fruit of the loom

It's almost 10 years to the day, 18 May 2006, that Fruit of the Loom shut its door in Buncrana.  Most of the company's spinning, knitting and dyeing facilities were relocated to Morocco.  Willie McCarthur’s (Chief Executive of Fruit of the Loom from 1987 to 1997) family first set up an underwear factory in the town 75 years ago, and in 1987 was responsible for Fruit of the Loom making a $200m (€156m) investment in the factory, creating 3,500 jobs.  The McCarthurs' created a cross-border enterprise that was the largest of its type in the world, putting out about a million tee-shirts a week and 500,000 sweatshirts.  Needless to say it must have been a huge blow to Buncrana and Donegal and especially those 3500 employees.
I have some Fruit of the Loom tee-shirts and a sweatshirt.  I'll be reminded about this whenever I wear them again.  Enjoy your weekend!!

walking bruncrana

When we were in Buncrana, we got a look at their coastal walk.  It's so nice that these communities have places designed for people to walk without dealing with traffic.  It is different from ours in Moville.  Our shore line is very rocky where this is not but it fits in to their community well.  They even have a workout station (see the 4th photo below).  Ireland promotes walking and people do take advantage of the many opportunities to be out in nature.  There are walking clubs and hill walker groups throughout the country where people can pay a small fee or join the group and participate with others who like to walk.  Many towns, large and small, have some kind of walking trail built in to the landscape.  Reading that signpost, I know we have lots more to explore.  Heading out to a walk!  Hope you all have a great weekend!