Cross-border co-operation between the two arts councils has been an element in the success of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre at Annaghmakerrig, Co Monaghan, over the past 20 years. The centre occupies a special place in the hearts of the many arts practitioners who have enjoyed the seclusion and support to be found within its walls and grounds. Now the centre's long-standing directors, Bernard and Mary Loughlin, are leaving to set up their own centre, El Refugi Irlandes, in the Catalan Pyrenees, although Bernard will retain his link with the Centre, as Chief Consultant.

"We're enormously proud of our contribution to the creation of this very special resource for artists to do creative work," Bernard says. "We feel confident that it will continue to thrive as a rural community dedicated to the arts. We leave with great sadness, but in a spirit of goodwill, not acrimony or bitterness." For the immediate future, Regina Doyle and Grainne Millar will be joint acting directors of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre, and from the middle of next month Bernard and Mary Loughlin can be contacted at El Refugi Irlandes, Can Felip, Farrera de Pallars, Pallars Sobira, Lleida 25595, Calalunya, Spain.