The Derg looks forward to another successful Red River Festival
Castlederg St Eugene’s GAC will this year again play host to the Red River Festival, which takes place from the 25th -28th July. This cross community festival is aimed at enabling participating organisations to celebrate their cultural identity through the medium of Arts, Culture, Music and Sport. Following on from the success of last year’s festival the local organizing committee anticipates a great weekend to be had by the whole Derg area.
FISTS will be flying between Castlederg GAA players on Saturday night – all in the name of a very good cause. Some of the clubs footballers and local volunteers will swap the wide open spaces of Marius Mc Hugh Park for the confines of the boxing ring where they will pit their boxing skills against each other with neither a red nor a yellow card to be seen!
Anticipation is rising as special guests on the night, double Olympic Bronze Medalist Paddy Barnes and local MLA Barry Mc Elduff will take to the ring for their much awaited re-match, having previously fought in North Belfast where the outcome was a hotly disputed draw.
Mc Elduff obviously has a few scores to settle based on his comments at the official Weigh –In which took place in Stormont, Belfast, Mc Elduff stated “Paddy got lucky last time round, it was a cheap shot, a low blow that got the better of me last time. My training has gone well in the past few weeks but Im the first to admit that I’m not in the best shape of my life. That said, I am hoping that the Derg crowd will get behind me to ensure that Paddy won’t be leaving Tyrone with a victory this time”.
Barnes responded adding “We all know that Mc Elduff likes to talk and stir things up, but I will do my talking in the ring and I’m sure Barry will have the good grace to retire from boxing after this defeat”
Weigh-in for the Red River Rumble fight night takes places on Thurs 25th as part of the festival opening evening which will also include an evening of Family Fortunes with 8 teams taking part and a prize of £300 to the winners. Thursday 25th will conclude with a performance with the now famous local band ‘The Logues’ which will no doubt ensure the Red River Festival opens on a lively note!
Other events over the weekend include performances by Country and Western sensation Nathan Carter who will be taking to the stage on Friday 26th. A family fun day will take place from 12.00 until 3.30 on the Saturday with activities to include face painting, puppet show, disco trampolining and many surprise rides for children of all ages; and they are all free of charge!
The Weekends events will conclude with Bingo at 4.00pm on the Sunday with a £1,000 jackpot that must be won and concluding with a local Variety Charity Concert in aid of the Sperrin Unit of Altnagelvin Hospital.
The organising committee hopes there is something on for everyone over the course of the weekend and would like to thank the Reconciliation through the Riverine Project which is managed by Donegal County Council in collaboration with Strabane District Council and funded by the International Fund for Ireland who have part funded this community festival.
The festival will enable participating organisations to celebrate their cultural identity through the medium of Arts, Culture, Music and Sport. All sections of the community regardless of their background will be encouraged to actively participate in all events.
