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Midland Arts and Culture Magazine | SUMMER 2012The local Military Barracks suppliedmany of the early members whothemselves were serving membersof the British Regimental bandsstationed in Mullingar. Many of themembers of these bands settled inthe town, married locally and joinedthe band. The band remainedunder the auspices of theConfraternity until the 1940s whenit was handed over to a committeewho continued under the title ofMullingar Brass and Reed Band.And, so it remained untilmembership had dwindled to threeor four members in 1957 when thepresent Director, Hubert Mageewas asked to takethe helm.Hubert was only studying theclarinet for a year or so whenlanded with the task of holding theband together. In 1979 theThe Druid Art Group in Portlaoisehas existed in its present form forsix years although several membershad met in an earlier group.The group meets on Thursdayevenings in the Methodist ChurchHall and there are currently 14regular attendees, several of whomhave been attending for five yearsor longer.The range of styles, like the level ofexperience and skill, varies widely.The group includes a highly skilledwater-colourist who has taughtpainting professionally as well usself-taught hobbyists. All enjoy thechallenge of applying paint to asurface in order to createmeaningful visual images.centenary was celebrated with amembership of over 100, thusrealising the goal of one memberfor every year of the band’sexistence.The Mullingar Town Band pridesitself in its dual role of a marchingband - The Celtic Crusaders - and aconcert band. Both disciplineshave won many top awards inIreland, Northern Ireland andEngland. Music education isimportant to the Mullingar TownBand and therefore all of itsmembers undergo at least one yearof music lessons in a junior bandclass before entrance into themarching element of the band. Aswell as playing musicians, the bandsupports a dance corp/colourguard which perform as part of themarching element of the band. TheMullingar Town Band has travelledLandscapes, flowers, animals andabstract concepts all feature in thisgroup’s output which has beenexhibited in the Methodist Hall ineach of the last five years. Severalworks by members of the group willbe on display in the gallery soon tobe opened above Phyllis Clegg’scraft shop, Rudai, in Portlaoise’sLower Main Street.nationally and internationally - toEurope and the Carolinas in theUnited States.Including the junior bands,marching band and colour guard,the concert band and thecommittee, the Mullingar TownBand has more than 200 membersinvolved in the organisation - andgrowing. With the band frequentlycatering for such a wide audience,the repertoire of Mullingar TownBand is varied including modernday popular chart music, jazz,blues, classical, traditional,spiritual, country and more.The Mullingar Town Band, as aleading Irish marching and concertband, is constantly updating itsrepertoire, membership, style andeducation to its members andaudiences. MDruid Art Group enjoyscamaraderie for all levels14The MissionStatement ofMullingar TownBand is:To Educate,Elevate andEntertainthrough theArt of Music.Mullingar Town Band marchingto success for generationsThe Mullingar Town Band is a midlands-based marching and concert band located in the town ofMullingar in the heart of County Westmeath. While officially founded in the year 1879, as a HolyFamily Confraternity Band, it can trace its roots as far back as the mid 1800s.Asked what they most like about thegroup, members agreed that thefriendly atmosphere and thereadiness of individuals to helpeach other with advice,encouragement and the loan ofmaterials all contributed to theirenjoyment of Thursday evenings.MMOur school orchestrareached the NationalConcert Hall!By Ruth Henry and Serena DempseyThe Sacred Heart School in Tullamore is the onlyall girls school in Offaly with an enrolment ofover 700 students. It has a strong Musictradition and there are many opportunities forstudents to participate in music making throughthe various ensembles that exist in the school,from its award winning choirs, an orchestra, atraditional group and many chamber ensembles.The school’s dedicated music staff offer acomprehensive range of tuition in all instrumentsand each student involved in tuition takes a RoyalIrish Academy of Music exam, appropriate to theirlevel, at the end of the school year.It has been an exciting musical journey since theschool orchestra was set up in 1990 by itsDirector, Regina McCarthy. Over the years theyhave gone from strength to strength.The present orchestra has almost 100 membersranging from first year to sixth year, which offersadditional options for students taking the Juniorand Leaving Cert Music practical’s.Many