Hoping for sun on the Summer Solstice? It’s the longest day of the year, yet it may well be marked with cloudy skies, unlike the glorious sunshine we had yesterday, when Cushendun was looking her best. However, the sunshine was welcome yesterday at the event we hosted in the Old Church, to mark World Refugee Day.  Yesterday, Monday 20 June, was World Refugee Day and the beginning of Refugee Week in Northern Ireland. To mark this occasion, we unveiled the ‘Cushendun Textile’ which was created during the Big Arts Weekend by members of the local community and refugees living in Northern Ireland. We were delighted to have one of the women who attended the workshop, Omalia from Sudan, return to Cushendun to see her work on display, thanks to the facilitation by Aimee and Aidan from the Storehouse in Belfast. It was great to see local members of the community come out to support the event and a very special thank you to Annie McKay who stitched the whole thing together for the unveiling. It was a fitting celebration to conclude the project between the Old Church, local artist Raymond Watson and Conflict Textiles curator Roberta Bacic. The piece will be on display in the Old Church for a few weeks, so please do pop by and see it. Sounds of the Summer At the weekend, we also had our first ‘Summer Sounds’ gig. While it was a quiet enough night (rumour has it the crowds were preparing for the open air mass the following day…) the music was truly wonderful. Manny and Brian were joined by Michael E Thomas – a remarkable guitarist who thoroughly entertained the audience for the night. We are looking forward to the next two Summer Sounds – on Friday 29 July and Friday 26 August. It’s a chilled out, music lovers night, so BYOB, sit back and enjoy the entertainment. Guests will be announced soon – keep an eye on our Facebook – put the dates in the diary!  The 4 of Us As well as our own home-grown talent, we will also have music from The 4 of Us later in the summer. David Hull Promotions, who brought Patrick Kielty and Kieran Goss to Cushendun, presents The 4 of Us on Sunday 13 August at 8pm. Sensational guitar playing, evocative singing and unforgettable storytelling as the brothers Brendan and Declan Murphy give an uplifting account of their early life growing up on the Irish border during the Troubles. The show draws on their latest album Sugar Island and a selection of their Irish hits which span over 30 years beginning with their award winning debut Songs ‘For The Tempted’. Tickets go on sale on Friday 24 August at 10am here. Make sure you get your tickets early, as they are likely to sell out. Doors will open at 7.45pm and as usual it is BYOB.  Tuesday Get Togethers Our next Tuesday Get Together will be on 12 July, when Manny will return for an acoustic set to entertain throughout the afternoon. The following month will be a wine tasting afternoon on Tuesday 9 August, which will incur a £5 charge – but will be well worth it! The June Get Together was a whist drive, with Mary McQuillan coming out on top, winning this wonderful hamper. Pictured below alongside Mary is Rosemary McIlwaine and Mamie McKeegan.  What’s On There are lots of other events and activities throughout the summer and we are busy building our programme for Autumn at the moment. Some highlights include an Art Exhibition from Bridgeen Butler in the Old Church in July, as well as a group show in August. More information to come on both of those soon. There will be two weeks of children’s workshops, one in July and the other in August, and we will be releasing more information on those very soon – so look out for those! Here’s an ‘at a glance’ look at the rest of the summer: July 2-3 July – Craft Fair, 12-5 pm 7-17 July – Bridgeen Butler Art Exhibition – free 10 July – Pop Up Tea Shop, 11-4 pm 12 July – Tuesday Get Together, 2 pm – free 17 July – Cushendun Community Cinema, Toy Story 2 @ 2 pm & Parallel Mothers @ 7.30 pm – £4/5 18-22 July – Kids Summer Fun in Cushendun 29 July – Summer Sounds, 8 pm – £5 August 7-15 August – In Search of the Miraculous Art Exhibition – free 9 August – Tuesday Get Together, 2 pm – free 14 August – Cushendun Community Cinema, Toy Story 3@ 2 pm & West Side Story @ 7.30 pm – £4/5 15-19 August – Kids Summer Fun in Cushendun 21 August – Pop Up Tea Shop, 11-4 pm 26 August – Summer Sounds, 8 pm – £5 26-31 August – Local Artist Art Exhibition Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook for all the latest news. |