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Events & Festivals

By Waterford City & County Council

10th Birthday Celebratory Programme announced for Winterval 2022

10th Birthday Celebratory Programme announced for Winterval 2022 plus Ireland’s First Christmas Parade

Waterford will host the 10th annual Winterval Festival from November 18th to December 23rd 2022 and in addition details of the country’s first Christmas parade have been unveiled alongside the festival’s biggest programme of events yet.

The festival will commence at 5 p on November 18th with the arrival of Santa Claus as part of Ireland’s first Christmas parade. The parade will traverse through the city centre coming to a stop at the main stage on Michael Street where the lights will be switched on, marking the beginning of the festivities in Waterford City.

The organisers of the 10th annual festival have planned a ‘10th Birthday’ celebration for each weekend of the festival with unique highlights set to include a Jingle Bells Christmas Cycle, a Christmas Tractor Parade, A Blue Light Parade with all of the emergency services, SuirCon Comic Conference and BuskAid with proceeds going to Tintean Housing Association.

There is also a tonne of free events on the programme, these include a gigantic and magical talking postbox where boys and girls can post their Christmas letters but also be entertained by an elf post collection show each weekend, a hall of magic mirrors and a host of free children’s workshops, a free shadow puppet show plus the magic lights of the New Street Garden trail filled with wonderous displays for families to explore. The Winterval light show will be projected onto a magical purpose-built castle placed as the entry point to the magical kingdom that is Winterval, this will be on offer every half hour and includes special effects which are a sight to behold.

The Winterval firm favourites will also be on offer across the city from the ice rink on the city’s Quayside to the vintage Ferris wheel at Arundel Square, a vintage carousel, the Waterford Eye is also back as is a reimagined Winterval Mini Express train and in addition, there are some brand new elements including a virtual ride in Santa’s sleigh plus a Wizard and Dragon interactive exhibition which offers the thrill of seeing fictitious characters brought to life through simulations, gigantic animatronics and visuals.

Santa will be taking centre stage at the festival in the heart of the city on Broad Street. He will be ensconced in Santa’s Central Station where a band of merry elves will lead little ones to the door of Santa’s magical cabin and families can meander through Santa’s city centre installation, taking pictures with photo scenes along the way.

There will be live music on stage each weekend in Waterford’s cultural quarter featuring a mix of community and professional acts serving as the perfect backdrop to the festival market.

The Winterval Christmas market will be set out in a series of attractive wooden chalets through the spine of Ireland’s oldest city into the cultural quarter – spanning the Viking city from George’s Street to Hanover Street and onto Gladstone Street and all in the midst of the Winterval family fun attractions. The market will connect with Waterford Crafts at Garter Lane Gallery, all-encompassing a variety of over 100 food, drinks crafts and gift producers and creators.

Waterford’s heritage takes prime position with Déise Medieval will host a traditional Viking Settlement where festivalgoers can hark back in time and enjoy the real-life smells, foods and experiences of Viking life during the festival season back when Waterford was first established as Ireland’s oldest City.

Brand new and novel elements include an opportunity for visitors to book a date for their doggie with Santa Paws plus the Gerbola Circus will be hosting a festive circus show each weekend.

A Winterval by night programme of will be on offer at The Reg alongside their World Cup fan zone, plus Christmas concerts at the Cathedral and music at Waterford Crystal.

Speaking at the programme launch, co-directors Trevor Darmody and John Grubb say, “Winterval is part continental Christmas Market and part Lapland and this year we are very excited to unveil the largest celebration of the festival yet for the 10th birthday of Winterval. Winterval is the largest celebration of the festive season in Ireland and this year there is a trail through Ireland’s oldest city offering over 50 different events and activities with 14 of those events on offer free of charge.  This is a festival, which is on a comparable basis to the best continental festivals and it had been reduced over the last couple of years due to the pandemic; however, Winterval 2022 is filled with festive cheer and it is set to be the biggest festival yet.”

