Fleadh 2019

whelan2

Doesnt seem to be as much about it this year as last year. Will it be as big or good as an event as last year?

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

Every ad break over the past couple of week on RTE Tv and Radio 1 has an advert for it

ssmith6287

Doesnt feel like as much buzz around the town. Last year all of the store fronts were being done up, the streets were hopping with activities. Feels a bit meh this year

Leaving it very late this year to do anything. They only got around to doing the weeds around town this week.

There was some work done to the parking facility on Donore Rd. to clear it and there was a fence installed to make it smaller but it was massively underused last year.

They are using the Abbey car park this year for some of the events and no effort has been made at all to spruce that up and looks very shabby and run down. Actually it's probably 15 years since I last set foot in there.

endacl

Speaking as a fleadh veteran, I’ll be giving it a miss. As will plenty of others.

Drogheda may have killed the fleadh.

ssmith6287

In what way has Drogheda killed the fleadh. Not getting defensive, its just quite a strong statement. Anyone I spoke to about last year said it was great

endacl

Very few spots for musicians to actually sit down and play. Ballad shouters playing through PAs in many of the pubs. Piped music out onto the Main Street making street sessions unworkeable....

Drogheda missed the point. Was a great party for the town, but a shyte fleadh. Could’ve been a great party for the town, and a great fleadh.

Scotty #

ssmith6287 wrote: »

Anyone I spoke to about last year said it was great

Last years was great, but Drogheda has been in the news a lot since then for all the wrong reasons. Last year you could see the all the preparations being done, all the banners up, the excitement building. This year, with barely two weeks to go, you'd hardly know it was even on driving around the town.

I suspect the numbers will be well down on last year. It's a shame.

blingrhino

The ongoing gang feud certainly wont help either.

MightyMighty737

endacl wrote: »

Piped music out onto the Main Street making street sessions unworkeable....

Masisvely. Weavers absolutely ruined West St by blaring music out onto it.
Place was jammed though so I suppose they'll do the same again this year.

IvoryTower

The musicians who stayed in my house last year all contacted about staying again so I'm sure plenty of people enjoyed it, I've taken the week off myself and can't wait.

Sam Quentin

The reason you're not seeing as much activity as last year is because not as much work is needed as a lot of what you seen on the streets was built/assembled on the spot...but it's all in storage now ready to go,.like Blue Peter(here's one I made earlier)all sitting busting to come out of storage and rock Drogheda to its core,. it'll be a great Fleadh as good if not better than last year..

whelan2

No park and ride facility in monasterboice this year. Was very handy last year

delly

Being someone who was completely ignorant of what the fleadh was last year, I had no intention of going in or really understanding what it involved. I ended up going with others and was pleasantly surprised, it had such a great buzz, was so well managed, it was just such a great feeling being in the middle of it. Roll on this year!

blingrhino

whelan2 wrote: »

No park and ride facility in monasterboice this year. Was very handy last year

Thats a disaster.

Scotty #

Sam Quentin wrote: »

The reason you're not seeing as much activity as last year is because not as much work is needed as a lot of what you seen on the streets was built/assembled on the spot...but it's all in storage now ready to go,.like Blue Peter(here's one I made earlier)all sitting busting to come out of storage and rock Drogheda to its core,. it'll be a great Fleadh as good if not better than last year..

I hope you're right!

I was one of many volunteers who were out cleaning, painting and ridding the town of graffiti before the last fleadh. Weeks and weeks of effort put in.

I'm noticing this year no one is too bothered. Seems the ungratefulness of the Council to the volunteers has lead them to not care (and understandably).

Mell/Trinity Street, the whole way from the M1 Retail Park into the bridge of peace is disgusting with graffiti tagging from two of the same names over and over. And you've to pass by the still-charred remains of the house in loughboy. Town has a reputation as being a shithole built up over the last year and no one's bothered to do anything practical to try and change that.

Drogheda did a great job last year, and i think most people had a great time (although I agree with the Weaver's music being too loud, coupled with their attitude to the Boyne 10k racers a while ago - I've never set foot in it, and never will) but this year, other than the fantastic floral effort on the bridges, I don't think the town will be getting as many positive reviews at all.

It's not a welcoming place.


That said, at least that idiot Gavin Dumbass Duffy isn't trying to hijack the event. That's a plus!


EDIT: Also the loss of the week-long 'Music at the Gate' aspect is a negative blow. Seemed popular last year, and lead footfall up towards Scholar's, who I'm sure will suffer as a result of it being scrapped.

whelan2

Remember last year the big figures were up at the roundabouts etc a few weeks before the flash. Will they make an appearance this year?

endacl

Deleted User wrote: »

EDIT: Also the loss of the week-long 'Music at the Gate' aspect is a negative blow. Seemed popular last year, and lead footfall up towards Scholar's, who I'm sure will suffer as a result of it being scrapped.