past pupils of the orchestra have followedprofessional music careers while some have beenmembers of the National Youth Orchestra ofIreland.The orchestra has won many awards at festivalsthroughout the country. In 2009 it was awardedthe Dorothy Mayor Cup in Feis Ceoil. Recently theorchestra performed in concert with the Band ofAn Garda Siochana and in February this year theywere selected to perform in the ‘17 th Festival ofYouth Orchestras’, organised by the IrishAssociation of Youth Orchestras at the NationalConcert Hall in Dublin. This was a specialachievement for the orchestra and school andwas true recognition for all their hard work andcommitment.In February the Sacred Heart School Orchestra setoff on an exciting journey to the National ConcertHall, an experience we would never forget.Excitement mounted as buses were loaded anduniforms packed. On arrival we were guided to theCarolan Suite by the friendly IAYO staff wherepreparations for morning rehearsal got underway.Before we knew it, we were lining up backstagewaiting for the concert to begin. We were the firstof four orchestras to perform and now nerveswere beginning to set in. After being welcomed onstage by a warm applause from the audience webegan our repertoire with The Waltz from SleepingBeauty by Tchaikovsky. This was followed with atraditional arrangement of ‘an’ Irish tune fromCounty Derry’ and the Dance of the Tumblers fromthe Snow Maiden by Rimsky Korsakov.Providing contrast we performed Autumn’ and‘Winter from The Four Seasons by Vivaldi. As wereached the final fortissimo chord of our last pieceThe Dambusters March by Eric Coates theaudience rose to its feet.We know we are very privileged to have been partof such a wonderful experience which will raisethe bar and encourage us to play even morechallenging repertoire in the future. M
There’ssomethingabout MaryBy Majella ReidHearts and minds throughout themidlands have long been inspired bythe creative words of Longford poet,Mary Melvin Geoghegan. With threecollections to her name and a fourthto be published later this year, MsMelvin Geoghegan is one ofLongford’s most prolific and highlyregarded literary figures.Award-winning poet Nuala NíChonchúir, is one of her manyadmirers. She has stated: “MelvinGeoghegan has an original use oflanguage – she is gifted with imagery –and a unique approach to each of hersubjects...Here is a poet who canmagnify the smallest detail until itbecomes as important to the reader asit is to her.”In the early 1990s, Mary joined theLongford Writers’ Group and it wasthere that her poetic spark was ignited.Such was the Dublin-born writer’spoetic evolution that within a few yearsshe was delivering poetry workshops atschools throughout county Longford.The Writers in Schools Scheme withPoetry Ireland and Free the Butterflyare just two programmes throughwhich Longford children were poeticallynurtured.Her success at delivering theseworkshops meant that in 2003 shecould compile a collection of poetryfrom Longford children entitled RideAlong Dear Grandma.In 2008, she was invited to take up aresidency at Stonepark NationalSchool (NS). “Every child in the schoolwrote a poem. It was funded by PoetryIreland and it (the resulting publishedwork) was called A Hand in the Future,”said Mary, who is quick toacknowledge the support ofStonepark’s Eamon Brennan andBelinda McKeon.Today Mary’s work with childrencontinues. As Regional Editor ofEurochild, she compiles a variety ofI clean out the wardrobe.Anything that’s five years or morenot worn goes into the spare room.But, not my father’s shirt or jacket.I search the pocketsfor anything I’d missed andin a corner an old plastic crucifixsevered from its beads.On Good Friday by Mary MelvinGeoghegan. This is one of over 60 poemsthat will feature in her latest collection ofpoems, Say it like a paragraph. Thecollection will be published by BradshawBooks, Tigh Filí, Cork, in autumn 2012.poems from across the region for theproject. Now in its tenth year, Eurochildis a project which gives children a voice.“It might be the first opportunity thatthey are asked to write something outof the ordinary confines of the schoolday,” said Mary. “Poetry helps peopleto connect back into themselves.”Mary’s work has been widely publishedin publications such as Crannóg(2011), Revival (2011), The Shop, TheStony Thursday Book (2011) and TheMoth (2012). In looking at her owninfluences, she tells me that sheadmires the work of poets such asNuala Ní Chonchúr and Vona Groake.In her fourth collection Say it like aParagraph, Mary looks at a new phasein her life, one which began with thepassing of her father, Alfred Melvin.