Socks walk away with trad prize

ENNIS band Socks in the Frying Pan won the Battle of the Trad Bands competition at the centenary celebrations of Scoil Acla in Achill Island recently.

The Ennis musicians were Shane Hayes on button accordion, Fiachra Hayes on fiddle and Aodhán Coyne on guitar and vocals. They entertained the audience with a selection of jigs, reels and ballads.
Shane added French, French Canadian and one of his own tunes to the mix to scoop the €1,000 prize. The Ennis lads joined local musicians for a brilliant session afterwards that stretched into the small hours.
Diarmuid Gielty, chairman of Scoil Acla, said, “We were thrilled to have such gifted musicians travel all the way from Clare to Achill to help us celebrate our centenary.
“Our next event will be a set-dancing weekend from June 18 to 20 with Pat Murphy. The Abbey, The Matt Cunningham and The Sean Norman Ceilí Bands will surely get the feet tapping.”
Scoil Acla is Ireland’s oldest summer. It was started in 1910 from Douglas Hyde’s Conradh na Gaeilge movement. Claud Chevasse, Darrell Figgis and an Paorach were some of the founding members and artist Paul Henry was also involved with the school, which aimed to promote Irish culture and language.