CUISLE CEOIL Commemorative Concert celebrates Ardmore’s bygone Irish College
A very special evening of Irish language song and traditional music took place in St. Paul’s Church, Ardmore on Friday night last, September 27th, when a packed church celebrated the legacy of Coláiste Deuglán, a thriving Irish College that existed in the seaside village of Ardmore one hundred years ago.
Organised by the Irish Office of Waterford City and County Council, the commemorative concert featured three choirs and local musicians, who shared memories of bygone days when the Irish language was spoken daily in Ardmore. Featured Gaeltacht male voice choir, Cór Fear na nDéise, directed by Darren Ó Droma were joined for this special event by the local Ardmore Community Choir and by children from the local national school, Scoil Náisiúnta Deuglán Naofa. The Ardmore Community Choir, directed by Anne Gartland opened the concert with a beautiful rendition of ‘Sliabh Geal gCua’ and all three choirs sang songs in Irish, including songs from a booklet entitled ‘Cuisle Ceoil’, a collection of songs of the Déise, which was published one hundred years ago in July 1924 by local Ardmore man, Mícheál Ó Foghlú, one of the founders of Coláiste Deuglán.
Cuisle Ceoil was used as a songbook by those who attended Coláiste Deuglán from the 1920s to the 1940s and Councillor Niamh O’Donovan, who attended the concert as a representative of the Mayor of Waterford City & County, spoke on the night of how “wonderful it is to hear those traditional songs, which are such an integral part of our Irish language heritage, being brought to life again here tonight, across the road from where they were formerly sung in Coláiste Deuglán and I am proud to support this and other projects celebrating the rich Irish language culture in Waterford.”
Councillor O’Donovan and Archivist Joanne Rothwell also accepted an original copy of the Cuisle Ceoil songbook and an original photograph of attendees of Coláiste Deuglán in 1938, items which were kindly donated by Olive Keane on behalf of the Keane family, to the Waterford City & County Archive on the night.
In addition to the three choirs, young local traditional musicians Laoise Keevers & Johnjoe Brockie, joined by Katie Halpin Hill from An Rinn, also performed on the night and Irish Officer, Máire Seó Breathnach gave a presentation on the history of Coláiste Deuglán. Máire Seó presented historic photographs of the College and those who attended and she outlined the connections to the Irish college that still exist in Ardmore to this day, as the audience included descendants of those involved with the Irish college at the time, including Mícheál Ó Foghlú’s granddaughter, Marie O’Sullivan.
A highlight of the evening was the finale, in which Cór Fear na nDéise were joined on stage by the children from Ardmore National School to sing ‘Ar Maidin Dia Máirt’ and all three choirs and the audience raised the rafters in song to bring a fitting end to a wonderful evening of entertainment.
The Cuisle Ceoil concert was funded by Creative Waterford programme.
