Tuesday 1 October 2013

A PARK - for All Ages

The other day, finding ourselves with time on our hands, we visited the newly opened park at Dún na Sí - The Heritage Centre and Amenity Park, Moate, Co. Westmeath.

It is a place where the fabulous sculptures and art pieces by our friend, community artist, Patsy Preston in conjunction with local Third Year students and their teacher James Hatton, have uniquely decorated a wonderful local amenity.
The sculptor Ann Meldon Hugh designed the impressive bronze and stainless steel statue of Grainne Óg which stands on a mound near the entrance and welcomes visitors. 

Despite some light rain we spent hours wandering the paths, discovering art and learning about turloughs and wildlife.
When summer arrives next year we hope to visit again when the 
fairy thorns will be covered in blossom and the bare earth will be green and lush.



Patsy Preston





Grainne Óg


The Triskle - a place for any age!

The Centre Piece of the Triskle


 At the edge of the turlough is an ornate observation screen
from which the bird life can be seen through viewing ports
of various heights and sizes.

One of the side screens.
A Turlough: is a vanishing lake that fills up in Winter
and then disappears over a few days or weeks in the Springtime.
Over the Summer, there remains only a small permanent wetland
and the rest of the lakes basin is grassland. The name 'turlough' comes
from the Irish 'tur loch' meaning 'dry lake'

I could not resist the Heron!
The black pole is an exercise toy
for aged people.

These plaques were made by the third level students, depicting various legends and myths,

Every bench end had a completely different
design on them and they are very attractive. 
(Would make an interesting feature in my 
front garden!)

A butterfly has landed!

21 comments:

  1. will definitely go there when I "have time on my hands" as you said Mel. It looks absolutley fabulous and I know Patsy too so It'll be interesting. Thanks for that!!

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    1. Thank you for your comment Croí !
      I tried out the adult exercise (toys) equipment as well as having a good walk and admiring all that is to be seen .

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  2. What a lovely place-so nice to see more and more sculpture in our open spaces. I do like Grainne, she certainly look like a strong character. The observation screen is amazing.

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    1. The features of Grainne represent ( to my mind) all Irish women.

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  3. O to be there when the fairy thorns are blooming! I do hope you will take loads of pix and share them when you go again in the Spring!

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  4. CABRINI said : gorgeous....fair deuce to pasty and co.
    will put it on my visit list.

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  5. BIRGIT H said: Mel this looks beautiful! Thank you for sharing! Have a wonder full day

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  6. Lovely creative art work and how special that it is set in beautiful natural surroundings in this way!

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  7. So many beautiful things - wish I could go round it. We are contemplating coming to Eire next year - we came a few years ago and hired a car - the whole of Ireland is such a fascinating place.

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    1. We look forward in seeing you and having a chat over a cuppa Weaver

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  8. Found one of your other blogs... wow, this is so informative. The Grainne Óg is fabulous. I confess that I have only ever visited the North of Ireland but I love anything Irish.

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    1. Aye' well the North is an attractive area too. I started off there and then moved down from Co. Down :)

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  9. Thanks for posting about the Dun na Si Amenity and heritage park in your blog Mel and thanks everyone for your kind words about the artwork. It was a great project to be involved in, the whole thing was conceived of and developed by a group of local residents. It was a great opportunity for me to work with students in Moate Community College and create some impressive pieces with art together with them. I feel honoured to have been a part of the project. We hope to roll out an 'Art in the Park' competition involving all of the interested schools in the midlands, and have the winning sculptures displayed in our 'Art in the Park' gardens. So hopefully the park will not only provide a lovely place to go for a walk, exercise, bring kids to the playground or birdwatch, but also nurture creativity in the youth of the midlands.

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  10. I really like the Dun na si heritage and amenity park pictures in your blog. Do they have old tractors in the agricultural museum?

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    1. Hi Dave,
      I will have to enquire about wether they have tractors there or not because we didn't visit that part of the area. Our prime interest was to see what Patsy had been up to :-) Will let you know ok.

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  11. What a wonderful project and a beautiful place. I love the inclusion of children's art among the professional. Fantastic! :^)

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    1. Indeed it is one of the best modern public parks that I have visited.

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  12. What a cool garden. I wouldn't mind spending some time there!!!

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  13. Thank you for your comments Gwen & am sure you would thoroughly enjoy the place.

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