Official Website: www.lismoreimmrama.com

The Inaugral Immrama Festival of travel writing and music took place from June 27th - June 29th 2003 in Lismore Co. Waterford. This was a very successful first festival attracting many thousands of people to Lismore over the weekend. The estimated attendance at all functions was 4300 people.

The festival commenced on Friday afternoon with the Sotheby’s Antiques Road show. This event was extremely well attended and resulted in the discovery of some important old shop ledgers dating from the 19th Century. This was followed by the launch of a photographic Exhibition ‘The Faces of Lismore ‘by the pupils of all the Lismore Schools. Over 1000 people visited this exhibition during the weekend. The entries were judged by two professional photographers with prizes awarded in three age categories and to an overall winner.

On the Friday night a Classical Music Recital was given by Darina Gibson, pianist and Jane Hughes, Cellist. This was a virtuoso performance given to an audience of 150 people in St. Carthages Cathedral.

Three Literary workshops were organized during the weekend. These attracted capacity audiences giving a strong indication of the future success of the Immrama festival idea.

On Saturday morning 75 people attended a workshop given by Julian Walton Historian & Writer on the 19th Century travel writers of Co. Waterford.

Later on Saturday Cathal O’Searcaigh poet and travel writer co-hosted a workshop with fellow travel writer Dermot Somers on writing about Culture, Adventure & Travel. This was a bi-lingual workshop taking place in the Lismore Heritage Centre which attracted an audience of 60 people.

On Sunday morning a literary breakfast took place at the Ballyrafter House Hotel. Sixty people attended this literary breakfast by Thomas McCarthy on the last three novels of Molly Keane. We were privileged to have our festival sponsor Dervla Murphy and Molly Keane’s daughter Mrs. Sally Phipps present at this event.

On Saturday afternoon an interactive pageant entitled ‘Lismore through the Ages’ took place in the town. Members of the Lismore Dramatic Society and members of the Immrama organizing committee dressed in historical costume, adding a splash of colour and excitement to the town. Also included in this event was street entertainment and local music groups provided music in the millennium park. The Gardai estimated that over 2000 people attended this event.

On Saturday night a performance entitled ‘Celtic Dream’ took place in St. Carthages Church of Ireland Cathedral. This was an extravagant performance involving 4 sopranos, a classical harpist and dancers from the ‘feet of flame’ company. This event attracted an audience of 200 very satisfied customers.

The Sunday evening performance by the AIB Choral Society of spiritual and religious music was attended by 150 people in St. Carthages Roman Catholic church.

Other events taking place during the weekend, included in our programme of events but not specifically planned for the Immrama festival were:

• Construction of an Iron Age roundhouse at the Old Railway station Centre for traditional skills.
• Gregorian Mass in the St. Carthages Roman Catholic church.
• Evensong at the St. Carthages Church of Ireland Cathedral.
• Historical walking tour of Lismore.