Warm welcome for Johnstown reopening
There was a carnival atmosphere at Johnstown Castle as members welcomed the re-opening of the grounds following a two-month closure by arriving in their hundreds on the first day, accompanied by delighted children and an array of dogs to rival a Krufts show.
Among them was frontline worker and pharmacist Padraig Murphy of Haven Pharmacy in Clonard and his three and a half year old son Patrick, who were thrilled to be able to enjoy the gardens again.
‘We are delighted that it’s safe to open and we can get out and walk in the fresh air and countryside again’, he said.
‘We said we would come straight out. I took a half day. We’ve been walking on the quay up to this. We spent our holidays on the quay.
Padraig said the past few months have been a stressful time and for him. Part of his job has been about reading journals and keeping up with the science, in order to assist and reassure people in an informed way.
‘ There are plenty of reasons to be fearful but we can be empowered by knowledge and it can help us to minimise the risk. It has worked and it has flattened the curve’’, he said.
‘It’s amazing. It’s just the space. It’s glorious and the weather is perfect’, said Abbie Elfouly, accompanied by Luke (10) and Isaac Taylor (8) and their dog Chase. ‘It’s taking away the repetitiveness of walking around our estate and the neighbouring estates which we have been doing. We’ve been here a good hour now. It will be back to doing this regularly now.’
‘I think it better than just going around the neighbourhood. Here, we can see lots of nature’, said Isaac.
Lisa Howlin arrived with her son Peadar Óg (3) and said: ‘It’s absolutely fantastic. He’s been eager to get out here for two months. We used to come out every Saturday. We really missed it.’
Helen Walsh came with her children Sam (10) and Maisy (8) who were doing the first leg of the Kennedy Park School 5km run which can’t take place in its usual group format this year. ‘ We’re going to do 3km today and 2km on another day’, said Sam, with the family dog Stitch in tow.
Ed O’Hanlon was with his daughter Holly (10) and son Jack (7) who brought their bikes along. ‘We just live up the road and we’ve been lucky to have a few loops we could do but it’s great to get back here’, he said.
Toddy Power knows every square inch of Johnstown, having worked in the laboratory there for 33 years. He arrived on the first afternoon of re-opening with his wife Marie. ‘It’s lovely to be back. We were waiting for it to open. We would usually come a couple of times a week. It’s like a second home to us’, said Marie. ‘It was a heavenly place to work’, said Toddy.
Johnstown is currently open to members only with ticket holders due to be offered an extension of time to compensate for the closure. The cafe is currently closed. Over the past two months, the property was maintained by a skeleton crew comprising head gardener Ciarán Fitzgerald, maintenance manager Adrian Stafford and park superintendent Eamonn Kehoe.
‘ Three of them looked after 120 acres and they did a great job. People are saying the place is looking fantastic’, said general manager Brendan Comerford.
‘ The lower lake walk is one-way. Everything else is as before. We haven’t been too restricted because of the space we have. Everything is in place for social distancing. The playground is still closed due to government guidelines but children are enjoying running around the place.’
‘We’re opening to members for the first few weeks in order to manage the numbers. We want to facilitate them as they’ve supported us. It’s amazing the number of people we got to know so well and became friends with. We were delighted to see them back. It’s wonderful for many people who have been cocooning’. The gardens and lake walks are open from Wednesday to Sunday each week from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. People who have been cocooning have priority from 9 to 11 a.m. On duty at the entrance, Eamonn Kehoe counted up to 400 people on the first day. ‘Everyone is delighted’, he said.