“I write whatever inspires me.I’m inspired by photographs innewspapers, anything that interestsme really.” She was encouraged topublish this collection of poemsfollowing a workshop with Americanpoet, June HerstfieldShe added: “Temperamentally I’msuited to poetry. I think in lines. I feelso fortunate...Poetry is like theexpletive of the heart or the momentcaptured,” she said.But, despite all her success Mary has apractical view on life. “You are only asgood as the next piece you write. It’snever a given that it’s going to bethere,” she said.Mary lives in Abbeycartron, Longford.Her two children, Peter and Robbie,work in the United Kingdom. Peterwrites as a journalist for a number ofpublications including The Guardian,Sunday Business Post, Irish Times,Examiner and the Irish Independent.Robbie is an English teacher inGlasgow. MSalty Dogand theElectricPicnic“In the murky shadows of the woods inStradbally, an old friend peels a fewleaves off his forehead and flicks acaterpillar from behind his ear, andrecalls some distant promise to tryharder... its the captain of the SaltyDog, stumbling into the lengtheningSummer days with his flies undone andwondering how the winter was soeffortlessly squandered“, reads theofficial announcement for The SaltyDog Stage 2012…The Salty Dog Stage has something of areputation at the Electric Picnic—permanently dwelling on the naughtystep of the full scale music festival upthe road in Stradbally Hall in September.And rightly so, for it is a renegade 40-tonne French trawler, a shipwreck to youand I, which ‘fell off the back of a lorry’ inthe woods in 2008 and declared itselfopen for business. It has become a welllikedstage at Electric Picnic, with over 30bands performing on her decks over thethree days, and countless revelersfinding a second home under her nonjudgmentalbows.Operated by Stradbally resident HugoJellett, who also runs Carlow Arts Festival(Eigse) and Charles Preston, ‘the besttent guy in the business’, the Salty Dog isone of the few stages which devotesitself almost entirely to Irish acts—although Seasick Steve and EdwardSharpe & the Magnetic Zeros have bothperformed recentlyPolar Ice, a dry ice company fromPortarlington put on a foggy spectacularfor the three days, and it runs until thesunlight cracks thought the early morningmist each morning and the last fewrevelers fall to their knees in exhaustion.Jellett and Preston set about rounding upthe fringes of society and giving themstage to play on. “Sea shanties from pubtannedcodgers, bluegrass at the whimof corn-nibblers down from the hills,blues solos from tinny-swilling doublebassists with bockety eyes, and theoccasional cracking set from a confusedrock-star kidnapped from the main stageand spirited into the forest” as they put it.Somehow it’s fitting that in all thehullabaloo off giant Main Stages andinternational headline acts, thehumblest, wittiest and best loved stageof them all is a permanent Stradballyresident. MFESTIVAL REPUBLIC & PODpresentsELECTRIC PICNICMUSIC & ARTSFESTIVALSTRADBALLY HALL, CO. LAOISFriday, August, 31,Saturday, September 1,Sunday, September 2, 2012TICKETS ON SALE NOW!Over the last eight years Electric Picnic hasestablished itself as a melting pot of finemusic, art, comedy, spoken word and so muchmore. This year won’t be any different...anotherinfusion of colour, vibrancy, sparkle andmischief is on the way as we commence ourcountdown to Electric Picnic 2012 by revealingthe first acts who will be bestowing thesoundtrack in Stradbally over three days at theend of the summer.THE CURE; THE KILLERS; ELBOW; SIGURRÓS; ORBITAL; HOT CHIP; THE XX ;GRIZZLY BEAR; CHRISTY MOORE; THEROOTS; GLEN HANSARD; METRONOMY;THE HORRORS; AZEALIA BANKS; ROOTSMANUVA; BAT FOR LASHES;TINDERSTICKS; BELL X1; STAFF BENDABILILI; MILAGRES; ED SHEERAN;ALABAMA SHAKES; CRANES; LITTLEROY; LAND LOVERS; BAXTER DURY;JONATHAN WILSON; SOLAR BEARS;FATOUMATA DIAWARA; WILLIS EARLBEAL; LANTERNS ON THE LAKETHE CURE will play a two hours plus setof songs drawn from all 14 of their studioalbums - including tracks from their epicWish album, celebrating it’s 20thanniversary in 2012. This will be THECURE’s first ever appearance at ElectricPicnic and is definitely not to be missed.Electric Picnic goers will revel in thepowerful anthems of ELBOW this year asthey head to Stradbally. They haverecently been given the honour of writingthe BBC’s Olympic theme. Throw thosecurtains wide, Elbow have arrived!Other areas to be explored include BODYAND SOUL, MINDFIELD, COMEDY TENT,THEATRE OF FOOD, GLOBAL GREEN,SOUL KIDS and much more……….“I’m really looking forward to this year’sfestival, particularly having The Cure onthe lineup, a band we’ve been trying toget on the bill for 7 years.” JohnReynolds, PODFurther information about tickets isavailable at www.electricpicnic.iePaper Girls at ElectricPicnic Launch15
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