Exploris Aquarium & Seal Sanctuary are currently celebrating their third otter litter, which is the largest they’ve welcomed to date.

 

On the 26^th June Asian Short Clawed Otter, Sungari, gave birth to 4 healthy pups. Now 5 weeks old the news had been kept under wraps to protect the new born and ensure that all otters settled into their new family group.

Sungari began her labour in the early hours of the 26th June and had successfully delivered 3 pups by 9am when staff arrived on site.

“Looking in that morning Sungari looked so content, all cuddled up with the 3 babies in her straw nest” describes Curator Pete Williams. “After initially checking on the family we retrieved the families breakfast and on returning realized Sungari was not finished having her babies.”  Otter number 4 arrived just before 2.30pm.

Small-Claw Asian Otters form monogamous partnerships and much like human beings, share parental duties. Together they build and maintain a nest as well as feeding and attending to their young with which they form a close bond.

Sungari’s first 2 litters of just 1 pup each time were delivered in the winter with their eldest, a female called Brunei, born in December 2016 and a 9 month old Yalu, a male, born in October 2017.

It was during the early days of the litter that it was discovered that Brunei is actually a female. Originally thought to be a male, Brunei began to bed down with the pups with staff identifying the mix-up very quickly.

The new additions to the otter family are made up of 3 females and 1 male. Following their 5 week health checks the pups will soon be making their outside debut. When this will happen curator Pete is unsure. “The pups have only just opened their eyes so will take some time to adjust to their surroundings. I’m sure in a few weeks they will venture outside, whether its Sungari’s choosing or not. She will certainly have her hands full”.

Make sure to follow the progress of all our work on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram or why not become a Member which allows you unlimited entry to our five star visitor attraction for a full year.  It is affordable with prices starting at £20 for children and £30 for adults with 25% discount in our café (excluding alcohol beverages), and in our shop.

Exploris Aquarium, located in Portaferry, opens daily from 10am to 5pm, with last admission at 4pm. Pre-book your tickets online at www.explorisni.com to avail of discounted admission.

Summer Kids Surf Camp

Date: 29th June- 2nd Sept

Time: 10am – 12 noon

Venue: Long Line Surf School, Benone

Contact: 07738 128 507 info@longlinesurfschool.co.uk

Surf school for children aged 6-12 years including surfing, beach games and safety designed to help children learn in a fun environment surrounded by other children. £15 per child per session.

  

Summer Holiday Adventures at Foylehov activity Centre

Date: 29th June – 2nd Sept

Time:

Venue: Foylehov Activity Centre, 71 Carrowclare Road, Limavady

Contact: 028 7772 2235 info@foylehov.com

Open every day lots of outdoor activities including hovercraft flying, Powerturn off road buggies, laser combat, archery, clay pigeon shooting and football golf.

 

Summer Set Programme at Carrowmena

Date: 1st July -31 Aug

Time:

Venue: Carrowmena Activity Centre, 100 Carrowclare Road, Limavady

Contact: 028 77776 3431 kieran@carrowmena.co.uk

Fun and adventure awaits you every day this summer. Full and half day packages available.

 

Maize Maze at Carrowmena Activity Centre

Date: 1 Aug– 2 Sept

Time: from 10.00am-8.00pm

Venue: 100 Carrowclare Road, Limavady

Contact: 028 7776 3431 kieran@carrowmena.co.uk

 

The ever popular Maize Maze opens in August for a family treat and a day out not be matched in Northern Ireland. One way in, but can you make it back out?  Tickets can be booked online www.carrowmena.co.uk

 

Heart of the Glens Festival

Date: 4 Aug – 12 Aug

Time:

Venue: Cushendall Area

Contact: cushendall@nacn.org

This is the 28th anniversary of the Heart of the Glens Festival and one of the most successful community festivals in Northern Ireland. Wide range of workshops, shows and events including RNLI open day, opening community parade and themed nights.

 

NW Pipe Band & Highland Dancing Championships

Date: 10-11 Aug

Time:

Venue: Recreation Grounds, Portrush

Contact: www.visitcasuewaycoastandglens.com

Competition held by the RSPBA in the Recreation Grounds, Portrush. Attracting up to 50 pipe bands annually to Portrush including international highland dancing and concluding with a street carnival parade.