For those who might be interested, Music at the Gate was the brainchild of a local man, piper Darragh Ó Héiligh. He came up with the concept and organized it off his own bat, and provided a great opportunity for musicians to play in a 'formalized yet informal' setting. The reason it's not going ahead this year? RTE want to film at the location.

This one's not Drogheda's fault. Entirely down to the combined short-sightedness of RTE and CCE. They could have filmed what was already happening....

Saw the ads on RTE during the week for it and in one scene, I think shot in Donors Green there was litter clearly visible over the mans shoulder.

EDIT: 10 seconds in

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0hNdYgMaHI

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Saw the ads on RTE during the week for it and in one scene, I think shot in Donors Green there was litter clearly visible over the mans shoulder.

EDIT: 10 seconds in

That is pretty poor alright. It's odd as it could surely be easily avoided? Maybe the cameramen were having a laugh at our expense due to the state of the place in general?


The ad itself is woeful though. :rolleyes:

peejay1986

That ad is so, so bad. I cringe every time I see it. I have to admit I hadn't spotted the litter until it was pointed out here, but it could be because I usually switch over when it's on.



Missed the Fleadh last year as I was away, so I'm planning to head up to check it out this time around. What was the craic like midweek last year? Still a good crowd and decent craic? Considering going the Wednesday night.

shenanagans

Any announcement on next year's location for the fleadh?? Is it Galway??

IvoryTower

peejay1986 wrote: »

That ad is so, so bad. I cringe every time I see it. I have to admit I hadn't spotted the litter until it was pointed out here, but it could be because I usually switch over when it's on.



Missed the Fleadh last year as I was away, so I'm planning to head up to check it out this time around. What was the craic like midweek last year? Still a good crowd and decent craic? Considering going the Wednesday night.

I preferred it the first half of the week, gets pretty hectic over the last weekend. Certainly good craic to be had any night

Decoda

shenanagans wrote: »

Any announcement on next year's location for the fleadh?? Is it Galway??

Mullinger 2020

http://www.westmeathexaminer.ie/2019/03/09/fleadh-cheoil-na-heireann-going-home-for-2020/

Chorcai

The town is manky with the dirt, West street you could stick to it with weeks and weeks worth of curry chips and seagull shíté on it, embarrassing to say the least, and let's not talk about the side streets (or Narrow West St) with shít n píss everywhere. The only ones to benefit from anything to do with the fleadh are the pubs. Since when are DJ's playing till 2am anything do with a fleadh?
A number of businesses having to close for the week, was it always a week-long thing? To be honest, a weekend is more than enough for it.

(I live in the middle of the town so somewhat biased)

Scotty #

Chorcai wrote: »

The only ones to benefit from anything to do with the fleadh are the pubs.

Many of the local sports clubs had a welcome windfall providing parking spaces, etc. The pubs certainly benefit the most but they're not by any means the only ones that benefit.

CheerLouth

The Irish Dancer was up at the Rosehall roundabout this morning and some signage. Looking forward to getting in for a few days next week

Mr. Muddle

A wonderful local person is organising a cleanup this evening if anyone wants to join in this is her post from Facebook. You can find it on the Drogheda Community Volunteers page



Hey Volunteers. Hope you will all be available from 6 and after on Thursday 8th at Gleesons for Take Back Our Streets Round 2. Here are a few pictures of key areas that need a bit of magic. There is a bit of scrubbing and painting with a dash of imagination.
1. Narrow West Street with maybe a bit of tidying at George's Square.
2. The Pizzeria, previously Mná ladies fashions and the Central Bar. These require the imagination bit.
3. 3 shops on Stockwell Street. We need to try to find our who owns them. (Gwen, can you help here?) These also require imagination.
4. We have permission to decorate McPhails so the North Strand mural girls will be on this tomorrow.(Thank you for contacting them Annie)
5. We have access to the key of the Methodist Church on Laurences Street which needs a cleaning up for Ceomhaltas to showcase the archives.
Now it seems like a lot but we have a great crew here and if we divide and conquer and help eachother out it should be very manageable (I hope!!).
Please bring anything at all you might think will be useful. We have cream paint courtesy of the North Strand Crew and are trying to source some black and grey paint if you have any lying about. Brushes and rollers. Sweeping brushes, buckets and mops, old cloths large sheets of corriboard, anything to decorate and brighten the area. I'll leave that up to your imagination. Don't forget old clothes and gloves if you have them.
We are all Indians, no chiefs here so let's work together to showcase our magnificent town. Have a think about where you feel you could best tackle.
Thank you to our local publicans and businesses who are showing great support on a very busy week for them. And a special thank you to you all who have responded....you are amazing . #takingbackourstreets #lovedrogheda #wearethefleadh

positron

Irish (pole) dancers have reappeared opposite the bus station as well. Not a huge fan of them, I would have preferred if they were not on stilts, but hey, good to see them back and definitely adds to the atmosphere.

