Week long St Patrick's Festival.
09 March, 2016
St. Patrick’s Festival March 13th – 20th.
Courtmacsherry St. Patrick’s Day committee has put together a week-long programme incorporating a diverse range of activities; historical, cultural and artistic. The calendar of events begins on Sunday 13th and Monday 14th with 2 films; an Irish themed dinner in the Pier House on Wednesday 15th and ends on Sunday 20th with old-time and céilí dancing in the village. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade will be the highlight of this Festival week with a sea parade at 4.30pm and a land parade at 5pm. This is the 10th anniversary parade and is being celebrated by inviting The Dagenham Girls Pipe Band UK to Courtmacsherry. The Butter Exchange Brass and Reed Band Cork will also feature in the parade. The theme of this year’s parade is 1916 and floats commemorating this historic week will feature strongly. Grand Marshal of the 2016 Parade is Ann O’Donovan, who works tirelessly for the Community on diverse committees and projects. Guest of Honour is Mr. Michael Manning, former Fáilte Ireland Tourism officer for West Cork and a great friend of Courtmacsherry.
Historical Talk.
On Friday, 18th March at 8.00pm in Courtmacsherry Community Centre: “Soldiers are We: 1916 Ireland and the World” - Historical Talk by Dr Gearóid Barry, Department of History, School of Humanities, NUI Galway. The talk will locate events with the broader European and global context and will be followed by a Question and Answer session.
Cór Chúil Aodha in Concert:
Saturday March 19th at 8pm in Courtmacsherry Community Centre. Founded by legendary Irish composer Seán Ó Riada in 1963 - and continued after his death in 1971 to this day by his son Peadar. Cór Chúil Aodha (The Coolea Men's Choir) occupies a legendary place in Irish music and embodies the spirit of an area that is historically rich in both poetry and music. This concert will be supported by “A Terrible Beauty”: a dramatised local production recounting the events of Easter Week 1916 through the poems, songs, prose and music of the time. Angela Veldman O’Donovan has adapted and arranged this programme and a cast of 10 from the Courtmacsherry and Timoleague area will bring this production to life. The beauty of the poems of Pádraig Pearse, Thomas McDonagh and Joseph Mary Plunkett will be heard. The anguish, pain and sheer determination of the leaders will be felt, as they write their last letters to mothers, wives, children, siblings and sweethearts. The songs relating to that time will evoke pathos and love. A local interest will take you on a journey through Dublin, from St. Matthew’s Park, Fairview to the G.P.O. and on to Moore Street as we follow 20 year old Charlie Saurin of F. Company. Lt. Colonel Charles Saurin retired to Courtmacsherry in 1953 and died here in 1964.
Camogie Club taking part in the 2014 Parade.