This June Bank Holiday weekend will see plenty of activity in Cobh.
On Sunday the South of Ireland Piping and Drumming Contest will take place on the streets of Cobh, starting at 12 noon. The competition always culminates in a fantastic massed bands parade and recital. Certainly much quieter will be Jack Gilmartin’s fascinating free tour of the Old Church Cemetery. This starts at 2.30 pm and is educational and entertaining and the monthly tours are attracting large audiences from far and wide each month.
On Monday the magnificent liner Independence of the Seas will arrive from Southampton and berth at the quay in the centre of Cobh early in the morning. Quite a number of Irish passengers will have taken the short cruise and will disembark in Cobh. However, as if stepping back in time to when 2.5 million passengers gathered on the quays of Cobh to board liners over 200 passengers will join the ship in Cobh for a cruise to the Norwegian Fjords. Their sendoff as the ship sails at 5 pm to a recital from Cobh Confraternity Brass and Reed band will be reminescent of times past as friends and family gather on the quayside to wave them off.
