17 March 2014 Hi Sligo Middle School Community,

1. 17 March 2014 Hi Sligo Middle School Community, Thank you for your e-mail and for reaching out to your cousins on this side of the water! We’re delighted to introduce ourselves……… As the Local Chamber of Commerce and Industry, we’re a Business Representative Association who’s core remit is to “Help Sligo Grow”. County Sligo has a population of 60,000 (approx.) with the City hosting a population of 19,000. We are questioned on the City bit with such a small population but our retort is that we were given our City status just over 400 years (1613) ago by King James 1st and who is going to take that away from us? Sligo Charter Today, Sligo is home to a group of Multi-National Companies, some from the United States such as Abbott,  AbbVie, & Elanco as well as a very dynamic indigenous industrial sector. We are also blessed to be living in one of the most beautiful parts of the globe that has inspired our literature, painting, music and  cultural scene since time began. On that, less than one mile from our City are the Carrowmore Tombs which date back to 4600 – 3900 BC, or in other words, 1,000 years before the Pyramids – so we’ve been around here a while! Sligo was the spiritual home of the Nobel Prize winning Poet – WB Yeats, regarded as being the iconic figure of 20th century English literature. His poetry is steeped in his experiences of Sligo as a young child when he visited each summer with his equally famous brother, the artist Jack B Yeats. The poet was born 150 years ago next year (2015) and we hope to mark his birth and his contribution to Ireland and the World in a national celebration. We’re equally famous for our Irish Music, and this year from August 10th-17th we host the All Ireland Fleadh (pronounced FLAH). This is an international celebration of Irish Music and Culture and we expect over 300,000 from across the world to join with us for this festival. Sligo Fleadh Other significant tourism events include the Sionnach Relay, based ion the Ragnar Relay in the United States and Sligo Live on the October Holiday Weekend, where Sheryl Crow has just been announced as one of the headline acts. It’s not all events driven in Sligo however – we’re recognised as the adventure Capital of Ireland for enthusiasts of all levels. Professional surfers enjoy our Prowlers Wave but we have smaller ones for the rest of the family. We host internationally renowned Golf Links, withCo Sligo Golf Club being the place where the young Rory McIlroy cut his amateur teeth before going on to his outstanding professional success. We do kiteboarding, horse riding, supping, canoeing, sailing, fishing, walking, climbing, caving and the list goes on and on. All of these by the way can be done within 20 minutes drive from our City Centre. Check out North West Adventure Tours or Sligo Tourism for more details. That’s just a little taste of what we’re about in Sligo. We’ve been doing it for centuries but we tended to keep it quiet! Feel free to come back to us with any questions and we’ll be delighted to answer or to point you in the right direction – we always look after our Cousins! All the Best, Paul Keyes CEO Sligo Chamber Sligo Chamber 16 Quay St, Sligo. T:  071 9161274 M: 086 6048014 E: PKeyes@SligoChamber.ie W: www.sligochamber.ie