We’re holding a registration/information morning in The Elk on Saturday, 10th September from 10:00-12:00 ahead of our classes which will resume in Anahorish Primary School the following Saturday, 17th September.
The Autumn term will consist of 12 weeks of classes from 17th September until 17th December, with a break for Halloween on 29th October and 5th November.
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.
Fees for the term are £40 per pupil with additional family members paying £20. Classes in a second instrument (if the timetable permits) will cost £20.
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

One medal to report from this year’s Fleadh Ceoil na hEireann in Ennis – Hugh Mulholland, our secretary and banjo/mandolin/bodhran tutor, was awarded second place in the O-18 mandolin competition. Many congratulations to Hugh and, indeed, to all our other competitors at the fleadh. Although the weather wasn’t what we’d hoped for, it was a very enjoyable and successful event and we look forward to returning next year, preparations for which start with our classes in a few weeks – watch this space. The video above shows Roise McCloy and Caoimhe O’Kane playing in the 12-15 Ceili Band competition with Ceoltoiri Crosskeys while the picture below was taken at a street session in Ennis town centre and includes four of our members – Hugh Mulholland, Caoimhe Purvis, Caoimhe O’Kane and Anthony Totten – see also a video of some of the session on Youtube.

It’s a big week for our branch this week. On Wednesday or Thursday night our PRO, Eimear Cassidy will be in The Dome in Tralee, Co. Kerry, chatting to Dáithí Ó Sé in her bid to qualify for the televised final stages of the Rose of Tralee International Festival which take place next Monday and Tuesday night.
And over the weekend, we have no fewer than eight participants competing for honours at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil in Ennis, Co. Clare. Some of our members, like Caitriona Lagan (pictured) are already in Ennis, enjoying the good weather and the festival atmosphere.
Safe journey and best of luck to Eimear, Roise, Ellie, Caitriona, Caoimhe, Patrick, Hugh, Roisin, Anthony, their families and supporters, and all those travelling to represent Derry and the other Ulster counties at the two events.

Huge congratulations to our Ulster Champions from the fleadh in Bangor at the weekend!
Roise McCloy won both the U-12 tin whistle slow air and the U-12 flute slow air. She also came 2nd in the U-12 flute and, with Caoimhe O’Kane, was in the winning 12-15 Ceoltoiri Crosskeys ceili band. Caoimhe also played in the 3rd placed grupa ceoil representing Ceoltoiri Crosskeys, while Patrick Magee played in their 15-18 grupa ceoil who were victorious on Sunday.
Also qualifying for the All-Ireland fleadh, having been placed in their competitions at the weekend, are Ellie Conway, Caitriona Lagan, Hugh Mulholland, Anthony Totten and Roisin Magee.
Ellie came 2nd in both the U-12 tin whistle and the U-12 tin whistle slow air while Caitriona was placed 3rd in the mandolin. Hugh qualified as runner up in three different competitions: O-18 mandolin, newly composed tune and, along with Anthony and Roisin, in the O-18 Ceoltoiri Crosskeys grupa ceoil.
Many of the above named took part in other competitions as well but were not placed, as did Padraig Mullan, Tony Diamond, James McCloy, Brian Magee and Aoife McOscar. Well done to them all for their hard work and achievement in getting to the Ulster fleadh and best of luck to those who have qualified from our branch for the All-Ireland fleadh in Ennis on 20-21 August.

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Well done to everyone who went to take part in the Yew Tree Feis last week. Pictured are Ava McPeake who won the P4-P5 tin whistle and her sister Cora who received an award as the most promising musician at the feis. Other prizewinners included Annie Diamond (2nd) and Valentino Lupari (3rd) in the P1-P3 tin whistle. Their positions were reversed in the P1-P3 open section with Valentino coming 2nd on guitar and Annie 3rd on harp. In the P4-P5 competitions, Ava McPeake won the tin whistle and Tony Diamond and Maria McNally tied for 3rd. Darcie Conway was both 1st (bodhran) and 2nd (banjo) in the open section with her sister Scarlett 3rd on concertina. Finally, Aoife McOscar won the P6-P7 tin whistle.

