I've been at a few Rose Festivals by now and you can check these out at the links below. This page is about the 2015 Festival and I am really only touching on additional items that struck me particularly this year. So to get a broad idea of what the Festival is all about you should check out the links.

Previous Festivals: 2011 & 2013     2014

The Festival takes place in the wonderful setting of St. Anne's Park in Raheny/Clontarf/Dollymount. There is a very relaxed atmosphere and it is a real family day out.

The first thing to hit me on the way in was the Dublin City Council Libraries site. I think this is a new addition this year. I certainly don't remember seeing it before. The library service is very much undervalued and misunderstood. Far from the days of it being solely a booklending operation it has now developed into a very comprehensive set of community facilites with a wide range of activities for adults and children, not to mention free access to a variety of pay archives for the researcher.

This year the emphasis is on the children and when I poked my head into the tent there was a very lively storytelling session going on in the corner.

I wasn't around for the performance of "Lilly and Lolly, Yeats and his Sisters" but you can see the set here. This is a presentation by Sinéad Murphy and Darina Gallagher of some of Yeats's works and other works of which he was fond.

If you look very carefully here you will see a Kazoo. Deep into the last century I graduated to one of these from the traditional combination of a comb and a bus ticket.

Then across the way I noticed the Olhausen Tram. This is a regular appearer at festivals. It is now housed in the National Transport Museum in Deerpark in Howth. The Museum is well worth a visit. It is packed with memorable vehicles from Dublin's and Ireland's past.

As I approached Garda HQ on the field, I noticed I was being followed by this 365 degree up and down swivel camera on top of the vehicle. I probably did look a bit suspicious with my baseball cap, zoom lens camera, and a case on my back that could have contained anything.

My bona fides were soon sorted out with the Garda on duty and he was so taken with my equipment and interest that he offered to assemble the squad for a photo beside the vehicle. On hearing this, his sergeant scarpered but his colleague came out of the vehicle to give him a bit of support.

And in case you were wondering, this is my interlocutor, Garda Colm Tracey, and his colleague, Garda Sharon Kavanagh, both from J District. They both look happy in their work, so the next time the Garda recruiting sergeant visits your area ...

And, if you don't fancy the legwork, you can always join the Mounties.

Some fine looking birds around again this year, of which this red eye owl is a good example.

This magnificent looking cock, at least I think it's a cock, is safely behind bars at the garden farm stand. There were also some ducks and geese and goats ...

... and bunny rabbits and more. This was a great stand for kids who might not come across these animals in the normal course of their lives.

The climbing abseiling rockface was not new but was as popular as ever. There was also a children's merrygoround but I didn't take a photo of that as I am getting very nervous taking any sort of close up photos of children on these sort of occasions.

Lots of garden ornaments for those who like that sort of thing.

Here is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Can you identify the one behind her by a process of elimination? {Memo: Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, Dopey)

If you can't afford you own red eye owl, this guy will have to do for now.

Some quality food if you're hungry from this restaurant normally down on the coast road.

I assume the Lebanese Kitchen will open eventually. To be fair, it was only coming up to lunchtime and it's just possible they don't operate on a Saturday.

Raheny figured again this year with both the Raheny Heritage Society exhibits and the Pride of Place display. Here, well known local photographer, Leo "George" Devitt, poses with some of the ladies from the Pride of Place display.

Again this year there was also music. "The Rose Garden Céilí Band" were just starting up as I was leaving, and these guys are good. They can more regularly be found under "Skipper's Alley".

John Flynn MC and guitar

Paddy Cumming on Banjo

And Dara Yeates on Bodhrán


So that's it for another year.