The man behind the Athlone Music Festival

Athlone native Ultan Moran describes himself as "a bit of a homebird," so it's no surprise that when he first moved to England to take up a job his friends were skeptical. "I'd never been out of the country before and my friends were taking bets as to whether or not I'd even make it as far as Dublin airport! Some of them reckoned I would but that I'd land in London, turn around and get the next plane home." That was in 1989. Twenty one years later, Ultan is still based in England where he has worked in hospitality, sales and marketing, and recruitment. Along with his wife and children he resides in Plymouth, where he now runs the city's only Irish pub, Kitty O'Hanlon's. However he never lost touch with Athlone and it was a desire to "give something back" to the town that led to him organising this summer's inaugural Athlone Music Festival. The festival, which takes place at Athlone Town Stadium on July 31 and August 1, will feature performances from up to 30 acts including Imelda May, Sharon Shannon, Mundy, The Undertones and Hazel O'Connor. The staging of the festival is going to cost between €120,000 and €140,000, with most of the investment coming from Ultan himself. He said that if this year's festival was a success it would lead to even bigger musical events being staged here in the future. "This is an Athlone festival for the people of the town, but everyone is welcome. For example, I know of a dozen people from Plymouth who have booked tickets and are travelling over for it. "The key thing is for local people to get behind the event, support it and buy their tickets. If it goes well this year we hope to build on that, stage some other music events during the following year and have an annual festival that could ultimately attract up to 15,000 people." The son of Deirdre and Finbar Moran, Ultan grew up in Assumption Road where his parents still reside today. After receiving his primary education at the Fairgreen and Marist Brothers national schools, he went on to attend the Vocational School in Athlone. Ultan said when he was growing up there weren't many outlets for young people in Athlone, with visits to "Bradbury's for a bun, or the coffee shop in the Prince of Wales Hotel," and nights out at the Paddock or Ginkel's among the common pastimes. "The town has been transformed since then and it now has so much more to offer," he said. When he left secondary education he wanted to be a carpenter "but quickly realised it wasn't for me." Work placements at Broderick's Bakery and the Royal Hoey Hotel generated an interest in the hospitality sector which he pursued through a hospitality course at the then-Athlone Regional Technical College.When reading a newspaper at the Prince of Wales in late January or early February 1989, he spotted an advert which "changed the course" of his life. It led to a job at a hotel near London's Gatwick airport which was operated by the Capthorne group. "I had no money at the time and some of my friends were working for Interlink, so when I was going over to England I actually ended up getting a lift up to Dublin on the back of an Interlink truck!" he recalled. "I never wanted to leave Athlone but I decided I'd go over to London just for four months - that was the plan at first. When I arrived there it was a massive adjustment for me and the first few weeks were extremely tough. "I've always been very close to my family. It broke my heart to have move away from home, but I realised it was something I had to do if I wanted to be a success in my own right." He progressed to a top sales and marketing position with the Capthorne hotel group, working in London for a few years before transferring to Plymouth. He was then head-hunted by the Best Western hotel group, where he worked in a similar role. His next move was to the Yellow Pages company, where he worked in sales for four years before branching out on his own and setting up a recruitment agency, Omnia Recruitment. This company was a success from a financial perspective, with Ultan sometimes taking in fees as high as £4,000 for referring a perspective employee to a company. However he found the work tedious and thus opted for a career change, taking over Kitty O'Hanlon's pub in December 2006. Despite being an Irish pub, it had not been under Irish management for several years until Ultan took over. His aim was to run it as "a traditional boozer with good beer, good service and live music three nights a week". The formula has worked. Ultan said the pub's turnover is now three times what it was when he took it over. He and his wife Ciara have thirteen-month-old twin boys and Ultan has two older children from a previous relationship. Despite being a native of Doncaster, Ciara has an Athlone connection of her own. "When I first met her eight years ago I mentioned that I was from Athlone. She said 'I know Athlone.' It turned out that her mother, whose maiden name was Kennedy, was actually born in Sarsfield Square before moving to Dublin at a very early age." Ultan said that, while the chances of him moving back to Athlone on a permanent basis are slim, he has always wanted to come back here and establish an event such as the music festival. When he started to plan the festival, last year, he teamed up with music promoter Ray Rose whose experience in the industry has helped generate such a strong line-up of artists. "I was amazed with the line-up we were able to get and this is definitely not something I would have been able to do on my own," he said, expressing gratitude for the support he's received from people in Athlone such as Redmond O'Sullivan, Oona Herraghty and Timmy Donovan. He and Ray have been travelling to Athlone on a monthly basis since the beginning of the year. An event like this requires a huge organisational effort, with the 'to do' list including everything from arranging hotel beds for the performers to lining up a shuttle bus service from the town centre to the Athlone Town Stadium. Ultan stated that while the festival involves a personal financial risk for him, the potential long-term benefits of an annual music festival could be hugely significant for the town. "What I'd say to people now is go out and buy a ticket, support the festival, and if you do it will grow in the years to come. "Tickets will be more expensive on the weekend itself but if you buy now it costs €50 for a two-day ticket and €35 for a one-day ticket, which is really good value when you consider that people pay about €10 to go to a nightclub. "We don't expect to make money in the first year and any money we do make will be pumped back into future events in the town. If people get behind this we can make it a real success in the long-term."