Ep 393 – New Year’s Eve Special… A look back at 2024

This week, we’re showcasing some of our favourite programmes of the last 12 months.

In Part 1… We start the programme at the Clayton Crown Hotel in Cricklewood with Lucia Butler, Chairperson of the London Wexford Association, celebrating their 70th annual dinner dance. This lively event has distinguished guests from Ireland including Martin Fraser, Irish Ambassador to the UK and a small army of Wexford councillors!

Then we’re off to Liverpool to meet up with Jess Campbell and Dan Halliday from Claire House Children’s Hospice. Their fantastic service has been this year’s charity of choice for the Eurogold golf day, and we are joined by Emma Brickland and Emma Cassidy from Eurogold as they present Claire House with a massive sum of money, all raised on the fundraising day.

To close part 1, we’re with Chris Boland at the Liverpool Irish Centre, welcoming Spink Laois Comhaltas, as they spend a few days away from Ireland in Merseyside. Chris, as the Chairman of the Liverpool Comhaltas Branch, organised this event along with his Irish counterparts, Una Aylward and Genevieve Bennett. This lively event packed with music and dance demonstrates just how popular traditional music is amongst the younger Irish generations, both here and across the Irish Sea.

In Part 2… To give us a bit of winter sunshine, we’re at the Hotel Amaragua, Torremolinos, Costa Del Sol in Spain with the Gerry Flynn Events team. Gerry has been arranging holidays all around the world for the last thirty years. These holidays feature daily classes in a variety of dance styles including Ceili, Sets, Sean Nos, Ballroom, Jive, and Salsa.

Next, we’re at Birmingham’s Pairc Festival and despite the “British” weather, the Irish acts came at us thick and fast. Boyzlife; Brian McFadden and Keith Duffy, gave us a fantastic interview and a great performance on stage. With Mary Coughlan, Frances Black, Sharon Shannon amongst others and the festival closed with, wait for it, Bob Geldof!

To close the show, we meet up with the Luton Mayo Association as they celebrate 30 years of charitable work. Founded in a pub back in 1994 with the objective of helping others, their work still continues today. Liamy MacNally was a former chairman of the association, and along with Joe Cruise, the current chairman we reflect on times gone by.

Happy New Year Everyone! We’ll see you in 2025

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