A few notable past residents include Éamonn Ceannt, one of the signatories on the Proclamation of the Irish Republic and executed in Kilmainham Gaol after the 1916 Easter Rising. More familiar perhaps to our American visitors is Fr. Edward Flanagan who founded Boys Town, an orphange in Nebraska. Interestingly, Fr. Flanagan was played on screen by Spencer Tracy who won an Oscar for his role in the 1938 film Boys Town.

Ballymoe has an unusual etymology, the modern placename of Ballymoe derives from the Irish Béal Átha Mó which means The Mouth of the Big Ford. Bally in this case doesn't derive from the Irish Baile meaning town or place but béal meaning mouth or opening as in that of a river. See the Placenames Database of Ireland for more information (http://www.logainm.ie/18905.aspx).

One eventful day on the 29th of June 2013, thanks to local man John Martin Griffin and The Gathering, Ireland's (http://www.thegatheringireland.com) year long tourism initiative aimed at drawing more tourists into Ireland, the village was transformed from rural backwater into Ireland's 'Hirsute Capital' with The Town of 1000 Beards Festival. An attempt to break the world record for most bearded men in one place. This would be an official Guinness World Record attempt.

For me the introduction to the Town of 1000 Beards (facebook.com/TheTownOf1000Beards) came when listening to Tom Dunne's Newstalk program, listing free events around Ireland over the weekend the first item that came up on this sunny Friday was about the village of Ballymoe in Co. Galway.

Immediately the placename struck me as being familiar, after all Galway is a large county, the second biggest in Ireland but I knew that this place was familiar. Sure enough it was a place that I had been through but also I had seen signs for Ballymoe on some of the other roads that I traversed throughout this part of the country whilst photographing all the best that Ireland has to offer.

Heading west to Ballymoe the weather was not looking too promising with stormy conditions always on the horizon. It was blustery and very warm, the conditions that usually last a short time before a downpour arrives.

As I got closer to the village, there wasn't much in the way of traffic or signs of anything special going on, I had expected there to be a lot of bearded gentlemen heading in the same direction, walking with dogs or donkeys or scores of them in an open top bus. Arriving into Ballymoe sure enough there were signs for a car park, the usual country fair kind - a field. There were a few fast food vans and some amusement park rides like merry-go-rounds and waltzers.

It really was looking unpromising, camera in hand and camera backpack on I headed into the centre of Ballymoe, a short distance. As I walked towards the bend in the road, fearful and with a sense of excitement at the same time, there were a few men milling about with plenty of facial hair, but at this stage it still looked like your average amount of bearded men, the Ballymoe area must have at least a few dozen anyway on any given day. I spotted a few signs and realised that certainly someone had been making a good attempt at creating some atmosphere.

Suddenly the public address system sprang into life "Would everyone with beards please make their way on to the road, that includes all those in the pubs. Come on now, you've the rest of the day to be drinking.."

Slowly but surely a string of bearded men sallied forth from the few pubs in the village, most sporting a beard and a pint.

As I rounded the bend, the whole street was filled with bearded men, something that Ballymoe, nor anywhere in Ireland has seen in a long time. Lining the side of the road with the Catholic church they were standing side by side facing onto the road, as if in some line up waiting to be picked out.

The stragglers kept arriving, were registered at the last minute and placed into the line up. Then the judges made their way along the line to pick out winners of various categories ranging from the run-of-the-mill longest beard to most kissable beard and best manufactured beard (for women and children).

Next came the important part, as the independent adjudicators started their count heading through the village all the while the men kept their positions in the ranks. Photographers and at least one TV crew headed up and down the line up photographing the various beards, from ordinary to extraordinary. The first two that I photographed had come up from 'The Shannon Basin' and had already been talking to a reporter from Belfast, quite amazed that anyone would travel so far to get there. Both were having a good laugh and enjoying what was a very sunny afternoon.

There were plenty of beards on show, from just-about beards, tweaked moustaches, multi-coloured beards to very finely kept big beards. There were entrants from Poland, Tasmania and Canada as well as from all over Ireland.

The various category winners all received awards and there was plenty of deliberation about the overall winner - the grand prize. It almost seemed for 5 minutes that there wasn't going to ever be an announcement as to who was the winner, but finally it arrived and Laurence Cunningham of Ballymoe was declared to have the beard of nobility.

Following this the Connacht Veteran & Vintage Motor Club (www.cvvmc.ie) arrived on its Main Run centred on Roscommon with what seemed like 100 vintage cars, from tiny 1950s cars to massive American Cadillacs.

There was a good mix of portraits and wider images, often capturing the spontaneous and amusing moments. A great day's photography, and of course the barber was closed.

If you're interested they fell short of the required number, 287 were finally present and the record is close to 500. But it was a great day out for anyone who was there, the whole village was in festival mode and there were plenty of visitors to Ballymoe who would otherwise never have been there. There will certainly be plenty of publicity from it and from that point of view, it was very much a success.

I wish I could have stayed and had a few pints with the winners and losers but I needed to head on and indeed made some more great images from what was to be a very long day.

Will you enter? I've already promised to grown my own beard and appear at next year's event, not sure when that will be but assuming it is this time next year (end of June 2014), keep your diary free.

Is there going to be a Ballymoe Beard Festival in 2014? Put those razors away and watch this space...

Well, I did grow a beard for this year but sadly no Town of 1,000 Beards Festival in 2014.