Roscommon, always in the conversation in Ireland when the counties lacking in the arts and creativity are discussed, an as residents of Roscommon, we can only say…..Fair. We are Tuesday and Wes, and for the last 6 years we have been chipping away at that reputation, one theatre show, one concert, one creative writing retreat at a time.
In late 2024, we moved to Willowbrook to take over the existing campsite on this magical piece of land, just outside Ballaghaderreen in north Co. Roscommon. The mission was first and foremost to diversify and introduce glamping to the site, and secondly to build community around music, writing, art in the area. We do this by participating ourselves, but also by using this land which we are lucky enough to be the custodians of for the time being, to create events, bring people together. We do so always in an intentional way, and always with creativity in mind. We want people to connect with the land and with each other when they come to Willowbrook, and we want this place, these events, and the people involved to be an insipiration to our guests and visitors. We want you to leave willowbrook with a smile on your face, and then we want you to go and make something, something that only exists because of your visit here.
It’s all a bit lofty isnt it? Well, yes, but it’s real. It happens all the time, and our creative writing retreats are central to it. The very first event we ran here at Willowbrook was our first creative writing retreat in 2019. We brought a group of 12 writing enthusiasts together with 3 facilitators, and we created magic. An incredible weekend of wonderful people exploring their imaginations, bouncing ideas off each other, and creating friendships. It was our favourite weekend of our first year at the wheel here, so we did it again and again and again. We are 6 years in now, and we never get tired of seeing that creative spark in peoples eyes, and seeing how happy people are when they come to these retreats. They still our favourite weekends of the year every year.
The key to the success of these retreats has been the atmosphere which we create here quite intentionally. The workshops are snappy, 90 minutes in and out, then on to the next one after a short break. The themes are not too heavy, nothing too technical or acedemic, but rather a focus on ways of bringing out the brilliant creations we have waiting inside us. We try to gently stimulate the imagination and the creativity that allows us to access such creations. We have an open mic session as part of the weekend, where participants can share some of their work, or not. The keystone that holds it all in place is that we do it in a fun, supportive and judgement free way.
We now run these retreats twice per year and we have just recently announced our facilitator lineup for our next retreat which takes place from September 5th – 7th 2025. Full details have been posted to the ‘courses’ section of www.writing.ie. If you think it sounds like it might be up your street, we would love for you to join us. Feel free to reach out by phone or email with any questions on the event.
Hope you see you in Willowbrook some day soon, click here for more info!
Tuesday & Wes
