Tag: bloom

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electric week-ends with friends

It had been organised to tweet meet-up at the pink boat at the stradbally festival. And it happened. Myself, Maryrose,  David, Frankiep, Ciara, Debbie and some extra added friends joined to kick off the celebrations.

The boat joining the picnic really started online via Rick and it was very appropriate that its new berth was celebrated by some of those who [online] had been involved along the way.

Of course it has a home for life now and to all [you know who you are] I thank you – from my heart.

This is a gardening weblog of course. And the deal has always been if its greenie or related to my business  it goes in. So I wont do a review of The amazing Stunning or The Sex Pistols. But, to say I was proud, was an understatement. I was also so very honoured that this could be shared with others in my life. To those who I met at The Picnic, who sang, laughed and shared time with – thank you all. It was an honour.

Now all thats left to do I suppose is walk away….

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casino royal, the pink boat & electric picnic

The casino royal boat has an amazing story. Why didn’t I use it, to my [possible] advantage? The boat was a ruin. Inside-less, sideless & due to be dumped. Could I/it ever have been fully restored – no.

It was next to consider could I give it *any* use other than a skip? yes.

The question now was how does one restore the boat – to a use. The timber replacing the gaping holes would never look right. Pink was the obvious choice. It was perfect. I wanted recycling to come out of the doldrums and to be seen by young an old as something not of a rhetoric ‘wellies and cabbage patches’ of The Good Life style tv days of old. We did that. Not accepted by the Judges of Bloom or the horticultural critics… but that wasn’t the intention [ie. medals].

The pink boat became a part of my garden design for Bloom 2008 ‘pour l’amour de jeux’. A fully recycled recylable garden. Something not for the cricket judges, but for the people – a ‘show’ garden.

The problem was we had no home for the boat after. We had no sponsor [this also upset the Judges, i’m sure]. We couldn’t afford to move it again and it would have been ‘immoral’ to smash it up and put it to landfill.

The pleas went out on 2fm courtesy of Rick O shea. It was never for the money as I think you can gather by now. Hence the name – translated as ‘for a love of the game’, the reason why I put an entire company almost to financial ruin. Some critics say attention seeking – I say it would have been cheaper to put my face on billboards all over Dublin City for a year… it would. Electric Picnic were all of the right answers. It was a boat I’d got free. They took it free. They gave 2 tickets to me and 2 to auction. I outbid the highest bidder.

The casino royal bit – I knew. All involved did. At Bloom, I met a lovely guy Bill and his wife Ann at the show. Bill was a boat builder by profession. He was contracted to rebuild ‘casino royal’ all those years ago. The name had to be erased. The guy who contracted Bill went broke and the boat stayed in storage already stripped, empty and getting worse. In the meantime the name had to be removed [legally] from the boat… and it was.

A letter from Ann after the show explained:

Of course the name has been erased from the boat because of copyright. Once the film was made, it was then only permitted the use of “Casino Royale”

This is what electric Picnic says on their website:

11). ‘Casino Royal’ Boat – donated by Peter Donegan
The 1957 Royal Cruiser Mark II is reported to have been originally christened Casino Royale and allegedly featured in the James Bond movie of the same name in 1967.

Fast forward to 2008 Peter Donegan gives it it’s inaugural land trip to the Bloom Festival where it featured, freshly painted pink (“to make people smile”) in his fully recyclable garden that he designed & landscaped for the festival. Wanting to find a good home for it after the festival he launched a national campaign on 2FM which is when we heard of it and were happy to adopt it in exchange for some festival tickets which were auctioned for the Niall Mellon Township Trust www.irishtownship.com where they hope to build a Garden of Hope community garden.

That said it all still comes down to a very large list to whom I still say thank you.

All Posts related post and the Pink Boat Story can be found here.

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pink boats & the rick o shea

pink boat & the rick o'shea show

I will be forever & eternally greatful to Rick and his team for all they did for me & completing the pink boats journey. At the time, I did promise to publish a [massively] reduced top 10 list of those who offered to take the boat.

As you all know by now the boat is now part of the art trail in Electric Picnic.

… I tell you boys it’s harder than it looks but it’s a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll

In the meantime I thank you all again, from my heart, but the deal was always the most fitting home and I feel it has found it. This post explains it best [click here]. For the moment I leave you with the top 10. Slán, beannacht agus arís go raibh míle maith agaibh.

1]Electric Picnic:
2] Interested to buy boat. Ann Marie
3]Texter says her brother would love the boat for his garden at the foot of the Slieve Bloom mountains
4]Texter says he’s interested in the boat to put on display in Arklow town.
5]Sister getting married next month and would love boat for the reception which can be held in garden.
6]Gary has 23 acre farm. …who said he would restore it.
7]Mark interested in it as a rememberance boat for all who lost their lives off Hook Head.
8]Greg runs a Safari Park in Mullingar. Theres a lake with an island on it iand that’s where he’d place the boat.
9]Mickey from Cahir wants boat
10]Lochlain would give boat good home on the Riverbank Restaurant and pub in Co.Monaghan

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i need you…

peter donegan garden design bloom 2007In 2007 my garden design ‘no rubber – soul’ [more commonly known now as the morris minor car garden] for the inaugural Bloom in the Park won silver medal. More importantly, for those involved the quite long media list [available on request] was endless. It even featured on Australian t.v.

In 2008, I and The Donegan Landscaping team went a stage further with ‘Pour L’amour de Jeux’/ for a love of the game [more commonly known as the pink boat garden] . Once again we were without a main sponsor – but for those involved the response was amazing. Of course the pink boat is now one of the star attractions at this years Electric Picnic.

peter donegan landscape design bloom 2008So why am I on the airwaves bleeting about Bloom 2009 so soon? Well, we need a sponsor. We have had none for two years and whilst so far, [honestly…] child hood dreams maybe got the better of me, at some point, unfortunately, costs must be considered…

Do I regret it? That’s a bit like asking did you regret getting married? When you love something so much… it was not ever considered. In that context, not an inch of regret. I love it.

Donegan landscaping has a host of awards from 17th century design and build to the most modern of gardens.

The garden name & theme has been chosen, concepts are in place. I guess all I need now is you….

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all about mary

peter donegan, dr martin & president of ireland mary mc aleese

This was in June during Bloom 2008 with my garden Pour L’amour de Jeux. On the official opening day The President, her husband Dr Martin and entourage came by and stopped at my garden for a chat.

What should you do when you meet the President of Ireland Mary Mc Aleese & Dr Martin?

First, make sure at all times that you prevent yourself from appearing [ish] in any photographs….?!

UPDATE: Of course I eventually did get one really good photograph with President McAleese 

peter donegan, dr martin & president of ireland mary mc aleesepeter donegan, dr martin & president of ireland mary mc aleesepeter donegan, dr martin & president of ireland mary mc aleese