Six things to do in West Cork this St Patrick's weekend

WEST Cork is all set for a great bank holiday weekend, and there's plenty to do across the region over the next few days.

St Patrick's Day is the main attraction on Sunday, with parades organised by West Cork people in towns and villages across the region.

Elsewhere, the West Cork Rally brings lots of excitement with the first-ever three-day event starting this afternoon, while there's the usual great mix of arts and music to look forward to as well.

Here are six things to do in West Cork this weekend.

St Patrick's Day parades

There are plenty of St Patrick's Day parades and celebrations planned across West Cork this weekend – we've compiled a list of events you can look forward to this Sunday.

Baltimore's St Patrick's Day parade starts at approx 12 noon – more information here.

The parade in Bandon starts at 2.30pm, with assembly for all at 2pm sharp in St Patrick's church car park – more information here.

Castletownbere's parade starts at 3pm, with all floats to be lined up at the east end of the pier by 2.20pm – more information here.

Courtmacsherry will have both a land and sea parade this Sunday, with festivities starting at 4pm – more information here.

The parade in Dunmanway will start at 1pm. The theme this year is the story of St Patrick, with a special focus on most musical and most humorous entries. More information here.

Kinsale's street parade starts at 3pm, with free face painting and balloon art at various locations around the town beforehand – more information here.

Craic agus ceol is the theme at the Skibbereen parade this year. It will start at 3pm, with a wonderful atmosphere expected as is usual – more information here.

The Clonakilty parade commences at 2pm from the Imperial Hotel. The parade in Schull begins at 2.30pm from the Harbour Hotel.

Bantry's parade will be led by the Ballingeary Pipe Band, and starts at 12pm.

Send us videos from this year's festivities to [email protected].

West Cork Rally

The West Cork Rally is a bumper 3-day event this weekend.

Keith Cronin leads the local charge in this historic, first-ever 3-day event.

Cronin and any of his top six rivals are all capable of victory over an 18-stage encounter where consistency, pace and precision will play a crucial part in deciding the final outcome.

It starts at 4pm today – find out more here.

BeckettFest in Skibbereen

Skibbereen’s Town Hall will host four short plays over two weekends as part of a special BeckettFest.

Tonight Beckett’s Rough for Theatre I will be performed.

Tomorrow night Krapp’s Last Tape will be performed, with Joan Giller, Pat Bracken, Jennifer Williams, Ger Minihane, Anthony Harris and Joe Fahy. None of this would be possible without the kind support of Skibbereen Theatre Society.

Curtain up is at 8pm each night and tickets are available on the door or through Thornhill Electrical or via email [email protected]

Set Adrift at Uillinn

Adrift, an exhibition by visual artist Els Dietvorst, comes to the Uillinn tomorrow afternoon.

The exhibition is on a national tour and is curated by Catherine Bowe and Karla Sánchez Zepeda.

It is a commission by Wexford Arts Centre and now opens in Skibbereen, running until May 11th.

The opening launch takes place on Saturday March 16th at 2pm with an informal gallery talk between artist Els Dietvorst and curators Catherine Bowe and Karla Sanchez Zepeda.

It will be followed by Laoise Garvey performing the song ‘This Is What You Came For.’

Declan Sinnott and Evelyn Kallansee in Baltimore

Declan Sinnott is one of Ireland’s great music influencers, helping the talents of the likes of Mary Black and Christy Moore to flourish.

A talented singer and musician in his own right, Declan lives in Bandon and has released an acclaimed new album with Beara-based Dutch singer-songwriter Evelyn Kallansee.

They will play Live at St Matthews in Baltimore this evening.

Tickets are available here.

Tune in for some bird-watching

A NEW livestream gives people the chance to 'nestflix and chill' by tuning in to show two Chough pairs as they go about building their nests this Spring.

The livestreams are an initiative of the National Parks and Wildlife Service, with both nests located in West Cork, in Clonakilty and at Mizen Head.

Research by NPWS staff suggests that around a third of the Chough population in Co Cork is now nesting in buildings. The livestreams have been set up to allow further monitoring of a sample of the Chough population during the nesting season.

Click here for the Clonakilty livestream.

Click here for the Mizen Head livestream.