Women to the fore in enterprising village

“When you look to the businesses in Fore, they are all managed by women,” said Frank McDermott, “two is a coincidence, three is a pattern and four is a theory that we should be exploring.”

Frank is discussing one of the chapters of a presentation that was made to the National Pride of Place judging panel yesterday, Tuesday September 21.

Titled Fore Runners, it’s about the people who have worked for decades to build up the tourism business in the village.

“There’s Jane, who manages the coffee shop, there is Beasie and Rosemary, who run the Abbey House, and Ita Halpin, who runs the Seven Wonders bar, there’s Roisin Nolan, who is the president of the motorbikes [club], an extraordinary group who made Fore famous as a racing circuit and lots and lots of people in the north know of Fore because of it. And its great to see another woman taking on a business right at the heart of the village, Sarita Nolan – we are blessed.”

Frank, who is the longest serving elected representative in Ireland is also one of the Fore Runners that the discussion looked at and he spoke about the last 50 years and the important role that tourism can play for remote rural communities.

“The bottom line is that tourism has something for everyone. Whatever your background, your expertise, your schooling, your skills, tourism has a role for you,” said Frank.

“The number of visitors coming to Fore has grown and grown. The car park is never empty and people love being outside, love being in with our businesses and the idea that this increase in visitor numbers can be transformed into income and employment is exciting for us.”

Fore now has a distillery, just opened, with a cafe, two public houses and two coffee shops. There are also two coffee shops in nearby Castlepollard that have a great reputation.

The 3.5km trail is now completely off road and Westmeath county council has completed a footpath linking the trail heads back to the village.

Frank, who is the chairman of the Fore Heritage and Amenity Group, said: “Right now, our group is managing three exciting projects: on biodiversity, on the construction of an outdoor classroom; and on a new festival for the area.

“That’s on top of the constant maintenance and improvements made to the walk. We are also delighted to be working with Richie Clarke on two sculptures for the trail, and we hope to make applications for additional installations to help with fitness and exercise for next spring.

“Thanks to everyone who sent in videos and pictures; we appreciate hearing from you, especially hearing how important the trail was over the Covid period. I think it made a great deal of people happy and it was a place of great peace and health.”