Where the Irish of the Delaware Valley meet

Let Us Know How Our Local Fleadh Participants Make Out!

Of course, we would dearly love to share our triumphs with the world.

Permalink Reply by Kathy DeAngelo on April 13, 2008 at 11:56am: I can tell you how it went in two of the competitions I sat in on:
For the harps, we had Jacqueline Hartley from Egg Harbor Twp in first in the Under 15 age group, and my student Reanna Barakat in 3rd in the 15-18 age group. Katherine Highet, also one of my students, was 1st in the senior competition.
In the men's singing: Karl Jones won first in the senior men's singing in Irish as well as first in English. Josh Ely was first in the English singing ages 15-18 and his dad Jim Ely third in singing in English. Josh's uncle Mike McElligott came in second.
Congrats to all.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Caitlin Finley on April 14, 2008 at 12:45pm: Hi everyone,

I took 3rd in fiddle and 1st in banjo. My trio took 1st place and I was in a ceili band, the Pearl River Ceili Band, which won the 15-18 competition. A bunch of my friends also qualified on their different instruments, so we'll be holding a fundraiser at some point in the summer to raise some money for airfare, especially so we can maybe get a ceili band together to compete over there. It'll be up in Yonkers, so I know that most won't be able to go, but we'll be selling chances for some sort of prize if anyone is willing to help us out a bit. We'd all really appreciate it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Meade on April 14, 2008 at 1:14pm: Maith thú!

(One of the few Irish-language phrases I know. I believe the lteral translation is: "You rock, dude!" Or perhaps just: "W00t!")

Do keep us all apprised of fund-raising opps. We're happy to help out in any way we can.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Dan McHugh on April 14, 2008 at 3:06pm: Go You!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kathy DeAngelo on April 14, 2008 at 8:17pm: Congratulations Caitlin. I caught you playing in the cafeteria with Don Meade and others but I didn't want to interrupt to ask how you did. Do you have a local newspaper? Do a little PR for yourself--or have somebody do it for you--and write up your accomplishment for the local paper. A number of years ago I did this for one of my students and lots of people in the local community helped fund her trip to Ireland. She earned the money by playing. The police called her and she played for one of their lunches and they paid her. Same for a teachers group and so on. Some folks even had her in to play for their dinners--it was a chance for them to contribute and for her to earn it at the same time. I thought it was great and she did end up going--whereas her family couldn't otherwise have afforded it.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jeff Meade on April 14, 2008 at 8:58pm: Outstanding suggestion, KD!

Denise and I might be able to help you out with that stuff, too.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Caitlin Finley on April 15, 2008 at 8:23am: Thanks so much for the advice. I'll definitely look into that, and maybe organize a few things with the kids in my ceili band. And any help would be great! Thanks for the offer.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Brian Boyce on April 23, 2008 at 3:03am: Congratulations Caitlin! Your hard work has been paying off!
We are all very proud of you.; ▶ Reply to This