 Thanks for coming in. Hello. Good to see you. On this rather blustery day of growing your say, it's a better day down Glenclaw than it is here. Oh, no, it's the other way around. The other way around, yeah. We had rain until just outside letter, Keddie. So you're in luck today. I'm the best of it. And what about up at Fana today? Beautiful day in Fana today. Very good. Glad to hear it. All right, then let's talk, first of all, about ideas scale. And what you do run on is you provide Irish language courses and cultural activity for the holidays for adults in the guilt out. But there's a lot to it. Your courses cater for all levels, right the way from beginners to advanced. That's right, yeah, because I think a lot of people think of doing Irish courses. They think back to Irish college. But really what we're doing, we cater to adults only. And we do Irish language courses. And they are, at the same time, holidays. So people come, they learn a lot. You might be a complete beginner. You might be a fluent speaker already. And you're coming. You learn plenty. And you enjoy yourself. But then some people who might be so keen on the classroom side of things, the idea right from the beginning was to give them other options to learn the language. So there are a lot of these bilingual cultural courses. So you can come and you can do hill walking for a week. And obviously some of the best hill walking in Ireland here in Donegal. And you can do that. All of our instructors are Irish speakers. So if you come and you're fluent, you can interact with them, with the other people in the course. If you're just learning, it's a nice way to dip your toe in. You'll pick up a few things. And you'll enjoy it. And there's hill walking, painting, tapestry weaving, geology, archaeology, environment, lots of different things. And we've added two new ones now for next year. Joe McGuigan, Derryman originally now in Donegal is doing an old style step dance and channel stance and course. And we have a singing course coming up as well with Collette McDevitt. So it's a great mix. And it gives people a chance to find something they're interested in. Well, it is a great mix. And with that long list there, everybody's bound to find something that'll be of interest to them. And then you find that you're learning the language and you don't even realize it. Absolutely, yeah. And that's the thing. And it's that fact that you're associated with doing something you enjoy. You come, you have a great time, and there's the courses. And then in the evenings, there are kind of activities every evening. You might do dance on one night, poetry another night. There might be a talk. You might go for a trip. So again, you're getting to see the county. You're getting to meet the local people. And you're having fun when you're doing it. And when you go back, people are a bit more encouraged. And then what's interesting about all that is the kind of group of people that is attracted. Because for me, the thing that is really interesting about it is the kind of mix of people that we get doing the courses. Because you'll get about 60% of the people who do the courses come from the island of Ireland. So from all over, from this county, North South, down to Kerry Cork, everywhere. And the other 40% could come from anywhere in the world. So we have, I think, this year, it was 24 countries. So, and you're talking about all over North America, England, Czech Republic, South America, different places. And so you can meet anyone, anytime. And so you have that kind of mix of people all together in Glen Column Kill. Beautiful scenery. It just, yeah, it makes for a great time. And for those from other countries, I'd imagine that they're equally interested in our heritage and history as they are in the language. Everything, yeah. It's amazing what brings people to do things like that. So some people are very interested in the language. Some people are, you know, those kind of people that speak eight languages and they want to do another one. Some people come through to the music. They might have found, you know, they found Clannad or they might have found Irish music. And that kind of gets them in. Some people, some people, it's the history and all that. But I'll give you an example. There's people who go to just scale with no Salvatore. Well, Salvatore came as a student. Maybe, I'm not sure when exactly, maybe 20 years ago, a little bit more originally. Attend in the courses. Give him a couple of years. He's now, every summer, he teaches an Italian cooking class for us as part of our summer school through Irish. For afternoons every day for a week, you know. So that's the kind of things that happens. And yeah, yeah, you know, we enjoy it. No end. And it's not just in Glen Column Kill. Yeah, and that's been a very important side to it as well. So we're based in Glen Column Kill. That's where our center is. But early on, we started doing courses in Glen Inje, Glen Finn, and Cumming there, the beautiful national school in Erron Cumming. And so we do two weeks there every summer. And also we do a special course, Sivrisnogelga, sort of the richness of the language for kind of aimed at people who are already good speakers, but just want to really add to it out on Tauri Island. And that's a really, and that's up for 2023 next year. And that's already half full. It's one that people just love. And you know, it's a really, it's a really special place. One thing I must say as well, that's really nice about