St. Patrick’s Day
Spink Comhaltas lead out the annual St Patrick’s Day Parade from Knock Church to Knock Community Hall, where Spink Comhaltas junior music classes are held. The parade this year was a great display of community spirit and involvement. The musicians leading the parade then provided a great concert to everyone who attended the event in the community hall.
No sooner had they finished performing in Spink than they had to head into Abbeyleix, where they provided music for a large audience in market square from the gig rig and parade viewing platform right up to the start of the parade.
Members of Spink Comhaltas went onto provide music in Portlaoise later in the day.
Culture night
Now in it’s 13th year, Culture Night is an annual all-island public event that celebrates culture, creativity and the arts. In 2017, it took place on Friday 22nd September. On Culture Night, arts and cultural organisations and venues of all shapes and sizes, including the National Cultural Institutions, extend their opening hours to allow for increased access to the public. Special and unique events and workshops are specifically programmed at participating locations and everything is available free of charge.
Culture Night has grown from a relatively small scale cultural event staged only in Dublin in 2006 to the significant national cultural event it now is, with some 400,000 people visiting museums, galleries, historic houses, artists’ studios and cultural centres across the island. The initiative has captured both the public imagination and the enthusiasm of artists and cultural organisations.
Spink Comhaltas has been hosting a Culture Night event for the last 4 years, and this year was no different, with a great performance of young and more experienced musicians entertaining a large audience in Knock Community Hall. It was a great warm up to junior music classes resuming on 29th September.
Applefest
Located in the beautiful Abbeyleix Community Garden, Applefest is an autumnal celebration of all things connected with apples, including of course great music!
Musicians from Spink Comhaltas were out in force to entertain the crowd, and the sound of their music wafting through the air attracted visitors from Dublin in from the main street who were not aware of the activity in the garden. They were very impressed – having arrived for the music, they stayed for the apples!
