Shackleton Experience takes top award

The Shackleton Experience in Athy, Co Kildare, has been named visitor attraction of the year 2026 at the Georgina Campbell Irish Food and Hospitality Awards.Opened in 2025, the attraction is the only institution in the world dedicated to Kildare-born polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, bringing his story to life through digital storytelling, sensory effects and interactive exhibits.

The award also recognises on-site Ernie’s Café, run by Athy-born chef and baker Graham Herterich, aka The Cupcake Bloke, which champions seasonal and Irish produce. The Shackleton Experience celebrate it's one-year anniversary on 10 October.See shackletoneexperience.ie

Picture of the week

Téo Mc Hugh Robin having his weekly read on the couch in County Fermanagh by Rachel McHugh Robin

Best in show

Beidh Aonach Amárach returns to RTÉ1 for a fifth series, celebrating the characters, competition and community spirit at the heart of Ireland’s agricultural shows.The new series visits six shows across the country, including Bannow and Rathangan in Co Wexford, Clonmel in Co Tipperary and Clonmany in Co Donegal. From cattle and sheep-shearing to jam-making and jiving, the cameras follow competitors, judges and organisers keeping these much-loved traditions alive. Beidh Aonach Amárach airs on 8 October at 8.30pm on RTÉ1 and rte.ie.

Faye Gallagher and her ram Kevin who feature in episode one of Beidh Aonach Amárach. \RTÉ

Pygmalion makeover

George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion is being reimagined for modern-day Belfast in a new Irish-language production from Aisling Ghéar Theatre Company. Set during Oireachtas na Samhna 2026, Pygmalion 26 explores language, accent, identity and cultural belonging, putting a contemporary Irish spin on the story that inspired My Fair Lady. The production premieres at The Everyman in Cork on 19 October before touring Galway, Mullingar, Waterford, Belfast, Donegal and Dublin in October and November. See aislingghear.com

Eithne Carson, who plays Eilis, in Pygmalion coming to The Everyman in Cork on 19 October.

Sweet Sorrow

Grammy-nominated singer and composer Méav Ní Mhaolchatha will release her new album, Sweet Sorrow, on 23 October, followed by a special launch concert at the Whyte Hall, Royal Irish Academy of Music (RIAM) in Dublin on 24 October.Created with acclaimed film composer Stephen Rennicks, the album explores grief, memory and consolation, combining Irish traditional and classical influences with contemporary arrangements. The first single, Near, was released on 25 September. Méav is a founder member of the supergroup Celtic Woman, who have sold over 10 million albums. See meav.com

Singer Meav Ní Mhaolchatha. \Ricard Gilligan

Poetry Corner

Derrynagarra by Helen Kelly, Collinstown, Co Westmeath

Shadows,

seemingly independent

of horses I know

stride along the hedgerows

in low spring sunshine.

Their bodily counterparts

pulling their spirits back

only when they turn,

canter across to greet me.

Stunned by the moment

we stand closer.

The sun climbs higher.

Observed only by

small dogs,

and across the valley

cows mooching out to grass after milking.