The Winterval festival is supported by Waterford City and County Council, Bausch + Lomb for Winterval Illuminates, Southern Regional Assembly, sponsors of Reflection – Magic Mirrors at the Apple Market Zinnia (formerly SE2), sponsors of Santa’s VR Sleigh Ride, Guinness, House of Waterford Crystal, SmartPly , Expressway, official transport partners of Winterval, City Square Waterford, sponsors of Santa’s Express Train, Waterford Credit Union, sponsors of The Garden Glows at the Bishop’s Palace, 7up and Port of Waterford.
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The full Winterval Festival programme is available to view and book online at www.winterval.ie

ENDS

By Waterford City & County Council

Fire Safety Week : How do you Plug In ?

National Fire Safety Week is taking place from Monday 17th October to Sunday 23rd October 2022 to raise the profile of fire safety in Ireland.

How do you Plug In ?

  • Save energy! – and keep your family safe too. When you’re not using it, turn it off.
  • Overloaded sockets? – not a good idea

 

By Waterford City & County Council

Fire Safety Week : Smoke Alarm Day!

National Fire Safety Week is taking place from Monday 17th October to Sunday 23rd October 2022 to raise the profile of fire safety in Ireland.

The theme this year is “Working Smoke Alarms Save Lives – Have you a plan if yours goes off!”

  • Any day is a good day to test your smoke alarms. Just press to ‘TEST’.
  • Where should your smoke alarms be? – in the stairs and hallways as a minimum.

 

By Waterford City & County Council

Local Litter Challenge for Secondary Schools launched

The 2022 “Tom Murphy Car Sales Volkswagen / Waterford City & County Council Schools Litter Challenge” was launched on Friday 14th October at Tom Murphy Car Sales.

Fifteen secondary schools throughout Waterford recently registered to take part in a litter challenge to help make County Waterford cleaner. This competition, sponsored by Tom Murphy Car Sales Volkswagen, will see an impressive fifteen schools carrying out clean ups of their local area over the next 6 weeks to compete for the €1500 prize money.

The competition will be judged by a member of IBAL (Irish Business Against Litter), who run the Irish Anti- Litter league of cities, towns and villages each year.

Tom Murphy, sponsor of the competition prize money, commented, “To see fifteen secondary schools taking part in this challenge is very encouraging. We hope that it helps to develop a sense of pride and ownership in our communities. I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of the participating schools for their entry into this great initiative and wish them the best of luck with their clean-up activities.”

Pictured launching the Local Litter Challenge for Secondary Schools are :

L-R, Ella Ryan, Environmental Awareness Officer, Waterford City & County Council, Steven Reinl, Tom Murphy and John Byrne, Tom Murphy Car Sales, and Gerald Hurley, Waterford Chamber.

ENDS

By Waterford City & County Council

‘Spooky Tunnel’ returns to Waterford Greenway in 2022!

Following on from the huge success of the ‘Spooky Tunnel’ at Ballyvoyle on the Waterford Greenway for Halloween 2018 and 2019, Waterford City and County Council is organising a similar spooky experience that you won’t want to miss this year.

The 2022 ‘Spooky Tunnel’ experience will be in place for the public to enjoy from Friday 28th October to Thursday 3rd November.

This Halloween installation is free to attend. It is a ‘walk through experience’ that promises to be a sight to behold for all age groups! This years’ experience promises to be extra special as it sees the return of this popular event following a break due to pandemic restrictions in 2020 and 2021.

Ballyvoyle Tunnel, is an almost 400 metre-long brick lined tunnel, which was constructed during the 1870’s. It’s dimly lit recesses and arched ceiling are fantastically atmospheric at any time of year and form the perfect backdrop for a ‘spooktacular’ Halloween themed display. 2018 was the first year of the experience and people were blown away by the sights and sounds of Samhain! Word of mouth quickly spread about the experience and visitor figures recorded at the tunnel were over twice those recorded for the same period in late October 2017. This was replicated and even surpassed in 2019. All involved are anticipating a similar response from members of the public this year.

Commenting on the return of the ‘Spooky Tunnel’ Cllr. John O’Leary, Mayor of Waterford City and County said that, “It is absolutely fantastic to see the return of the Spooky Tunnel once again this year. This has been a Halloween event which is unique to Waterford Greenway. It highlights how the Greenway has continued to evolve over the years and offer a visitor experience that sets it apart from other amenities. Best of luck to all involved!”

