On Tuesday, June 21st, the Athlone Yarnspinners was officially launched. It’s been a dream of Danielle Allison’s for several years to get the Athlone group going. The Yarnspinners in Ireland was started in Belfast by Liz Weir and there are currently groups active in Dublin, Foyle (Derry), Cork, and the Tullycarnet Yarnspinners (Dundonald, Belfast) who have just had their 20th birthday and produced a cd of their original tape. Several of the members of the Dublin Yarnspinners, who have also just released a cd, came to the Prince of Wales to contribute their talents to the event. Most of my class was in attendance, so I’m including the stories told in our long count.
- (85) Aideen McBride told a story written by her father Jack Sheehan. It was a story about a
beauty who rejects all suitors, has her beauty marred, and then finds true love. Beautiful story movingly told by Aideen. It was far and away my student’s favorite story of the night – even the guys. I believe that this story will become one of Aideen’s signatures as she told it with such fullness of emotion, presence, drive and authority. Aideen had told me earlier that she had something “really lovely’ for the concert and that it was her goal to make me cry. Sure enough, I and almost every other woman in the room, was wiping away a tear when the story concluded.
- (86) Jack Lynch told Eamonn Kelly’s wonderful story of Mick the Fiddler. I especially loved the part when Mick/Jack was drawing Manhattan a layer of ashes on the floor. I couldn’t see the floor where Jack was standing, so I could almost imagine that it was covered in ash with a map of New York drawn in it.
- (87 & 88) Brendan Nolan came next and told us two. The first was an explanation of why all of Dublin was locked inside during the Queen’s recent visit; suffice it to say that it involves the promise of free cigarettes for all. His next story was about a man who decides to swim naked in the river and suffers a variety of unpleasant consequences. Brendan told us that he wasn’t bragging when he said that he could stop at every house in his Dublin neighborhood and tell a story about someone who had lived there.
- (89) After the break, I told The Woman Who Knew a Story and a Song.
- (90) Miceal Ross told one of my favorite stories of his, a modern selkie story set in Scotland. This was another favorite of the students as well, since they had read Eamonn Kelly’s version and heard Tammy Chapman tell a traditional one in class.
- (91) Paddy Lohan, who Danielle and I had met at the Rosscommon Singer’s Circle in Knockcroghery earlier in the month, told a very funny story about two brothers in their eighties. They decide to get a housekeeper in the traditional way, and one of them marries. Things get interesting when it turns out they would all be sleeping in the one bed.
- (92) Jack Lynch closed the evening with one of his stories about P.J. I don’t know the name, but I believe it can be found on his new cd re-release of The Humors of Breffni.
The variety of tellers and stories made for an evening with great energy. Almost all of my students commented on it in their reports. Kayla Linn captured their experience:
I have to say that they are a group of fantastic tellers. They all had their own unique techniques and little ways to make the story so incredibly imaginable. On the way home I was trying to pick my favorite and I honestly couldn’t. Every one of them either had my emotion so high that I thought I was going to cry or that I was laughing so hard my cheeks hurt. Even the man who was a local was extremely good and didn’t really seem like an amateur to me. I especially enjoyed how long their stories were and how they were able to keep my attention the entire time. They all had a story before their story and most of the beginnings tied into the endings and that was my favorite part. It was truly a great experience to see them and I really enjoyed it.
In the picture at the top are Declan Coyne who runs the Rosscommon Singers Circle, Jack Lynch, Aideen McBride, Miceal Ross, Brendan Nolan, and Danielle Allison.
