All advertising is free till May 1st 2008. Please contact Webmaster@CraicOn.com

Moville has great opportunity

Posted Thursday, September 2, 2010

 E-mail this page    Printer-friendly page

Opportunity

Moville has been hit badly by the downturn.

The Foyle Hotel is closed and the Caiseal Mara is in receivership (although the receivers assure me it will be kept open as it would be much more profitable to sell it as a going concern).

The Hair of the Dog / Anchor and the Waterfront have gone.

Out of Work

Lots of Moville's youngsters are out of work and many of them are now looking abroad to Australia and elsewhere for opportunities.

Several businesses have closed or are working part time.

Some of the Bed & Breakfast places have closed down too which, with the Foyle shut, means that even when you put an event on you have capacity problems.

I know of someone who wanted to come and stay in Moville on the Saturday night of the DylanFest but the nearest accommodation he said he could find was 2.5 miles from Moville.

Problems

OK, so those are the problems.

An old boss of mine when in bad situations used to say "We don't have to be victims. Let's do something about this".

I know what he meant.

Too many people take it lying down and acting like victims.

Their solution to 'do something about it' is to moan and groan about it instead of looking for solutions.

Good and Bad

When I was the head of the computer department at one company I had a load of managers working for me.

When something went wrong some spent their time working out why it wasn't their fault and who they could blame for it, suppliers, fellow managers....

Others looked for solutions to the problems.

Solutions

So, what can we do?

What are the solutions?

Letterkenny has a Town Council and a Chamber of Commerce.

So has Buncrana.

They have the clout to apply for funding and the vehicle for getting things done.

Moville

Moville has neither a Town Council or a Chamber of Commerce.

I'm told, and I don't know if this is true, that Moville is notorious for not being able to get its act together and to act in unison for the common good.

And even when people do something they get a lot of criticism.

I can vouch for the latter statement being true.

Moville Events

What Moville does have (or maybe did have) is a Moville Events Committee.

It also has a member of the Irish Seanad in Cecilia Keaveney and a member of Donegal Council in Martin Farren.

The year before last Movilel Events met regularly and it produced a Programme of Events for the year and put this on posters and flyers which were distributed widely.

The festivals that year had record crowds.

However, last year it fell away.

Cross Border Funding

Now, Cecilia Keaveney is telling us that there will be an opportunity for cross border funding with Derry being the City of Culture in 2013 and having the Clipper race in 2012 - but anybody wanting it has to get their acts together now.

Derry is more likely to get cross-border funding if it has a partner in the Republic and so would be keen to get one.

However, with their Town Councils and Chambers of Commerce, Letterkenny and Buncrana are currently better prepared to take advantage.

Moville, currently, are passively hoping to get some kind of benefits from these two big events.

Organise Now

However, according to Cecilia, now is the time to get organised if Moville wants to actively start looking for a piece of these two large pies.

She has suggested that the first step is to revive Moville Events and at the first meeting propose to expand it to include the businesses and other activities in the town that would benefit from funding for the town.

She says that in making applications for funding it is much easier to get if the whole town unites behind an application for a particular festival or event.

Danger

The danger, she says, is if the individual festivals and events decide that they should go their own way and apply by themselves, feeling that this gave them a better chance over the the other events.

Funding bodies, she says, are passive.

They don't actively go out looking for people to fund.

They just consider the applications of those who have applied - and give precedence to those who have their towns behind them.

Can Moville Come Together?

So, can Moville do this?

Can they all get together as one strong unit and apply for funding for events as a unit?

Can they shove aside festival rivalry and combine to help each other for the benefit of Moville and its people?

Know Soon

We will know soon.

There will be a meeting of all the festival and events committees called for next Monday.

We will see then if the festivals and committees can unite together.

If the don't show up then it is immediately over and the festivals and events go their own way as usual.

Expansion

If they do have the heart and the will for this then it will be proposed that the group is expanded to include the businesses of the town.

Will the businesses of the town want to be involved?

Can they come together for the greater good fo Moville and its people?

Will the agree to actively work together for the benefit of the town?

We will find out soon.

Funding Applications

If it all goes well and Moville does want to get itself organised and act in tandem then there will be a third meeting at which Cecilia will ensure that those who are in charge of funds will come along and explain how Moville can successfully obtain funds to finance its activities.

That could be the start of the fightback for Moville.

Are we victims - or are we going to take our own fates in our own hands and do something about it?

Next Monday

It won't be long until we know.

The meeting of Moville Events will take place on Monday at 8pm at a venue to be announced.

Eddie Harkin, the current Chairman, is organising it.

Also, if you run a business and want to be actively involved in the nest stage (or just want to give the venture your blessing), let Eddie or myself (I'm currently Secretary) know.