Belated congratulations to Jemma Shivers – she has only just discovered she was awarded 3rd place in the U-9 tin whistle competition at the Derry fleadh back in March! Well done, also, to all those who took part in recent feis competitions in Derry, Larne, Coalisland and Maghera – I don’t have complete results but I believe we had a few winners!
Winners to report, as well, at the Antrim fleadh a couple of weeks ago. In solo competitions, Patrick Magee won the 15-18 banjo, mandolin and bodhran competitions and was placed 2nd in the O-18 duets with his sister, Roisin. We also had competitors in two Ceoltoiri Crosskeys ceili bands and four of their grupai cheoil and all have qualified for the Ulster fleadh as winners with the exception of the U-12 grupa ceoil who qualified in 2nd place.
Another busy year comes to a close tomorrow with our final classes of the season. We’re happy to report great progress being made by our young musicians, with increasing numbers attending both the classes and the monthly junior sessions. Thanks to everyone who supported our many activities and functions this year – classes, sessions, fundraisers, concerts, Ballymena Festival etc. We’re also grateful to our tutors and to both Anahorish Primary School and The Elk for facilitating our classes and all the other events we organised.
Of course, the music doesn’t finish just because our classes and sessions are taking a break for a few months. The summer is a particularly busy time for those dedicated to traditional music and many of our musicians will be competing at fleadh and feis events as well as attending traditional music summer schools and workshops throughout the country. We hope everyone has an enjoyable break and good luck to those representing us at the various festivals during the summer.

Our final session of the season will be held in The Elk tomorrow night (Thursday, 5th May) at 7:30pm (junior) and 9:00pm (senior). We’re dedicating this session to the memory of our former chairman, Kevin Walls, who passed away last November, and we hope to have many of his old friends and family members in attendance. As a result, the venue for both sessions has changed, with the junior session to be held in the upstairs room of the night club and the senior session in the upstairs function room.

Due to the involvement of several of our tutors at the Antrim fleadh in Toome, classes on Saturday morning, 7th May, have been cancelled. There will be two more weeks of classes, on the 14th and 21st May, before the summer break. Good luck to all our competitors at the fleadh!

The 2016 Derry fleadh was held in The Loup/Ballyronan from 7th-10th April. Congratulations to our many prizewinners at Saturday’s competitions (full list below) and well done to everyone else from Newbridge CCE who participated and helped out with the large programme of events throughout the weekend including competitions, sessions, ceili and Irish night. Hopefully our younger musicians enjoyed the experience and they’ll be inspired to develop their skills when our classes resume in Anahorish PS this Saturday, 16th April. Some pictures from the fleadh have been posted in the Gallery.

We were delighted to be able to donate a new cup in memory of our former chairman, Kevin Walls, to the winner of the 15-18 button accordion competition. The first winner was Brigeen Mitchell from Loup CCE. She’s pictured here receiving the cup from adjudicator Anne Marie McCloskey. Also pictured are Kevin’s son, Damian, and our chairperson, Mary Cassidy.

Thanks and well done to everyone at the Loup branch of Comhaltas for organising another successful county fleadh and good luck to everyone who qualified to represent Derry at the Ulster fleadh in Bangor in July.

Newbridge CCE Prizewinners

U-9 Tin Whistle – Jemma Shivers 3rd
12-15 Fiddle – Caoimhe O’Kane 2nd
U-12 Flute – Roise McCloy 1st
U-12 Tin Whistle – Roise McCloy 1st, Ellie Conway 2nd
12-15 Tin Whistle – Caoimhe O’Kane 1st
U-12 Banjo – Caitriona Lagan 1st
O-18 Banjo – Hugh Mulholland 2nd
U-12 Mandolin – Caitriona Lagan 2nd
O-18 Mandolin – Hugh Mulholland 1st
U-12 Piano – Roise McCloy 1st
12-15 Bodhran – James McCloy 2nd
U-12 Ceili Band Drums – Tony Diamond 1st
U-12 Flute Slow Airs – Roise McCloy 1st
U-12 Tin Whistle Slow Airs – Roise McCloy 2nd, Ellie Conway 3rd
12-15 Tin Whistle Slow Airs – Caoimhe O’Kane 3rd (recommended to play at Ulster Fleadh)
U-12 Duets – Caitriona Lagan and Ellie Conway 1st, Roise McCloy and Hannah Lee (Loup CCE) 2nd
12-15 Duets – Padraig Mullan and Caoimhe O’Kane 2nd
U-12 Trios – Caitriona Lagan, Ellie Conway and Aoife McOscar 1st
U-12 Ceili Band – Loup CCE 1st (Ellie Conway)
12-15 Grupai Ceoil – Loup CCE 1st (Ellie Conway)
12-15 Singing in English (Ladies) – Caoimhe O’Kane 2nd
Any Age Newly Composed Tune – Hugh Mulholland 1st

Classes resume this Saturday morning at Anahorish Primary School. Registration for the six week term is from 10:00am with classes at the usual times of 10:30am and 11:15am. There are places available in all our classes – tin whistle, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, concertina and bodhran – and all abilities are catered for. Cost for the term is £20 per pupil and £10 for additional family members and classes in a second instrument (timetable permitting).