Strangford funfair to go ahead at weekend

Strangford funfair to go ahead at weekend

13 July 2016

A COMMUNITY funfair will take place in Strangford this weekend, one week earlier than planned.

The event will begin on Friday having been brought forward because of the Skiffie World Rowing Championships which will take place on Strangford Lough the following weekend.

The funfair takes place after Newry, Mourne and Down Council conducted a survey of residents in the village which revealed that more than 90 per cent were in favour of the funfair.

Councillor Cadogan Enright has welcomed the community survey which he claimed shows there is overwhelming support for the event.

“This survey caused considerable concern to local people who were worried that objectors might overturn a long-standing tradition in the village of having the annual fun fair on the village green,” he said. “I am delighted with the result, and how it bears out what I had told the council – that local people overwhelmingly supported the funfair.

“Serial objectors need to remember that Strangford and the surrounding area is not a museum. It is lived in by families that need jobs, families that need social events and places to go. 

“Family farms that need to thrive in an increasingly fraught economic environment and a changing world that makes tourism or renewable energy important parts of the future for our children and the health of our local economy”, said councillor Enright.

“The annual funfair is an important tradition for local people and especially children. It also fulfils an important slot in the tourism calendar of the village which the various village committees have been trying to ensure creates a regular stream of events throughout the year to attract visitors from the Carol Ships at Christmas, to the Lough Festival, craft fair, and community festival and many others.”