big emotions

- help him with his feelings
- stay grounded in the middle of his upheaval
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Sunday April 23rd:

Playful Parenting - how to harness the power of laughter and play to build co-operation and end struggles with your child

Play is the native language of all children in the world, and laughter is like emotional candy. These two - play and laughter - can transform most struggles between parent and child within minutes. And yet, most of us adults are so overwhelmed with the responsibilities of adult life, that we hardly feel the inkling to meet our children where they are at their best: playing and having fun.

However, we make our and their lives much easier, when we start using laughter and play as conscious parenting tools, that can completely replace old-timers like threats, bribes, punishments and rewards. Our struggles with our children need no longer finish in raised voices, guilty feelings, and a distance in our relationship, but - on the contrary - can build an even stronger relationship between us.

In this workshop, we will learn
- how children's brain and emotions work
- about the emotional and physical benefits of laughter and roughhousing
- practical tools to promote laughter without tickling
- strategies to overcome our own resistance to playing and light up own our fun-loving selves
- specific games that can be used to intervene in challenging situations (e.g. sharing toys, leaving the house, going to bed etc.)
- how to help children with their fears through laughter

€25 per day, or €40 for both workshops. Concessions available if price is a barrier, please ask!

King at the Back of the Hill Anthology - Call out for submissions

Following on from the success of our Midir and Etain anthology two years ago we are delighted to be able to put a call out again for submissions. This year in association with Longford Arts Office and Cruthú Arts Festival we are turning our attention to the King at the Back of the Hill. We hope that we will once again receive art, writing (creative or factual, poetry or prose), photography and creative responses of all kinds to the story of King Maine. Submissions last time came from all over the world and from people aged 3 to 100 year old. We would love to have that diversity again. More information on the Back of the Hill site and its inhabitants can be found here. We hope to add to it soon after hearing Adel Coleman's very interesting talk on the Excavations at the Back of the Hill earlier this evening. We will also be announcing details of our new programme for schools based on the archaeology of the site in the next few weeks.The anthology will be launched on Bilberry Sunday 30th July in Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre. Submissions should reach us by 5th May.

A Midsummer Night's Dream production

Creative Ardagh are planning to have a production of Shakespeare's famous comedy on 1st July 2017. We are looking for anyone aged 12+ to adult interested in taking part in all aspects to get in touch with us.

As well as actors we would love those with an interest in set design, prop making, costume design,

dress-making, lighting, film projection etc. to join us while we decide the style and vision of the production and work together on the finished piece. No experience necessary.

Contact us on 0863027602 or creativeardagh@gmail.com for more details.

The King at the Back of the Hill

 Saturday 11th March at 5.00pm

Join us for a tea-time talk including lecture by archaeologist Adel Coleman on The Excavations at the Back of the Hill to celebrate the latest addition to the heritage exhibition. We will also be launching our new workshops and our open call for the next Anthology of Art and Literature inspired by The King at the Back of the Hill. Light refreshments will be provided.

0863027602 or 0872326553, creativeardagh@gmail.com

Engineer's Week

6th to 10th March: Engineer's Week
Two sessions a day available to schools or other groups, Monday to Friday, 10.30am to 12.00 pm and 12.30pm to 2.00pm.
Come along and meet an engineer or two from our panel which includes civil, electronic and software engineers. Be inspired by what they do and some engineering feats of the past and design and make your vision for the future in a construction workshop.
http://www.engineersweek.ie/event-search/
 

Craft Fair - call out for stalls

It is nearly time for our annual Craft Fair and Leprechaun and Fairy Hunt. If you are interested in having a table at the fair the cost is €20 per table, pay on the day. Spaces are limited so booking is essential.
We will provide free tea/coffee to all who have a table at the fair. The fair will be on from 12pm to 5pm and the Leprechaun and Fairy Hunt will be on from 3pm to 5pm, on Saturday 18th March 2017.
This year Creative Ardagh are celebrating "A year with the Fairies" so we would also like to offer spaces to anyone interested in giving workshops that are of a craft, artistic, magical or mythical nature during the event.
As always, we are looking for more art and craft to sell in our shop, particularly those that suit the theme of Irish Myths and Magic but as long as you're local and they are handcrafted we are interested.
Feel free to spread the word!!

