5th February2010
NATIONAL
YOUTH PIPE BAND - CELTIC NOTES CONCERT
An Grianán Theatre, Letterkenny
20th February 2010
Also
performing : 13th January 2010 26th November 2009 30th September 2009 Ar
dheis Dé go raibh a anam uasal.
Letterkenny & District Pipe
Band
Thiepval Memorial Pipe Band
Mannorcunningham Pipe Band
BLACK RAVEN
PIPE BAND LAUNCH CENTENARY CELEBRATIONSJanuary
1st 2010 saw the launch of the Black Raven Pipe Band centenary
celebrations with a special function held at its band hall premises in
Lusk Co. Dublin.
The night was filled with music song and dance and plenty of good food,
and continued into the early hours.
Members, ex members and special
invited guests including the bands 92-year-old former Pipe Major and
President Jimmy Russell attended the evenings festivities.
Also
present was the band’s Vice President Patrick Weston.
A photographic
history of the band was also launched on the band’s web site
www.blackravenpipeband.net
The photographs were collected and compiled by band member Christy
Russell.
The photographs depict the ever-changing personnel and
uniforms throughout the years.
On display in the band hall were the efforts of the local Lusk National
Schools in the area who were asked to design a logo for the bands
centenary.
There were over sixty entries all of superb quality and the
winner will be announced in the next few weeks.
In his address Pipe Major Paul Russell thanked all those who attended
even in the bad weather conditions.
Paul expressed his disappointment
at the cancellation of a planned performance in the village during the
evening due the icy roads.
He also explained that the band is working
extremely hard to make a serious impression in the pipe band world
during the competition season.
Further centenary celebration news to follow soon.
Seamus Russell
P R O Black Raven Pipe Band
Phone 00 353 87 2621312
ALL-IRELAND
PIPE BAND CHAMPIONSHIPS 2010
Saturday 3rd of July 2010 is the date.
Ballina, Co. Mayo, Stevenites GAA ground, is the venue.......close to
the town centre.
Excellent venue ! Has plenty of area for bands preparation for contest
and also car and camper van parking.
The website address for accommodation in Ballina is - www.northmayo.ie
MARTIN
DEMPSEY - RIP
Martin Dempsey, a Wexford man by
origin, came to live and work in Kildare in the early 1970s and it
wasn’t long thereafter that he joined the ranks of the Lord Edward’s
Own Pipe Band based in Narraghmore, on the Kildare-Wicklow border.
He was to devote the next 35 years or so of his life to that band in
all manner of roles.
At various times over the years he was a committee member, a piper, a
Pipe-Major and a trustee and for many years, indeed, combined two or
more of those positions.
He remained faithful to the band in season and out of season, and was
always there whether the band’s fortunes were waxing or waning.
Perhaps his greatest talent and ability was his gift of teaching young
people how to play the chanter, to begin with, and then the pipes.
He trained many young players over the years with a patience and
determination that few have matched. In an era when the day-to-day
hum-drum job of teaching youngsters is being increasingly less widely
done, Martin worked away behind the scenes at the role with a great
degree of success and many young people played not only with Lord
Edward’s Own but with the Gorey and Durrow Pipe Bands and, indeed, in
some cases, went on to join bands in the higher grades.
Martin was synonymous with Lord Edward’s Own. His imposing physique and
stature meant that he was a beacon for the band and for piping more
generally.
He devoted many years’ service to the Irish Pipe Band Association
both at Leinster Branch level and at national level, holding various
officerships from his earliest involvement right up to the time of his
death.
He lived for piping and the wider realm of musical culture.
For a long number of years he almost single-handedly organised the
Dúchas Chill Dara Festival of Music and Dance, bringing groups
of musicians and dancers from all over Europe to perform in Kildare,
and brought the band to the Europeade Festival (Europe) and the
Loweneder Peran Celtic Festival (Perranporth, Cornwall) on many
occasions.
Martin’s sudden and unexpected passing on 24 February 2009 came as a
huge shock to his family, friends and associates the length and breadth
of Ireland and beyond.
His departure leaves Lord Edward’s Own Narraghmore Pipe Band and the
wider piping community on this island the poorer for his loss but all
of us are the richer for having known him.
