africa – Peter Donegan Garden Design & Landscaping

I’m going to compete in the Irish Conker Championships

yes you read it correctly… 😉

This coming October bank holiday weekend sees the Irish Conker Championships, now in their 10th year take place in Freshford, County Kilkenny.

I spoke with Main Orgainser Brenda who explained to me that whilst some may find the event a little on the trivial side… there are those who do take it quite serious. I explained to Brenda I was one of the more serious. Brenda laughed slightly and asked how long I had been in training for….? hmmmm

The area where the competition takes place is surrounded by 52 conker trees so its perfect for the event. It is from here the local primary school, will start in about 2 weeks time collecting conkers every day after school and at weekends. In total about 25-30,000 conkers will be used.

Brenda also explained that to avoid any ‘tom-foolery’ all and only conkers supplied by the association along with leather laces supplied by local shoe maker Michael Rossiter can be used on the day.

The holes are then drilled by some of the 70 volunteers on the Saturday and then laced on the Sunday ready for the competition starting that day at 12pm.

I’ve formed a picture in my head of the 118 50 kind of Flahavans 1980’s type tracksuit complete with cotton sweatband of course…. I’m wondering also if I need a Rocky Balboa group of trainers to stand in my corner and a nick name for when I am announced entering the ring….

Either or… I’ve been off the competitive conker circuit for close on 21 years now and I need to get into training…. 😉

If you want to find out more visit the Irish Conker Championships website. Also on the weekend will be about ’80 musicians and the Kilkenny Flower Show along with the usual fares, stalls and stands. It costs €6 for an adult to enter and €1 to use the practice arena.

Any thoughts or advice for me – leave a comment. I need all the help I can get 😉

Could this be a nice opportunity to raise a little sponsorship for a good cause…?

getting to the NMTT family gardeners weekend

Have you read all about the event thats taking place this weekend at The National Garden Exhibition Centre. The one you have been donating to so kindly so you can have some peace and quiet in Ireland for a little 😆

Here’s how you get there

By DART
get the DART to bray and then Dublin Bus 184 from outside the DART station you will need to hop off at Burtons 4×4 garage and from there a 3 minute walk [approx] will bring you to Kilquade Church which is directly opposite the Garden Exhibition Centre.

By Bus
Bus Eireann bus number 133 from the City Centre will leave you a 1 mile walk away from the National Garden Exhibition Centre

By Car/ motorbike/ bicycle/ very long walk
If you have a sat nav here are the co ordinates to the Garden Exhibition Centre.
53.111132,-6.090202

If you don’t have satellite navigation. Here are the directions. I took them with Dublin Airport as the starting point.

If you don’t live in Dublin Airport 😉 Just click here and add in your own place of departure. Time from Dublin Airport is about 41 minutes by car.

Dublin Airport

Co. Fingal, Ireland

1.	Head south toward Swords Rd	75 m
2.	Continue straight	0.3 km
3.	At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit	0.5 km
4.	Slight left at Dublin Rd Go through 1 roundabout	0.9 km
5.	At the roundabout, take the 2nd exit onto the M1 ramp	0.7 km
6.	Merge onto M1	1.1 km
7.	At junction 1, take the M50 exit to N81/N4/N11/N3/N7/N2	0.4 km
8.	At the roundabout, take the 3rd exit onto M50 Partial toll road	38.8 km
9.	Continue on M11	3.7 km
10.	Continue on N11	10.7 km
11.	Turn left toward New Russian Village (signs for Cill Chomhaid/Kilquade)	0.8 km
12.	Slight right at New Russian Village Destination will be on the right	0.3 km

National Garden Exhibition Centre

If you can’t go – maybe you know someone who can or who could help out on the day. You can make an online donation securely [click here]. Or if you have a blog/ a twitter/ a FB/ a newspaper/ a radio – you could repost this – it really is so very much appreciated