This year’s Storytelling Festival will go down in Island history as the biggest and most successful to date. The signs were excellent a long way ahead with an unprecedented amount of bookings including for the first time two organised groups from the mid-west United States and Alaska. The Indian Summer we have been enjoying for the last 10 days or so and the enthusiastic support of local radio station Red FM seemed to encourage a deluge of local interest and increasing numbers of day visitors which saw ferry after ferry full to the brim and crews being mustered at short notice to provide extra sailings.  Most events were completely booked out and Daphne, Gerry and their valiant volunteers were put under pressure time and again by the numbers but came through with breezy confidence.  So too the Island service providers showed their mettle, Dave and Sally as usual doing a Trojan job in the campsite/yurt village to impose order on chaos, the hostel, Tír na nÓg  and the multitude of ancillary accommodation providers and most especially the various food and beverage providers, Seán Ruas, The Chipper, Cotters, The Club  and the Soup/sandwich van which all seemed well prepared  for the onslaught of visitors. No doubt they were some long hard days worked but whatever problems must have surely arisen were kept professionally in the background and smiling faces prevailed. As one Islander put it, he was proud to see how well all the businesses were able to move up a few gears to cope with the occasion.  Of course two of the most important cogs were the two buses, operated for long hours by Ferdia and Mary.

For the first time also the children of Scoil Náisiúnta Inis Chléire performed at the Festival and were very well received. The Gaisceannán had multiple storytelling trips and even the trip around the Fastnet was a spectacular success with upwards of 30 dolphins spotted on the way.

Like other service providers the ferry service saw a much increased demand which we were able to meet due to the dedicating and flexibility of our various crews including off duty, retired and summer crews who all mucked to provide much needed extra sailings at short notice and of course the support of the Gaisceannán at times. Ní neart go cur le céile and this was certainly true of Oileán Chleire over the past few days.

And of course, it’s not over yet, even as the festival goers were leaving this morning we saw others arriving for the Birdwatching course taking place this week, later today a peace camp will also commence and canoeists arrived who are by now enroute to circumnavigate the Fastnet. . Let’s hope they come across the dolphins on the way. Next weekend sees the Mindfulness weekend taking place for the third year running.

Photo shows some of the festival goers awaiting the 9am ferry this morning