We had a very successful day at Ballymena Festival on Saturday where we were represented in group and solo competitions by seventeen different musicians and singers, mostly of primary school age. Our primary school age group played exceptionally well and was awarded joint second place in a very competitive and enjoyable section with six groups in total taking part.
In solo competitions, we had multiple prizewinners as listed below:
Ellie Conway – 1st in U-14 tin whistle, Highly Commended in U-14 fiddle, joint 2nd in U-14 slow air and winner of the Roisin McCloskey Award as the most outstanding tin whistle player of the festival
Caitriona Lagan – 1st in primary school banjo/mandolin and joint 2nd in primary school fiddle
Valentino Lupari – 1st in P1-P4 tin whistle
Annie Diamond – Highly Commended in P1-P4 tin whistle, 3rd in primary school harp and 2nd in primary school traditional singing
Roise McCloy – 1st in P5-P7 tin whistle, U-14 flute, primary school miscellaneous instruments (piano) and winner of the Sandy Spence Shield as most promising tin whistle player of the festival.
Siobhan Magee – joint 2nd in primary school miscellaneous (concertina)
Bridin NigRaine – joint 2nd in primary school miscellaneous (concertina)
Patrick Magee – 1st in post-primary school banjo/mandolin and open bodhran
Darcie Conway – Highly Commended in open bodhran and also took part in primary school banjo/mandolin
Darcy Donnelly, Scarlett Conway and Brian Magee also took part in solo competitions and acquitted themselves very well.
Well done to everyone who took part.
See our Photo Gallery for more pictures of our prizewinners.