Lily Lawrie in July 2001, aged 86

ONE of the leading figures in the development of traditional Irish music in Britain has died.
Lily Lawrie, aged 90, was one of the founders of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann (CCE) in Birmingham in the 1960s.
She was known to hundreds of Irish people who emigrated to Birmingham in the sixties and the open house ceilis at her Handsworth home were legendary.
Her daughter Kathleen Boyle said her mother, who played the violin, might not have been a natural fiddle player but worked hard to become a traditional Irish musician of notable prowess.
She said: "She had two brothers, Jack and Kevin Cullen who were playing long before she was. My mother played a bit but she wasn't really a fiddle player in those days, it was sheer determination. She used to steal the fiddle and go out to the cowshed to play."
Lily Cullen was born in Boyle, Roscommon and came over to England when she was 16 to become a nurse, even though she was not old enough to train.
"She first started at the Fever Hospital in Halesowen then went to Dudley Road when she was old enough to start training," said Kathleen.
"She then worked in Warwick Hospital where she met her husband Bob."
The Irish music scene in Birmingham got underway in January 1962 when Lilly and Father Sean McTiernan got together and founded Comhaltas. From then on Brecon Road in Handsworth where Dr Bob Lawrie had his surgery became a mecca for Irish music. Prior to that he had a surgery in Tintern Road where parties were even held in the waiting room.
It was 1962 when the Birmingham Ceili Band came into being. "It was formed for the St Patrick's Concert in Birmingham Town Hall and it just carried on," said Kathleen.
From then on sessions took place at the Lawrie family home every Monday night, they were later changed to a Tuesday.

The Birmingham Ceili Band in the 1970s. Lily is pictured in the centre and her daughter Kathleen front right

"There would be at least 20 or 30 people at the sessions. It was a huge room and anyone who didn't play had to make the tea.
"We just called ourselves the Birmingham Ceili Band. As Fr Seamus Quinn used to say we were known from Rome to San Francisco."
After the Town Hall St Patrick's Day concert, Fr Jim Downey started ceilis in St Anne's in Birmingham and later St Francis' in Handsworth.
"There was a great community of single Irish people living in flats in Handsworth and Fr Downey would convince them to come on a Sunday night. Whatever money was made went to the parish."
The Birmingham branch of Comhaltas was not the first in Britain but one of the earliest. When it was started there were already branches in Glasgow and Liverpool.
The legendary ceilis in the Lawrie household continued for an impressive 28 years. Kathleen reckons her father Bob got used to the intrusion as he was an incredibly patient man.
"My dad was often stepping over bodies in the morning and didn't know who they were. Sometimes people would pass him as he was going to the bathroom and say hello and he wouldn't even know who they were."
All who knew Lily was that she did what she did because she was interested in people and music.
"She never wanted any acclaim for it, she just loved people," added Kathleen.
"Music was just her. That was all of her, though faith played a big part too."
The New Year's Eve parties she hosted were generally rounded off by all attending a 6am mass at Erdington Abbey on New Year's morning.
The all Britain Comhaltas meetings also took place at the Lawrie house for many years.
Although Lily had not enjoyed good health in recent years, her love for music never faded, according to Kathleen.

Lily Lawrie and her husband Bob

"She played the fiddle up until the time daddy died. We had two little kids and we had to the leave them with her to keep the ceilis going. She wasn't happy about that but at the same time she desperately wanted to keep the ceilis going.
"She played the mouth organ in later years and continued playing it until the day she died."
After its success in Birmingham CCE spread to Leamington and Coventry and an additional South Birmingham group was set up.
Lily's love for music never faded, according to Kathleen and she never forgot her favourite songs.
"She could still sing Phil the Fluter's Ball and Miss Gilooley - her party piece."
An indication of the interest Lily took in the lives of all the people she knew was given by an old friend Sal Lichfield, formerly of Birmingham who now lives in her native Derry.
She said: "I told her I was getting married and she said: "Who said you could? I have to check him out first. Ted, my husband to be, was summoned over that night."
One priest famously referred to her as "Reverend Mother" and her Brecon Road home as "The Mother House".
Appropriately a selection of Irish airs was played at Lily's funeral by her son in law Michael Burnham. It took place on September 16 at St Theresa's in Perry Barr and was conducted by her old friend Fr Sean McTiernan. She was buried at Sutton Coldfield cemetery, her coffin draped in an Irish tricolour that she had put aside specially for the occasion many years beforehand.
Family and friends gathered at St Mary and St John's club after the internment to celebrated Lily's life.
Lily is survived by her daughters Roberta, Kathleen and Margaret and her son Hughie. Donations at the funeral went to CAFOD, a cause close to Lily's heart.