Cobh Blues Festival 2012

Last weekend the Blues Music Festival was held in Cobh. This is the sixth year in succession that this free music festival has taken place and its gaining momentum each year. On Sunday night Catriona Fallon and her Band played O' Sheas Bar and they were brilliant!!! Catriona has a superb voice and belted out plenty of bluesy numbers, including a lot of Imelda May's hits. You can easily see why Catriona was the lead singer for Riverdance for so long.

Catriona also played in Ryans Bar, Kellys Bar and the Titanic over the weekend. They were also other talented musicians on show, including Yossi Vladimer from Israel, Gary Boss from the USA, Dr. Dec and the Side Effects, Cold Shot, The Modern Heirs, Rory Gallagher Tribute, & The Totallers.

On Sunday afternoon a free gig was held in the promenade and despite the autumnal chill in the air many families came along and enjoyed the musical offering.

Many dedicated blues fans made Cobh their destination for the weekend and wandered throughout the town, availing of the free gigs. The entertainment went down well with locals and ordinary music lovers aswell. Let's hope the organisers can build on this year's success and make next year's event better again!!!

Cobh to Blackrock.....

The weekend before last, the start of the Cobh to Blackrock yacht race provided visitors to Cobh with an awesome spectacle. The annual Cobh to Blackrock yacht race is held in mid-September every year. This is looked forward to eagerly and its a chance for yachts from all of the harbour clubs to come together and compete on a fun basis.

This year the race was held as part of the Cork Harbour open weekend and attracted an entry of over eighty.

A great feature of the race is that it attracts boats of all shapes and sizes and this year was no exception. As the competitors get ready for the oft abeam of the Promenade in Cobh and jockey for position there is always great excitement. Indeed, it provides for a great spectacle for many of the onlookers that gather for the start of this most historic race.

Crowds gather in the promenade and other vantage points to see the boats off. Some years this can provide a spectacular sight for if the wind is from the east many can be in full spinnaker at this point. What a sight!!!

This year this wasn't the case as the wind was from the north west quarter and all yachts had to tack their way up channel. However, this number of yachts always provides a spectacle no matter what wind conditions prevail.

Eddie English from SailCork provides a great insight into the origins of the race and its development over the years. Have a look at his blog on the subject as it makes for great reading!

Cobh Tidy Towns scoops silver......

Cobh scooped the silver award in this year's Tidy Towns competition. This is one better than last year when Cobh picked up a bronze in the National competition. Well done to the Cobh Tidy Towns committee and their band of eager volunteers, and in particular, Hendrik Verwey and Jim O' Rourke. The work and dedication that has gone in to achieving this result has been exceptional....and not just this year; this work has been ongoing for many years now. The fruits of this labour are there for all to see. Cobh has been transformed over the last five years. Where once it may have been a litter blackspot Cobh is now a beautiful, colourful, clean and attractive town. This view has been endorsed by many of the regular visitors to the hotel who have witnessed this transformation over the last few years. In fact, many are amazed as to how beautiful the town now looks. This is not to say that it was not attractive in the first place but the changes have been very dramatic and evident. Well done to all!!!

Here are some of the view expressed by the adjudicators:

"Sell it as a prototype to every town in TidyTowns in the country. You have reinvented the wheel."

"The built environment of Cobh glistened in the summer sun. The buildings provided interest and stimulation to the many tourists wandering the streets and enthusing over the many delights. One is firstly impressed by the condition of the presentation of the buildings."

"The stone walls of Cobh are as integral to the built heritage of the town as the water to its maritime history. Your work in uncovering these walls deserves special credit and mention. The conservation of the walled heritage of Cobh justifies your existence."

Cork Harbour Open Weekend

The Cork Harbour Open Weekend is on this Saturday & Sunday and there are numerous free events on right across the harbour in Cobh, Spike, Crosshaven & Fort Meagher. A lot of these events will appeal to families with small kids, so if the small ones at home are looking for something to do bring them down to Cobh on any of the days over the weekend.

Cobh Tourism have organised a special Treasure Hunt for all the family to participate in. This is on from 9:30am till 5pm on Saturday and 11am till 5pm on Sunday. The treasure hunt and puzzle can be collected from the ticket desk at Cobh Heritage Centre.

From 11am there is a vintage car rally in the streets of Cobh. The annual Wolseley Car Club of Ireland will see around 50 cars visit Cobh. Many of the cars will be parked at Westbourne Place outside the Commodore Hotel. This rally attracts vintage cars, pre-war cars and post-war cars of all kinds and should be a great sight!

