A rising tide lifts all boats. That’s what the seven women who set up Louisburgh HQ believed. If their area was promoted by one group, others would join in the effort. Good for all would then result, in the form of re-generation and economic prosperity.
“Blow-ins” all, these professional women saw the decline in the village but also the potential of the wider area for tourism if everyone worked together. In June 2012, the Louisburgh HQ initiative was born.
Now the purple building off the village square is a hub and drop-in centre for tourists and locals alike, providing a focal point for all that’s good in the area.
“The ladies who started HQ could see Louisburgh’s potential, but more businesses were needed if the young were to get jobs in the area when they grow up. That’s really important,” says current chairperson Lynda Browne.
Lynda moved here from the UK in 1988 and began farming in a small way with her husband and two daughters. Lynda is one of the many volunteers who now run the HQ, which doubles up as a craft shop as well as a tourist information centre.
The committee fought hard to have Louisburgh included in the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW), she says.
“Tourism is our life blood here, so we fought hard for that. It wasn’t going to come here, but thankfully it did.”
Louisburgh was top of the Mayo list of category B villages in the Tidy Towns competition in 2015 and volunteerism is a huge contributor to Louisburgh’s resurgence, everyone I met told me.
“If you took the voluntary sector out of Ireland, it’d be on the rocks,” pharmacist and Tidy Towns committee member John Staunton said. “So many things in our area are done voluntarily.”
The day I visited there were still some tourists doing the “loop” of the WAW. Restoration work was also going on in some of the disused buildings on the street.
“I can see that increase in the future,” John says. “As with everything in life, there are peaks and troughs. The recession filleted the country, but we’re out of this trough now, and more businesses are opening.”
With 48% of the housing in the area being holiday housing, the winters are quiet, he admits. “The area tends to be a dormitory for those working in factories in Westport. There are only 40 people living in the village now, compared to 300 a few decades ago but it is picking up.”
Local trade is hugely important, he says. “While July to September are busier because of visitors, 99% of our business is local. Local trade is so important in rural Ireland. We have to support one another to keep communities going. Louisburgh is a beautiful place to live, but if you don’t have input into your community you may as well not exist. It’s about give and take. You’ve got to give back, and I think that’s what Louisburgh is about. People here do give back.”
Graham Temple who, with his wife Dolly, helps to run the craft shop in HQ, is feeling positive about the future. “A couple more shops will be open for next year, which is great to see.”
The Temples believe in selling local art and crafts in HQ. “It’s important to support our own artists. We’ve 70 on our books and 40 active ones,” Graham says, “including prize-winning potter Anthony O’Brien and artist Clare Siobhan Walsh and other craftspeople, like Eamonn O’Sullivan of www.hewn.ie, who makes handcrafted spoons.”
Upstairs, an exhibition of artwork by local Sacre Couer secondary school students was being held. “It’s been a great way of bringing the whole community in,” Lynda says. “It’s so much better than artwork being done for exams, then just put in a cupboard.”
“The art teacher gave a talk about the work to national school kids, too, and the children were full of it when they were leaving,” Graham adds.
John Staunton gives another example of the community spirit in Louisburgh. “The Rugby Legend cycling tour was coming through here recently, and word went out that cakes were needed for a refreshment break – and so many people baked!
“The cyclists got such a reception that they stayed for two hours – not the planned 20 minutes. The turn-out was phenomenal, even though only three of the cyclists were local. That summed up the spirit for me. I grew up in this mostly small farming area, where everything was a meitheal. That’s still alive here today.”
Louisburgh HQ is a not-for-profit organisation, and its constitution is based on the principles of a co-operative society.
Town-building tips from Louisburgh HQ:
A rising tide lifts all boats. That’s what the seven women who set up Louisburgh HQ believed. If their area was promoted by one group, others would join in the effort. Good for all would then result, in the form of re-generation and economic prosperity.
“Blow-ins” all, these professional women saw the decline in the village but also the potential of the wider area for tourism if everyone worked together. In June 2012, the Louisburgh HQ initiative was born.
