Lough Gur October Storytelling Festival

The 17th Lough Gur storytelling festival which ran over the bank holiday weekend October 27th to 31st inclusive was a huge success!

The weekend began on Thursday evening October 27th with the Rambling House and a big thank you to Mike O'Connor who organised the evening with a full house of musicians and guests!

On Friday the National schools storytelling competition took place and the day was filled with anticipation as the evening progressed!

This year saw 12 schools participate and 18 acts including one foursome. Certainly a first for the storytelling competition.

Winners in the Junior category were Sinead McCarthy and Aislinn O'Dea telling their story ' The Old woman and the pig' as a duo.

Sinead and Aislinn represented Cloverfield National School. Runners up in the Junior category were also a duo, Brian Blackwell and Dylan Laffan telling their story entitled ' The story of the Cobbler'. Brian was last years winner in the Junior category.

Winner in the senior category was Tim Lyons from St. Marys National School Croom, a worthy winner, Tims' story was entitled 'The 3 wishes' and he won the two Judges hearts with his rendition. A close runner up in the senior category was Grace Culhane with her story entitled 'Fionn McCool and the Scottish Giant'.

The weekend continue with Miriam Lambert from Miriam Lambert, a puppeteer from the Lambert family.

Miriam now has her own puppeteer company and travels internationally with her shows. Following her performance in Lough Gur, Miriam was leaving for Washington DC where she was asked to perform in the Kennedy centre. Lough Gur was truly privileged to have Miriam perform at the 17th Storytelling festival.

On Saturday night the entertainment included Little John Nee, Celtic Rathskallions, a travelling Canadian duo, John Carew Poet, Sean Tyrell and the winners of the Storytelling competition retelling their stories.

On Sunday morning the Celtic Rathskallions entertained locals and children with their eclectic mix of folkish sounds.

Sunday night saw Lough Gur local drama perform a one act 'Wedding Blues' written by Jimmy Keary and fantastically produced by local man Tom Lynch.

Followed by comedian and musician Paul Malone. The local drama continued on Monday night Oct 31st and performed again to a packed house. Whether the audience came because of the feedback about the local drama or to experience and take part in a novel open mic session, the organisers are not sure but the evening was a huge success. 'I am not surprised at the local talent here.

This open mic session which saw locals take the mic on stage was just fantastic.' Said Tom Flynn, chairman of Lough Gur Development Co-op society organisers of the storytelling festival.

The open mic evening was co-ordinated by County Limerick Youth Theatre as a fundraiser for a trip to Finland by the group planned in 2012. There are plans to run the evening again in November.

Category:

Travel & Events

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• October
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• Ireland
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• Things to do
• Storytelling
• Lough Gur
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• Miriam Lambert
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• County Limerick Youth Theatre
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