Greetings to you, you lucky holder of a golden ticket and a female gender identity! You get to experience the wonders of the hidden fantasy that is the Cork Women’s Fun Weekend. With the festival kicking off on Thursday, 30th April and continuing until Monday, 4th May, AND with Cork Pride happening at the end of May, this month is easily the gayest on the Corkonian calendar (i.e. the only one that matters), and this weekend is not to be missed for any Irish woman-loving ladies out there.
The Fun Weekend is in its 25th year, and every year has provided a women’s space, especially needed when the scene was predominantly male orientated and when lesbian club nights such as Takeover in Instinct and Cake in Dublin were unheard of.

Though there is much debate about the need for a women’s weekend, and indeed the necessity for a man-ban at a number of the events, there is no doubt that this weekend will be as enjoyable as ever and a trip to the lesbian subculture that cannot be found at any other time of year.

The line-up follows more or less the same format as every year, but with some wonderful additions. On Thursday evening, the weekend will kick off in loafers with a local singer/songwriter Sarah Horgan, in Loafers, with what the program describes as “upbeat pop songs”.

On Friday, the new event that has everyone talking is showcased as the L.inc choir Mná Mná exhibit the wonders of an Irish lesbian musical about farmers. Yes farmers. The show is on in the Firkin Crane in Shandon. Tickets are €10 (if there’s any left!) and available to book on 021 4507487. I’ve been informed that any tickets left will be available on the door, so hopefully everyone will get to see this groundbreaking new work. Good luck ladies!

Saturday is the main day of events, with an array of workshops and talks lined up. The opening circle is at 11.30am in the South Parish Community Centre on White Street, and the rest of the talks and workshops will happen there for the day also. Angel Workshops, Tarot Card readings and Stress Management classes will all be taking place, but the highlights of the day seem to be the DIY sex toy workshop (…I look forward to seeing how the hygiene aspects are dealt with, if nothing else) and the open forum discussion on marriage. The open forum on marriage entitled Marriage- Not the Nuclear Option features input from Katherine O’ Donnell and Anna McCarthy, both LGBT activists who view the fight for marriage in this country very differently. Is marriage a state institution that we as LGBT people are entitled to be a part of, or is an outdated heterosexual power base that needs to be dismantled and reviewed on the whole? The Wall of History will also be viewable all day in the same venue.

A soccer tournament will start at 2pm in the Mardyke Sports Complex for all you sporting dykes wanting to show off and impress the ladies with your athleticism (I shall be sipping an ice tea on the sidelines and shouting abuse like a lady).

That evening, the Silversprings Hotel will play host to the legendary night-time events of the women’s weekend, starting at 8.30pm. Latino dancing, Claire O’ Mahony (Cork based singer/songwriter) and the wonderful Lounge Lizards will help us party the night away. DJ Claud Cunningham will be supplying the tunes, and I’m sure we’ll all be guaranteed to wake with sore heads on the Sunday morning…
…So what better than a bracing walk for those hangovers? Meeting at 11.30am in the Imperial Hotel, on the South Mall, for a stroll and a vomit around Cork city. Fabulous. Then it’s off to the tennis competition from 1-3pm in the Silversprings; registration is €5.

The mind-bogglingly hard lesbian quiz happens in Loafers at 4pm. Now admittedly, the one and only time I participated in this I was so hungover I couldn’t say my name (The Conservative Young Lesbians Against Fisting were robbed I tells ya!) but this quiz is really, really hard! It is not for the casual observer lesbian, this is for the hardcore, patriarchy bashing, homophobia squashing militant dyke – and it’s great! Hopefully I’ll see you there, I’m sure I’ll be propped up in a corner somewhere. There will be a DJ after this for more dancing and celebration – if you can take it.

On Monday, the last event will be the golf battle for the ‘Loafer’s Cup’ at the Lee Valley Golf Club, Ovens, Co. Cork. First tee time is 11.10am and the cost is €50 pp golf and €70 pp including transport and BBQ. If you’d like to attend this, pre-booking is apparently essential and you can do this by contacting corkwomensweekend@gmail.com
So that’s the line-up, I don’t know about you but I’m looking forward to handing in my last ever college essay and getting ready to party for it! See you at the bar in the Silversprings!

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