Classes have now finished for the Christmas break. Our thanks to all the pupils, parents and teachers for their hard work and support this year. We'll have a further 10-week term starting on Saturday, 12th January, leading up to Easter and the Derry Fleadh, which will this year be held on Saturday, 13th April in Culturlann Ui Chanain in Derry City.

 

There won't be a monthly session in December but we're on the move again in January! The first session of the New Year sees us returning to the traditional first Thursday of the month but at a different venue. On Thursday, 3rd January, our session will be held in The Elk, starting with juniors at 7:30pm followed by a senior session at 9:00pm. 

 

 

The final monthly session of 2012 will take place on Friday, 30th November, in the Sean O'Leary GAC, with the usual starting times of 8:00pm (junior) and 9:00pm (senior). Below are a couple of pictures from our October session.

 

 

 

At this year's AGM, following reports from the chairperson, secretary and treasurer, Eamonn Graham, chairman of the Ulster Council of Comhaltas, presided over the election of officers. A full list of those elected can be viewed on our Committee page.

 

A reminder to all that membership fees are now due as all membership details and fees have to be submitted to Comhaltas before the end of December. See our Membership page for further details. 

 

 

Classes are currently taking a two week break for Halloween and will resume on Saturday, 10th November.

 

This month's session will be held on Friday, 26th October in the GAC centre as usual, starting at 8:00pm for junior musicians and 9:00pm for more experienced musicians.

 

Our AGM will be held in the Committee Room of the Sean O'Leary GAC Centre on Tuesday, 28th October at 8:30pm. All members and anyone interested in becoming involved in the promotion of traditional music in the area are welcome to attend.

 

 

A new 12-week term of traditional music classes starts on Saturday, 15th September. In addition to tin whistle, fiddle and banjo/mandolin, we can now also offer classes in concertina, although the concertina classes won't start until Saturday, 22nd September. All classes will be held in Anahorish Primary School from 10:30am on Saturday mornings (some classes may begin at 11:00am). Registration for the classes will be between 10:00am and 10:30am on Saturday, 15th September. Fees for the term, which are payable at registration, are £40 for the first pupil in any household, while additional family members pay only £20. Membership of £4 per junior pupil or £8 per senior pupil is also payable at registration. If the timetable permits, pupils may take a class in a second instrument at no extra cost. All abilities, including beginner, are catered for and new students are always welcome. Use the Contact Us tab with any queries.

 

In a break with tradition, this season's monthly sessions will be held on the last Friday of each month, starting on 28th September at 8:00pm (junior) and 9:00pm (senior). The venue is also changing to a different part of the GAC premises. Entry will now be via the front door and admission will be £3 including a light supper.

 

 

One medal winner to report from this year's All-Ireland Fleadh. Kevin O'Kane was in the Ceoltoiri Crosskeys Grupa Ceoil who were awarded second place in the O-18 Grupai Ceoil competition. The group is pictured here following the presentation of the Gerald Whelan Memorial Plaque. The pictures below also show some of the others from Newbridge CCE who took part in grupai ceoil, duet and solo singing competitions at the fleadh, as well as performing in sessions and on the outdoor stage. Although none were placed in the competitions, they all acquitted themselves well, enjoyed the fleadh experience and were not out of place on the All-Ireland stage. Next month, it's back to classes and sessions - more soon.

 

 

Despite not having any winners at this year's Ulster fleadh in Dungiven, we had quite a few second placed competitors who have qualified for the All-Ireland fleadh in Cavan. Congratulations to Brendan McLaughlin (U-12 mens singing in English), Molly and Jane Walls (U-12 duet), Molly Walls, Maitiu Cairns, Caoimhe O'Kane and Nicole Nugent (U-12 grupai ceoil) and Kevin O'Kane (O-18 grupai ceoil). Well done, also, to Jane Walls who finished third in both uilleann pipes and uilleann pipes slow air competitions and to Nicole Nugent (U-12 button accordion), Cara Walls (U-12 harp), Molly Walls (U-12 ceili band) and Caoimhe Purvis (15-18 grupai ceoil and ceili band) who played well in their respective events. Good luck to all in Cavan on 18/19 August!

