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The
Birmingham Irish Pipes and Drums setting a steady pace |
The
weekend of the 10-12th March 2006 saw the 11th annual Birmingham
St Patrick’s Festival take place. The weekend started with
the launch party at the Paragon Hotel in Digbeth on Friday 10th
March 2006. This was attended by sponsors, supporters and friends
of the Festival, St Patrick himself was even in attendance! The
evening was a great success and the wide selection of music on
display was enjoyed by everyone there. The event was hosted by
the Paragon and the entertainment was sponsored by Lombard.
On Saturday 11 March there were 3 events in the city of Birmingham.
Reel around the Fountain took place in Victoria Square next to the ‘Floozie’.
BBCWM’s Jenny Jones hosted the stage and introduced all the fantastic
music and dance. There was music from Birmingham Irish Pipes and Drums
and the Killeshin Band from Ireland. It was cold standing in Victoria
Square on Saturday afternoon but it was fabulous to listen and see
the wonderful display that was put on.
The other events on Saturday took place in the Bullring and in Selfridges.
The crowds gathered outside Selfridges Foodhall and they were looking
over the balconies to see what was happening. There was music in both
locations from Comhaltas, Clive and Joel, Mooncoin, Donald McCombie,
Rob Tyler and there was dancing from the Holy Souls Set Dancers and
Sylvia Murphy-Brennan’s Academy of Irish Dance, Music and Song.
Shoppers were thrilled to see and hear something different while they
browsed on a Saturday afternoon. It was lovely to see people going
up and down the escalators in Selfridges a couple of times so they
could listen to more of the music!
Then of course Sunday dawned a bright and very cold morning. The Parade
started just after 12 midday at Camp Hill and the many floats, bands,
county associations, walking groups and schools marched down through
Digbeth. The snow started falling but that didn’t put anyone
off – approximately 80,000 people lined the route to see who
was going to win Best Float, Best Band and Best Banner. This year these
awards went to Monaghan Association, The Birmingham Irish Pipes and
Drums and Wicklow Association.
Also on display were the fantastic costumes from St Patrick’s
Primary School and Bishop Challoner Secondary School. Both schools
had benefited from funding awarded to the festival, from Awards for
All lottery funding, to run a number of workshops. The students worked
with carnival artists on the themes of Irish mythology, to create imaginative
and colourful costumes inspired by these stories.
Directly after the Parade there was an afternoon of fun and entertain-ment
at the stage in St Martin’s in the Bullring. Again many people
braved the cold to listen to acts such as Silver Bough, Fola, Moon-coin
Assembly and Jugopunch. Comhaltas were also there and they did a special
performance with the young people from Cardinal Wiseman Schools Steel
Drum Band. There was also dancing from the Scanlon School of Irish
Dancing. Bob Brolly from BBCWM hosted the event and his band were the
headline act.
The Festival would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who
supported the events over the weekend including the County Associations
who brought bands over from Ireland, the many supporters of the Festival,
the Chief Stewards, Stewards, the volunteers, sponsors, bucket collectors,
sponsors in kind and to everyone who lent a hand. This is a great community
event which wouldn’t happen without everyone pulling together
and lending a hand. Let’s look forward to 2007!
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