Fermanagh Feis participants recall memories as festival marks 60 years

Carmel Tracey competed in the Fermanagh Feis as a child and later, as a teacher in St. Teresa’s PS and then Holy Trinity PS, she supported her pupils with their own Feis performances.

She fondly recalled her earliest Feis memory. “My first experience of the Feis was in P3, I think. We were definitely wearing our First Holy Communion dresses. Our teacher was Mrs. Bridie Drugan, née Connolly.

“She assembled our class to sing in white dresses in the Gaelic field, in the muck,” laughed Carmel, commenting that she remembered it being quite mucky for her white shoes.

“We sang a little Irish song, in Irish. It was probably my introduction to the Irish language, apart from a couple of focal [words] from my mum,” she said.

Won a bursary

Carmel went on to compete in the Feis by herself, and won a bursary at one stage.

“I came back to teach in St. Teresa’s in 1979 and would have started preparing pupils then for, at the start, the choir and solo singing, but as I went on through the years, I would have done quite a bit of poetry, Irish language and choral competitions.

“I really enjoyed when my own children, Clara and Emily, started taking part and they did the art, history, poetry, drama and music,” said Carmel, whose daughter, Clara Tracey, is a professional musician.

“There are loads of past pupils who would have performed at the Feis,” she added, mentioning Niamh Carney and Philana Nolan, members of Indie-Folk duo, Laytha, and musician Aoife Cathcart.

“I have to thank my teachers, and the school principals who supported the Feis. You couldn’t have devoted the amount of time to the Feis unless the principal encouraged it,” Carmel told this newspaper.

Ciarán McMenamin.

Remembering lines is all part of the job for actor Ciarán McMenamin, but this is a skill he has honed from an early age, cutting his teeth by learning poems to perform at the Fermanagh Feis.

He recalled: “Getting ready for the Feis was always a big part of the year as a kid. Nearly 40 years later, I can still remember the opening lines of the poem I drove my family mad with one year! ‘Dave dirt came to dinner, and he stuck his chewing gum underneath the table’.

“Well, ‘Dave dirt’ never left me; neither did the trouncing Mount Lourdes gave the St. Michael’s choir every year. We sang our hearts out – the girls just sang better,” Ciarán told this newspaper.

Reminiscing fondly, artist Claire Falconer described the Feis as an “absolute blessing for the community”.

“The Feis was our stage and a vital forum for creative expression. It showed me how to start finding my voice, and how all of the arts are interconnected. Painting, performance and poetry became passions for me with some baking and flower arranging too!” she said.

Claire Falconer.

Trophy

In 1985, at the age of seven, Claire was awarded a trophy for poetry.

“It was a huge confidence boost as I was really very shy. Gosh, the nerves as we all waited in line off stage! It was great practice for building bravery in life!” she said, adding: “There’s also a nice little art connection.

Claire Falconer won a trophy for poetry at the Fermanagh Feis in 1985.

Pencil portrait of Claire Falconer drawn by Rosaleen Kavanagh.

“My daddy taught a woodwork evening class in the Tech, and one of his students was Rosaleen Kavanagh – a lovely, very creative lady.

“She drew a pencil portrait from The Impartial’s photo of me, and won a Feis award for it the next year. The drawing hung in our kitchen, no doubt inspiring my own interest in portraiture.”

Speaking to this newspaper, professional tenor Andrew Irwin, from Monea, explained that the Fermanagh Feis gave him the opportunity to express himself as a child.

Andrew Irwin.

“It was a time of year that I felt at home with who I was, and felt like that was accepted and celebrated in school – a welcome break from detentions!

“An adjudicator once recommended I apply for Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, to further hone my talent. He was the ex-husband of the principal!

In 2011, Andrew Irwin took home a number of awards from the classical music section of the Feis. Among them was the Young Singer of the Year award.

“I applied, got in, and did my A-Levels there, and the rest is history. Without the Fermanagh Feis, I would not be where, or indeed who I am today,” said Andrew.

Excitement

For Maria Orr, a former dancer with Riverdance, attending Fermanagh Feis every year brought so much excitement.

Maria Orr (née Heuston).

“It was close to home, so we stayed all day to watch friends of all ages take part. With the majority of the Peake School out to show off our talent on home turf, it was a packed schedule, competing in many solo and team competitions.

“It always drew in huge crowds; competitions were still going strong late into the night,” said Maria, commenting that she always enjoyed seeing the results and pictures in the local paper the following week, feeling proud that her hard work paid off.

“Dancing quickly became a huge part of my life; it brought me to so many wonderful places all over the world, both competitively and during the time I spent with Riverdance.

Pictured front row, extreme right Maria Orr (née Heuston) in Riverdance.

“Having then moved into teaching for more than 10 years, it was so rewarding, passing my passion for dancing onto young children and seeing them develop the same love for it,” she told The Impartial Reporter.