Rachel O'Connor, R.I.P.

The Allingham Committee join in the sorrow felt in Ballyshannon, Belleek and points far beyond at the news this morning of the passing of Rachel O’Connor.

Rachel was not only a consummate actor, she was unfailingly generous in all aspects of her life, onstage and off. For Allingham, she was a central force in a number of events over the years, such as “The Breadman” and “Margaret”. For decades she has contributed to the creative well from which we all draw. Her Best Actress Award at this year’s All-Ireland Drama Festival was a belated recognition of something we had known for many years. Without doubt, it seemed, there was so much more to come.

Since the news broke at around lunchtime today our social media has filled with tributes:

“We have all lost a great woman.”… “… what a woman of substance... A beautiful person inside and out.” “She was just brilliant..” “A wonderful lady.”.. “… a peerless actress and a lovely person “ “Ni fheicfimid a leithéid aris” We send our sincere condolences to Sean and all her family and many friends.

“Goodnight… May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Picture by Brian O’Droma of Rachel at an Allingham event with another great friend of the festival, Sean McGinley

Ken Fox Lecture

How time flies. Just over a month ago, a select audience in Theatre 2 enjoyed a talk by Ken Fox about the many films which have used the Donegal landscape to enhance their visuals. We thank Ken for his engagement that day and for supplying us with these slides from his presentation for anyone interested in exploring further.

To get you started, here are a few Trailers on YouTube:

Silence (2012)

Wildfire (2020)

An Fidil Ghorm (2024)

Primary Schools Competitions - Winners

Once again we thank all Primary Schools and their entrants in this year's competitions for their patience over the unavoidable delays in announcing the results. Schools should, by now, have heard from us with lists of winners so we're happy to make them public here now.

The planned prize-giving event which is usually a lovely part of our festival programme, will this year brighten the run-up to Christmas on Saturday, 14th December at 11.00 in the Abbey Arts Centre, Ballyshannon (Theatre 3). Please note - only medals for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places will be presented. Pupils who were shortlisted (including winners) will receive certificates of their achievement via their schools.

Many congratulations to every single entrant. As every artist and writer knows, the act of bringing a piece of work to a readiness to be shown is a huge achievement in itself, regardless of what the reaction may be afterwards.

Well done, everyone!

Primary Schools Competitions - Update

(NOTE: A small number of names were left out of the lists posted this evening. See below for amended lists.)

We must apologise again to all our entrants in the Primary School Competitions for the delay in announcing the results. As previously notified to schools, this was due to an unavoidable circumstance which arose this year.

We're so grateful to these young people and their teachers for their loyal interest in the Allingham Festival, year after year. Every single entry was enjoyed by our judges and we congratulate all entrants.

We're delighted to publish these shortlists and we will be in touch with schools in the next couple of days to confirm those placed as 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

A Grace-ful Launch

Jennifer Liston's excellent new book, Grace Notes got the best launch since Grainne Mhaol set out to meet Queen Elizabeth 1. Local writer Win McNulty and Jen decided to structure it as an interview/conversation. Win drew out many key points about the collection with great style and insight.

If you missed it, do catch the video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvambYhu1Xg

Pictures by Brian O'Droma.