Tag Archives: Willie Clancy Summer School

FRIENDS and family of the late Ashling Murphy arrived in County Clare this week having joined a cycle travelling from Tyrone to Miltown Malbay’s Willie Clancy Summer School festival in memory of the popular teacher. The 23 year-old primary school teacher and traditional Irish musician, who had been a regular visitor to the Willie Clancy summer school, was tragically killed in January of this year while out running in Tullamore. Her life has also been remembered with the announcement by Comhaltas  Ceoltóirí Éireann of three scholarships in her honour, with the organisation describing Ashling as “a light of inspiration”. The ‘Wheels & Jigs’ cycle is raising funds for the Ashling Murphy Memorial Trust which has been set up by the Murphy family and at the time of going to press close to €10,500 had been raised. The cycle was founded in 2015 and has raised funds for a number of different charities over the years. Ashling had performed with Fermanagh …

A SWEDISH filmmaker, whose work features the legendary piper, Willie Clancy, will return to Miltown Malbay next month for the first time since 1965.  Lennart Malmer travelled to Ireland in the mid-‘60s in search of music. His visit took him into traditional music circles in Dublin, Scariff and on to Miltown, where he filmed in the home of Willie Clancy on the Flag Road. The result of the young Swede’s musical journey is a film called ‘Porter och Pipa’ (Porter and Pipe), described as “a fascinating snapshot of the lives and music of some of the finest musicians in the history of Irish traditional music”.  The short film will be screened on Wednesday, July 6 at 6pm in the Community Centre, with Mr Malmer present.  The highly-regarded filmmaker was traced by Alan Woods of the Irish Traditional Music Archive (ITMA), who set the ball rolling for the filmmaker’s return visit to West Clare, after an interval of 57 years. Harry …

CLARE was showcased to the nation on Wednesday when RTÉ’s popular daytime Today show broadcast live from Ennis with host Dáithí Ó Sé. The production team based themselves in the Old Ground Hotel during filming, travelling to the four corners to highlight the best of the Banner. Speaking to The Clare Champion, Dáithí revealed that he has a soft spot for the county. “We come to Clare a lot, last Sunday we took a spin back to Spanish Point, it’s beautiful back there. Rita’s parents both come from there so we are very familiar with West Clare and often come to Ennis shopping. “It’s great to be here and get a feel of the town being back again, there’s a great buzz. “You’re very lucky in Clare. You are on the Wild Atlantic Way, have the Cliff of Moher and the Burren, towns like Ennis, the trad music. There’s a great balance, you get it all here.” While in Clare Dáithí met with …

THE wealth of musical talent of the young people of the Miltown Malbay area is set to be showcased to audiences around the world in a new web series to be released from this week. The series, which was the brainchild of the Miltown Malbay Development Committee (MMDC) and was filmed by Neil Hynes, the manager of the state-of-the-art €1.4m community centre in the West Clare town, features some of those who have taken the tradition into the 21st century. The initiative was prompted after the pandemic forced the cancellation of this year’s Willie Clancy Summer School. Mr Hynes explained, “Realising the streets wouldn’t be heaving this July with musicians and tourists from all over the world, we felt that it may be easy for the public to assume that the spirit of the area had been sucked out of it, that it was no longer there. No Willie Clancy, no Miltown Malbay. Nothing could be further from the truth.” …

MILTOWN Malbay and the wider West Clare community continue to count the cost of the cancellation of an event whose economic value has been set at between €5 and €10 million annually. The Willie Clancy Summer School, whose cultural value is probably impossible to estimate, is among the casualties of the coronavirus restrictions. Its absence, on what would have been its 48th birthday, will be felt well beyond the Banner county. This year’s event had been expected to attract 1500 students  between July 4 and 12, with many thousands more attending for sessions, talks, seminars, dancing, concerts and the general festival atmosphere. Administrative Director Harry Hughes described the cancellation of this year’s Scoil Samhradh as “disappointing but inevitable” in the context of Covid-19. “We had been hoping things might improve in terms of the virus, but that wasn’t to be,” he remarked. “We are very disappointed for all of our students and tutors who attend year after year and the cancellation …

THERE has been a further blow to the county’s calendar of summer events, with confirmation in recent days that the annual Scariff Harbour Festival will not go ahead this year. The news follows the cancellation of a number of high-profile events, including the Willie Clancy Summer School, Spancilhill Fair, the Feakle Festival and more, and is in line with government recommendations and Covid-19 restrictions. The Waterways Ireland-sponsored festival, scheduled for the August Bank holiday week-end, is internationally regarded for the quality of its contributors, drawing key-note speakers, entertainers and performers of renown. The event, which was to have marked its 18th year, also showcased key attractions in East Clare and offered a host of free outdoor music, walks, talks, guest speakers, boat tours and children’s entertainment, making it a social highlight and a key driver for the local economy. “It is a huge disappointment for the community, festival-goers and the organising committee that this year’s festival cannot happen,” said Chairman, Mike …

People in Clare will experience the arts in new and exciting ways this year, according to the Arts Council. Outlining its plan to invest €68.4 million nationwide over the course of the year, the agency for developing the arts said the focus of this year’s investment would be on creating opportunities for the public to experience large-scale work, as well as work of real artistic ambition, by supporting organisations through its two new funding programmes. “2018 is going to be an excellent year for people in Clare who enjoy the arts, said Arts Council Director, Orlaith McBride. “whether you love visual arts, traditional arts, or festivals and events, whether you are young or old, you will experience wonderful work that will lift your spirit.” In addition, there will be increased funding for particular work by artists,emerging companies and organisations through the new Arts Grants Funding programme Individual artists will be supported through a range of schemes such as bursaries and …

MILTOWN Malbay on Willie Clancy week resonates with varied accents, strains of traditional music and rapid weather alterations. On Monday afternoon, the main street in the West Clare town teemed with people, while inside the open doors of the public houses, music wafted towards the open air. At Hennessy Memorial Park, the pavilion resounded with set dancers pounding the afternoon into evening, while even the old dressing room building was packed with students and tutors. Kieran Jordan, who is from Philadelphia but has lived in Boston for more than 20 years, was one of the teachers, along with Kevin Doyle from Rhode Island. While leg and soft muscle injuries are more associated with sport, Kieran has been on the treatment table a fair bit herself. She counts torn hamstrings, a torn ligament in her foot and a torn hip cartilage as amongst the strains and knocks she has encountered while dancing or teaching it. “It makes you reflect and say …