Cathal Clooney Memorial Award presented at Spink Comhaltas awards night

Spink Comhaltas celebrated Culture Night 2024 with a wonderful evening of music in Aylward’s Rural Museum in Durrow.

The night was also held in tandem with the group’s annual awards evening.

In memory of Cathal Clooney, who sadly passed away in April 2021, a perpetual plate was donated by his parents and brother – Anne Marie, Willie and Liam. This award joins the existing Stella Lynch Award as the two major internal branch awards for outstanding junior members. The Stella Lynch award is intended primarily for senior musicians who demonstrate outstanding leadership over a number of years. This year’s worthy recipient is Daniel Aylward. Cathal Clooney was awarded this posthumously in 2021.

In donating the plate in memory of Cathal, his parents noted that they intended this to be a stepping stone for younger, junior musicians. It is intended to recognise musicians who have consistently worked hard at developing their music skills, represent the branch with pride, encourage younger musicians, and displays commitment and leadership to help out with all of the community events the branch supports. They hope that this award will encourage younger musicians to take an active part in the branch, and they believe that by doing so they will reflect the values of the branch – values which were important to Cathal, and which he amply demonstrated over his life. The inaugural winners of the Cathal Clooney Memorial Award are Katie and Lucy Doyle. Everyone in Spink Comhaltas would like to congratulate Katie, Lucy and Daniel on being this year’s recipients of the awards.

Playing to a full house, the evening featured current and past senior musicians of the branch. The event was also a celebration of the formal end of the 2023/24 season before music classes for the new 2024 season commence on 4 October. As part of this celebration, the branch congratulated all the musicians for all of their great achievements during the year. On the competition front, this included Fleadh winners at Laois, Leinster and All Ireland level. Community events included St Patrick’s Day in Spink and Abbeyleix, supporting Abbeyleix Tidy Towns, Seachtain na Gaeilge, a successful Guinness Book of Records world’s largest céilí band, and many other events with other local groups. Branch outings included a memorable trip to Emerald Part in Co Meath. On the education side, 30 Spink musicians successfully completed the SCT Music Exams, ranging from Elementary to Grade 8 – all with excellent results.

The major event of the year, however, was a charity fund-raising concert in memory of a past member, Cathal Clooney, which was held in March. This event featured the Spink Comhaltas Trad Orchestra, which was joined by music teachers and past members of the branch. With tremendous support from across our community, as well as Cathal’s school mates in Heywood Community School, this event raised €18,500 for 3 charities – Jack & Jill Foundation, Make a Wish Ireland, and Debra Ireland.

To get the next year off to a strong start, a group of 40 Spink musicians are travelling to Liverpool to meet and perform with a number of Comhaltas branches there. We are very much looking forward to this trip and have a packed agenda over 3 days in Liverpool.

This year’s music class schedule is full. There are a limited number of spaces for intermediate and experienced musicians at age 15 to 18, but we have been overwhelmed with junior applications, so with in excess of 200 students, we regret that we cannot take more applications at this time.

Spink Comhaltas provides traditional Irish music lessons to members from Laois and bordering areas in Kilkenny, Carlow, and Kildare. With a comprehensive instrument bank to support members learning music in a cost-effective way, Spink prepares musicians for Fleadh Cheoil as well as traditional Irish music examinations. Most importantly, the tradition of playing and enjoying Irish music is being handed on to a new generation. More information is available at www.spinkcomhaltas.ie