Féile Choilte Pobail - Community Woodland Festival August 22nd 2026
Updated: Sep 10
Féile Choilte Pobail - Tuamgraney Community Woodland Festival was a fun day for all the family of walks, talks, film, music, traditional woodland craft demonstrations, local food, community and culture which took place at St. Cronan's Church and the Tuamgraney Community Woodland, (formerly part of the ancient oakwood of Raheen Woods and the Great Forest of Aughty) in partnership with Tuamgraney Development Association Woodland Subgroup, The Woodland League and our communities artists and musicians.
CELT were delighted to work with our partners and local community groups to host our first Féile Choilte Pobail - Community Woodland Festival on Sat August 22nd in Tuamgraney, Co. Clare, in an area where CELT first began its Weekend in the Woods Tradtional Crafts programme 25 years ago. CELT are marking 25 years working in partnership with others to celebrate and promote our ancient woodlands and woodland culture and we were delighted to celebrate with a special Community Woodland, Traditional Crafts, & Heritage Festival.
We held a wonderful day-long festive programme of events and activities including CELT’s Weekend in the Hill’s Traditional Craft Tutors, offering woodland craft demonstrations including Sean Walsh, who is one of the founding CELT Tutors, and master crafts person working with Green Furniture and who continues to inspire across the generations, with Olwyn Williams offering Food Foraging info and workshop throughout the day, along with guests Leslie Maya Souchere on Wild Medicine and master crafts person, Pete Beuamont who offered an inspiring Willow Basket Weaving workshop for all ages throughout the day, and a diversity of other special guests who offered woodland talks & walks, discussions, and a film Screening of the Rights of Nature at St Cronan’s Church, followed by a panel discussion with the Shannon River keepers project and invited guests.
CELT’s renowned Weekend in the Woods - Festival of Traditional Crafts, known today as Weekend in the Hills, began in 2001 in the nearby ancient Raheen Woodland, and was inspired by a wish for ongoing connection to the regeneration and restoration of our woodlands and woodland culture and that of The Great Forest of Aughty. We were delighted to be working with our local communities to raise awareness of the importance of our Woodlands and woodland traditions, culture and crafts, the rights of nature, and the right of the Great Forest of Aughty to be protected and restored and the Slieve Aughty region to thrive and flourish. This year’s Heritage Week theme ‘Heritage at Risk’ reflected the concern of our founders 25 years ago, and encouraged us to come together to reconnect, care for and celebrate our natural and cultural heritage, by creating a Woodland Festive space for us to revive and restore our ancestral and traditional woodland skills, knowledge, community rituals and festival practices. And to remember and honour those who came before us, CELT Founding Member and a key Community partner in establishing the Tuamgraney Community Woodland, Bob Wilson a native tree was planted in the Community Woodlands to close the day.
The Tuamgraney Community Woodland is a cherished community facility that was established in 2008 with the help of the Tuamgraney Development Association, CELT, The Woodland League, and the local community and with funding and support from the Heritage Council and Clare County Council.
We recognise our woodlands as a living, breathing archive that holds centuries of ecological and social history, wisdom and knowledge and that deserve the right to be protected and allowed to regenerate and flourish. The few remnants of the once Ancient Great Forest of Aughty are consistently under threat from past and future human and environmental pressures. As a site rich in biodiversity and historical connections, we believe the forest serves as an important focal point for community festive activity celebrating and exploring our dynamic relationship and reconnecting people to our woodland culture and our natural and cultural heritage.
Féile Choilte Pobail CWF August 22nd Programme of Talks & Film Screenings
All day - Green furniture making - Sean Walsh & Willow weaving - Pete Beaumont
Stalls - Wild Foraged Foods with Olwyn Williams & Wild Medicine Leslie Maya Souchere
We had an amazing panel of special guests joining us throughout the day to lead walks & talks on various woodland & heritage themes;
10:30am - Restoring The Great Forest of Aughty - Andrew St Ledger & The Woodland League vision - Elaine Doyle
11 - 11.40am - Forestry - The Success of the Land Depends on Succession, Matt Mc Evoy
11.30am - Wild food foraging - Olwyn Williams
11.30am - Reading of “Wondering Wild” A Children's Book by Laura Kennedy - A beautiful book for younger and older beings. Created with love by sangha member Laura. The practices will inspire and touch earth caring seeds in the heart & bring lots of joy & creativity.
11.45- 12.30 - Church - Historical Ecology Syntrophic Forestry Ni ibu
12:00 - 3:00pm - Vegan Food Stall & Local Organic Food Systems Education from Sunrise Farm
12:45 - 2:00pm Open music session & Spoken Word artist Shane Millar
12:45 - 2:00pm - Children’s Activities & Face painting
2.00- 3:30pm Forest school for Kids -Sonia Mc Guirk
2:00pm - Log inoculation and discussion on the restoration of saprophytic fungal networks - by Sean Bromley
2:00pm Film Screening - Rights of Nature with panel discussion after with Shannon River Keepers Project with guests Sofia Tapanien, Shannon Smith, Aoife Desmond & Martina Finn
3:00pm Forest bathing and Nature appreciation - Sorcha Sheehy Williams
3:00pm Native Woodland Medicine - Leslie Maya Souchere
3:00pm - Film Screening -Call of the forest - with panel discussion
3.30pm - Korean Natural Farming, IMO’s (indigenous micro organisms) with Ryan Harkin
4:00pm - Nature Meditation - Anand
5:00pm - Close
The Festival project met the objectives of the Small Festival scheme by hosting an excellent festive and creative event supporting and developing new opportunities for engagement with the arts, culture, and creativity for individuals and communities. We also aimed to extend the festive activities to encourage cultural, slow and eco tourism to the area for the benefit of both the domestic and foreign visitors to the area. We also offered an inclusive programme that invited a diversity of people and highlighted the importance of locally grown organic food and local food systems which addresses issues of biodiversity loss and local Climate Action, while also highlighting the key role of our woodlands in addressing biodiversity, water management, climate adaptation and mitigation. The festival was also an opportunity to create awareness for our local communities and visitors of the upcoming Autumn programme of Adult Education Woodland Opportunities starting in October.
National Heritage Week celebrates Ireland’s cultural, built and natural heritage and brings together volunteers, community groups and heritage enthusiasts to share their experience, knowledge, culture and practice
This event was made possible with the kind support from the Tuamgraney Development Association and their Woodland SubGroup, the Irish Environmental Network, the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment, and the Department Culture, Communications and Sport. We were grateful for funding for this Festival from the Small Festival Scheme under the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport, with the support of the Irish Environmental Network and Galway County Heritage Office.
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