Thursday 1st July

Launch Night - OPW – 7.30pm

• Official opening of the Trim Swift Festival, with a champagne reception featuring Professor Andrew Carpenter, Minister Noel Dempsey and a number of surprise guests!
• Winner of the Boyne Writers Competition will be announced – judged by RTE radio presenter, John Murray

Grand Final of the Standup RowMalt House 9.30pm

• Grand Final of the Pubs’ StandUp Row.  The Steps vs Lenihans,  in The Malt House, Athboy Gate, Trim.

Local Bars – from 9.30 pm

• Music/Comedy and story telling.

Friday 2nd July

Photography competition – 06.00 pm (sponsored by Adrian Dunne, Pharmacy Trim)

Please send you photograph to Mark Dunne at Knightsbrook hotel.   Photographs must be either A4 or A5 and framed or placed on hard board as they will be on display for the weekend in Knightsbrook hotel.  Post: Mr. Mark Dunne, Duty Manager, Knightsbrook Hotel, Trim, Co, Meath.  Marks’ email is odunne@knighstbrook.com & contact number is 046 9482100.  Closing date is Thursday 30 June at 5.30pm. The winner will be announced on Saturday at 11am in Knightsbrook

• The winner of the Danny O’Brien memorial photography competition will be announced
• Photographs will be signed, framed & on display in the Knightsbrook for the duration of the Festival

Knightsbrook – 07.30 pm

• Round Table Discussion: An evening with Alastair Campbell and other media and political figures.  Pre dinner drinks reception  & dinner with celeb guests, followed by a round a round table discussion.   Confirmed guests are: Senator David Norris, John Waters, Noel Whelan, Minister Dara Calleary, Terry Prone, Senator Dan Boyle, Fergus Finlay, Dan O’Brien, Deputy Leo Varadkar, Brendan Keenan, Danny McCoy and Deputy Joanna Tuffy.

Local Bars – from 10.00 pm

• Music and entertainment / comedy nights / readings and much more

Saturday 3rd July

Knightsbrook  – Academic Seminar: Swift, the Global and the Local’

9.30 am

• Hugh Ormsby-Lennon, Villanova University ‘Jonathan Swift:  Grand Impostor’

10.30am – 12 noon

• Daniel Cook, University of Bristol, ‘Judas Writes the Biography:  Early Biographies of Swift’
• Shef Rogers, University of Otago:  ‘Swift’s Exploration of Limits in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World’

12 noon

• Eamonn O Ciardha, University of Ulster: ‘Jacobite Jailbirds and Jailbreakers’
• Joseph McMinn, University of Ulster: ‘Quacks, Chancers and Thieves: Swift and the Bankers’

1.00 - 2.00 pm –  LUNCH

2.00 pm – 3.30 pm

• Eoin Magennis, Institute for Cross border Studies, ‘What does Swift tell us about financial crises?’
• Andrew Sneddon, University of Ulster
• Neal Garnham University of Ulster, ‘Defending the Protestant interest? The roles of the Militia c. 1716-1776’

3.30 pm – 5.00 pm

• Richard Haworth, Laracor: ‘Jonathan Swift and the Geography of Laracor’
• Finola O’Carroll CRDS Ltd/Insititute of Archaeologists of Ireland, ‘Walking in the Footsteps of Swift: What lies beneath Trim?’Stephen Mandal, CRDS Ltd
• Séamus MacGabhann, NUI Maynooth/ Meath County Heritage Forum, Tara: Site of contested cultural landscapes’

5.00 pm – 6.00 pm

• Alan Downie, Goldsmiths, University of London: ‘Disappointed Swift’

Saturday 3rd July – continued

Trim Castle Car Park

• 12:00 – 5.00 pm – All day street markets, music, games, magic, pig on the spit and much more.
• Big Screen showing the World Cup quarter final
• 5.00 pm  – “Battle of the Boots” – Free Open air sports clash featuring, George Hook, Colm O’Rourke, Brent Pope, Tom McGurk and a number of sports stars from the GAA, Soccer and Rugby circles “one not to be missed” and free for all.

Knightsbrook - 9.30 pm

• Comedy Night and awards, headlined by 2FM’S Nob Nation, Oliver Callan, Alan Shortt and Ray Reilly comedian and much more

Local Bars – from 10.00 pm

• Music and entertainment / comedy nights / readings and much more

Sunday 4th July

St. Patricks Cathedral – 11:30 am

• Rev Robert MacCarthy, Dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral will lead the church service

Trim Castle Hotel – 1.00 pm

• Swift Walk -  Guided Walk through Swift’s Trim, includes rehearsed readings of Swift by Trim Drama Group, concluding with a Talk by Swift himself (Pat Dunne) in St Patrick’s Cathedral

Trim Castle Hotel – 2.00 pm

• Lunch in Trim Castle Hotel - The Battle of the Books: Boyne Writers Group v Meath Writers’ Circle in satirical writing combat.

Market Street – 12:00 noon

• Street Markets

Throughout the festival

• Poetry In Motion – At A Street Corner Near You: Busking with Poetry, by Boyne Writers Group, Meath Writers Circle, Trim Drama Group, Meath/Cavan LitLab
• Pubs For Poetry – Jonathan Swift’s prose and poetry, and miscellaneous readings, in Pubs (see website for times and venues) with Boyne Writers Group, Meath Writers Circle, Trim Drama Group, Meath/Cavan LitLab

Trim

• Boyne Run (Please contact Knightsbrook leisure club for more information)