Page 17 - COBH EDITION 1ST FEBRUARY DIGITAL VERSION

COBH ST PATRICK’S DAY PARADE TO FEATURE
FLAGS OF MANY NATIONS
This year’s Cobh St. Patrick’s Day Parade is scheduled for 1pm on 17th March. It will be
travelling the usual route, departing from The Heritage Centre with the viewing platform in
the town centre. This year’s theme is Fly the Flag. The inspiration for this theme came from
the much loved international flags on display in The Prom throughout the tourism season and
those volunteers who proudly fly the flag for their organisations in our town. The purpose of
this theme is fourfold: to honour volunteer effort in Cobh, to welcome the many nationalities
that have made Cobh their home, to reflect the many places we get visitors from annually and
finally to acknowledge the many locations globally the Irish have left for through Cobh.
Entry to this year’s parade is free and we are encouraging all businesses, community and
sporting groups on Great Island to take part. Entry forms can be accessed on www.visitcobh.
com or are available from any committee member. This year we are especially interested in
bands, floats or other creative ideas and obviously lots of flags representing various organisa-
tions and nationalities. There will be a number of competitions on the day judging the best
entry in various categories. Our top priority is to get as many entries as possible however we
are also very interested in recruiting new volunteers for the day and committee members to
drive the parade forward in the coming years.

Ken Curtin, one of the 2019 organising committee said “we are very excited about this year’s
theme and we hope the various community organisations embrace it, we would especially love
to see those from abroad who have made Cobh their home to take part in the parade with
their native country’s flag and to give us a taste of their heritage as we as a country celebrate
ours”. He further added “although viewer numbers have been up in recent years participation
by groups and especially businesses has been down. We have therefore set a target of fifty
entries for 2019. This can only be achieved if people make a concerted effort. There is again
no entry fee for any entries received by 10th March 2019. In conclusion he said “as well as
entries we would love to recruit some new volunteers and committee members, to ensure the
parade’s continuation into the future”.
For further details please contact:
Ken Curtin
087 6752565 or 021 4815122
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Cobh Readers & Writers

We are getting really close to announcing the details of our writing and poetry competitions
which will be advertised soon. Also, we are nearing completion with the festival programme
and we will launch it and our revamped website in just a few weeks!
We have some amazing events and wonderful activities for all our supporters to enjoy between
the 11th and 14th of April. All the creative Arts will be involved from books to cinema to com-
edy!
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