In the afternoon, spectators will get the chance to watch the annual Cobh to Blackrock sailing race. This is a hugely popular race and nearly ever yacht in the harbour participates. Its a fabulous sight to witness and one of the best vantage points is the Promenade, right in the centre of town. The first gun is at 2:30pm, so make sure you've got your spot before then!

....and while you're in the Promenade you could participate in the annual Crab fishing contest. All you need is a bucket, line, and bait....and all of these are supplied by Cobh Tourism. Fishing starts at 3:30pm and finishes at 5pm. Rumour has it that 'claws' is still at large in front of the Prom. Can you catch him?

Regatta 2012

Well the Regatta is almost upon us, with one day to go to the opening ceremony tomorrow night. Thankfully, the weather looks to be alright. In fact, Met Eireann are giving quite a good forecast for this weekend. Its just in time too.....especially after suffering one of the worst summer storms in many years, just yesterday. What a difference a week makes; we've gone from one of the best days this summer last Friday to, definitely, the worst summer's day in many a year this Wednesday. Well that's behind us now and with fair winds, warm temps, and clear skies forecast, conditions we'll be back to normal for the yachting, rowing and water based activities planned for this weekend. A full programme of events are scheduled to start tomorrow with Saturday and Sunday the busier of the days. Cobh Peoples Regatta website is full of information and detail as to what is going on. Check it out here, Cobh People's Regatta, it's worth a look!!!

Definitely, the highlight of the weekend are the fireworks on Sunday night. This is phenomenally popular with the kids and families of all ages and sizesgather early in the evening to commandeer the best viewing sites. One of the best spots, of course, is the roof garden of the Commodore Hotel. Easy access is available to all residents and luckily enough we still have some accommodation left this Sunday night. If you'd fancy coming to Cobh then give us a ring and ask for Mary in reservations on 021-4811277. Alternatively, you can book online on here. However, best to give Mary a buzz....tell her we sent you!!!

Cobh Peoples' Regatta 2012

Well there's only one week to go to this year's Regatta and the anticipation is building. This three day event marks the pinnacle of summer activities here in Cobh and families from near and far travel to enjoy the festivities....and there's plenty of things going on and plenty of things to do and see.

Each day there is an extensive rowing and sailing programme. Its great to view the yachts, many in full spinnaker, as they tussle for pole position in the various races. The rowing races are also great to watch and there is great excitement as the various teams come close to the finishing line.

It's not just the racing and the competitive side of the regatta that's appealing but there just is plenty of activities going on. On the Sunday there is a carnival atmosphere in the promenade, which is set aside for families and young kids. There is plenty of face-painting, bouncy castles, clowns, and stilt-walkers to keep everyone entertained. In the main square there is plenty of acts on the main stage to entertain the night time revellers. On the Friday night there is the picking of the Queens which is always very popular with all. This is followed normally by entertainment from some of Ireland's top bands, as is the case on Saturday and Sunday night.

The highlight for everyone, though, is the Fireworks display. This takes place on Sunday night at 10pm. Make sure you're in early to secure a good vantage point as the town is normally thronged to see this....and no wonder; its reckoned that this half hour display is the best fireworks display in the country!!!

If you're staying at the Commodore Hotel you have the best vantage point of all. Our roof garden offers spectacular views of the display and is most definitely the best spot to view the fireworks!!!

Have a look at the Regatta's official website http://cobhpeoplesregatta.com/ for more details.

So why not come to Cobh and stay the weekend!!! We have some great accommodation packages on offer, just have a look at our Special Offers and we hope to see you in Cobh next weekend!

Lazy, hazy days of summer.....

View from Rooftop

View from Rooftop

What a cracker of a day it was today!

At last, a true summer's day...one of those lazy, hazy days that would remind you of the long hot summers of long ago (were they a myth or did they really happen)! Well today it happened! From early morning it was obvious it was going to be a great day; clear blue skies and the heat already apparent. The temperature dials hit 24C in the afternoon and a gentle sea breeze got up but didn't cool things too much. Indeed, inland temperatures got upto 26C; now, its a long while since we've seen that!

View from Rooftop

In the pic above, taken from the roof garden on the Commodore Hotel, you can see a number of people taking refuge from the heat in the shelter of the shadow created by the bandstand in the Promenade. There's no better place to be on a hot sunny day than in Cobh!

Many of the passengers aboard the liner Silver Cloud must have thought so as they alighted in teeshirts and shorts. They'd have been forgiven for thinking that they had arrived at a port in the Mediterranean. Let's hope we've a few more days like that!

Silver Cloud

Special Summer Offers!!!