I love the "Trump salutes this great local amenity border fence" notice someone slapped on the barricades they had put up for whatever work they were doing on the Boyne trail towards Oldbridge. It's a fair observation and they are blocking off the best amenity in the town for most of the year (till end of October or so). They have already finished laying some gravel, and they have filled in the the trenches dug up for laying pipes / lamps etc as well. I don't see why they need to block off the entire path just because they are doing work in a section off it.

Looking forward to the week ahead.

I think I posted in the cycling forum last year on one of your posts Positron about my eldest spotting them when we were out with the dog and heading up then fleeing in terror at the sight of them, they are creepy as fook

Was heading home earlier and passed the house of the fella involved with music at the gate's over which there was some controversy about it not being allowed go ahead with RTE etc. and there seems to be no sour grapes there for him or letting it spoil his Fleadh. House was looking mighty indeed.

macadam

I was in town today, had a cup of coffee from Scotch hall, I finished it when I got to the Tholsel and low and behold the only litter bin that wasnt full to the neck the whole way over West street was outside Gleesons. Every single bin chocked to the neck. LCC Drogheda area must have a method in their madness not emptying the bins !!
The footpath area outside St Peters is a disgrace with chewing gum, other than that the place is beginning to buzz.
Looking forward to a week of culture.

I've seen the van that empties the bins around today but no idea what they were doing as many of the bins I passed on the outskirts of town were pretty full too. Friday would normally be the day I'd see them emptying them.

If I recall from last year though didn't they just seal up the bins with black bags and put in temporary ones that could easily be lifted during the Fleadh?

macadam

Deleted User wrote: »

I've seen the van that empties the bins around today but no idea what they were doing as many of the bins I passed on the outskirts of town were pretty full too. Friday would normally be the day I'd see them emptying them.

If I recall from last year though didn't they just seal up the bins with black bags and put in temporary ones that could easily be lifted during the Fleadh?

They did and there was council employees on hand most of the day to keep them replaced.But wouldnt you think even regardless of the Fleadh the bins should be emptied daily!!

bodice ripper

I have the misfortune of living in the centre of the town, and last year was an absolutely monumental pain in my arse. I will be delighted beyond words to see the back of it.

LOU76

bodice ripper wrote: »

I have the misfortune of living in the centre of the town, and last year was an absolutely monumental pain in my arse. I will be delighted beyond words to see the back of it.

Same here. It’s a nightmare living in the middle of the Fleadh. Can’t wait till it’s over.

I really hope they have some giant banner ready to cover the ugliness of the Abbey shopping centre. Saw them getting things set up when I was by earlier and the thoughts of it being the centre for Fleadh TV

I've vague notions of them ( Abbey ) being told to get their sign sorted with it's missing letters or something in the last couple of months

10green bottles

I'm heading to Drogheda Sunday,Tuesday,Saturday.10 of us from Dundalk,Newry,Warrenpoint(.(6 musicians,4 wannabes )Weather forecast looks a bit iffy but us fleadh regulars are well used to that

T'was a Great party and atmosphere last year and all of us are really looking forward to this years renewal.:cool:
Good luck Drogheda & we'll see you soon. x

endacl

LOU76 wrote: »

Same here. It’s a nightmare living in the middle of the Fleadh. Can’t wait till it’s over.

Same. Not from drogheda, and not going. Can’t wait till it’s back in a town that suits it.

macadam

endacl wrote: »

Same. Not from drogheda, and not going. Can’t wait till it’s back in a town that suits it.

Drogheda with the streets closed is well suitable for the fleadh, its the disappointment of LCC not being bothered to spring clean the town for the event thats bothering me.
Can you explain what you mean by a town that suits it?
Im sure the organisers have spent years looking into Droghedas suitability for the event, long before it being given the honour.
Look back at the pictures from last years event it was well attended and well organised.

Louth County Council do seem to have some serious issues at the moment. They simply aren't a functioning council. Someone needs to step in and take control of it. It can't seem to balance it's books at all, and seems to spend on invisible and nonsense items (for example, graffiti-ing the footpaths with decals to pick up dog shite.. what a moronic, eyesore of an idea).

