Tag: The SodShow

Anne O’Hara – Mornington House

Post author By Peter Donegan
Post date February 28, 2011
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This morning I had the absolute honour to speak with Anne O’Hara, wife of Warwick O’Hara – who reside at Mornington House Co. Westmeath.

Whilst there has been a house at Mornington since the early 17th century, it has been home to The O’Hara family since 1858. Steeped in history, this is to date, for me one of the most intriguing and most most probably the easiest and finest interviews I have ever done, in my life.

As a podcast the final audio result is a little rough-er around the frills than I would have liked, but for me the content in this case is what makes it so very special. That said, as best as was feasibly possible I have left it unedited almost in its entirety – mainly as I simply loved, personally, listening to almost every second of it over and over again.

I laughed, smiled and almost cried, with laughter in some cases as Anne spoke quite frankly and passionately about her and Warwicks home. What you did not have the honour of was the almost 40 minute conversation that took place prior to this audio from which I intended to take some notes. Surprising, possibly, I took none and simply listened and smiled.

Links to Mornington House

Tags anne o hara, audio, interview, mornington house, mornington westmeath, peter donegan, The SodShow, warwick ohara

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Podcasts @ The Dot Conf

A Visit to The Dot Conf website is well worth a visit.

Before I go any further…. not surprising, the dot conf conference has been a sell out for some weeks now and its waiting list only. I think its 300 people attending. [?]

My good friend Darren Byrne and Phil O’Kane then did these for me. Thanks also to Anthony McG who installed the widget for me. Really appreciated 😉

This is the dot conf’s promo video

From the article I was intending to publish, these stats are quite interesting,

New Media Update Podcasting News – wrote an article called Podcast Fans Are The Ultimate Audience For Advertisers – I took the main bullet points out of it just to give you an idea of the reach[?] that podcasting actually has.

Podcast fans are significantly more affluent than general population.
Podcast fans are rapidly turning away from traditional media and “interruption” advertising models.
37% of video podcast users and 31% of audio podcast users say they *enjoy* advertising in podcasts. By comparison, only 6% say same of TV and radio.
Podcasts confer on their advertisers and sponsors a “halo effect; podcast fans give props to the advertiser for sponsoring a show they like.
Over 70% of active podcast listeners are receptive to sponsorship messages in podcasts.

*Thanks to Roseanne Smith for this link

One in five active podcast consumers are actively interested in host-read sponsorship messages. Survey respondents believe that podcast hosts/creators are actual users of the goods and services of their sponsors.
Nearly 4/5 of the survey interviewees listen to podcasts every week, but are not as reachable by other “regular” mass media.
Podcast fans say it is not just important to be able to “time-shift” their podcast and other media consumption; nearly equally important is the ability to get unique shows [not available outside of podcast medium].
90% of those surveyed prefer advertising supported shows vs. ad-free paid subscriptions.
3/4 of the respondents use iTunes to find and subscribe and 66% have been listening/watching podcasts for 2 years or more

And finally here’s Bernie’s scratch and sniff boo 😉

Tags advertising, bernie goldbach, dot conf, dublin, events, iia, ITunes, mark rock, ncirl, People, Business, peter donegan, radio, roseanne smith, social media, speakers, television, the dot conf, The SodShow

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The Battle Of The Boyne Site

Post author By Peter Donegan
Post date June 28, 2010
No Comments on The Battle Of The Boyne Site

The Battle Of The Boyne Site was visited by The Garden Group yesterday Sunday 27th June.

For a group that is entirely run free gratis yesterday would not have been possible without the help of Aisling Mc Mahon of the OPW and her team who gave us a personal guided tour of the grounds and access to areas that are not as yet open to the public.

The place is absolutely brimmed with history. That aside, from a personal point of view, as having restored and designed 17th and 18th century landscapes, to see the before and then the end result after landscape restoration is simply amazing. I know I am not alone when I say I will return to this place.

There is so much more there than just history to see and do here. It’s also free as long as you don’t do the guided tour of the house. Which you should. The landscape is simply breath taking. Two displays were taking place while we were there. The coffee shop is a must…. the list goes on. Go. Visit. Enjoy. Wander in the long grass.

More Details at the Battle of The Boyne Website

View more of my Battle of The Boyne Images

Looking for more information:

I really enjoyed Sarah’s images of the Boyne Battle site trip – baffles me how she took this picture from the boyne site visit 😉 genius.

George has great [curious] images of the Boyne Site Trip.

John Williams as always, took these great shots of the boyne site tour. Keep an eye on his personal weblog. You wouldn’t know what boyne site gems he could pull out of the bag.

Check out these images of the Boyne Visit. Jennifer posted the rest of her [as always genius] images of the boyne day. Some bits in there a lot of us missed. Makes me wanna go back and stay longer 😉

Tags aisling c mahon, Arts, battle of the boyne, Garden Group, Tours, gardening, history, ITunes, landscape, landscaping dublin, outdoors, People, Business, peter donegan, rating=5, review, The SodShow, Tour guide, tourism, video, visitor

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Water Conservation

Today I discovered some of plant collection had been, put simply, close on fried. It’s rare for me to complain about the weather…. but here’s my situation.

For gardens that are new, or newly planted [Hi Julie and Terry 😉 ],for best results and knowing that the hose must be used…. try water at night time. It ensures the plant isn’t competing with the sun for water intake and therefore gets the maximum return from the watering and your time in doing so. Also one may find the water, combined with the days sun can act like a magnifying glass of sorts and cook the leaves slightly.

When these water charges do come in – the county councils will most likely up the price of those water butts too. My advice get one what you can sooner.

If however it is newly selected areas of planting, you may find that the water butts are an option to be considered.