The spooky tunnel experience will once again add greatly to other Halloween themed events taking place along Waterford Greenway including the fantastically atmospheric and scary ‘Wicked Woods’ event at Carriganore Woods, near SETU; along with events at Waterford Suir Valley Railway and at Coach House Coffee amongst others.

Check out Waterford Greenway social media for updates and visit www.visitwaterfordgreenway.com for more information and to plan your visit to Waterford Greenway this Halloween.

Miss it as your peril!

By Waterford City & County Council

October is Ireland’s National Reuse Month

October is Ireland’s National Reuse Month and Mayor of Waterford City and County Cllr John O’Leary recently launched Reuse Month 2022 at Waterford’s Central Library.

Reuse is about valuing our stuff, by repairing and reusing it for as long and as often as possible.  This avoids the need to extract raw materials, manufacture and distribute new stuff, and avoids waste, all of which cuts down on greenhouse gas emissions. The idea is to bring people beyond the idea of “reduce, reuse and recycle” towards a focus on the prevention of waste in the first place.

National Reuse Month’s aim is to provide the skills and tools to reuse more items every day. For example, you may have already reused by getting shoes resoled rather than replacing them, or borrowing books from the library. To cut down on waste and greenhouse gas emissions, why not go another step this October and prioritise repair, buying second hand, borrowing, swapping and reusing.

There are a whole host of events taking place throughout the city and county to encourage waste prevention.

On October 19th, a Clothes Swap event will be hosted in the Central Library, Lady Lane from 5.30pm.  Bring up to five pieces of clean adult clothing (in good repair) to the library and swap it for the same number of items.  Clothes can be dropped off at the library between 11am and 5.30pm on the day. There will also be a clothing repair demonstration on the night, along with the launch of a ‘toolkit’ for swap events to encourage reuse and repair.  The toolkit will provide tips, posters and social media posts to enable community groups and schools to run swap events for items such as sports equipment, clothes, musical instruments, school supplies and more.

On October 22nd,  Waterford City and County Council will host a Repair Demonstration session with the Rediscovery Centre at the Coastguard Cultural Centre in Tramore.  Learn how to repair furniture, bikes, textiles and washing machines during this session.  There will be experts on hand to help with any questions that you have and while the repair experts won’t be able to undertake any specific repairs on your items, please feel free to bring along photographs of your items and they will happily chat to you about the repair.

  • 11.30am – Furniture Repair and Upcycling
  • 12pm – Bike Repairs
  • 12.30pm – Appliance Repairs
  • 1pm – Textiles Repair and Upcycling

Waste prevention workshops will be held on various dates in library branches. The focus of these workshops is making a reusable food wrap that provides a natural alternative to plastic wraps and to provide a forum to discuss reuse, composting and recycling as the wraps are being made.   On October 28th there will be a Sustainable Living Tips workshop in Lismore Library. Come along to learn about Greener Gardening, Greener Cleaning, composting, food waste prevention and general waste prevention tips.

-ENDS-

By Waterford City & County Council

Join WLRfm & Waterford Libraries to celebrate the Vitamin Sea Festival

To celebrate the Vitamin Sea Festival, WLRfm and Waterford Libraries are teaming up for an outside broadcast on Main Street, Tramore on Saturday 17th September 1pm-4pm.

  • Join us for fun on the street with a craft table, competitions and spot prizes.
  • Ask a Librarian for recommended reads or check out our e-Services.
  • Kitty Caboodle is doing story time at the Coastguard Cultural Centre at 11.30am.

The Vitamin Sea Festival takes place on Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2022.http://waterfordlibraries.ie/category/vitamin-sea-festival

By Waterford City & County Council

Help shape Waterford’s Age Friendly Strategy

Waterford City and County Council and Waterford Age Friendly Alliance are inviting the public to participate in a series of coffee morning workshops in the city and county, to help shape Waterford’s next Age Friendly Strategy.