Last year, a lot of volunteers got out and made a big difference. I was one of them, but I wasn't the most active by any stretch of the imagination. The Council's attitude to the volunteers was effectively 'feck off', so im not surprised to see that many haven't bothered this year. The clean up organised the other day was a lovely touch, but there's only so much a couple of hours can do.

As i've said before (possibly on this thread?) the entire driveway in from the M1 at woodies, via mell/trinity street, is disgusting with graffiti. The burned out house is the icing on the cake. Place looks like a sihthole.


One thing I will say, though, is, as someone who has been on the town very early in the morning a few times last year, the lads that actually work for the council, really busted their jocks to keep things going and looking the part. Every morning they were pressure washing, street cleaning, litter picking, etc. and not at the comical snail pace you expect of them, they were really giving it an honest go. I applaud them.

It's a pity their attitude doesn't carry up through to the higher echelons of Louth County Council.

Shocking stuff altogether. I'd say but for the Fleadh we'd still have weeds and grass over growing onto footpaths still. Rathmullen road was only done the other day with a strimmer. Was visiting family earlier and passed 2 houses side by side in the estate boarded up and if they were asked the council would likely say they have no budget to do them up and put people in them, yet they can pay hotels for emergency accommodation? Another thread I think

Haven't noticed them having put traffic cones down on roads into town like they did last year either, certainly not when I was heading home earlier.

I agree there’s not the effort from the Council this year that there was last, and I also agree that the council workers were doing a good job trying to get the town tidy and ready, despite the lack of direction from “above”.

On a separate note, would it not be handy to have a Fleadh “App”, to supplement the Fleadh website and tell us what’s going on? It doesn’t seem to be beyond the wit of man. (Well, it’s beyond me, actually, as I have no idea how you write an App!)

endacl

macadam wrote: »

Drogheda with the streets closed is well suitable for the fleadh, its the disappointment of LCC not being bothered to spring clean the town for the event thats bothering me.
Can you explain what you mean by a town that suits it?
Im sure the organisers have spent years looking into Droghedas suitability for the event, long before it being given the honour.
Look back at the pictures from last years event it was well attended and well organised.

The infrastructure is perfect. As you say, with the streets closed, it’s a perfect setting. It’s not the streets or buildings. Check my previous for an explanation. As I said, Drogheda missed the point.

macadam

endacl wrote: »

The infrastructure is perfect. As you say, with the streets closed, it’s a perfect setting. It’s not the streets or buildings. Check my previous for an explanation. As I said, Drogheda missed the point.

I did see your earlier post about the music from one certain pub,this was the same in Cavan and Enniscorthy on my Fleadh visits and I fully agree with you on this. But to say drogheda didnt suit the Fleadh is an understatement.
There were some great sessions in the pubs I went to Mchughs, The Market Bar, Scholars Townhouse had a great venue, McPhails unfortunately closed this year. There was plenty of music/entertainment on the street from Narrow west street to St Laurances gate on the 4 days I visited, I only went out one night and it was mental on west street but the other venues mentioned were top class.The gig rig was also great and in a great location.

IvoryTower

Good weather, town buzzing ,weavers not even playing pop music outside, wonder what there will be to moan about cant wait to come back tomorrow without the kids!

positron

Walked around the town earlier today, just to take in the atmosphere. The inauguration function had an amazing turn out, and sun came out and lifted the mood, but the speech from President Michael D was definitely the highlight, he got plenty of applause for his brilliant and passionate speech.

Great festive atmosphere in town already, main street was mostly packed. Plenty of families enjoying a nice afternoon out and taking in the music and culture, plenty of food stalls, trinket shops, pubs, restaurants all buzzing with activity. A few beer cans and litter here and there already but hats off to volunteers who seems to be working all the time tidying up after the feckless b*stards who is trying to ruin it for others.

Really looking forward to the week, and kicking myself for booking holidays away starting Saturday. Fla will be missed.

We were down too for a bit. If you though today was busy wait until later in the week. Today was pretty much as busy as this day last year with a little more going on I thought?

There were a few Fleadh Ceol mascots roaming around so fair play to whoever was inside the one that stopped to say hello to our youngest who is not long walking she was delighted getting a high 5

EDIT: Whats going on down the queys later in the week I noticed in the traffic plan those roads are closed from thursday?

_Godot_

Are the 173 buses from outside the church on west street running this week? I'd like to get the bus up to aldi, too far for me to walk and taxis would cost too much.

Fine job done painting Mc Phails and a few other places.

IvoryTower

Great improvements on last year anywhere ive been so far, weather wasn't too bad either! Looks like a nice day today thankfully