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Festival week - a great success

Festival week - a great success

Festival week - John Woods talk

Crossfire Trust’s festival week at Darkley House has, yet again, proven to be a fabulous success. Somehow or other the bad weather, for the most part, stayed away and certainly didn’t dampen the spirits of those attending the various events. Tuesday 3rd July saw the start of the festival and many thanks to John Woods from Linwoods, whose talk to an invited audience of businessmen and women on how to overcome the troubles of the past and how to survive and succeed in business, was positive and inspiring.

Wednesday’s good weather, the coffee morning, cake sale and the American sports and fun day brought many visitors together at Darkley House. The combination of friends, football, music, bouncy castles and a barbeque sent everyone away happy, even the sun shone for a while. Thursday’s trip to Dublin was so popular that the coach was full within days of its announcement. Again the weather was kind which made the visits to the Dail and Dublin Zoo all the more enjoyable.

Declan Kearney (chairperson of Sinn Fein) was the guest speaker at the Shane Harte Memorial Lecture on Friday evening. The theme was reconciliation and the challenges that lie ahead for all of us on the road to bringing people together, a theme close to the heart of everyone connected with Crossfire Trust. Many thanks to Declan Kearney for his time in preparing for and delivering the lecture.

Festival week - Declan Kearney

The now legendary Fun Day was on Saturday with all sorts of fun and games for the whole family and it was good to see so many people come together to enjoy a wonderful day. The day was complete when the barbeque was lit and Synergy from Dundalk entertained the crowd with some uplifting song and dance.

Festival week - Fun Day

Festival week was rounded off with a Community Sunday lunch, followed by a concert by Auto Pilot in the grounds of Darkley House. All in all the week was a great success and Crossfire Trust’s Care Programme manager, Russell Banks, had nothing but praise for the efforts of all those involved. He said ‘this was the first time I have been involved with Festival Week and I cannot thank all the staff, volunteers and residents enough for their work in putting together such a wide variety of events. It was extremely rewarding to see so many people coming together, sharing some time and space together, knowing that they have received something positive from their experience with Crossfire Trust.’

Crossfire Trust is a charity that aims to assist positive change, reconciliation and forgiveness in South Armagh. Services they provide include emergency accommodation, community laundry and gym, volunteering placements, peace and reconciliation and much, much more. Supported by the International Fund for Ireland and the Rural Development Council.