Facilitated by Community Engagement Partners, the workshops will discuss topics such as community and health services, housing, active participation, transport, and isolation, with the view to developing a new strategy to ensure a better quality of life for older people.

Kevin Moynihan, Waterford City and County Council’s Community Department, is encouraging people to attend and participate in the free workshops. “Waterford’s next Age Friendly Strategy will be shaped by the people it affects. It is crucial that these opinions are heard in order to implement a strategy that delivers a better quality of life for older people in Waterford.”

“The format of the workshops is informal and guaranteed to be engaging. We’d love for the public will join us over a coffee for a discussion about ways to help us identify the principal actions that need be delivered by key public bodies and other agencies to enhance the quality of life for older people in Waterford City and County.”

The coffee mornings will be held at 11am September 20th in the Park Hotel Dungarvan, September 21st in The Tower Hotel Waterford and at Lismore Heritage Centre on September 30th, with the final coffee morning in O’Shea’s Hotel Tramore on October 5th.

Places are free and there will be people available to help with the discussion and identify some important areas to think about.

-ENDS

By Waterford City & County Council

Join WLRfm & Waterford Libraries to celebrate the Vitamin Sea Festival

To celebrate the Vitamin Sea Festival, WLRfm and Waterford Libraries are teaming up for an outside broadcast on Main Street, Tramore on Saturday 17th September 1pm-4pm.

  • Join us for fun on the street with a craft table, competitions and spot prizes.
  • Ask a Librarian for recommended reads or check out our e-Services.
  • Kitty Caboodle is doing story time at the Coastguard Cultural Centre at 11.30am.

The Vitamin Sea Festival takes place on Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th September 2022.http://waterfordlibraries.ie/category/vitamin-sea-festival

By Waterford City & County Council

First Waterford Honey Show set to take place during Harvest Festival

The first Waterford Honey Show is set to take place during the 2022 Harvest Festival which will be hosted at venues across Waterford City from September 9th to 11th 2022.

The first annual Waterford Honey Show is being hosted by the East Waterford BeeKeepers’ Association. The event will inform honey producers, beekeepers, retailers and visitors of the show of the high-quality honey products available in the Southeast region.

According to the event organiser Donal Lehane, “Waterford, Tipperary, Kilkenny and Wexford are Ireland’s most important areas for apiculture. Waterford City is the ideal central location for this event to promote pure natural honey and in particular the over 1,000 local beekeepers in the region.

Honey has been an important food export from southeast Ireland since before the coming of Christ. The Romans and before them the Greeks wrote about the nectar produced from the ‘Sacred Trees’ of Ireland. 

This year it is our ambition to highlight the brilliant honey producers of the region and our future ambition for the Waterford Honey Show is to build a reputation as a best-in-class honey show that attracts entries from abroad and develop it in time into a significant international event with the potential to create destination tourism.

All local producer-branded jars of honey are eligible to participate in the honey awards. The products will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges for tasting. The “blind” method is used for tasting the products, without packaging and without any type of distinctive feature visible. Each product will be assigned a numerical rating on the evaluation sheet, which represents the general sense of enjoyment as well as other criteria, such as appearance, odour, texture, flavour and viscosity. A perpetual cut glass trophy made in Waterford will be presented to the overall supreme honey producer. The Waterford Honey Award is a reliable sign of superior quality. There will also be a competition to judge bee products including wax and mead.

Visitors to the Waterford Honey Awards will be able to enjoy viewing the action within an enclosed glass observation hive, meet with the region’s top honey producers and taste some of the finest kinds of honey. The Waterford Honey Awards will take part during the Harvest Festival, which will take place across Waterford City from September 9th to 11th 2022.

The festival is being supported by Waterford City & County Council and organised by GIY who are bringing sustainability right to the heart of the festivities, showcasing Waterford’s rich food heritage and celebrating the City’s diverse restaurants, eateries and producers. The best of Waterford’s food and drink will be centre stage and there are a series of serious food talks for sides.