 

 

For the first time, members of Newbridge CCE have taken part in the London College of Music Examinations in Irish Traditional Music. On Tuesday, 19th June, Caoimhe Purvis, Molly Walls and Caoimhe O'Kane took the Grade 4 fiddle exam. Cara Walls took the Grade 2 harp exam, Jane Walls the Grade 2 uilleann pipes exam and Caoimhe O'Kane also sat the Grade 4 tin whistle exam. Results won't be known for a few weeks, but we're hopeful that everyone acquitted themselves well and, hopefully, we'll be able to offer more of our members and pupils the opportunity to do the exams next year. Our thanks to Catherine Sands at Loughguile Community Afterschools Club/Ballycastle CCE for facilitating the girls' participation. 

 

Well done to Owen and Brendan McLaughlin, Molly, Jane and Cara Walls and to Caoimhe O'Kane on their performances at Feis na nGleann in Cushendall on Sunday, 10th June. Special congratulations to Cara on winning the U-10 miscellaneous competition playing the harp. Jane came third in the same competition on the uilleann pipes and the girls were awarded joint 3rd place in the slow air section. Owen was second in the U10 tin whistle competition while his brother, Brendan, tied for second in the U-12 traditional singing in Irish. Caoimhe came second in the U-12 tin whistle, third in the fiddle and tied for third in the slow air, where she played the whistle.

 

 

Our members were again very successful at the Yew Tree Feis in Ahoghill this year. The picture below shows some of our prizewinners. From left to right, Molly Walls won the P6-P7 fiddle, Freya O'Neill was second in the P4-P5 tin whistle, Caoimhe O'Kane won the P6-P7 tin whistle, was second in the fiddle and joint third in the miscellaneous competition playing the concertina. Finally Molly O'Neill was joint second in the P6-P7 miscellaneous competition playing the piano.

Other Newbridge CCE competitors were Cathaoir Purvis who came fourth in the P6-P7 tin whistle and Jane and Cara Walls who came first the joint third respectively in the P4-P5 miscellaneous section, with Jane playing the uilleann pipes and Cara the harp.

Well done to all our competitors at the recent fleadhanna in Derry and Cushendall. At the Derry fleadh we were represented by Caoimhe Purvis in the 12-15 fiddle competition and by Nicole Nugent in the U-12 accordion. Although Caoimhe played very well, she wasn't placed in the top three, but Nicole qualified for the Ulster Fleadh after coming second in her section. More success to record from the Antrim fleadh, where Maitiu Cairns played so well in the U-10 tin whistle section that he was awarded a certificate and promoted to play in the U-12 section. He didn't, however, qualify from the older age group but has several more years at U-10 and U-12 in which to improve further and will undoubtedly challenge for honours in the years to come. Molly Walls was unfortunate not to qualify in the U-12 fiddle competitions, but did achieve third place in both the fiddle and fiddle slow air sections. Her sister, Cara, is through in the U-12 harp competition, having finished second, and she also got third place in the harp slow air. Jane Walls won both the uilleann pipes and uilleann pipes slow air competitions at U-12 level, while Brendan McLaughlin won the U-12 boys singing in Irish. In the group competitions, Molly and Jane Walls won the U-12 duets, while some of our members were also successful in Ceoltoiri Crosskeys grupai ceoil and ceili bands - Molly Walls, Maitiu Cairns and Nicole Nugent played with the winning U-12 groupa ceoil. Caoimhe O'Kane is also a member of the group but was unable to attend the Antrim fleadh this year. Molly also played in the ceili band which won the U-12 section. Caoimhe Purvis was in both grupa ceoil and ceili band in the 12-15 category - the grupa ceoil came second while the ceili band won. Finally, Kevin O'Kane was unavailable to play for the winning senior grupa ceoil at the Antrim fleadh but will rejoin the group in preparation for the Ulster fleadh in July. Good luck to all our musicians and singers in Dungiven.  

 

The timetable for the competitions at the Derry Fleadh on Saturday, 19th May, can now be viewed by clicking here. The timetable for the Antrim Fleadh is available at the Glens of Antrim Comhaltas website - click here.

