Irish Traditional music royalty, including Clannad’s Moya Brennan and Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh from Altan, visited Derry last week to lend their support to the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry” campaign, prior to their sell out show at Derry’s award winning Cultúrlann Uí Chanáin.

Moya Brennan, formerly with the Donegal based band Clannad, Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh, one of Ireland’s leading fiddle players and the lead vocalist for the Irish super group Altan, and Triona Ní Dhomhnail and Maighréad Ní Dhomhnail, both of whom performed with the highly respected Skara Brae, took part in a photo shoot to celebrate and promote Derry’s bid for the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2013.

Speaking at before the gig Mairead Ní Mhaonnaigh commented “This is great news for Derry and I wish the bid well, if we can do anything to assist the bid we will all be delighted to help.”

The Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign is going from strength to strength at the present time, with the passing of each month heralding more support from around the island of Ireland for this major event to be held in Derry. If successful the event would bring in over £30 million to the local economy and attract over 250,000 visitors over a 7 day period.

The awarding body for Fleadh Cheoil, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, recently held their Annual Congress meeting in Tullamore, where the Derry bid was discussed and received recognition within the prestigious Congress Annual Report. The report highlighted the strength of its current campaign and the strong political support coming from the First Minister Peter Robinson and the Deputy First Minister, Martin McGuinness. Both politicians have sentComhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann a joint letter urging Comhaltas to award Derry the host status for 2013 highlighting that by “this would be major recognition of the changes that have come about in recent years and would encourage many thousands of additional visitors to experience the magic of the city.”

Eibhlin Ní Dhochartaigh from Comhaltas Doire, who is spearheading the “Bring the Fleadh to Derry campaign commented “We are delighted with how the campaign is currently progressing and after our recent meetings at the Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann Congress I know we will have the support when it comes to the final vote next year.” For more information on the campaign visit www.2013fleadh.ie or www.facebook.com/bringthefleadhtoderry

If you’re married or organising a wedding you’ve probably been to a wedding fair to help with the planning process.

“We want to encourage people to be a little more daring on their wedding day!” says Saima Akram, Co-Founder of Quirky Weddings.

“Many people feel there’s a check list of things they ‘have’ to have but it’s just not true. We feel it’s time for NI people to feel brave enough to inject their own personality into the day and many brides don’t fit the whole ‘blushing bride’ image projected by a lot of the wedding industry”

“We like to get out and about to find NI’s most unusual wedding suppliers to write about in our blog and advertise on our listing site. We also want to change how people plan their weddings too.”

Quirky Weddings next event, the ‘Pop-Crawl’ on from 1pm til 5pm on Sunday May 15, is like a pub crawl and wedding fair rolled into one (alcohol optional of course!).

“We found a number of city centre venues that can cater for weddings and asked them to have an ‘open day’ so couples can call in and see what’s on offer. Participating venues include La Boca Argentinean Restaurant, Love and Death Inc, Made in Belfast, Harlem, The Penthouse at the Europa, The Barge and Printers Wine Bar. Most venues will host other wedding suppliers like photographers, entertainers, florists or outside caterers.” adds Saima. “Many companies involved are offering discounts on the day too.”

“The response to this idea has been amazing. New exhibitors are coming on board everyday. Couples should keep checking our website for more information. On the day, the first port of call is La Boca Argentinean Restaurant in Fountain Street, after that couples can choose which venues to visit at their leisure.”

30 SECONDS TO MARS headline the opening night Belsonic 2011 on Tuesday 15th August.  The L.A. Based arena-rock three piece, fronted by brothers Jared & Shannon Leto, make their Belfast debut ay Belsonic! Their third studio LP, “This Is War” was released to massive mainstream success in 2009, and was backed by a global arena tour, including a sold-out headline show at Dublin’s O2 Arena.

The brainchild of ex-Oasis members Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer & Andy Bell, BEADY EYE exploded onto the UK scene in November 2010 with debut release “Bring The Light”. Their debut LP “Different Gear, Still Speeding” was released on 28th February 2011, to coincide with a short run of UK live dates, all of which sold out in a matter of minutes. They headline Belsonic 2011 on Saturday August 20th.