 

Stendhal Festival of Art

Date: 9-11 Aug

Time: See line-up

Venue: Ballymully Cottage Farm, Limavady

Contact: info@stendhalfestival.com www.stendhalfestival.com

Celebrating all things creative Stendhal Festival is a multi-award winning festival promoting a programme of music poetry, comedy, dance, theatre, contemporary and traditional arts as well as sculpture, street performance and craft workshops.

 

Causeway Speciality Market

Date: 11 Aug

Time: 9am – 4pm

Venue: The Diamond, Coleraine

Contact: 028 7034 7034

Causeway Speciality Market is supportive of local producers and operators on the second Saturday of each month outside Coleraine Town Hall. All products are either organic or speciality goods. Quality arts, crafts and gifts for sale too.

 

Causeway Coast Foodie Tours, Coast and Country

Date: 11 Aug

Time: 9.30am

Venue: Coleraine Town Hall, The Diamond

Contact: 07912 408 256 / causewayfoodie@gmail.com

Join a culinary tour of the Causeway Coast to sample some of the area’s locally produced food and drink. This is a 6 hour bused tour of the region. £60.

 

Coastal Crafters, Craft and Collectables Fair

Date:  11 Aug

Time: 10am – 5pm

Venue: Portstewart Town Hall, The Crescent

Contact: 07850 377 644

Handcrafted Jewellery, knitwear, greetings cards, bags, photographs, woodcraft and collectables. Free admission.

 

Irish History Starts Here Make and Take

Date: 11 Aug

Time:  2-4pm

Venue: Coleraine Museum, Coleraine Town Hall

Contact: 028 7034 4723

Join artists and crafts people to make some creative pieces to take home. Suitable for all the family. 

 

Butterfly safari

Date: 11 Aug

Time: 2—4pm

Venue: Portstewart Strand, Portstewart

Contact: 028 7083 6396 / gill.mciloyle@nationaltrust.org.uk

Calling all kids and families. Join rangers on a walk through the sand dunes, catching and identifying butterflies and moths.  Adults £2, Children £1 (parking charges apply to non-National trust members).

 

Rathlin Sports Day

Date: 12 Aug

Time:

Venue: Rathlin Island

Contact: 028 2076 9299 / rdca@btconnect.com

Fun day for all the family on Rathlin Island. Events include 3-legged races, teddy bear throwing competition, bouncy castle and so much more. Make sure to book ferry crossing.

 

Music Sundays at Downhill Demesne

Date: 12 Aug

Time: 12-3pm

Venue: Downhill Demesne, Mussenden Road, Castlerock

Contact: 028 7084 8728

Enjoy local musical talent in Mussenden Temple to accompany a Sunday afternoon walk. This is a free event, but normal admission applies for the venue.

 

Summer Camp at Carrowmena

Date: 13-17 Aug

Time:  11am – 4.30pm

Venue: Carrowmena Activity Centre, 100 Carrowclare Road, Limavady

Contact: Kieran@carrowmena.co.uk

This year’s Summer Camp brings back adventure and fun to the North Coast. Experience fun and adrenaline based activities whilst making new friends this Summer.

  

Ballycastle Senior Tennis Tournament

Date: Commencing 13 Aug

Time:

Venue: Ballycastle Tennis Courts, Mary Street, Ballycastle

Contact: 028 2076 3300 carol.nicholl@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk

Tournament in coastal town of Ballycastle welcoming entries from all over Europe.

 

Advanced Pony Camp at Crindle Stables

Date: 14 Aug – 18 Aug

Time:

Venue: Crindle Stables, 6 Carrowclare Road, Limavady

Contact: 07738 516 106 crindlestables@outlook.com

Enjoy an extensive week of tuition, including having fun both on and off the pony.  Improve your riding skills and learn how to look after your pony.

 

Kids Stand Up Paddle Boarding

Date: 15 Aug – 16 Aug

Time: 3.30pm – 4.30pm

Venue: Long Line Surf School, 53 Benone Avenue, Benone

Contact: 07738 128 507 info@longlinesurfschool.co.uk

Surf camp for children 6-12 years including surfing, beach games and safety designed to help children learn in a fun environment.  £15 per child.