these awards. It's great to see in terms of tourism in the county, the group of the three of us that are nominated, very strong in terms of Irish language as well. I just mentioned that you can go to, if you're going to Fan at Lighthouse, you know, you can do either staff. They're really great Irish speakers. It's something really unique we have in our, you know, in this county to have strong, great looked areas and people really appreciate that. And so it's great to be promoting it. For people to come and do your courses from other parts of the country, how does Irish differ here to say the Kerry Irish? Is there more of an appetite for Irish or is it just mixed? Yeah, it's, there's a bit of a difference. There are like, there are dialects. And so there's no more than in English. There are different accents. And those of us from Donegal sound a bit different from Kerry and we use different words. A lot of people, when they're learning, get very, get kind of worried about that. And they say, oh, I had a teacher in school and they had, you know, conic to Irish and so God, I don't know if I can learn all Irish. We really don't, we, first night when people come, we tell them you don't need to worry about that. It's not that different. Also, you want to be able to speak to more than one third of the other people that can speak Irish. There's three dialects. So it's important to learn. And like we take teachers, we take lots of teachers from Donegal, from all over the county, but we take teachers from all over the island, and all over the world at the minute. And we're doing online classes now. Two of our teachers, two of our teachers, they're Irish people, but they're living in Italy teaching the online class. So it's an amazing world. And that's some of the funny things that have come in since COVID. And yeah, well, so much more online right now, but they, there's such a demand for them that they fill up very quickly. Often do, yeah, like it's been really, it's been really noticeable this past two years. Obviously we've been restricting our numbers a little bit because we were, particularly last year, we were conscious not to have too many people with COVID. But yeah, there's always been a huge demand. So this year we had about, we had a bit over 1,500 people in total, but the point I always make about Age of Scale, especially to kind of tourism bodies in Ireland, they're always looking at visitor numbers. What's the big thing for Age of Scale is more or less more than 85% of the people who come and do a course in Age of Scale stay for seven days. They're week-long courses the most, and we do three weekends every year as well. So they're staying for seven, so 1,500 people is almost 10,000 bed nights, as they call them, nights in bed. So, and they're staying in the B&Bs, they're staying in the local accommodation, they're going to the pubs, they're going to the restaurants. And so it's a really nice kind of tourism because we get to know them and so many people come back year after year as well. And make a connection with an area. Oh, absolutely, yeah. And they don't just come and stay at us either, you know, they are an awful, I can think of another example, two people from, one from New York, one from Massachusetts that went and did the Sivers and Gaelga course on Tory this summer, back in July. And they spend a week in Mararote first, they did the course with us, they spent another week traveling around afterwards, you know, people come in that distance, they're going to spend a bit of time and do a bit of things. So that's a nice, you know, it benefits us, it benefits other people, it works out well for everyone. Brilliant, well, other scales established in 84. Now, Amar, a fan of Lighthouse opened in 2016, if I'm correct. So, you know, a lot newer, but you've seen brilliant growth since 2016, year on year. Yeah, it's been really successful. We had, we opened in 2016, obviously, that was a big deal because Fan of Lighthouse opened in, well, was first lit in 1817, but for although almost 200 years, people hadn't really got past the gate even though it's like the iconic image of the area, people hadn't really got past the gate. So it was a really big deal in our local community that it opened. And I think it's really encouraged a kind of pride of place in people as well. It's now a landmark destination, it's got such great promotion, Falkshire Island really behind us, it's now firmly established on the Wild Atlantic Way as one of the main attractions. Yeah, we're a signature point in the Wild Atlantic Way. So obviously that has brought us great marketing, you know, nationally and internationally from Falkshire Island and Tourism Ireland. We're also part of the Great Lighthouses of Ireland. So that's another, helps us again. And now Udres and Gaelic, they're promoting this on Coast of the Gaelic. So we're linking up with tourism initiatives right down the West Coast of Ireland. So all those things, yeah, help reach more people. For those that haven't been there, just tell us about it. It's not just a case of going along and looking up at the building that holds the light, there's much more to it. There's a combination for a start. Yeah, so. You don't realize you can stay there. So essentially we offer guided tours of the lighthouse or there's a walk around tour as well, self-guided. And that gives you like the history of the lighthouse, the lives of the light keepers who don't exist anymore. You know, this is in the past. You know, some of