Olympic spirit aplenty at Scariff Harbour Festival

AN Olympic torch was raised aloft in Scariff as a symbol of inspiration to all young sports people over the bank holiday weekend. Trevor Ringland MBE, former Ireland and British and Irish Lions rugby player carried the torch through his native Larne, County Antrim in the lead into the London Olympics 2012 and brought it to Scariff for the opening of Scariff Harbour Festival.
Opening the festival, Trevor Ringland spoke about the relevance of the Olympic ideals in the context of the Scariff Festival.
“One of the Olympics ideals is that you have to try your best, it’s not about being the best but to try your best,” he said. The second underlying principle he mentioned was respect.
“If we failed at anything in the past, we failed to create a sense of inclusiveness, that sense of respect in a way that teaches people how to compete so that you don’t actually destroy relationships” he said.
Between 50 and 60 young players from field clubs in the Scariff area and St John’s Athletic Club Belfast played the first ever Game of Three Halves in the county, which was hosted by Scariff Rugby Club. Championed by the Larne man, the cross-community initiative was developed in Northern Ireland to bring young people together through sport. The Game of Three Halves in Scariff combined rugby, hurling and soccer and the teams were led over the weekend by the former rugby international and by Clare senior hurler, Brendan Bugler and Denis Hynes, FAI development officer in Clare.
According to Denis Moroney, president of Scariff Rugby Club, The Game of Three Halves was one of the most exciting initiatives ever introduced to young players in Scariff, a view shared by Brendan Bugler and Denis Hynes.
“When the idea was first mooted through the harbour festival committee, we had no idea of its potential but Trevor Ringland, a legend in the rugby game, has left us with the seeds of an initiative that we would like to develop further to encourage young people engage in sport,” he said.
Meanwhile at the GAA grounds, the sky opened on Saturday and the sudden deluge drove scores of children eagerly awaiting the start of the family fun day indoors, as alternative activities were hurriedly arranged. Colleen Ringland, children’s author and wife of Trevor stepped into the breach and read from her first work of fiction Errigal Search for the Blue Stone. Errigal Mountain captured the author’s imagination from a very young age when childhood summer holidays were spent in Bunbeg in North West Donegal. The stories she made up then form the basis of the story the Newtownards Primary School teacher has published today. Colleen Ringland also donated signed books to Scariff and Clare libraries.
Mike Rodgers, chairman of the Scariff Harbour Festival said despite the horrendous weather on Friday and Saturday, this year’s festival was an extraordinary achievement. Over 4,000 people attended the festival at the weekend and although the numbers were slightly down on other years, almost all activities went ahead as planned.
“The feedback from people was amazing. It was probably the greatest test of our organisational ability to ensure people and families were not disappointed. I cannot pay high enough tribute to our festival committee for pulling out all the stops on this one,” he said.
Carlo Gebler returned to Scariff where he had visited his O’Brien grandparents in Drewsboro many times as a child and where his mother, author, Edna O’Brien grew up.
At Scariff Library, he read mainly from his novel, The Dead Eight based on the story of 39-year-old Moll McCarthy who was found murdered close to her cottage near New Inn in County Tipperary in 1941. He gave fascinating insight into the conviction of bachelor farm manager, Harry Gleeson despite the flimsy evidence linking him to the killing.
To mark 10 years of the festival, the first Scariff Queen of the Waterways was crowned on Sunday night by former TV personality, Ciana Campbell. The winner was 20-year-old Bodyke girl, Denise Walsh who represented East Clare Holiday Village. A final year commerce student at NUI Galway, Denise has also completed a two-year diploma course in Irish, is a keen badminton player and is currently vice-captain of the university team.
The event was organised by Karena O’Brien and Marie Barrett of the Scariff Harbour Festival committee. The contestants underwent a one-to-one interview on Saturday with judges Aileen Connor, director of Limelight Event Management and Dublin’s Civic Theatre and Scariff native, Anne Jones who has been involved with the festival since its inception. The judging scores were based on personality and presence; social awareness and presentation, accomplishments and community involvement. Marks were also allocated to the on-stage public interview on Sunday night by Ciana Campbell and to the magic X factor.
The Queen of the Waterways will have a role in the promotion of the festival and the area in the coming year.