We’ll be marking the 40th anniversary of the formation of our branch at our next monthly session on Thursday, 7th December, in The Creagh Suite in The Elk. As usual, the junior session will be from 7:45pm-8:30pm and the senior session gets under way at 9:00pm. We’ll have a raffle instead of the usual admission fee and will be serving a light supper around 10:00pm. Everyone’s welcome and we’ll have a few special guests to help celebrate the occasion. It would be great to reunite some of those who have been involved in the running of the branch or who simply attended and supported our functions over the years, so spread the word!

If you missed our performance on the Ceili House programme on RTE Radio 1 on 2nd December, you can listen to the entire show on the RTE website – if you want to skip to our slot, it was about 10 minutes from the end, at 43:30. Our thanks again to everyone involved in the organisation and production of the programme.

https://www.rte.ie/…/924584-ceili-house-saturday-2-decemb…/…

17th-19th November was a busy weekend for our musicians. Starting with a Mass on Friday night, through classes and group practice on Saturday morning, Magherafelt Camogie Club anniversary celebrations on Saturday night and finishing up on Sunday afternoon at the Co. Derry Comhaltas fundraiser in Maghera. Thanks to everybody who took part.

We’ve already had two very successful junior and senior sessions since the new season started, and classes, which are mostly fully subscribed, resume after the Halloween break on Saturday, 11th November. Our AGM will be held in The Elk on Thursday, 9th November at 8:15pm. We would encourage as many members as possible to attend as this is an important forum for discussing branch development, activities and plans for the coming year.
New members are also welcome, especially parents of children attending our classes who would like to find out more or be involved in the running of the group.
There’ll be a group practice for next weekend’s Co. Derry Comhaltas concert following classes on Saturday, 11th November, at 12:00pm

We were delighted to be asked to attend a recording of the RTE radio Ceili House programme in Derry on Saturday, 21st October, and were privileged to record a couple of tunes for the programme. Thanks to everybody at Studio 2 for facilitating the event and to CCE Baile na gCailleach for the invitation to attend. The programe airs on Saturday 2nd December at 9:00pm on RTE Radio 1.

A quick update on our activities since the start of the new season.

Firstly, belated congratulations to the following girls on their LCM grade exam successes in the summer exams:

Caoimhe O’Kane – Grade 8 fiddle (Distinction)
Ellie Conway – Grade 7 whistle (Distinction)
Roise McCloy – Grade 5 piano (Distinction)
Cliodhna McPeake – Grade 1 mandolin (Merit)

Music classes are now well under way – whistle classes are all full with a very small number of places still available in the other classes. We’re also running an informal Irish language conversation class in The Elk every Monday evening, hosted by Kieran McKenna. All abilities are welcome to attend, although it probably isn’t suitable for younger children.

We’re holding a registration/information morning in The Elk on Saturday morning, 9th September from 10:30-12:00 ahead of our classes which will resume in Anahorish Primary School the following Saturday, 16th September. We’ll hopefully have some live music from our existing pupils, and committee members will be on hand to answer any queries and provide advice. We’d encourage anyone interested in attending our classes (including returning pupils) to come along and register to both guarantee their place and to facilitate the timetabling of the classes for the following week.
We do have capacity in the harp and piano accompaniment classes and would welcome expressions of interest in these instruments in particular – we have several beginner harps available for rent but anyone taking the piano accompaniment class will need their own keyboard.
All-ability classes in concertina and banjo/mandolin will start at 10:30am each week. The bodhran class will be at 11:15am as will the classes for both beginner and improver fiddle. The class timetable for tin whistle/flute and harp/piano accompaniment will be finalised following registration.
The Autumn term will consist of 12 weeks of classes from 16th September until 16th December inclusive, with a break for Halloween on 28th October and 4th November.
Fees for the term are £40 per pupil with additional family members paying £30, a slight increase on last year. Classes in a second instrument (if the timetable permits) will also cost £30.
Subject to demand, we may offer classes in other instruments, so email info@newbridge-cce.com or send a pm on our Facebook page with any suggestions or queries.
Comhaltas membership fees can also be paid at registration. The benefits of membership include reduced entry fee to fleadh competitions for juniors and free Treoir magazine (official Comhaltas magazine published three times per year) for senior/family members. Membership fees for the incoming year are:
Junior – £4
Senior – £8
Family – £14

So Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann is over for another year! We hope everybody who travelled to Ennis had a good time and returns inspired and enthused as we turn our thoughts to the resumption of classes next month. Our thanks to the organisers and everyone who contributed to making it a very enjoyable week(end) and well done to Hugh, Anthony, Roisin and Roise on being able to compete with the very best traditional musicians in Ireland and beyond. They were all worthy of their place on the All-Ireland stage and performed fantastically well.
No medals to report from our branch but huge congratulations to Gerard McCloskey of the Jimmy O’Hara CCE in Limavady (pictured above) on winning the O-18 Mens Singing (in English) competition. Well done, also, to the other medal winners from Co. Derry – Sarah McLaughlin (Jimmy O’Hara CCE) came second in the U-9 Comhra Gaeilge, Brigeen Mitchell (Loup CCE) was third in the 15-18 tin whistle, Donal Close (Glenullin/Loughbeg CCE) came third in the 15-18 piano and Claire Doherty (Loup CCE) was third in the O-18 whistling.

Jim McPeake presents the Isabel McPeake Memorial Cup to Roise Devlin

Congratulations and thanks to everybody at County Derry Fleadh, Limavady 2017 and Jimmy O’Hara Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, Roe Valley on their hosting of the very successful and enjoyable Fleadh last weekend.
We had plenty of good results at Saturday’s competitions with numerous qualifiers for the Ulster fleadh next month. In addition to the prizewinners listed below, several of our younger musicians qualified as members of Loup CCÉ ceili bands and grupai cheoil. We were also delighted to be able to donate a new cup, in memory of Isabel McPeake, one of our founder members, to the winner of the 12-15 tin whistle competition. We’re grateful to the McPeake family members who attended the competition and to Isabel’s son, Jim, who made the presentation to the inaugural winner of the cup, Roise Devlin (pictured).
Well done to all our competitors and good luck to those who qualified to play at Ulster Fleadh 2017 Bangor Co Down on 29th and 30th July.
12-15 Fiddle : 2nd Ellie Conway
U-12 Flute : 1st Roise McCloy
U-9 Tin Whistle : 1st Valentino Lupari, 2nd Aoibhinn McPeake
U-12 Tin Whistle : 1st Roise McCloy
12-15 Tin Whistle : 2nd Ellie Conway
15-18 Tin Whistle : 3rd Caoimhe O’Kane
U-12 Banjo : 2nd Caitriona Lagan
O-18 Banjo : 1st Hugh Mulholland
U-12 Mandolin : 1st Caitriona Lagan, 3rd Cliodhna McPeake
O-18 Mandolin : 1st Hugh Mulholland
U-12 Piano : 1st Roise McCloy, 2nd Annie Diamond
U-12 Accompaniment : 2nd Valentino Lupari (guitar)
U-12 Bodhran : 1st Darcie Conway
U-12 Ceili Drums : 1st Tony Diamond
U-12 Flute Slow Airs : 1st Roise McCloy
U-12 Tin Whistle Slow Airs : 1st Roise McCloy
12-15 Tin Whistle Slow Airs : 2nd Ellie Conway
15-18 Tin Whistle Slow Airs : 1st Caoimhe O’Kane
U-12 Duets : 1st Caitriona Lagan and Patrick Bell, 2nd Roise McCloy and Tomas McElroy
U-12 Whistling : 1st Annie Diamond
Newly Composed Tunes – 1st Hugh Mulholland
Apologies in advance for any omissions or errors – let me know and I’ll correct accordingly. Finally, group classes are ongoing on Saturday mornings from 10:30am and will run until end of June.

See our Photo Gallery for more pictures of our prizewinners.