First WorldHost Ambassador Training on Lough Neagh

All aboard!

On Tuesday 2nd July 2013, Watson & Co. Chartered Marketing in association with Lough Neagh Partnership hosted the first ever ‘on the lough’ Worldhost Ambassador training session and FAM tour for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. Local Lough Neagh businesses with less than 250 staff were generously funded through the Department for Employment and Learning WorldHost package which is available to eligible NI businesses with less than 250 employees.

Lough Neagh is the biggest Lough in the British Isles measuring over 300km². It contains over 800 billion gallons of water – enough to fill 7 million swimming pools. It has major visitor attractions including its own cycle trail, the Peatlands Park and Lough Neagh Discovery Centre which is the 2nd most visited tourism attraction in Northern Ireland. The Lough has the two major Islands; Ram’s and Coney both of which have significant historic interest and an impressive range of flora and fauna.

In a bid to promote tourism, customer service and local businesses’ knowledge of the area, the WorldHost Lough Neagh programme allows participants to experience the wonders of the Lough whilst learning about its rich history and its role in Northern Ireland.

Lough Neagh is growing as a major boating and sailing destination. It has 4 main Marinas at Kinnego, Ballyronan, The Battery, and Sandy Bay. From Ballyronan, we set aboard the Maid of Antrim, one of the oldest passenger vessels in the inland waterways of Northern Ireland.

Local businesses that participated include the Fried Fish Warehouse, whatsonni.com, 24 catering, the Maid of Antrim and delegates from Lough Neagh Partnership.

Left: Thomas McStocker, Shona Mc Auley and Mary McCloskey from Fried Fish Warehouse
Right: Jaqueline McGonigle from whatsonni.com with Con Law owner of the Maid of Antrim

As typical of summer in Northern Ireland – we were met with a lot of rain and a turbulent Lough. The choppy water meant we had to take a rain-check on our original plan to head to Rams Island and instead travelled north up the Lough towards Portglenone.

Sailing past Traad Point and through the Toome Canal, delegates enjoyed the luscious green sanctuary of the Lough. Following Toome, we followed the Lower River Bann up to Lough Beg.

Six major rivers flow into the Lough and one flows out (the River Bann), together they collectively drain more than 1/3 of Northern Ireland’s water. Lough Neagh is an important source of water for Belfast.

Passing by some of the beautiful landmarks surrounding the Lough, an interactive clay modelling workshop began onboard. Trainees let their creativeness shine as Christine Watson, Licensed WorldHost Trainer led a Jumping Clay workshop. Participants were tasked with creating their own clay model inspired by Lough Neagh.

Jumping Clay is a unique, jasmine-scented polymer clay composed of non-toxic water dissolving fillers which mixes easily into any colour in the spectrum. It is mess-free, and when rolled into a ball it bounces.

Lough-Neagh-inspired handcrafted souvenirs.

Using a map of Lough Neagh for inspiration, the group moulded an army of mini Lough Neaghs, fish, boats and a guy with fantastically large ears – even Wilma Flintstone came to play. The exercise served as an icebreaker, inviting participants to get to know each other better, think outside of the box and inside of the boat away from the rain.

The voyage took us for a lunch-time treat at the Wild Duck Inn, Portglenone, a cosy pub/restaurant on the Lough filled with lots of interesting artefacts and a warm, friendly atmosphere. The Wild Duck offered a tasty Summer menu with something for everyone at the very reasonable price of £5.50 per head – complimentary with the WorldHost course. Participants enjoyed dishes such as locally-sourced plaice, honey roast ham salad, creamy carbonara pasta and chicken a la king.

Lunch became a celebration with cake and candles for Megan Law’s 15th birthday.

Christine Watson, Licensed WorldHost Trainer with Kieran Bradley, owner of the Wild Duck and Eimear Kearney of Lough Neagh Partnership

Despite the unfortunate weather on the day – the voyage ran smoothly. The Maid of Antrim’s captain, Con Law gave us a detailed history of the sights and surroundings. The Lough Beg area is one of the richest landscapes for wildlife in Northern Ireland. The wet grassland along the west and south shores is home to rare and threatened plants and animals, including plants such as pennyroyal and Irish lady’s tresses orchid and birds such as wintering wildfowl and breeding waders.

Lough Neagh attracts bird watchers from all over the world due to the number and variety of birds which winter and summer in its shores. Bird conservation organisation RSPB Northern Ireland are currently working with local farmers and landowners to bring wetlands into agri-environment schemes in the Lough Beg area and help them secure support for the restoration and management of this special landscape for the future.

The Lough Neagh WOW factor

Delegates were ‘WOW’ed by the natural beauty of the lough. The Ambassador workshop saw participants brainstorming tourism resources local to Lough Neagh. Work colleagues were put into separate teams to mix businesses up and share their specialisations and knowledge with one another.

Could you give us an A – Z of Lough Neagh businesses?

Groups presented their collective knowledge about the Lough. Each individual had something new to offer and something new to learn about the local area; insider knowledge that in the future can be shared with local, national and international tourists visiting Lough Neagh.

Many congratulations to all our new WorldHost graduates and Lough Neagh Ambassadors who have successfully achieved the required standard in the Worldhost Principles of Customer Service and the WorldHost Ambassadors ‘Welcoming Visitors to their Destination’ workshop.