Taking place at venues and outdoors across Waterford City from September 9th to 11th 2022 there will be a ‘Food Done Right’ stage where food sustainability talks with some of the country’s most esteemed food writers, chefs, activists, journalists and business people, will be on offer. There will be a giant Harvest Festival Market. On the Taste Waterford kitchen stage sponsored by Waterford’s Local Enterprise Office, there will be a host of Waterford’s very own food producers and Chefs who will all be sharing their best recipes and food tips.  Visitors will enjoy meeting chefs and food producers from all across Waterford. In the vast Junior GIYer’s area which will take over Broad Street families will enjoy the opportunity to learn how to grow food through the seasons with Muireann Ní Chíobháin co-author of the GIY Know it Allmanac. There will be seed sowing, bug bingo, an art area, and the Nore Valley Mobile Farm will also be in the vicinity.

Special events will also be on offer including a restaurant trail and a live music programme.  For further details and to browse the full programme of events see https://harvest.giy.ie/

By Waterford City & County Council

Portraits: People & Place

New large scale art exhibition from Waterford Gallery of Art featuring masterpiece ‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ by Fredric William Burton (RHA) – coinciding with the grand opening of the art gallery during Oíche Chultúir / Culture Night.

This new building-wide exhibition presents over fifty key artworks from the Waterford Art Collection, with a particular focus on the different ways that artists have attempted to depict the essence and personality of people and places within their work.

The newly designed in-house display includes paintings, drawings, films, photography and audio by artists Una Sealy (RHA), James Hanley (RHA), Thomas Ryan (PPRHA), John Behan (RHA), Hilda Roberts (HRHA), Mildred Anne Butler (RA, RWS), Tony Ryan and more. Accompany the exhibition is a series of talks, events, workshops and artist commissions.

One of the highlights on show is the painting, ‘Portrait of Mary Palliser’ by Fredric William Burton (1871), currently on loan from the Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is thought that the painting was initially gifted to Palliser as an engagement gift from Burton. The couple were engaged for 10 years though never married. Mary died of pneumonia in 1879 and is buried at Comeragh Cemetery, Waterford, close to her family home.

Sound & Portraits presents a series of open-call commissions for musicians, artists and those working with sound. The project aims to spotlight how identity, representation and lived experiences are also captured creatively beyond the canvas. A gallery tour and live performances of the work will take place during Imagine Arts Festival, October 2022.

Dates: 8th September 2022 – 18th March 2023

Launch and Private View, Oíche Chultúir / Culture Night, 23rd September 2022

Times: The gallery is open to the public Wednesday -Saturday, 10am-5pm. Free for all.

ENDS

By Waterford City & County Council

Thomas Ryan’s 1957 Painting Comes to Waterford Gallery of Art

In 1958, the painting ‘View of Waterford’ by Thomas Ryan (Previous President Royal Hibernian Academy) was hung in the Council Chamber where it remained until last week when it was moved to the Waterford Gallery of Art and installed on Tuesday 9th August.

Painted in 1957, the artwork depicts the Redmond Bridge, opened in 1913, by Rohn Redmond, M.P. and made of ferroconcrete (a type of concrete reinforced with steel bars). It replaced the original timber bridge known locally as Timbertoes. However, it did not last as long as it’s predecessor as by 1981 a more structurally substantial bridge was proposed. It’s replacement, The Edmund Rice Bridge, was completed in 1986.

The painting by Ryan depicts a view of Waterford from a not so distant past but it feels vastly different to the city that it is today. From the winding road up to Mount Misery, dark brooding sky and the industrial nature of the bridge and buildings, the painting is fascinating and a fantastic portal into Waterford’s history and heritage.

The brass plate inscription reads:

Erected at Opening of 45th Annual Conference Association of Municipal Authorities of Ireland held in this room, 16th/17th & 18th September 1958 Denis J.Fitzpatick, Mayor Liam Raftis, City Manager

Thomas Ryan was born in Limerick in 1929. He attended the School of Art there, and later the National College of Art in Dublin, where he studied under Sean Keating and Maurice MacGonigal.

He first exhibited at the RHA in 1957, became an associate member in 1968, and was president of the Academy from 1982 to 1993. As well as the RHA, Ryan has exhibited at the Hugh Lane Municipal Gallery (Dublin) and regularly at the Waterford Art Exhibition.

