Ella McSweeney and Mary Reynolds for Cloughjordan SpeakEATsy
Join RTÉ’s Ella McSweeney in Cloughjordan on Saturday, November 2nd, when she interviews Mary Reynolds as part of the SpeakEATsy show.
Postponed last month due to a bereavement, the SpeakEATsy event on November 2nd will start at 7pm in the WeCreate Enterprise centre in Cloughjordan. It features an incredible locally sourced meal, poetry, live and DJ music, and, as a centrepiece, a compelling conversation between two people who are really worth listening to.
This time, reformed landscape gardener, Chelsea Flower Show winner and founder of the We Are The Ark global movement Mary Reynolds will be interviewed by Ella McSweeney of (RTÉ, BBC and the Guardian).
The pair will discuss this new global initiative Mary has spearheaded since its inception a few short months ago. ARK stands for Acts of Restorative Kindness. Since April, hundreds of ARKs – nature-free places where native flora and fauna are encouraged to re-establish – have appeared all over the world. Mary Reynolds won the Chelsea Flower Show, and had a Holywood film made about her, called 'Dare to be Wild'. She has since embarked on this rewilding journey, which sees native plants and animals return to underused areas.
November’s SpeakEATsy will treat the ears and feet too. It features music from Deirdre O’Leary, clarinettist with world-renowned music collective Crash Ensemble, which has performed in places such as The Royal Opera House (London) and Carnegie Hall (NYC). Also, performance poetry with Mel White (Extinction Rebellion), who will engage with searing, soaring, striking words that resonate with the times we are in.
To finish, Pressure Drop DJs Ollie Paul and Anacalypsis will play global roots music. More live music acts to be announced too.
Don’t forget the grounding of it all – an incredible, super-local super-natural multi-course meal. A joint venture between the Cloughjordan-based apple juice company the Night Orchard and the Cloughjordan Community Farm, the member-owned and operated farm provides weekly veg for 80 families in the region.
November 2nd also sees an earlier wild biodiversity walk in Cloughjordan at 4pm with Mary Reynolds, local foragers and rewilders, and an event with Professor Peadar Kirby called 'Finding Signs of Hope amid Climate Despair' from 11pm.
For bookings, go to www.cultivate.ie.