Musical friends to be remembered at Mayo event The Parting Glass

WESTPORT Lions Club are hosting a special evening of entertainment remembering musical friends who have passed.

The Parting Glass takes place on Sunday, June 11, in the Castlecourt Hotel and funds raised will be donated to Mayo Roscommon Hospice and other local charities.

In March 2020, Westport Lions Club was preparing for the 'Jennie’s Smile' fundraising event. It was to be a musical extravaganza in homage of Jennie Kilroy Durkin, a much loved musician, daughter, sister, wife, mother, teacher and friend from the community.

Although Covid locked it down before doors opened, the money raised from ticket sales supported the Westport Family Resource Centre’s counselling programme, which has been honoured for the last three years and for that they are extremely grateful to the family.

The Lions Club explained: 'Now we find ourselves in 2023 and we have lost many, more wonderful artists who have inspired and entertained us through difficult times. So we are revisiting the Jennie’s Smile event where we will have an opportunity to remember Jennie and others in an evening of music and song with some of our finest locals and a few surprises taking the stage.'

Expect traditional music with a twist, blue grass, country, jazz, and everything in between. This will be your Parting Glass.

The event takes place on Sunday, June 11, from 7 p.m. until late in the Castlecourt's Dome Suite. Tickets (€15) are available from The Curiosity Shop near The Jester, Castlecourt Hotel reception, the Clew Bay Hotel and westportlions@gmail.com. Anyone presenting tickets from the cancelled event in 2020 will be allowed entry.

A montage film will be shown during the evening in honour of Gerry MacNally, Larry Hingerton and Frank Campbell, who will be greatly missed in the community and leave behind a legacy of musical memories.

The junior Comhaltas under 12s choir will feature - Jenny taught and encouraged many children in the choir and ceilidh bands.

Also on stage are the Clew Bay Pipers; Tony Reidy, the prolific songwriter and raconteur who embodies the term the 'musicians musician'; Julie Langan, Newport, teacher and wonderful fiddle player; Laoise Kelly, renowned internationally for her harp playing; Emer Mayock, Castlebar, on whistle; John and Isabella Hoban - John is from Castlebar originally but lives in Westport and was just about everybody's teacher in Mayo, a huge inspiration; Brian Duffy, singer/songwriter, who has a gig on in Westport Town Hall with the Mayo Orchestra; Brendan and Joanne Keegan, individual musicians and singers in their own right who join as siblings to create a formidable duo; and Sara and Hubie MacEvilly, Killawalla, another brother and sister well respected duo playing blue grass.

After 8's, Castlebar brothers James and Joesph Garvey, with their band, can be seen all over Mayo and are joined by Westport Lion and jazz singer Nicky Dowd.

And Tommy Hodgins and John Scahill - Tommy played with Jennie Kilroy for years and they were a constant musical phenomena. He will be closing the evening with local musician John and will lead everyone in The Parting Glass.