Jeremy Irons at A Taste of West Cork Food Festival

Jeremy Irons was in West Cork on Friday 6 September and Saturday 7 September for the Belling Food Awards, as part of A Taste of West Cork Food Festival, which runs from 6-15 September 2013.

He read Seamus Heaney’s poem “Digging”.

On Friday night, he dined at Sage Restaurant in Midleton.

Photo via @waterman_jon on Twitter

Photo via @KevinAherneChef on Twitter

Jeremy Irons, Helen Collins, John Field and Sinead Cusack at the Belling Forum at the West Cork Hotel on Saturday afternoon. Photo via A Taste of West Cork on Facebook

David Puttnam and Jeremy Irons, at the Bellings Dinner. Photo via A Taste of West Cork on Facebook

Jeremy Irons and Micheal Burke

Information from www.corkchamber.ie

THE BELLING FORUM
SATURDAY 07 SEPTEMBER WEST CORK HOTEL SKIBBEREEN AT 2 P M

West Cork is viewed as an authentic place, very beautiful, largely unspoilt, with a diverse, eclectic and innovative population. These are among the “magic” ingredients that make up the experience that is West Cork.

The region is seen both nationally and internationally as a very desirable place both to live in and to visit where one would expect to experience a genuine way of life, a clean and magnificent environment, the best of food, the best of art and crafts, and a resourceful intelligent and inventive people well accustomed to multitasking.

It is argued that the present and future development of West Cork lies in the business of:
1. Growing and food production (both land and sea)
2. Delivery of education
3. Tourism
4. High Tech

All of those who live in West Cork or visit regularly can readily see the destructive hand of recession and the despair of bank debt and emigration. It is time to fight back!

As part of the Taste of West Cork Festival, the Belling Food Awards Committee will host a Forum in the West Cork Hotel on Saturday 07 September at 2 p m. entitled “Joining Together – how to achieve universal recognition for the West Cork Region”. This initiative will be a ‘think tank’ from which will be compiled a five year action plan (with the emphasis on action!) supported and promoted by A Taste of West Cork, The Belling Awards Committee and its various partners going forward. The Forum will be addressed by 15 representative speakers who will present each of their proposals in a strict time frame of five minutes each.
The Forum will then be open to all attendees for further discussion.

Speakers at the Forum will include:

Professor Peter Jones of UCC, Lord David Puttnam, Mr Eoin McGonigal, Chairman of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Valerie Kingston of Glenilen Farm, Food Writer Joe McNamee of the Irish Examiner, Des O’Dowd of Inchydoney Hotel, Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds, Jean Perry of Glebe Gardens, Giana Ferguson of Gubbeen Farm, Avril Allshire of Caherbeg Free-range Pork, Alison Ospina of the Craft Council, Guy Watson of Riverford Farm, a representative of Shellfish de la Mer and a representative of Cork County Council. The Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney is expected along also with some surprise guests. A number of public representatives will be in the audience to include all our local TDs and the MD of Supervalu/Centra Martin Kelleher. It is hoped that there will be a rigorous discussion as to how West Cork will go forward to gain universal recognition. The Conference will be recorded, the ideas collected and a plan put in place to implement the development of this blueprint for West Cork.

http://www.atasteofwestcork.com or email info@atasteofwestcork.com