On 26th November a group of us from the Newton Abbot Irish Set Dance group flew from Exeter to Dublin for a Winter holiday in Ireland. The main focus of the holiday was the set dancing weekend in Westport, Co Mayo, on the west coast of Ireland, but we did lots of other things too.
We picked up a hire car on arrival and travelled over to Moate, a small town in the Irish Midlands. This is home to one of our favourite dances, and also home to some friends who had invited us to stay with them. Moate turned out to be a traditional looking town, with a very nice park with a sculpture area, wildlife area, and some traditional buildings which had been relocated there from elsewhere in the area. The sun shone and we enjoyed walking around there before visiting Athlone and then driving up to Westport.
Dancing
The dancing started on Friday evening with the Matt Cunningham Ceili Band. Eamon, one of the main organisers was there throughout the weekend to make sure everything was going smoothly, and to call some of the dances. The ceili began with the Ballyvourney Jig, followed by the Plain Set, two dances which I would normally choose to end an evening, so it felt a bit like the evening was going backwards! We finished with the Connemarra, which is another good finishing number.
On Saturday morning Pat Murphy, one of the top Irish Set Dance teachers in Ireland was there for the workshops. In the morning he taught the Old Mill Lancers, his 2019 composition. (He told me he has something new ready to be launched in January for 2020.) In the afternoon he taught the Glengariff Reel set, which was quite new to me, and the Camus, which comes from the Westport area. I had danced this when I was there before, but not very much since.
The music for the ceili on Saturday night was from the Swallow’s Tail Ceili Band, another group we know well from the recorded music we dance to at home.
The ceili didn’t finish till 1 am, but it was, nevertheless, followed by a session in the bar with some of the dancers playing tunes and singing tunes until the early hours. A nice way to wind down after a busy ceili.
There was more teaching on Sunday morning, when Pat taught the Coolmore Set, one he has recently re-discovered in his library and not taught before. The afternoon ceili was with the Glenside Ceili Band, who have a very lively sound, and were great to dance to.
All in all it was a great weekend of dancing, but very busy and I was ready to relax with a few days holiday afterwards. I didn’t have a chance to take any photos while I was there, but I am sure there will be some on the Sets.ie web site in due course.
Holiday making
On the Monday morning we drove down through the mountains from Westport towards Galway via the Holy Mountain Croagh Patrick, Leenane and Kylemore Abbey. It was a sunny day and we had beautiful views all the way. We stayed overnight in Galway and explored the city the next day. It has a fascinating museum, with lots of exhibits about traditional Galway life, the Irish struggle for independence, and marine biology. We spent hours there. Then we walked by the river, which was in full flood and quite spectacular, and visited the cathedral.
On our last day we travelled across Ireland to Newgrange, a Neolithic burial mound a little north of Dubliin. On the winter solstice the sun shines down the passageway in the mound into the burial chamber, and the staff there told us they were getting ready for crowds of people to descend on the site during that week to celebrate the occasion (even though only 20 people would be allowed inside to witness the light).
Our last night was in Swords, very near to Dublin Airport, ready for our flight back to Exeter in the morning.
Ireland is a beautiful country for a holiday, the food is good, and the people are very friendly, so it’s great to be able to go there, take part in some dancing, and visit some of the sites as well. Now I just need to plan a trip for 2020!