 

Summer  Street Theatre With Jim

Date: 15 Aug

Time: 1.30pm The Amphitheatre, Portrush and 4.00pm The Crescent, Portstewart

Venue: The Amphitheatre, Portrush & The Crescent, Portstewart

Contact: 028 7034 7234 eventscoleraine@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk

Enjoy a fun family afternoon of street theatre this summer on the Causeway Coast. Watch in awe as Jim performs his solo show, combining all the elements of circus, including fire juggling, an 8 foot unicycle and ladder balancing.

 

Portrush Summer Theatre

Date: 15 Aug – 18 Aug

Time: 8.00pm

Venue: Portrush Town Hall, Portrush

Contact: 028 7082 9539

Performance by The Bart Players.  “Fool’s Paradise” by Peter Coke.  Seat prices: Adult £8/OAP £7/Children £5.  Special rates for organised parties.

 

Country & Comedy show featuring Curtis Magee

Date: 16 Aug

Time: 8.00pm

Venue: Lodge Hotel, Coleraine BT52 1NF

Contact: T: 028 7034 4848 E: info@thelodgehotel.com

Singer Curtis Magee and Comedian Gary Wilson present a night of Country & Comedy at the Lodge Hotel, Coleraine. Other artists featuring in the evening’s line-up are: Hugo Duncan, Owen Mac, Boxcar Brian, Gerry Kane and Gerard Dornan. Tickets cost £10.

 

Summer Street Theatre with the Raven Sisters

Date: 17 Aug

Time: 1.30pm The Amphitheatre, Portrush and 4.00pm The Crescent, Portstewart

Venue: The Amphitheatre, Portrush and The Crescent, Portstewart

Contact: 028 7034 7234 eventscoleraine@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk

The Raven Sisters bring their high energy show to Portrush and Portstewart. Evocative of a bygone era, of sideshow circus and the silver screen, brought sharply into the 21st century by these dextrous damsels and their fancy footwork. It’s a high energy, non-stop cabaret of chaos, including hat manipulation, contemporary clowning and hula hooping. Fun for all the family.

 

Family Film Friday: The Red Turtle

Date: 17 Aug

Time: 2.00pm

Venue: Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre, Limavady

Contact: T: 028 7776 0650 E: information@rvacc.co.uk

Japan’s celebrated Studio Ghibli present this visual masterpiece in which a shipwrecked mariner battles all alone for his life at sea on a raft, encountering many of the ocean’s mysterious and wonderful creatures, but especially a large red turtle.  Cert PG / 2016 / Duration 81 mins.

 

North West 200 People and Places Exhibition

Date: 4 May – 1 Sept

Time: Mon – Thurs & Sat 9.00am – 5.00pm / Fri 9.00am – 4.30pm

Venue: Ballymoney Museum, Town Hall, Townhead Street, Ballymoney

Contact: 028 2766 0230 cms@causewaycoastandglens.gov.uk

Motorcycle Road Racing exhibition featuring people and places from the Chronicle and Constitution Archive (1987-1997), the emergency services, display of bikes, leathers and NW200 memorabilia. Admission free.

 

North by North

Date: 14 May – 1 Sept

Time:

Venue: Riverside Theatre, University of Ulster, Cromore Road, Coleraine

Contact: 028 7012 3123 www.riversidetheatre.org

North by North is an exhibition of new work by artist Jonathan Brennan. Working in pen and ink, print, photography and digital, Brennan has been travelling around the Causeway Coast & Glens area over a series of months making images of things that inspire him.

 

Irish History Starts Here

Date: 28 July – 15 September

Time:  Monday – Saturday 9am – 5pm

Venue: Coleraine Museum, Coleraine Town Hall

Contact: 028 7034 4723

From the earliest known settlement at Mountsandel almost 10,000 years ago, a fascinating Bronze Age village, and a Medieval Abbey kitchen, to the official Plantation, this exhibition reveals the history of the Coleraine area.

 

Headlands Islands and Skerries

Date: 28 July – 25 Aug

Time: Wed – Sat 12 noon – 5.30pm

Venue: Castlecat Gallery, 76 Castlecat Road, Bushmills

Contact: 028 7074 1682

 

Adrian Margey Summer Studio Open Weekends

Date: Every Friday – Sunday from 3rd August – 2nd September

Time: 11am – 5.30 (Fri – Sat), Sunday 12noon – 5.30pm

Venue: Adrian Margey Gallery, 99 Mark Street, Portrush

Contact: 07841 593 762 adrianmargey@googlemail.com

Pop-up artist studio and gallery space featuring the work of Adrian Margey and Evana Bjourson open to the public during weekends in Summer.

