Embarking on a tour of duty

The stories behind a group of newly qualified tour guides form a tapestry as rich as the history of the county they’re eager to share with visiting tourists.

The guides have spent the past 18 months earning their stripes through a Fáilte Ireland supported, and Leader-funded accredited tour guiding course with Cavan Monaghan Education and Training Board (CMETB).

The dozen or so Cavan Regional Tour Guides graduating class come from all across the county and all walks of life, and met with The Anglo-Celt at the Railway Museum in Belturbet last week.

These budding regional guides came together at an extraordinary time, just before the country went into lockdown, and will take up positions just as the country starts to reopen, and demand for staycations is high.

“It is a unique opportunity,” says Patrick Cassidy from Cootehill, who took up the course as an aside to his day job as tutor in cultural and heritage at Cavan Institute.

Patrick sees it as crucial that locals take a “hands on” approach to promoting their own areas, and believes that this all starts with individuals acting as almost personalised sign-posts of where to go and what to see next.

Together these new guides form an impressive network. For example, visitors meeting Ramune Orliaite, from Lithuania but now living in Kingscourt, on a Tuesday, can be put in contact with the likes of Claire Fitzsimons from Ballyjamesduff or Catherine Jenkins from Ballyconnell on Wednesday.

“It’s all about getting tourism in Ireland back on track, and especially for rural Ireland. It’s great to have local experts with a knowledge of their area, and to have local people take an interest in their home and its culture,” says Patrick.

“I learned a lot of new things, about my area, but also myself,” explains Zaneta Michalska from Belturbet, via Poland. Patrick had been Zaneta’s tutor before this and the Regional Tour Guiding course was a natural progression from that.

The same can be said of Mags Bannon from Cootehill, who works as a local librarian, and has always been delighted to recommend a wealth of sites for tourists visiting the historic east county market town.

Sheila Courtney from Virginia is as equally enthused by her own home area. A retired primary school teacher, Sheila has been a prominent fixture in heritage circles in Cavan for many years.

She ably assisted the research and compilation of a book commemorating the town’s 400 year commemorations in 2012.

“As a teacher I always felt there had to be a different way to teaching history to the way perhaps I was brought up,” says Sheila who previously studied for a Masters on the development of Virginia in the 1800s.

“Following the 400 year commemorations we saw there was an appetite for local history, and from that in 2014 set up the Virginia and District Historical Society.

“Our view is who better to talk about local history than locals themselves?”

Cathal Hickey is from Kildare, but now lives in Glangevlin with his family. He moved to West Cavan three years ago, when his interest was piqued by the ‘Stand with Glan’ initiative looking to reverse a dwindling population and save the local national school from closure.

When his youngest child enrols next year, musician Cathal’s progeny will make up a quarter of St Patrick National School’s population.

When asked how he likes living in Glangevlin, Cathal replies without hesitation: “I couldn’t imagine life any other way. We all love it. It’s home!”

Imbued with not just a love for living in West Cavan, but an interest in its heritage too, Cathal is excited about the challenge of acting as a tour guide for an area that will see more than €5 million invested in developing a tourist attraction of global scale around the Shannon Pot.

“It’s exciting to be part of something like this. Everyone has been very supportive and I think we’re all looking forward to getting started.”

Gary Martin from Carrickmacross “lives in Carrick but loves Cavan”. He also works at Cavan County Museum, so his newly earned qualification dovetails neatly with his daily trade.

“People always ask you when you’re working in the museum what else is there in the county they can do or visit. This is a great way of getting to know the right people to point them towards.”

Bernie Ruth from Corduff, near Shercock is meanwhile out to prove that even the smallest of areas can pack the biggest of historical punches. She authored ‘Facts and Folklore’, a short book on information about her home area.

“It was a case of collecting bits and pieces of the history in the local area, that when people visit, it’s there for them to take away with them.

“It’s also a way of passing on the information, some of which might have been forgotten, to people living locally as well.

“I always say about Corduff, and it’s like a lot of places in Cavan- ‘there might be no big house in it, but there’s lots of little stories to fill’.”