The painting is viewable as part of the Recent Works: Donations, Commissions, Acquisitions exhibition and will feature in the official opening of the gallery on Friday 23rd September. The artwork and exhibition are free to visit during gallery opening hours, Wed-Sat, 10am-5pm

Other artworks on show in the ‘Recent Works’ exhibition include paintings by: Letitia Marion Hamilton (RHA), Geraldine O’Brien, Harry Kernoff, Lillian Davidson (ARHA), Rebecca Shackleton, Frances Kelly (ARHA), Josephine Webb, Damaris Lysaght, Fr. Jack Hanlon, Tony Ryan, Anna Moore, Samuel McCloy and Patric Stevenson (PPRUA).

There is also a new wall mural of O’Connell Street in 1900 by local artist Denis Power.

The exhibition also features: recently commissioned poetry in partnership with the Waterford literary journal The Waxed Lemon; Waterford Cultural Quarter films celebrating the rich heritage of O’Connell Street; work in progress by SETU graduate and Waterford Collection of Art Graduate Award winner, Rhys Wallace; documentary short film on Una Sealy (RHA) whose painting ‘Portrait of Caoilfhionn Hanton, Waterford’ was commissioned by Waterford City and County Council and featured in the Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) Annual Exhibition 2022 (this work will be shown in the upcoming WGOA exhibition, ‘Portraits: People & Place’ opening 8th September 2022).

Dates:

21st July – September 3rd, 2022

Launch and Private View, August 4th, 2022, 6pm,

Times: The gallery is open to the public Wednesday -Saturday, 10am-5pm – Free for all.

ENDS

By Waterford City & County Council

Denis Power Wall Mural at Waterford Gallery of Art

A new artwork by Waterford artist Denis Power was unveiled this week as part of the galleries ‘Recent Works: Donations, Acquisitions, Commissions’ exhibition. The artwork was inspired by a series of photographs depicting the street in 1900 and includes a portrayal of the Waterford Gallery of Art with its now removed clock tower. The gallery was built in 1845 as a savings bank and also hosted the first ever art school in Waterford in 1950.

Power is mixed media artist who studied art at Waterford Institute of Technology (now SETU) under Tony Ryan.  He takes his influence from his childhood memories, pop culture, and the environment.  Power is a resident artist at GOMA, co-founder of the Rogue Gallery, and has been involved in various art institutes in the city including Waterford Healing Arts Trust, Greyfriars, and Waterford Gallery of Art.

Power notes: “After over a year of trial and error, lessons learned, stops and starts, sections redone and an ungodly battle with the very concept of perspective, it’s finally done! My Mum joked that it wouldn’t be finished in her lifetime, something she was heartbreakingly right about. I’d like to dedicate this piece to her.”

The mural and exhibition is free to visit during gallery opening hours, Wed-Sat, 10am-5pm

Other artworks on show in the ‘Recent Works’ exhibition include paintings by:  Letitia Marion Hamilton (RHA), Geraldine O’Brien, Harry Kernoff, Lillian Davidson (ARHA), Rebecca Shackleton, Frances Kelly (ARHA), Josephine Webb, Damaris Lysaght, Fr. Jack Hanlon, Tony Ryan, Anna Moore, Samuel McCloy­­ and Patric Stevenson (PPRUA).

The exhibition also features: recently commissioned poetry in partnership with the Waterford literary journal The Waxed Lemon; Waterford Cultural Quarter films celebrating the rich heritage of O’Connell Street; work in progress by SETU graduate and Waterford Collection of Art Graduate Award winner, Rhys Wallace; documentary short film on Una Sealy (RHA) whose painting ‘Portrait of Caoilfhionn Hanton, Waterford’ was commissioned by Waterford City and County Council and featured in theRoyal Hibernian Academy of Arts (RHA) Annual Exhibition 2022 (this work will be shown in the upcoming WGOA exhibition, ‘Portraits: People & Place’ opening 8th September 2022).

Dates:

21st July – September 3rd, 2022

Launch and Private View, August 4th, 2022, 6pm,

Times: The gallery is open to the public Wednesday -Saturday, 10am-5pm – Free for all.

END

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