Now the purple building off the village square is a hub and drop-in centre for tourists and locals alike, providing a focal point for all that’s good in the area.
“The ladies who started HQ could see Louisburgh’s potential, but more businesses were needed if the young were to get jobs in the area when they grow up. That’s really important,” says current chairperson Lynda Browne.
Lynda moved here from the UK in 1988 and began farming in a small way with her husband and two daughters. Lynda is one of the many volunteers who now run the HQ, which doubles up as a craft shop as well as a tourist information centre.
The committee fought hard to have Louisburgh included in the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW), she says.
“Tourism is our life blood here, so we fought hard for that. It wasn’t going to come here, but thankfully it did.”
Louisburgh was top of the Mayo list of category B villages in the Tidy Towns competition in 2015 and volunteerism is a huge contributor to Louisburgh’s resurgence, everyone I met told me.
“If you took the voluntary sector out of Ireland, it’d be on the rocks,” pharmacist and Tidy Towns committee member John Staunton said. “So many things in our area are done voluntarily.”
The day I visited there were still some tourists doing the “loop” of the WAW. Restoration work was also going on in some of the disused buildings on the street.
“I can see that increase in the future,” John says. “As with everything in life, there are peaks and troughs. The recession filleted the country, but we’re out of this trough now, and more businesses are opening.”
With 48% of the housing in the area being holiday housing, the winters are quiet, he admits. “The area tends to be a dormitory for those working in factories in Westport. There are only 40 people living in the village now, compared to 300 a few decades ago but it is picking up.”
Local trade is hugely important, he says. “While July to September are busier because of visitors, 99% of our business is local. Local trade is so important in rural Ireland. We have to support one another to keep communities going. Louisburgh is a beautiful place to live, but if you don’t have input into your community you may as well not exist. It’s about give and take. You’ve got to give back, and I think that’s what Louisburgh is about. People here do give back.”
Graham Temple who, with his wife Dolly, helps to run the craft shop in HQ, is feeling positive about the future. “A couple more shops will be open for next year, which is great to see.”
The Temples believe in selling local art and crafts in HQ. “It’s important to support our own artists. We’ve 70 on our books and 40 active ones,” Graham says, “including prize-winning potter Anthony O’Brien and artist Clare Siobhan Walsh and other craftspeople, like Eamonn O’Sullivan of www.hewn.ie, who makes handcrafted spoons.”
Upstairs, an exhibition of artwork by local Sacre Couer secondary school students was being held. “It’s been a great way of bringing the whole community in,” Lynda says. “It’s so much better than artwork being done for exams, then just put in a cupboard.”
“The art teacher gave a talk about the work to national school kids, too, and the children were full of it when they were leaving,” Graham adds.
John Staunton gives another example of the community spirit in Louisburgh. “The Rugby Legend cycling tour was coming through here recently, and word went out that cakes were needed for a refreshment break – and so many people baked!
“The cyclists got such a reception that they stayed for two hours – not the planned 20 minutes. The turn-out was phenomenal, even though only three of the cyclists were local. That summed up the spirit for me. I grew up in this mostly small farming area, where everything was a meitheal. That’s still alive here today.”
Louisburgh HQ is a not-for-profit organisation, and its constitution is based on the principles of a co-operative society.
Town-building tips from Louisburgh HQ:
Sell local crafts to support local artists. Grow your own bedding plants in your community garden and sell window boxes to local businesses to raise funds. Engage with owners in relation to doing up derelict buildings.Have a structured rota system for volunteering to avoid burnout.Provide footpaths, so that children can walk/cycle to school.Shop local.Lobby for inclusion in tourism initiatives.Seek training for Visitor Information Point volunteers from Failte Ireland.Open a bike-hire centre.Publish a newsletter and invite tourists to sign up.Print T-shirts saying “Love (name of village, eg Louisburgh)”.Exhibit secondary school exam art work in hub.Incorporate as many businesses as possible on your website.Lobby Failte Ireland to make your village “visible”.Publish a local map and business directory.Provide free Wifi.Encourage people not to bypass the village for shopping and entertainment.Organise walks of the area. 
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