How in God's name does a festival get to take place on a remote Irish island in the middle of winter? The answer is with a lot of goodwill, good humour and enthusiasm. The following is the Friends of Ted roll of honour:
THE PEOPLE OF INIS MOR
Inis Mor is the largest of the three Aran Islands, off Ireland's West coast. The people have managed to preserve their language and musical tradition and a wicked sense of fun. The islands have always been one of the most beautiful places on earth. They were officially named so by the National Geographic and Lonely Planet The people of Inis Mor are well used to tourists, welcoming up to 400,000 every year. If you say hello to Nora and Collette in the tourist office they can name each and every one of them.
ARTHUR AND GRAHAM AND HATTRICK
From the beginning we asked for blessing rather than forgiveness from the creators. We bask in the light of their benignness. We're delighted that Graham and Arthur will be delivering a sermon from the Crag at Ted Fest Kilfenora. Hat Trick Productions is run by Jimmy Mulville. Despite being a white scouser, Jimmy could only be played in a movie by Morgan Freeman. What's that all about?
CROI
The world's sexiest charity is called Croí. Croí is the Irish word for heart and the charity is the West of Ireland Cardiology Foundation. Croí is an appropriate partner for Ted Fest for many good reasons, not least that laughter is good medicine.
PADDY POWER
More like a playmate than a sponsor, God's Bookmakers Paddy Power were instrumental in setting up the 2007 Craggy Cup between Inis Mor and Inis Oirr. They even roped in Irish World Cup heroes, John Aldridge and Tony Cascarino as managers. Ted Fest 08 sees the Craggy Cup become The Craggy World Cup!
ARAN ISLANDS HOTEL
The friendliest hotel in Ireland. Owners PJ and Grace Flaherty like dressing up. So do their staff. For Ted Fest 08 they've generously given over the whole hotel to provide food and lodgings to crew and artists. Its the headquarters for Ted Fest Inis Mor. Ask for Grace's Milky Tea Cocktail - It'd put hair on a babies chest!
MARK GEORGE DESIGN
Mark, aka Fr Joe Gurney, has the personality of a pesticide and breath like a bombay sewer but he wallpapers the site so beautifully you'd forgive him anything. Award winner Mark designed the websites for Ted Fest 07 and Ted Fest 08. He lives near Cambridge in England with his rabbit.
TCRM
Standing for The Customer Really Matters and run by Mr Kevin Jones of Bridgend, Wales. TCRM did the web hosting and construction for Ted Fest 2007. He must have got something right because Miles Mendosa made it his Website of the Day, January 22nd 2007. Kevin's been on a bender ever since.
DESIGN ASSOCIATES
Associates? A couple of buckos more like. Brian O'Dowd is the animator on the home page of this website. He's a 'crazy' kind of guy and has some 'hilarious' novelty socks and ties. This Galway company look after the web hosting and design for Ted Fest 08. If you can read this OK they're doing their job.
IMAGINEERING
A tax avoidance vehicle for producer Maria Moynihan. An interesting fact about Maria: she worked on the Eurovision Song Contest when Ireland hosted it in Millstreet., Co Cork in 1993 before graduating to St Patrick's Festival 2000 - 2004 with a few 'lost' years in between. There is no truth to the rumour that because Ireland won Eurovision in 1993 Maria was promptly fired.
KATE BOWE PR
The holiest woman working in PR. Kate specializes in Film and Festival PR. She handled the first three years of the Kilkenny Cat Laughs Festival. Then she lost her humour and found religion. We like Kate.
FAILTE IRELAND AND TOURISM IRELAND
The very first people to get behind Ted Fest were Failte Ireland West. What with random drug-testing in the workplace that could never happen today. We get on so well because we agree that there's no better place to be in the middle of winter than the West of Ireland...And we'll punch anyone who says its not!
UDARAS
Keeping Ireland Irish without the use of guns! A government department with a bit of personality. These are the guys whose solution to the island's dispute over the right to the Craggy Island name was putting on the Craggy Cup! Main man Bertie O'Finneada has since retired...or was he pushed?
ARAN ISLAND FERRIES
On the go for 25 years Aran Island Ferries are the elders of the sea. The quality of service, friendliness and efficiency is tip top. The tea could be less milky though. They've opted for bag, water then milk which may the issue there.
ARAN DIRECT
Young upstarts Aran Direct keep the Island Ferries lot on their toes. The quality of service, friendliness and efficiency is tip top. The Tea had a slightly insipid quality. Perhaps the tannin needs to be aged a little longer?
SEW EASY COSTUMES
Galway woman Sinead Treacher has been dressing Friends of Ted since....last year. She has over 4,000 costumes in her warehouse. If she don't have she make it!
Sigma-X
Quite simply the niftiest engineering consulting and software company in the world. Fr Jake Styles Lamond is their Father Confessor. Buy him a glass of red wine when you meet him on the island. They're cool because they (Fr Conor) make a mean cup of coffee when the Friends of Ted are in need and Fr Barry gives IT and production support. Your reward is in heaven guys!