 

As the Crow Flies

Date: 4 Aug – 31 August

Time: Daily 9.30 – 5pm

Venue: Roe Valley Arts & Cultural Centre

Contact:  info@rvacc.co.uk

Exhibition by Eleanor Wheeler who studied ceramics and sculpture in Aberdeen and Cardiff, completing her PhD in architectural ceramics and public art at Northumbria University. Free admission.

 

Intersection – Sharon Adams

Date: 4 Aug – 31 Aug

Time: 9.am-5.00pm Mon-Fri  & Sat 10.00am – 1.00pm

Venue: Flowerfield Arts  Centre, Portstewart

Contact: 028 7083 1400 info@flowerfield.org

Sharon Adams’ first solo show explores places where diverse elements of life collide.  With a practice deeply rooted in the landscape of her agricultural childhood, she uses wood metal and textiles to create functionless tools.  Admission free.

 

This August will see the return of the much-anticipated Festival of Flight sponsored by Rockwell Collins, over the shores of Newcastle in scenic County Down.

The festival, hosted on Saturday 11^th August, will comprise of an afternoon of a stunning airborne display, led by the Red Arrows, complemented by family fun events including an Aviation Centre and Food Village.

2018 marks a particularly exciting year as the RAF celebrates its centenary.  To mark the occasion, the RAF will be displaying aircrafts on the ground to encourage the public to meet crew members and get close to the magnificent planes. There will be a STEM Zone focusing on aviation as a career, offering the public the opportunity to have hands on experiences with the aerospace world as well as the chance for younger visitors find out more about the aviation profession.

The festival, marking the third of five events in the Giant Adventures summer programme spearheaded by Newry, Mourne and Down District Council, is expected to attract up to 100,000 visitors.

Councillor Mark Murnin, Chairman of Newry, Mourne and Down Council said: “The Festival of Flight is a spectacular event in the programme. Whether you are an aircraft enthusiast or would like a great family day out, Newcastle is transformed into an aviation hub that is the perfect place for people to visit, locally and beyond. With a range of music, food, aircraft displays and the excitement of the RAF100 commemoration, it is set to be one of the biggest and best years yet!”

Announcing continued support for the annual event, Martin McGinley, Managing Director and Vice President of Rockwell Collins in Kilkeel said, “Our passion for aviation is the bedrock of our success and we look forward to sharing our enthusiasm with the audience of almost 100,000 people who are expected to converge on this beautiful corner of County Down for this year’s event.

“In Kilkeel, we manufacture seating for most of the world’s commercial airlines and we are proud to be part of a major business which is recognised and respected as a global leader in aviation. We are equally proud of the significant economic contribution which Rockwell Collins makes in Northern Ireland, not only in its support for hundreds of jobs but also through our extensive supply chain.

“The 2018 Festival of Flight promises to provide a thrilling highlight to the Summer of 2018. Research demonstrates that the positive economic impact of this great event will continue long after the roar of the engines subsides, with many visitors encouraged to make return visits to the region. This is fantastic news for all of us who want to see the local economy soar!

“On behalf of everyone who will have their eyes on the skies on the big day, I thank all those whose hard work, vision and commitment combine to deliver this amazing annual attraction.”

For Mariners and Pleasure Craft Users, an important navigation warning has been issued to ensure the show runs undisrupted. Due to necessary restrictions in place for the Festival of Flight, it is important that all vessels observe boundaries from 14:00 to 18:30. Cooperation will be greatly appreciated to ensure maximum safety at the event.

Festival of Flight is supported by Tourism NI. For further information about the Festival of Flight and the Giant Adventures programme visit www.visitmournemountains.co.uk

Antrim Castle Gardens was awash with people as the crowds arrived in their droves from the offset to join us for Party in The Park on Saturday 4 August.

Music legends Clubsound and Trevor Kelly, now in their 70^th year on the road owned the stage as they treated the crowds to a two-hour Rock N Roll set featuring all the favourites from that era. Warming up the audience beforehand was Tommy McMeekin and the Jam Club, showcasing the best of our local talent.

