Horizons

Crann's autumn festival of trees, FΘile Shamhna na gCrann, settles into its busy month-long programme of events this weekend. An annual celebration of trees - broadleaf ones in particular - the festival includes nature trails, guided walks, seminars on sustainable woodlands and demonstrations of woodland crafts around the country. The programme of events will include: a guided walk in Airfield House, gardens and farm, Dundrum, Dublin 14, tomorrow at 2.15 p.m.; a guided walk through Muckross woods near Killarney, Co Kerry, tomorrow at 10.30 a.m.; a seminar entitled, The Economics of Broadleaves in the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, Dublin, on Saturday, November 3rd; a woodland fair at the Shannon Hotel, Banagher, Co Offaly, on Sunday, November 4th; a poetry and music evening at Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly on November 17th, and guided walk of Charleville Wood at 2.30 p.m. also on November 17th. Tel: 0506-51718 or e-mail info@crann.ie See also www.crann.ie

Northern Ireland Environment Link is expecting around 100 delegates at its 10-year review conference on the environment, entitled "Taking Stock: a decade in the field", next weekend. Staff from local government bodies, local authorities, the education and voluntary sectors will start their two-day conference at the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Belfast on Friday.

Throughout the day, they will visit the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Castle Espie (to discuss biodiversity and waste), Mount Stewart House and Gardens (to discuss the built and cultural heritage) and take a ferry to see the aquariums at Exploris in Portaferry, Co Down. En route the delegates will discuss sustainable development and planning. On Saturday, delegates will take the train to Derry to discuss the "war on want". Transport and energy will also be discussed en route. Agriculture, rural development, urban sustainability and tourism will be the key topics on Saturday. NIEL hopes the event will allow those in charge of environmental matters to do some foward planning in anticipation of the 10-year world review of the environment which will take place in South Africa next year (Earth Summit II). Anyone interested in attending this mobile conference can contact Northern Ireland Environment Link, 77 Botanic Avenue, Belfast BT7 1JL. Tel: (028) 90314944.

Medieval Ireland (1150 to1550) is the focus of the current series of lectures at the National Museum in Kildare Street, Dublin. The lectures (on Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and 6.30 p.m.) complement the new permanent exhibition on medieval Ireland which covers the period of church reform and the Anglo-Norman invasion in the 12th century to the Reformation in the mid-16th century.

This was the age of cathedrals, monasteries and castles and when most of our towns were founded. John Bradley from the Department of History in NUI, Maynooth, will talk about the town in medieval Ireland on October 31st; National Museum curator, Raghnall ╙ Floinn, will talk about goldsmithing in later medieval Ireland on November 7th; and Prof Roger Stalley, from the Department of History of Art in Trinity College Dublin, will speak about the architecture of medieval Ireland on November 28th.

Drop into any branch of the National Museum for a full programme of events. Tel: 01-6777444 or see www.museum.ie

horizons@irish-times.ie