Liam Gallagher commented: ‘The people in Northern Ireland are always so up for it – they just get it. It’s like they know something nobody else does. But we’ve never played a festival in Belfast, so I can’t wait for this Belsonic thing. It’s about time I played an outdoor gig in the city, long overdue.’

EXAMPLE is set to play main support for Dizzee Rascal on Wednesday August 16th at Belsonic 2011. He has made a huge impact with his sophomore LP “Won’t Go Quietly”, which spawned the singles “Watch The sun Come Up”, “Won’t Go Quietly” and “Kickstarts”, the latter peaking at number 3 in the UK singles chart. Example played to two consecutive sold-out crowds in Belfast’s Mandela Hall earlier this year, and his popularity continues to grow exponentially, with latest single “Unorthodox” charting at number 2 in the UK.

THE VACCINES, who join Beady Eye at Belsonic 2011 on Saturday August 20th, rocked the UK indie world with the release of their debut LP “What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?” in March of this year. The London based 4 piece recently played to a sold-out crowd at Queens University’s Students Union, and their popularity has continued to rise following the release of hit singles “Post Break-up Sex” and “If You Wanna”.

Tickets for 30 Seconds To Mars & Beady Eye go onsale this Friday, May 6th, at 9am from www.belsonic.com, Ticketmaster Outlets & The Stiff Kitten.

Tickets for Beady Eye are priced £32.50 including Booking Fees, tickets for 30 Seconds to Mars are priced £31.50 including Booking Fees.

Belsonic 2011 in association with Absolut:

Tuesday August 16th: 30 SECONDS TO MARS + Special Guests

Wednesday August 17th: DIZZEE RASCAL + EXAMPLE & Wretch 32

Friday August 19th: PRIMAL SCREAM : SCREAMADELICA & Special Guests

Saturday August 20th: BEADY EYE + The Vaccines & Special Guests

Wednesday August 24th: ELBOW & Special Guests

Thursday August 25th: PLAN B + Katy B & Special Guests

Saturday August 27th: THE SPECIALS & Special Guests

For more details check out www.belsonic.com

The National Lottery “Secret Fortune” – hosted by Nick Knowles – is back for a brand new series!

By putting your general knowledge to the test, you could win a great cash prize.

We are looking for fantastic Contestant Pairs to take part – a family duo, competitive couple, best friends, colleagues or simply a great twosome that will work together well and potentially win BIG MONEY.

To receive an application form today, EMAIL contestants@wild-rover.com

Or call 02890 500 758 for more information

Standard geographic charges apply and calls may be included in your telecom provider’s call package. Calls from mobiles may be higher

The closing date for returning application forms is 17:00, Mon 25th of April 2011.

All applicants must be 18 years and over and be legally resident and currently living in the UK.

Monday, 28^th March 2011: Captain Morgan was welcomed on dry land by Northern Ireland model Katie Larmour to announce details of his latest quest ‘Dare the Captain’. The Captain is calling on his legion of over 85,000 Facebook fans from across the Island of Ireland to dare him to do something truly legendary which he will undertake when he returns to these shores in mid April.

There are thousands of pounds from the Captain’s bounty up for grabs for the best dare. There is a cash prize of £4,000 for the overall winning dare plus two runner up prizes worth hundreds of pounds and a Captain Morgan hoodie to be won daily!

Speaking at the launch, Captain Morgan commented, “It’s great to be back in the Emerald Isle. People from here have a tremendous imagination and that’s why I’m looking forward in anticipation to undertaking winning dare and filming it for all my fans to see. Not only that, the overall winning darer gets thousands of pounds for their trouble!! Not bad hey?”

To enter Dare the Captain, fans must go to the Captain’s Facebook page (Facebook.com/CaptainMorganIreland) and register their dare.  Fans can enter as many times as they like and must be over 18.

The Captain’ previous escapades can be viewed on his CaptainTV YouTube channel at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Y6xX0VvJY

To enter Dare the Captain or follow the Captain’s adventures, go to  www.facebook.com/captainmorganireland

Drink Responsibly

Drinkaware.co.uk for the facts