Copper Coast Geopark Christmas Cheer!

We loved how the community came together for the ‘Copper Coast Drive By Spooking’ this October! We thought we would suggest similar this Christmas. Unfortunately our regular seasonal events have been cancelled so let’s spread some Christmas Cheer across the Copper Coast! Starting on December 6th let’s brighten up the 7 villages by decorating our outdoor spaces. Share your holiday greetings online with the hash tag #coppercoastcheer and let us know where you are. Community groups, business and services providers located in the area are welcome to use the tag #coppercoastcheer to let us know about online ordering, offers, events, opening times, delivery details and so on. The Copper Coast Geopark stretches along the coast from Kilfarassy Beach, near Fenor in the east to Ballyvoile Beach near Stradbally to the west and inland to Dunhill and Kill so com’on everybody lets spread cheer this December!

https://fb.me/e/1U0FSTwLK

Matthew Parkes RIP

We were very sad to hear our dear friend Matthew Parkes died recently. It was far too soon.

Matthew was a good friend to the Copper Coast Geopark, especially when we needed his expertise in setting up our Visitor Centre and exhibition. With his knowledge and experience, he showed a great talent for translating geology and heritage into a language that we could all understand. And he brought it too with enormous patience and generosity and gentle good humour. Matthew was for some years a Director of Copper Coast Geopark Clg.

Born in England, a passion for geology brought him to NUI Galway, working towards his Phd. Apart from a year or so in Wales, Matthew made Ireland his home, lecturing in Trinity, then working in various capacities in the Geological Survey of Ireland and then joining and becoming an integral part of the workings of the National Museum of Ireland.

During his time in G.S.I. he played a pivotal role in developing their geological heritage process; this included the production of many publications on the Geological heritage of Irish counties, not least of which was “Corries, Caves and Coast”. His bibliography suggests that he was known and will be missed the length and breadth of Ireland.

May he rest in peace.

Copper Coast Geopark Spooking!

Covid rules are going to get in the way of traditional trick or treating this year. So we’ll have to do Halloween a bit differently this October 31st.

Let’s come together as a community and have a drive by spooking!

Do you live in one of the 7 Copper Coast Geopark villages? Why not decorate your garden, window, gate, business, school or even farm with creepy creative creations!

Give your display a mining or geological theme if you dare!

Families can then take a tour at dusk (about 5pm) to admire the results from the safety of their own car.

Share your pictures for those who can’t travel using the hash tag #coppercoastspooking

Do drive carefully, make sure displays aren’t a hazard and don’t forget about social distancing.

Witch Copper Coast village will be the spookiest?

Fenor Annestown Boatstrand Bunmahon Stradbally Kill or Dunhill???

Copper Coast Geopark Visitor Centre Opening Hours 2020

Update 07/10/2020

For the next four weeks, the Café and craft shop in the Copper Coast Geopark Visitor Centre will remain open for takeaway only with some limited outdoor seating.

The exhibition section of the center is closed to visitors. This is in light of the recent COVID-19 increased restrictions. As we all do our bit to shake off this dreaded virus, we hope to still see you at the Copper Coast Visitor Centre in a safe manner.

Due to the impact of recent events and in order to continue the sustainable operations of the Geopark Visitor Centre in Bunmahon, our regular opening hours will be 10am to 5pm on Saturday and Sunday for 2020 only.

The good news is that we hope to offer weekend opening year round and reintroduce our popular events and workshops later in the year.

At Last! We are opening the Copper Coast Geopark Centre.

Our visitor centre in Bunmahon Co Waterford will reopen this Friday, July 3rd.

There have been some interesting additions to the mining and heritage part of our exhibition. Make sure to call in and have a look 🙂

Of course we’ve also made a few changes so that everyone can feel comfortable and safe visiting the Centre.

Our COVID-19 policies for exhibition are:

follow one way system,
keep distance from other people,
no touching of exhibits,
max of 8 adults (plus any children from the same household) admitted every 20 min,
extra cleaning procedures in place.

(procedures are subject to change)

We look forward to seeing you all soon!

Support The Copper Coast Geopark

Did you know you can support the Copper Coast UNESCO Global Geopark by playing the Bonmahon Community Society Lotto?

Follow the link to enter ..https://play.clubforce.com/play_newa.asp?LL_ID=615#Anchor

The Copper Coast Geopark is a largely voluntary community organisation. It is a Company Limited by Guarantee, with Charitable Status. We operate as a non-profit social enterprise dedicated to community development through promotion of sustainable tourism and the development of productive partnerships.

Copper Coast Geopark Visitor Centre Virtual Craft Shop

Due to the current Corvid-19 crisis, The Copper Coast Geopark Visitor centre will remain closed for the time being. We will continuously monitor the situation and regularly review this decision based on HSE guidelines.

In the meantime, why not visit and browse the social media profiles, websites and online shops of the local Irish businesses that we stock in our visitor centre every year?

If you are able, buying online will be a huge support to many small businesses who depend to a large part on summer income.

Have a look Below to Check out some of the local craft producers that we stock in the Visitor Centre

Hammersley Art https://www.instagram.com/hamersleyart/

Mad Jessie https://www.instagram.com/m.a.d.jessie/

Kilfarrassy soap https://www.instagram.com/kilfarrasy/

The Sea Gardener https://www.instagram.com/the_sea_gardener/

Phat Poly https://www.instagram.com/phat.poly/

Monica O’Meara https://www.instagram.com/monicaomearaart/

Copper Coast Skincare https://www.instagram.com/coppercoastnaturalskincare/

Mahon Woodwork – https://www.instagram.com/mahon_woodworks/

Golden Stitch – https://www.instagram.com/goldenstitchdesigns/

Tra Coffee Roasters – https://www.instagram.com/tracoffeeroasters/

Coffee House Lane – https://coffeehouselane.ie/

The Krafty Lady – https://www.facebook.com/kraftyladyc/

Temporary Closure of the Geopark Visitor Centre

As of March 12th the Government has announced a series of measures aimed at addressing the outbreak of Corona Virus (COVID-19) in Ireland. In light of a growing public health crisis, we have a duty of care to our staff and all of our visitors.

The Geopark Visitor Centre will remain closed to the public until further notice.

We appreciate your understanding and we look forward to welcoming you back to our renovated exhibition in the near future.

We currently expect to reopen on Saturday April 4th; however this may change as we monitor the situation and follow expert advice, government and HSE recommendations.

Copper Coast Geopark Visitor Centre is opening at weekends

Spring is here!!

We are opening the Copper Coast Cafe on Saturdays and Sundays,
between 12.00 pm and 4.00 pm.

National Enterprise Town Awards

The National Enterprise Town Awards presentations took place on Thursday the 5th December 2019 in The Lyrath Estate Hotel in Kilkenny. Copper Coast Global Geopark was nominated and Serenella Capelli, Orlaith Hamersley and John Galloway were honoured to attend. The Bank of Ireland’s National Enterprise Town Awards recognise the spirit of enterprise in areas and towns across Ireland. The aim is to bring business and community groups together to showcase their efforts to build an economically sustainable community. We are delighted to say that we won regional runners up for Munster on the night! Congratulations to Villierstown who also took home a regional award. Many thanks to all those who helped out and supported us during the judging process and to the enterprising people across our 7 villages who continue to make the Copper Coast Geopark a community of communities.