Networking event hosts 80 businesses from Kildare and West Wicklow Photos Bailey & Blake

[caption id="attachment_275738" align="alignnone" width="300"] Harvey Appleby who, along with his wife Ciara, has carried out massive works at the old Woollen Mills[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_275736" align="alignnone" width="300"] Callum McClintock, pianist and member of award winning Ballymore Concert Band provided musical entertainment on the night[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_275739" align="alignnone" width="300"] Jon Crocker, Croker Fine Arts, Ballymore Eustace[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_275740" align="alignnone" width="300"] Juanita Mahon, Accountancy & Tax, with Michael Michael O'Connell, House of Finance[/caption]

At least 80 business owners from West Wicklow and Kildare met last Thursday for a great night of networking in the village of Ballymore Eustace.

Ballymore Group show their support for local business interests by sponsoring the event held at their Marketing Suite in Ballymore.

Orlagh Deegan, owner of Choice Training & Consultancy has been involved in organising network events in West Wicklow since 2015, with notable success last year at an event hosted in the historic setting of Russborough House.

Orlagh decided she wanted to hold a similar event in her home town of Ballymore Eustace. She approached Ballymore Group owned by Sean Mulryan who very generously gave access to their Marketing Suite and sponsored finger food from the award winning Ballymore Inn on the night.

Orlagh partnered up with Sonia Moran from Punctual Print, Blessington to plan and host the event. Attendees were greeted with a wine reception sponsored by Punctual Print and Choice Training with music by local talented pianist Callum McClintock, a member of Ballymore Eustace Concert Band, another award winning local group!

Ballymore Group representative Aislinn O’Buachalla spoke about Ballymore’s ambitious projects in London, Prague and the Dublin Docklands. What particularly interested the audience was an overview of local developments in Naas and the proposed housing development in Ballymore Eustace featuring integrated parklands. Ballymore Group have always been a huge supporter of business and community in the village. Clare and Peter McShane, Glas Energy Technology are a business located in Ballymore Eustace and stated that they are proud to be working on two of Ballymore’s large developments in London including developing bespoke software.

Harvey Appelby spoke about the challenges he and his wife Ciara faced after purchasing the Factory (Old Woolen Mill) in Ballymore Eustace in 2013 and his plans to restore it to a viable future, an enormous undertaking. Their plans are to restore the factory and create a whiskey distillery in the original building.

Brian McDermot, Director Event Fuel who has recently taken over The Avon Venue in Blessington and is heavily involved in the Kaleidoscope Festival, spoke about the potential for business in West Wicklow. Brian spoke about the Blessington Greenway project as a link between Russborough and The Avon and has plans to build a hotel on the site in Blessington as well as develop the venues activities and corporate offering.

Sonia Moran, Business Development Manager, Punctual Print spoke about networking for business growth. Sonia is known locally as the ‘Networking Queen’. The energy she brought to the room was palpable. She gave everyone in the room something for their networking toolkit and shared her own networking successes.

Orlagh commented “These events wouldn’t be possible without the generosity of local businesses, it always amazes me what you get just by simply asking, people are more than willing to help out and tonight is a perfect examples of local business owners both big and small coming together to support one another”. If you are interested in joining the West Wicklow Business Network, email [email protected] They meet the last Thursday morning of each month.