Singers from Clongowes Wood College once again enjoyed success, this time at the Navan Choral Festival. The organisers decided to merge various underage categories into one competition, so Matthew Cassidy from Elements and Hugo O’Donnell from Grammar were competing against each other, as well as seventeen other boys and girls from schools throughout Leinster. This was the biggest ‘field’ of any competition over the weekend and certainly the most varied.
After the competitors each sang their two songs, the adjudicator – esteemed baritone Robert Dean – gave ‘highly commended’ certificates to four singers and then selected his four prize-winners. Hugo O’Donnell was announced in fourth place, and then the youngest in the competition, Mathew Cassidy was announced in third. Hugo has now been prize-winner at the Kilcoole Feis, Sligo Feis Ceoil, Wesley Music Festival and the Navan Choral Festival. For Matthew it is a big achievement, considering he was against singers up to three years older than him. On seeing two trophies being given to boys in Clongowes Blazers, the organisers approached their teachers Mr Scott and Ms Conaghan, asking if they could send more boys for next year!
Mr David Scott
Age Action Senior Choir Performance
On Tuesday, 17th of May, the Senior Choir put on a performance for the Evergreens as part of the Age Action program. Age Action is a program where about twenty older people from the local community come into Clongowes for a couple of hours each Tuesday and is part of the Social Outreach Program for Transition Years. This particular Tuesday was the penultimate Age Action of the year, so it was nice to do something a little bit different.
The choir performed six songs, including three solos, over about half an hour, accompanied by Ms Anne Conaghan on piano. The whole performance was very good, especially Ceallachan McDonald, who sang ‘Old Man River’ by Jerome Kern. Other songs included ‘Oh Happy Day’ by Edwin Hawkins and ‘Always Look On The Bright Side of Life’ by Monty Python. I felt the guests really enjoyed the singing and most of them were singing or clapping along to the ones that they knew.
It was a good idea as it changed things up a bit. Typically we play board games, cards, chat and socialise with our guests or enjoy a quiz or some trad music together, however on this occasion, it was nice to do something different. I would like to congratulate the choir on a great performance and wish them well in the future and also to thank Ms Anne Conaghan and Mr David Scott for all their help.
Cormac Watson (Syntax)