The Mayor, Councillor Paul Michael commented “I am thrilled to see the crowds here today enjoying this fabulous event. Antrim Castle Gardens lends itself so well to events and the atmosphere here today is amazing. It is fantastic to see so many families having a great time”

The Parterre Gardens were packed as the crowds availed of the punch & judy show, crazy golf, swing boats, safari train and scientific Sue’s fabulous magic show. Other highlights of this free family day out were the water zorbs and paddle boats on the long pond, the indoor cinema, inflatables and the selection of walkabout characters.

The ice-cream van was a big hit cooling down the crowds in the glorious weather, as they kicked backed and soaked up the party atmosphere. Party in The Park was a great day enjoyed by all ages old and young alike.

This major exhibition, across all three of the MAC’s galleries, brings together a series of recent projects by former Turner-Prize nominee Phil Collins.

The most recent of these works, Ceremony, was commissioned in 2017 by Manchester International Festival, HOME, Manchester and 14-18 NOW, the UK’s arts programme for the First World War centenary, to coincide with the centenary of the Russian Revolution. The events in 1917 shaped the political landscape of the 20th century, the revolution took place in 1917. But it was in Manchester, not Imperial Russia, that the idea of communism was born.

Ceremony is centred around the life and work of Friedrich Engels, co-founder of communist theory with his friend Karl Marx. His philosophy was shaped by what he observed in the world’s first industrial city, Manchester, where he lived for 20 years. The film follows Collins’ search for and retrieval of a decommissioned statue of Engels from an Ukrainian village, its journey across Europe, and arrival in Manchester where it was permanently installed last summer in the city centre. In parallel, Ceremony explores Engels’ legacy and the social conditions in Britain today through the stories of people who Collins met during his year-long residency, and his collaboration with local organisations, activists and communities. Featuring Maxine Peake as the voice of Engels, live music recording by Demdike Stare and Mica Levi, and a central performance from Carla Henry, in Belfast the work will be presented as an installation specially designed for our Upper Gallery.

The Tall Gallery will host a large-scale installation Delete Beach from 2016, an anime set in the near future which tells a story of a schoolgirl who joins an anti-capitalist resistance group in a society in which carbon-based energy is outlawed. The film proposes a scenario describing the decline of the oil economy, with the prosperity of the boom years expiring and the necessity of infrastructural changes looming large.

As an art form, anime has repeatedly addressed political themes, often through the lens of complex female characters. In Delete Beach a curious paradox is at work: society has seemingly reached an advanced state of independence from carbon fuels, yet it continues to toil as before under a regime of oppression, inequality and control. Following anime’s recognisable aesthetic and storytelling, Collins’ collaboration with STUDIO4°C, one of Japan’s leading animation studios (Tekkonkinkreet), and pop auteur and film composer Mica Levi (Under the Skin, Jackie) brings to life a world at once familiar and disquietingly corroded.

In the gallery Delete Beach is conjured up as a melancholy shoreline, crashing in from another dimension to play host to an expanded animation environment. The film alternates between Japanese and English language versions, with interludes featuring specially composed music and light sequencing.

Also exhibited in the Tall Gallery is free fotolab from 2009, a slide projection with 80 images from Collins’ ongoing archive of photographs which he collects by putting out a public call for rolls of undeveloped 35mm film, which are processed and returned to participants for free, on the understanding that they relinquish the rights to the artist so he may select and present any of the images. Since 2004 the project has taken place in various locations. Images presented here come from cities as disparate as Milton Keynes, St. Gallen (Switzerland), Belgrade (Serbia), Eindhoven (Netherlands), and Banja Luka (Bosnia and Herzegovina). Bringing together scenes from anonymous, everyday lives, free fotolab is a love letter to 35mm film in the face of its demise in the digital era, and a collective family album of pictures which, despite the differences in their visual style and content, create a rare sense of solidarity.

The final work in the exhibition, the meaning of style from 2011, is presented in the MAC’s Sunken Gallery and explores ways in which subcultures circulate between different historical, ethnic, and social contexts. The film features a group of anti-fascist Malay skinheads who are part of a subculture formed in the 1990s. Filmed in Penang, Malaysia in a series of languorous scenes set in an Indian Tamil cinema, a Chinese Buddhist temple, and a colonial-era mansion, they appear to move between the imaginative and literal spaces of cinema.

