Despite having a reduced programme, this year's Pattern Festival in Ballylanders went ahead as normal with locals coming out in very substantial numbers to support proceedings.

Sometimes we forget what's involved in staging a community festival and underestimate the workload attached to hosting such events. This being the case, great credit is due to those who put in a massive effort over the last few weeks, making sure the famous Pattern Day was marked in a fitting manner.

It's also worth remembering that the Pattern Day has strong religious undertones and while it didn't receive a lot of publicity, the traditional Pattern Day healing Mass featured very rare relics associated with Pope John Paul II. The car boot sale held on the Friday of the festival also proved very popular with the public.

An organisation who really stepped up to the mark this year for the Pattern Festival were members of Ballylanders Macra. The village is extremely fortunate to have such a talented bunch at its disposal and all their ingenuity was seen to good effect on the Saturday when they hosted a family day, which created a great buzz.

Ballylanders Gun Club are another group who always do their bit for the cause and their dog show attracted a fine entry on the final day, Sunday. You can't go too far wrong with a table quiz and as he's done so often in the past, legendary quiz master, Danny Kelly did a superb job in McDermott's Hall.

Pattern Day is a welcome fillip for local pubs and given their close proximity, revelers were able to move back and forth from one hostelry to another without any bother. The gardai were around to keep an eye on the large crowd who were generally good humoured and lively.

Historically and socially the Pattern Festival is important to Ballylanders and judging by what we saw for the 2014 event, the necessary support and goodwill is out there to ensure it keeps going for many a long year.

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