Athy Musical Societies

Athy Musical and Dramatic Society now in it's 13th year will put on a performance of "Annie" in the Grove Theatre commencing on Wednesday, 23rd April. The Society's previous shows have been in the Secondary School Hall in Rathstewart and the move to the Grove represents a return to the Theatre in which the South Kildare Choral Society performed in the mid-1960's.

There is a strong musical tradition in Athy. The Shows in the 1940's performed in the Town Hall are remembered by the older generations as highlights in the entertainment calendar of the day. These were followed by the Social Club Players of the 1950's whose forte was the dramatic theatre. They blazed a trail of brilliance during the last pre-television decade which is still talked about to this day. Their performances were, in the early years, put on in the Town Hall and in the latter years in the Hall which was originally the old Comrades Hall in St. John's Lane.

The genesis for the start of the Athy Choral Society in the early 1960's was an unsuccessful Christmas concert arranged for Athy Golf Club. Some of the members came together afterwards and put in motion plans for the following years Christmas concert. They engaged Fr. Pat Crowe, Curate in the local Parish Church to train and conduct a choir comprised of Golf Club members such as Sean O'Connor, Bob Peacock, Joe Carbery, Kevin Timmins, Tommy O'Brien, Leonard Craig and Des McHugh. Their next Christmas concert was a resounding success and prompted another local Curate, Fr. Jim Corbett to consider running a series of concerts to raise funds for the new Parish Church then planned for Athy. Approaches were made to local firms and so was born the Inter Firm Variety Concert Competition which ran so successfully for a number of years. Some of those who competed in the Shows included the Golf Club, the Local Shopkeepers Group, Asbestos Factory, the I.V.I. and the Wallboard Factory. By this stage the Golf Club Society included not only the members mentioned previously, but also Ian Atwell, Paddy Dillon, Charlie Prendergast and Alec Kelly.

A programme from those days which I have is for the Shopkeepers Show on March 11th and 13th, 1964 as part of what is termed "Athy Parish Festival". The performers included Wag O'Keeffe who sang and performed "Phil the Fluters Ball", while Hazel Darling, Deirdre Hughes and Noeleen Murphy comprised the Irish Dancing Troupe. A one act comedy "Love and Acid Drops" was performed by John Hillard, Michael Dempsey, Dolly Hyland, Phyllis Coughlan, Ann Dooley and Brian O'Hara. Michael Noonan, Mary Conlan and Charlie Prendergast sang a selection from "Desert Song". The Merry Widow Soloist was Margot Higginson with Mary Tuohy as principal dancer, while Charlie Prendergast lent his vocal talents yet again to a rendition of "Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair". Others on stage that night included Maureen Ryan, Carmel Hickey, Ernest O'Rourke-Glynn, Ian Atwell while the ladies of the chorus were Helen Walsh, Esther Bannon, Kathleen Kelly, Carmel Hickey and Patricia Mahon. The mens chorus included Joe McNally, Billy Browne, Brendan Ward, John Byrne, P.J. Hyland, Sean Murphy and Ernest O'Rourke Glynn.

The Sunday Night Variety Shows in the Social Club in St. John's Lane proved such a success that minds soon turned to the possibility of harnessing the local talent in one Musical Society for the benefit of the town. A subsequent public meeting led to the formation of the South Kildare Choral Society. Originally it was intended to name the Society after the Town in which it was based, but the participation of Castledermot folk such as Kate Dunne and Frank McDonnell prompted the name "South Kildare".

Captain Dennis Mellerick, then based in the Curragh Camp, was engaged to direct the Society members and for a number of years at Christmas and Easter the Society put on shows in the Grove Cinema. The first show was Gilbert and Sullivans The Mikado followed by the Pirates of Penzance the following year and later by the Arcadians.

The Choral Society members rehearsed in a number of different venues through the town, including Bradburys Restaurant, the Methodist Church Hall and the Parochial Hall in Offaly Street. They also participated for a number of years in the Cork Choral Festival, attaining a very credible second place in its section on one occasion. The Society inevitably went into decline and it was the establishment of Athy's Musical and Dramatic Society 1984 which once again brought the talented singers and thespians of the locality together again. The Society which has performed since it's foundation in a number of different venues in Athy has now returned with its latest offering "Annie" to what was once the home of the South Kildare Choral Society.

There is a strong musical tradition in Athy. The Shows in the 1940's performed in the Town Hall are remembered by the older generations as highlights in the Entertainment Calendar of the Day. These were followed by the Social Club Players of the 1950's whose forte was the dramatic theatre.

The genesis for the start of the Athy Choral Society in the early 1960's was an unsuccessful Christmas concert arranged for Athy Golf Club. Some of the members came together afterwards and put in motion plans for the following years Christmas concert. They engaged Fr. Pat Crowe, Curate in the local Parish Church to train and conduct a choir comprised of Golf Club members such as Sean O'Connor, Bob Peacock, Joe Carbery, Kevin Timmins, Tommy O'Brien, Leonard Craig and Des McHugh. Their next Christmas concert was a resounding success and prompted another local Curate, Fr. Jim Corbett to consider a series of concerts to raise funds for the new Parish Church then planned for Athy. Approaches were made to local firms and so was born the Inter Firm Variety Concert Competition which ran so successfully for a number of years.

The Sunday Night Variety Shows in the Social Club in St. John's Lane proved such a success that mind soon turned to the possibility of harnessing the local talent in one Musical Society for the benefit of the town. A subsequent public meeting led to the formation of the South Kildare Choral Society.

Captain Dennis Mellerick, then based in the Curragh Camp, was engaged to direct the Society members and for a number of years at Christmas and Easter the Society put on shows in the Grove Cinema. The first show was Gilbert and Sullivans, The Mikado followed by the Pirates of Penzance the following year and later by the Arcadians.

The Society inevitably went into decline and it was the establishment of Athy's Musical and Dramatic Society in 1984 which once again brought the talented singers and thespians of the locality together again. The Society which has performed since it's foundation in a number of different venues in Athy has now returned with its latest offering "Annie" to what was once the home of the South Kildare Choral Society.