 limit your ability to access credit and future credit unions in the Republic of Ireland are regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland around the Northwest live from Lifford Old Courthouse at the Big Family Funday tomorrow Saturday you can explore the cells try out the stocks and be entertained by clowns and storytellers from 12 to 2 with free admission absolutely that is on here tomorrow the the Funday is from 12 to 2 and it is absolutely free I'm joined by Gillian Graham now who's the manager here at Lifford Old Courthouse and also Patrick McHugh who's the events manager good afternoon to you both hey yeah we're in for a busy day tomorrow we are sure Gillian I'll start with you a wee bit of history about the this place because it screams the history and especially when you go down into the cells and you feel the cold down there and you realize just how far back that it was built but it served as a courthouse and and a jail it did yes there was holding cells the cells were the holding cells for prisoners before trials and also for yeah after trials as well until there was a jail belt as well in Lifford but it's long gone so what sort of sentences are we chatting about what sort of time would prisoners have spent here are we chatting you know days and weeks or would there have been longer anything up to 18 months was generally the longest sentence that you would stay here for the more serious crimes what they would often do is transport you to Australia so things like sheep stealing you could get sent to Australia whereas things like theft assault you could get 18 months here in Lifford and it wasn't that wasn't great wasn't a great place to be for not a nice place no no I've experienced that yeah sure my sentence was like mind you but if you to stay here for 18 months it was cold and getting great food and they were harshly treated and there was punishments yeah generally not a nice place to be prisons back then were designed as punishment so they were designed to be as harsh and as cruel as possible because the idea was if you were sent in once you wouldn't want to be sent back in again well the beauty now Jillian of course is people can come and visit and and see the cells and take a guided tour of the cells and even play a jail break game and and hopefully get out yes yes yeah there's a lot of different things going on here now that are much more pleasant so yeah so the experience is all together better but it the place obviously transformed from those days and especially up on on this level because we're sitting here in the library and and and there's a there's a restaurant here now and you cater for events and parties so it's it's quite the transformation yeah the whole the whole aim of the project is to bring the building back into use and to use every square inch of it so over the last couple of years but a lot of time and effort and money into redeveloping the whole building and I for the first time in probably about 20 30 years every section of the building is now available for use and and Jillian those uses include dining I know you've got afternoon teas on and it's open every day for food and and for special parties even weddings you can even host weddings here yes we can we can transform the restaurant which was originally the courtroom into a wedding venue for the day yes we've had we've had a couple of weddings over the years but that's just something we're working on developing as well when when we were here for a charity night that's what we spent most of our time thankfully as well apart from overnight in the sales but it was in in the old courtroom and it's a beautiful grand setting for for eating isn't it it is yes yes it's lovely and we so we hold concerts in there as well with a couple of concerts coming up over the summer so it's transformed into a different structure for those nights as well well we had a mini concert that night Kenny so the conditions weren't too harsh for our overnight in the sales Patrick you're our savior that night because we were given a game to do the escape game and of course we all failed miserably and but you were there with a few handy pointers and and it's important I suppose if anybody's thinking of you know with a group or even bringing the kids that there there's always a way out be nice be nice on the way in and you make just get the details as to how to get out I'll just correct you there as well that the fellas team failed miserably the girls team did pretty well yeah we do the jailbreak escape room game here which is good fun you could 60 minutes to solve puzzles and escape from one of the cells and yeah if you're if you're nice to the prison guards on the way and you don't need any special skills by the way don't have to be a like a mathematician or anything like that to be able to get out and as well as the adult version there's one for kids as well yeah so like no physical activity required the only thing we tell people you need is your head and your hands and that's all you need and that doesn't mean ram your head into the door to get out but we've had nine year olds and we've had 90 year olds doing it so it's really something that everyone can do and then after you do work out the various clues and kind of one leads to another and one box leads to another and so on you can you go now why didn't we think of that earlier and a lot of it is logical but you just need to compose yourself and and and work it out and it's when you have a few there together you know all heads help and but it's great fun and you have an hour to get out yeah I know it's great fun for things like team building even skills like it's a good way if you don't know anyone you're putting a cell with them there's not much else you can do but work together in the team because as you know yourself the cells are quite small there's no corners to sit in no hiding place there's no hiding place so you kind of just get stuck into it and even if you come in and you're a bit skeptical of what you need to do 10 15 minutes in people get really really into it absolutely I find that once you solve the first clue then it gives you a platform it gives you you know gives you great confidence and to push on and and the tour of the the sales Jillian how long does that take you can get a guided tour if you've got two or more you get a guided tour yeah so that takes 45 minutes to an hour so we call that the life prisoner experience so that's where you're taken down by the prison guard and your finger printed and sentence to a crime and you get to experience life as prisoners would you get to experience the lovely buttermilk that they would have had to this part of their diet experience the school room where the younger prisoners would have got some learning while they were here as well so again that's Patrick as well how young Patrick were they some of the prisoners the youngest prisoner that we know of here in the third was eight someone who was given six months in prison for stealing a coat which is particularly harsh and the youngest prisoner transported to Australia that we know of was 11 years of age so it was 1828 seven years transportation for sheep stealing tough times and you mentioned Jillian earlier about live music in the old courthouse and there's a concert coming up towards the end of the month and Amy hopefully will be on later on playing a song for us but a great lineup there at the at the concert and perfectly suited to a night like that yes yes a lot of local talent that was the idea with this one was to showcase local talent so we have Jim Farmer Hart, Amy Mehan, Lynn Campbell, Lynn was on stage here on the 1st of April as well with straw man that was our first concert in over two years so this will be our second one so really looking forward to getting back into the the music events as well. Brilliant, absolutely, Mickey Duffy and Paul Hannigan on the lineup as well that's 25th so tickets available for that Saturday the 25th well good luck tomorrow with the big the big fun day and plenty for families to see and do it's all absolutely free so you can have a wander around and enjoy well a lot that you know it's not normally here like a face painting and storytelling and you know entertainers and stuff. Yeah and they can have a wander down through the cells as well and try the stocks and have a wanted poster so they'll get to see everything that's going on here. Okay then well good luck with that thank you both for joining us on the show and appreciate it. Thank you Joan and let's take some more music now here is Abba.