REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF WICKLOW GARDEN FESTIVAL AT RATHNEW
REMARKS BY PRESIDENT MARY McALEESE AT THE OPENING OF WICKLOW GARDEN FESTIVAL AT RATHNEW, CO. WICKLOW, ON SATURDAY 30 MAY, 1998
Every morning when I walk into my office – an office with a South facing view across one of the finest gardens in Dublin – I see in the distance the Wicklow mountains – or the Wicklow hills as they are know in the Phoenix Park! From my vantage point in Áras an Uachtaráin they seem far away – and green – but I know that – as the ‘Garden of Ireland’ there has to be far more than just far away green fields. So it is a particular pleasure for me to join with you this afternoon – and to be the one to open this – the 9th Wicklow Gardens Festival.
When I was driving down from Bray – through some of the most beautiful natural beauty that Ireland has to offer – I was reminded of the words of Synge – in his poem “Prelude” – where he says,
“Still south I went and west and south again,
Through Wicklow from the morning till the night,
And far from cities, and the sites of men,
Lived with the sunshine and the moon’s delight.
I knew the stars, the flowers, and the birds,
The grey and wintry sides of many glens,
And did but half remember human words,
In converse with the mountains, moors, and fens”.
Today – being close to mid-summer – we hope we won’t be seeing too many of the “wintry sides of many glens” – but we are celebrating the gardens of Wicklow – the gardens for which it has become renowned the world over – gardens crafted from the natural beauty of the landscape – using its unique features – as though revealing a deeper beauty hidden in the rugged glens and mountains – and washed by the many streams and rivers that create the near perfect conditions for gardens.
There is something special about a garden – where, as Dorothy Frances Gurney said:-
“The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,
One is nearer God’s Heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth”
For gardeners – both professional and amateur – gardening holds a special magic. It is something that everybody can take up – in even the smallest of spaces – and with relatively little expense. It is an interest – or at times even an addiction! – which can hit anybody – no matter what age – and you always seem to be just beginning. As Thomas Jefferson said “But though I am an old man, I am but a young gardener”. For anybody who takes even the slightest interest in gardening – it is a real therapy – a diversion for the mind and the soul – where you can appreciate the sheer beauty of nature – and the wonder of nature’s treasures. As Francis Bacon said – “God almighty first planted a garden; and, indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures”.
Such is the nature of gardening – that there is no shortage of literary material on the value of engaging in one of the oldest – and most enjoyable past-times that there is. Alexander Pope summed up the ‘art’ of gardening when he said that “All gardening in landscape-painting”. And there is no better place in Ireland to appreciate the landscape – and “landscape paintings” that Pope talks about – than in the ‘Gallery of gardens’ and heritage properties here in County Wicklow – and in neighbouring Wexford and Carlow during the eight weeks of the Festival – and at the many special events. The scope and extent of the Festival - and its duration - are a great credit to the organisers – who have worked so hard to make it the successful annual event that it has become.
In declaring the Festival open – I would like to pay a warm tribute to the organisers – Charlet Whitmore and the other members of the Garden Festival Committee – and Wicklow County Tourism – under the Chairmanship of Tom Clandillon. The continued success of the Festival is testimony to your hard work and dedication – and to the commitment of the many people who have put in so much time and energy. Many times at committee meetings and in the middle of the class of planning you must have wondered why you didn't just stay home and watch T.V. There is little thanks in the giving of oneself to building up a community but then it isn't thanks which drives you on. It's a determination to put part of your lives at the service of others and especially at the service of your community - to see it look its best, to insist on the achievement of excellence. You can take deep and justifiable pride in what you have accomplished and on beha