The village’s summer festival kicks off this weekend with something for everyone.

Helen Hurst, one of the organising committee, explained that the festival had dropped away in recent years and a number of people at the Premiership footbal club felt they should ‘take ownership’ of it and make it a real success.

Helen explained: “Initially, we thought we would have a one off day on the Saturday to organise a craft and food fair with live music, a fun run and a fancy dress competition. But the more we talked about it we thought why not make it a few days of fun and include the village more rather than just the club.”

Now the committee has organised events in the village to complement the events taking place at the Ferney Park complex. Things like the Poachers Bar sponsoring the pool competition on Thursday night and Kenny Fisher taking charge of the Treasure Hunt on Friday evening while on the Saturday Kilskeery Silver Band will lead the fancy dress parade from the Commons to the club. 

At the club there is a bouncy castle, face painting, a merry-go-round, rare breeds competition, a sports day for the children, a fun run, a food and craft fair. 

Add to that the RNLI is sponsoring the duck race and the Mallard Flyers are doing a workshop on bikes.

“We also have the the three local celebrity rally drivers, Alastair Fisher, Garry Jennings and Karl Fallis are displaying their cars,” she said. 

“It’s a pretty full day with a barbecue in the evening with some live music,” she said. 

“We’re just hoping now after all this work that the weather is good and people turn up to enjoy it all. “When you put in the work you’re just hoping that the people turn up. That is the main thing a the moment.

She emphasised that the festival wasn’t all about raising funds for the club. 

“We thought it’s about the club giving something back to the community. We’re always asking the community for support and money and that’s one of the main reasons for having it. There is no charge into the festival – it’s all free. The things that we’re hoping to raise money from is the treasure hunt, the fun run, the five-a-side football and the table quiz etc.

“The day for the children is absolutely free and will take place in the clubhouse and on the 3G and we need people and teams to contact us about entering our competitions and get their teams involved,” she said.