WHILE no shows have been taking place recently at the Broadmeadow Equestrian Centre and numbers are restricted for riding lessons, there has still been plenty of action at the Co Meath venue thanks to the entrepreneurial skills of Jamie Duff, son of the Centre’s owner, Brian Duff.

Twenty-one-year-old Jamie, who is in his final year studying Multimedia at DCU, went to a drive-in movie in Dublin earlier in the year and decided that this was a type of entertainment, and business, which he could replicate in a safe, Covid-compliant manner at Broadmeadow. “I did a bit of research into screen rentals, radio frequencies etc and then got a licence to screen movies which can come as downloads or DVDs.

“The tickets are all paid for in advance to reduce any on-site contact while the staff I have checking people in, parking cars, etc are all friends of mine living locally in Ashbourne. I had hoped to have the first screening in late May but had to wait until restrictions were eased and finally got going on June 12th.

“Over the summer and Halloween I had other screenings and showed more movies before and after Christmas. We had planned on showing six movies this weekend but, unfortunately, the Government’s announcement on Wednesday of a full Level 5 lockdown meant we had to cancel the entire schedule. We will be running our drive-in cinema again as soon as we can,” he added.

New base for Anna Duff

A non-equestrian himself, Jamie is a brother of international show jumping rider Anna Duff who has recently moved to a new base in Germany, although still in the same district. “I’m about 20 minutes away from Frankfurt in a place called Pfungstadt,” the 24-year-old told the Irish Horse World. “I’m in Dietmar Gugler’s old yard which is now being run by the Pohl family. I moved here last month and am absolutely delighted with the way things are going.”