St. Brigid's Day

Annette talking about St. Brigid on the Joe Finnegan Show on Shannonside radio.

We had a lovely St. Brigid's Day! Annette got to talk to Joe Finnegan on Shannonside about St. Brigid and making crosses and Ann joined the locals on the Annual Walk to the Well. Thank you to Martin O'Connor for having tea ready for all of us when we got back to Ardagh Heritage and Creativity Centre and everyone who joined us. Ooh and I nearly forgot, Ann got a little article in the Leader too (read it below or here) ! Let's do this,and the workshop of course, again next year!!!

Exploring St. Brigid and her links with Longford
Here we are at another 1^st February, St. Brigid’s Day, the festival of Imbolc, the beginning of Spring. It sprung into my mind that while St. Brigid is famously connected to Kildare, that we should explore her links with Longford as she continue to be acknowledged locally by all the churches, schools and clubs that are named after the Patroness of Ireland and by the traditions that are alive in the area.

Who is Brigid?
The St. Brigid everyone knows about is the St. Brigid we learned about at school, a slave by birth, born  circa 453, in Faughart. Her mother was a Christian woman, Brocessa, slave to a chieftain Dubthach. She was kind and generous and has many miracles to her name, the most famous being that of the original St. Brigid’s Cross and the one about her cloak covering enough area to claim as a convent in Kildare.  

Long before Christianity there was another Brigit. In Irish Mythology, Brigit was the daughter of the Dagda and one of the Tuatha De Danann, wife of Bres of the Fomorians. She is often seen as a threefold goddess over healing, poetry and smithcraft. (Lebor Gabála Érenn). Many of the stories of the mythological Brigit and the Christian St. Brigid have similarities, the Brigit’s doll became the St. Brigid’s Cross, the Brigit’s mantle became St. Brigid’s Cloak and many of the miracles performed by St. Brigid mirror the powers of the ancient goddess.

What are St. Brigid’s connections to Longford?
The first connection of Brigit to Longford, and not a widely known connection, is Brigit was daughter of the Dagda and so therefore must have been half sister to Midir, son of the Dagda, Midir of the local legend of The wooing of Étáin, Midir of Brí Leith, Ardagh and The Bog Road in Corlea, Kenagh. There must be many stories to be uncovered about this half sister and half brother and hopefully by this time next year we will know more. It is interesting, given our history of poets and writers in Longford, that Brigit is the goddess of the poet.

St. Brigid has strong connections to the county too. By many accounts she came to Ardagh and received the veil at the hands of St. Mel. In some writings she is said to have been professed as a nun, in others she was professed as a nun and also received abbatial powers and in others, my favourite, she was ‘accidentally’ ordained a Bishop by St. Mel.

While it is widely accepted that St. Brigid established her first convent in Kildare there are a number of writings that say otherwise and that her first convent was in Ardagh, Clonbroney or Ballinalee.

The Duchas schools' collection have many stories about St. Brigid in Longford. One story (click here) in the Duchas collection talks of her first convent being on the north side of Sliabh Galry, another name for Ardagh Hill and another says that St. Brigid carried coals two miles and her Holy Well in Ardagh sprung up where she dropped them. Another states carrying the hot coals was a penance given to a local woman for disrespecting St. Brigid.

However tentative or true the connections to Longford are we do know that there is a St. Brigid’s Well in Ardagh that is visited every 1^st February by the locals, that there are many schools, churches and clubs called after St. Brigid throughout the county and that the tradition of making the St. Brigid’s Day Cross continues locally.