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Published: April 16th 2011
Hi everyone
Well we're here in Northern Ireland having a wonderful time The weather has been fine and everything looks wonderful in the sparkling sunshine
The conference is now finished and looking back on it, I'm pleased about how things went. My second paper for the stakeholder panel was well received and I actually enjoyed presenting it (hard to believe but true!). This year was the first time we had a stakeholder panel and we were very pleased with the attendance. I'd though we'd have 5 or 6 people but we had about 30 at one stage. That's pretty good given that there were probably over 50 panels to choose from. Next year the conference is in Rome which is a very exciting prospect.
Our hotel, the O'Callaghan's Mont Clare, was well situated adjacent to Trinity College and Merton Gardens. was a good choice. The only strange thing was the message on the bathroom wall (see photo!).
The conference dinner was at the Jamieson Distillery premises in Dublin City. Not too much whiskey in view, and some interesting ways of seating people (pushing them into seats!), but we had a good night there.
The trip
to Kilbeggan (the Old Locke's distillery) went well. Having written ahead, I was treated very well. It was interesting as you have an old Victorian Distillery, which ceased operation in 1957 and a small micro distillerey in the same site. I was able to tour them both, chatting with the distiller Liam and their consultant Alex, who I am meeting at Cooley on Monday.
We caught the train to Belfast yesterday and it was a very pleasant couple of hours on the train. We are staying with our dear friends, the Doctors Erwin at Hillsborough which is in the country. It's gorgeous...daffodils, snowdrops and tulips all over the place. The UK in spring is truly beautiful !
After lunch yesterday, we did a Titanic Boat trip and no we didn't sink! We went on a boat around the the much gentrified Belfast docks and looked at the various locations where they built the Titanic. The story of both the construction and events that led up to the sinking were very interesting. It was also interesting because of our family connections with ship building. It reminded me again of the awful conditions that Dad, Jeff and Uncle Peter worked
Us in Dublin Town Hall
IRSPM welcome functionunder. We also got up close and personal with Samson and Goliath, the two big yellow cranes in the Harlan and Wolfe Shipyard.
We are being treated like royalty by David and Barbara. God love them both. Barbara has washed and dried all our smelly clothes and David cooked the nicest gluten free bread I've ever had.
Today they took us on a drive around some beautiful parts of Northern Ireland. It's countryside is SO green you can hardly believe it. And unlike Dublin, the towns are clean and well cared for. Both the republic and Northern Ireland are having economic problems but up the north here you don't get the same sense of desolation.
Every night, we have a movie showing in the Corcrenny Cinema in David and Barbara's lounge room! Currently Sandy is doing an interview with David about a tidal turbine and stakeholders. This turbine is in its experimental phase, being in place for 5 years now. It has two 15m wings, which are 5 m underwater in the photo.
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Robbie
non-member comment
Good times
Seems like you are having good times Sandy! Makes me jealous, i would have loved to be there as well. Anyway, we just moved house here and we are having fun unpacking boxes. Hope your trip keeps going well, Cheers, Robbie