 

We had a very successful session on Thursday, 3rd May, to complete our season's activities. It included a performance by the All-Ireland Scor winning Instrumental Group from Wolfe Tones GAC, Bellaghy (below).

Classes finished on Saturday, 12th May, and we're hoping to resume on Saturday, 15th September for another 12-week term. Our next session will be on Friday, 28th September, in the Sean O'Leary GAC centre. We'll be using a space at the front of the premises, so patrons will need to use the front door of the hall from now on.

 

 

Our last session of the season will be held in the Comhaltas Room on Thursday, 3rd May at 7:30pm (junior) and 9:00pm (senior). We hope as many people as possible come along as it will be the last session to be held in the room. After a residency of 35 years, we'll be relocating to another part of the premises when the sessions resume in the autumn. We also propose move the sessions to a Friday night instead of Thursday - more details to follow.

 

A very successful and enjoyable table quiz was held in The Elk on Friday, 27th April. The grand sum of £590 was raised for Newbridge CCE, so thanks to all those who came along and supported the event.

 

Although our music classes finish on Saturday, 12th May, there are plenty of local fleadhanna and feiseanna coming up for our pupils and members to continue to practice for.

First up are the Derry and Antrim fleadhanna, both being held this year on the weekend of 19/20 May. Although entries for competitions at both Derry and Cushendall are now closed, anyone can go along to observe.

On Saturday, 26th May, the traditional music section of the Yew Tree Feis is being held in The Acorn Centre, Crosskeys Road, Ahoghill beginning at 10:30am. This feis is for primary school age children and competitions in whistle, fiddle and miscellaneous instruments are split into three smaller groups according to class (P1-P3, P4-P5 and P6-P7). Click here to see the entire feis programme.

This year's Feis na nGleann is being held in Cushendall Parish Centre on Sunday, 10th June, starting at 11:00am. As well as fiddle, whistle and miscellaneous competitions, there are competitions for flute, accordian, slow air, instrumental groups and singing in both English and Irish. The age groups here are U-8, U-10, U-12, U-14 and O-14. Visit the feis website for more information.

Closer to home, Feis Charn Tochair 2012 will be held at An Carn outside Maghera on Saturday, 16th June. Fiddle, whistle, miscellaneous instruments and singing in Irish competitions are available to solo performers and there are group competitions at various age levels as well. Entries need to be submitted by Tuesday, 29th May, and a programme will then be worked out and distributed to those taking part. Click here for more information. 

 

 

This year's County Derry fleadh will be held in Derry City on Saturday, 19th May at the Culturlann Ui Chanain premises at Gt. James' St. in the city. Any member of Newbridge CCE wishing to enter any of the competitions need to submit their entries through a committee member before Wednesday, 25th April. Also, anyone who won a trophy last year needs to return it to a committee member by the same date. Once entries are processed, a timetable will be made available which we hope to publish here.

 

Music classes were due to finish on Saturday, 31st March. However, we have decided to run an extra five classes between Easter and the fleadh, so classes resume after Easter on Saturday, 4th April and finish on Saturday, 12th May. Fees for the new term will be £15 and additional family members pay £10. Fees are payable at registration which will be between 10:00am and 10:30am on Saturday, 4th April. As before, classes in tin whistle, fiddle and banjo/mandolin are available and new students are always welcome.

 

As a result, we have also decided to have an additional monthly session this year on Thursday, 3rd May. Not only will this be our last session before the summer break, it will be our last ever session in the "Comhaltas Room" at the Sean O'Leary GAC centre as the football club, who have been our hosts since the formation of the branch 35 years ago, need the room for other purposes. We're hoping for a good turnout on the night as the venue has seen many memorable nights over the years - an announcement on a new venue will be made at a later date.

 

A fundraising table quiz will be held in The Elk on Friday, 27th April, at 9:00pm. Admission is £5.

 

 

 

  

 

Our first session of 2012 was one of our best attended in recent years (see pictures below). A total of approximately 40-50 musicians participated in the junior and senior sessions, and there was also a sizeable audience to enjoy the music and singing. We hope to build on this success for the February session which takes place on Thursday, 2nd February.