Ireland - Comhaltas Archive

TREOIRKathleen HughesIn the mid fifties Eoin Kelly purchasedthe 'Anglo Celt' every week. Being agreat follower of the Cavan footballteam, he not only wanted to know allthere was to know about the teambut also about what was happening inCavan. Increasingly, he noticed articlesabout the great steps being taken inpromoting traditional music.Much of this was due to the foundingof Comhaltas Ceolt6iri Eireann inIreland. Eoin discussed the rise ofCCE with his friend, Jimmy McHugh,himself a well-known and wellrespectedfiddler, and the two ofthem decided to look into the matterwhich ended up in the forming of theIrish Minstrels Branch in January 1957- the first branch of CCE to beformed outside Ireland. Jimmyencouraged other Glasgow-Irishmusicians to join, notably PatMcNulty, and the first meeting wasset up at which the followingcommittee was elected:Jimmy McHughDonal BoyleAnnie McGrathEoin KellyAnne McHugh- Chairman- Vice Chairman- Secretary- Treasurer-AssistantSecretaryChristy Darby, Pat McCusker and PatHetherson were also present at thatfirst meeting. Pat McNulty and LiamMcCabe were involved very early inthe branch, followed shortlyafterwards by Lena Tierney. Rose Frielput in an early appearance in the firstconcert held by the branch and wasinvolved for many years after. Indeed,now in her eighties, she still managesto give us a song well-sung when sheattends one of our functions.'Round the fires' were held everyweek in the early months in a smallhall near the Gorbals and movedwithin a few months to the AO.H.halls in Royston Road. In addition topromoting traditional music and balladsinging, ceilithe were held regularly.On the 6 th of October 1957 the IrishMinstrels held their first annualconcert in the Govan Town Hall withsome leading visiting artistes: SeanO'Siochain (Cork), Margaret O'Reilly(Cavan), Martin Mulhare (Galway),Sean Seery (Dublin), RobertMcMahon (Clare), John J. Sheridan andour own Jimmy McHugh (fiddle) whowent on to win All-Ireland honours,Paddy Carr (accordion), Rose Friel(ballad singer) and Pat McNulty(Uilleann pipes). Dancing displayswere provided by the Charlie KellySchool of Irish Dancing.Ceili dancing was very popular at thistime in Glasgow and was promotedby the Fianna Fail Branch in Glasgow(again the only branch outsideIreland) under the enthusiasticorganisation of Fred Sweeney (nowScottish Regional Chairman of CCEand Chairman of the Glasgow FeisCommittee which will be celebratingits centenary in the year 2002).Incidentally, we do not know of anyother existing feis which hascelebrated its centenary. Knowingthat ceili dancing was safe in thehands of 'Big Fred', the Irish Minstrelsfocus sed their attention on thepromotion of music and singing,moving venues as the branch grew inpopularity.When Jimmy McHugh won the AllIreland fiddle in Dungarvan the branchcelebrated! A very well-deservedhonour for Jimmy! Then, in Longford,the folloWing year Eoin Kelly camesecond in the men's ballad competitionwith his now well-known 'Bonny WhiteHare'. Eoin has many tales to tell ofthat first fleadh he attended but wewill not waste time relating these - hisversions are far more entertaining ...ask him yourself at the All-BritainFleadh in June! Wild horses will notkeep him away from a fleadh!Despite difficulties in those early, leanyears, the branch held their first AII­Britain Fleadh in the Partick BurghHalls in 1964. Three branches entered: London, Birmingham and Glasgow.The fleadh programme makesinteresting reading!!f9