the tragedies that see the shipwrecks and that, so there's a fascinating history around lighthouses and they're really magical places. And then of course you get to climb to the top of the tower, which is always like a wow experience. And wonderful views of, you know, Mallon Head in one direction and the North Coast and the other. And then as you say, you can also stay in the accommodation. So we've got three light keepers cottages, original cottages that have been renovated. Really sympathetically done, but you know, you have all modcans as well. And it's a very special place to stay. An authentic experience, even though you do have the electric kettle and the TV and whatever. Exactly, exactly. Yeah, you do have this feeling when you go in of kind of going back in time. So it's special. The accommodation is often booked out, it's popular. It's been extremely popular. We're about 90% all year round at this stage. And so really that is, you know, stop and paint. But it's the unique aspect of it. There's a chance that, like, oh, often do you get a chance to stay in a lighthouse. It is a really unique experience. Yeah, although we are finding that people are coming back as well, you know, that we're getting repeat people. So that's fantastic. And there's a gift shop there as well. So that's a chance for local designers and artists. Yes, we're very much about sustainability as well and promoting. Well, sustainability and the Irish language are two big priorities after what we do. So we have a limited cafe experience and a gift shop that is actually... Plans. Plans. We'll get to that in a second. Plans. Well, go ahead. We have plans. And also we've developed our gift shop now. So we know plastics and very much about local artists, local crafts people. You know, I think it's really important we are a social enterprise and it's not about hoovering up business for fan at Lighthouse. We will be measured on how we impact on our local community or that's how we see it. You know, we have a few bottom lines. So we are really about promoting local people and I'd say 90% of what's in our shop is Donegal Makers and that is from pottery to candles to children's toys across the board. Now, more than the Irish courses in, you know, that does this do... You take somebody that visits a fan at Lighthouse, the chances are it's not going to be the only place either on the peninsula or in Donegal if they visit. So it's great for... No, that's really important that we're sending people out. You know, when people come to stay with us, we are definitely promoting other initiatives in the area and eco-adventures and they visit the alpacas and in Downings and Climbmore and Hill and see our beautiful beaches and places to eat and all that. So, yeah, that's important. One works with the others. And we just touched on the plans there. There's plans to extend the cafe and more besides. Is that right? Yeah, so really the cafe shop space that we have at the moment, the visitor center space is pretty inadequate. It's very limited. So, yeah, we're about to submit plans now for an extended space, but it'll also have meeting conference space. We'll also have an arts space. So those things will help us to engage better with our community as well, to be able to offer workshops, to be able to offer special weekends of way that you can come and do a weekend doing something and staying in the Lighthouse as well. Brilliant. So there's, yeah, we have plans. And it's great at the location as well because it just brings people up to the tip of fan it and it means that they get to enjoy all the scenery and rather than dipping in elsewhere and scooting on by, if you make it to the Lighthouse, you're gonna see. On the edge of the world. And you're gonna see some great scenery. But yeah, but it's also really good for, you go in one direction over the Nock Alley Coast Road, truly beautiful scenery or the Mulroy Bridge as well. So we think we're ideally placed with the Wild Atlantic Way on one side and the North Coast on the other side. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, well, thank you. Thank you both very much. And we touched on your forward plans, Emer, in that this is gonna be big. Submit in those and hopefully get in the go ahead for that. So the future is bright. And as it is for you, Ronan, a big appetite for learning Irish, continued appetite for people who want to learn Irish. Yeah, well, absolutely. And we're kind of in the middle of a big change in a way because obviously COVID forced us to change. And the big difference now is there was a time when we were more of a seasonal business and the summer was the big time. Nowadays, because we're online as well, when the visits stop in the summer, the online classes start and we have about 125 people doing classes this week in the night times doing that. So that keeps us busy in the winter. And then it kind of attracts people in as well, makes them think about coming here in the future too. So it's a big new part of what we're doing at the minute and we're just trying to add to it as we go along. Brent, well, best look to you both. And best look to you both as well on the night. It's Friday the 11th of November and it says the annual gala book where the winners will be announced, but in a way, once you're nominated and particularly everybody's a winner. But the best look to you both. Thanks for coming in. Thanks very much, John. Household electronic and lighting waste? Recycle them for free with we at your local a-