French Ambassador opens restored Martry Mill
Around 400 people gathered at Martry Mill, Kells, for the Kells Tourism Day which saw a number of tourism products being launched, and the opening of the Mill by Madame Emmanuel d’Achon, the French Ambassador.
The mill has been in near constant service since 1641 but due to water levels falling in the Boyne River, had to resort to electric power but now can grind its flour again using the power of the Blackwater River.
Madame d’Achon also launched the French translation of the Kells Tourism Brochure, which was translated voluntarily by Fábienne Melard from Paris, who had visited Kells 40 years before, and edited by Headfort School.
A presentation was made to the Ambassador by Lucy O’Reilly, chair of the Kells & District Tourism Forum, volunteers of which had put the programme of events together. The Ambassador received a replica copy of the Kells Market Cross, Coole Swan products and a Handmade Soap Company product.
Cllr John Farrelly on behalf of the Kells Chamber presented her with a ceramic bowl made by Loretta Reilly and talked about the wealth of history of the area, including the Teltown marriages.
Duncan Stewart spoke about the importance of looking after our environment and maintaining an interaction with that would in turn result in such things as clean rivers, local food production both now and for future generations to come.
The event was blessed by Fr Andrew Doyle, and then followed James Tallon, who gave a history of the flour Mill and its restoration by German engineers, as well as Marcus Sweeney of the Mills & Millers Association. The mill has been in the Tallon family since 1859 and will now be open to visitors and is a wonderful new tourist resource in the area.
Olivia Duff, Meath’s Food Champion, then introduced the Meath Food Series which will run from June to September 2013, and it was fittingly launched by Helen McEntee, TD, whose father had started the Food Series in 2012. Over 52 businesses in Meath are taking part in this event this year.
Martina O’Dwyer from Fáilte Ireland expressed her delight in seeing the Boyne Valley Tourism Providers and local people working together to provide an incomparable product for visitors to the area, and thanked the Tourism Forum for their continual work.
Michael Ludlow, CEO of Meath Partnership explained the history, especially of French support during the setting up of the EU funding process, and Meath Partnership’s interaction with the Mills & Millers Association that resulted in many benefits such as the part funding of the restoration of the wheel and other planned projects in the future.
He also launched the new Kells Tourist Trail app which is now available for tourists to download on their Smart phones from this week. The app was developed by the Tourism Forum in association with Abarta Audio Guides, whose director also gave a lecture on Early Medieval Mills.