| Boghill’s Alternative Christmas Celebration
Do you want to get away from the Christmas stress and immerse yourself
in the annual Boghill Christmas madness? Lots of music, fun, games, company,
sessions, puzzles and a chance to chill out and escape the traditional Christmas
madness.
The Boghill Centre is having its annual Irish Traditional Christmas Music
Workshop and it is not for people who like their bit of turkey and twinkling
Christmas lights while opening their presents underneath the tree.
Although guests have the chance to get a present — maybe not something
they would particularly like to have — it makes the swapping and bargaining
afterwards much more fun.
It’s hard to know what to expect over these 11 days. Historically this
has varied from Quaker meetings to getting snowed in, or living without
electricity and telephone for four days (yes these things are still possible
here in the West of Ireland).
Some seasons are spent doing endless jigsaw puzzles, others might have
a core group of fanatic tune collectors and the jigs and reels will be flying
all day long. Whatever happens it will happen because of the uniqueness
that each individual brings to the party.
Things that definitely do happen are the 10am music workshops each morning
although that might be stretched to 11am or sometimes even 12pm depending
how stressed everybody is from the previous night.
There are sessions in the local pubs where they generally splash out
on the Christmas decorations and glowing turf fires so if you get desperate
for a bit of nostalgia and the festive season you might escape for a brief
respite.
On Christmas day there is always an excellent buffet and of course the
wild Christmas session as afters.
What else might there be in store this year you won’t know until you
are there and make it happen. What is on offer for sure this year is yoga
and pottery or you can go on long walks in the Burren.
Whatever else is planned, this year you will definitely have to say hello
to the Atlantic Coast and sing a song for Ireland.
The celebration commences on December 23 to January 2 starting with dinner
on Friday, December 23 and ending with breakfast on Monday, January 2.
The music workshop starts on December 24 at 10am in the morning. The
price of e659 includes hostel accommodation for 10 nights, 9 x 3 hours tuition
in the mornings, nine lunches and 10 dinners.
The Boghill Centre was created in 1993 by the Boghill Partnership and
has established itself as an international venue for hosting a variety of
workshops. Its initial focus was on traditional Irish music workshops, music
related activities and hostel accommodation for walkers, cavers and cyclists.
This has rapidly expanded following the building of a new extension in 2003
to cover a range of workshops and training activities falling loosely within
the description of complementary healing therapies and retreats.
The Boghill Centre is located between Lisdoonvarna and Kilfenora and
set in 50 acres of land which offers both accommodation and a venue for
a variety of workshops. The centre can accommodate 40 guests on a residential
basis and offers full board from its vegetarian kitchen. Accommodation can
be either hostel style in four small dormitories or in single/double ensuite
rooms. Most guests are from Europe particularly England, France, Holland,
Germany and more recently Eastern European countries. But there are also
visitors from Japan, USA, Canada and Australia.
The extended facilities of the Octagon Hall, which was built in 2003
with the help of a leader grant and the new accommodation units built at
the same time have enabled the centre to grow and develop and attract more
guests.
In addition the facilities are used as a general hostel for travelling
tourists during the summer season when workshops are not running. The Centre
is therefore a valuable contributor to the Clare Tourist economy, the local
economy and community.
Phone 00353 65 70 74644 or e-mail:
boghill@eircom.net. Website:
www.boghill.com.
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