The visual cues are all there: shaved heads, polo T-shirts, bomber jackets, braces, jeans, leather boots, tailor-made trousers and sweaters. But the aggression that has come to define skinheads is absent. They reinterpret the style of this typically British subculture and, bridging time and space, restore it to its original, progressive and anti-racist meaning united by community, fashion, and music within their post-colonial South-Asian context. A dreamlike soundtrack by Welsh musician Gruff Rhys and the band Y Niwl moves the film toward something that is neither a pop video nor a visual experiment but more socially and culturally compelling, connected to the universal desire to belong while staking out zones and modes of independence.

The artist Phil Collins said: “When I first arrived to Belfast I was a student on the MA course, and later part of community of artists working at Catalyst Arts. I stayed on the Antrim Road, at College Green, on the Ormeau Road, and up at the Waterworks Park, and the city bled into me. Its lyricism, melancholy and violence served to create a scene which was truly, unmistakably its own. I’m grateful to Belfast for Ski Bunny, Kelly’s, Giros, Catalyst, the North Street Arcade, the A1 Bar (the original and the later portacabin), the Hatfield, the Menagerie, Blinkers, for an ongoing political education and a commitment to the public expression of everyday struggle and resistance. I’m honoured to be coming back to a place which was for me a formative crucible, and the works presented at MAC speak to the things I learned and the conversations which started all those unforgettable moons ago.”

Hugh Mulholland Senior Curator said: “It is a great pleasure to be able to host this ambitious exhibition by Phil Collins – This Is The Day at the MAC. Phil Collins is acknowledged as being one of the most important artists of his generation. Throughout his career he has garnered major awards including Paul Hamlyn Award for Visual Arts in 2001, and was nominated for Artes Mundi Prize in 2012 and Turner Prize in 2006. His works are represented in the collections of Museum of Modern Art, Guggenheim Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York; Tate Gallery in London; Museum of Fine Arts in Boston; Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin; and National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, among others. It is with some pride that we can say that his career began in Belfast where he studied at the Art College and where he had his first significant solo exhibition at Ormeau Baths Gallery, in 2003.”

Ceremony was co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW, HOME, Manchester and Manchester International Festival.

Jenny Waldman, Director from 14-18 NOW said: “At 14-18 NOW we commission artists to create new work in response to the First World War and the events of 1914-18.  It is now 100 years since the ideas from The Communist Manifesto, written by Engels and Karl Marx, changed the course of history by inspiring the Russian Revolution during the final phase of the First World War. We would like to thank Phil Collins for this powerful work that explores the impact of Engels today.”

This exhibition is supported by National Lottery funding through the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Thursday night acts announced and final prep underway at Stendhal Festival

The 2018 Stendhal Festival takes place at Ballymully Cottage Farm on August 9,10 and 11 and with the countdown to opening well and truly on, organisers have announced the acts set to take the stage on their first ever Thursday night.

Opening the festival this year will be No Oil Paintings, The Henry Girls and Trucker Diablo.

The three acts will take to the Stevie Martin stage, while the Foyle Film Festival will also be screening Easy Rider and a documentary on Woodstock Festival in our Circus tent.

Festival Director Ross Parkhill said: “We are really excited about opening for an extra night this year and really pleased with how the line-up for Thursday came together.

“All three musical acts are excellent in their genres and the film screenings by Foyle Film Festival will help add to the chilled out and relaxing atmosphere we hope will develop on the Thursday night.”

Ross added: “With about a week to go until show time, we are all hands to the pumps up at the farm but everything is coming together really nicely. We have focused a lot on improvements this year as opposed to a lot of new development so the site is in great shape.

“There are of course a few new developments this year, in particular we can’t wait for people to enjoy the new audience area at the Henry McCullough Stage.”

With 8000 people expected over the weekend, this will mark the largest ever crowd Stendhal will have ever drawn.

“It’s Hard to believe that we are eight years in now, said Ross. “In 2011 we had around 800 folk here and this year we are prepping for 8000.

“Looking back at photos from 2011 and comparing them to last year, it really is a great indicator of just how much progress we have made over the years.

“The growth is down to an incredible desire amongst our team to bring something very special to Limavady and now Northern Ireland. We all worked on a 100% voluntary basis for the first 6 years and since then we have been able to create a few full time and seasonal jobs with an eye on creating more going forward.

Ross concluded: “It took us a long time to be able to say we achieved our first goals with the festival but we are there now and hopefully we can sustain a good level of growth over the next five to ten years.”