Just recently when going
through some old stuff my mother discovered her 'Carnival
ticket' - from 1949! Of course the discovery of this ticket
led to lots of reminiscing on her behalf.
If you can see the scan of the ticket clearly, then you'll
notice it cost one pound. I asked her what her weekly wage
was at that time and she said about one pound and ten
shillings, so in other words the carnival ticket cost her
most of her weekly wage (ten shillings being half a pound or
fifty pence in 'new money'). Not much wonder she didn't miss
too many nights (two). As you might also notice there was no
dance on Saturday night, in connection with Mass on Sunday.
As far as she could recall the carnival was in late July.
Of course I was interested in what bands might have played
then. She recalls dancing to Dave Dixon, who she said was
the first band she ever seen with a brass section and
uniforms. The Clipper Carlton also paid a visit as did the
Jack Ruane band. The Kilfenora Ceili Band also made the trip
all the way up from Co. Clare. These bands would have been
known as dance bands, or indeed orchestras, in their day and
they all sat down while they played. Later they evolved into
showbands because they stood up when they played and put on
a show.
More local outfits would have been the Eugene Leddy Ceili
Band from Butlersbridge, Joe Coyle, Belturbet & Tim
Fitzpatrick from Lisnamane.
I suppose when I started playing music in the early 70's the
summer marquee/carnival tent was still on the go but it was
probably on its last legs as the main source of summer
entertainment because pubs and dancehalls were running
regular gigs as well by then. Dancing was still one of the
main forms of entertainment for young people at that time,
there was no 'drink' allowed and as far as we were concerned
marijuana sounded like the name of an island somewhere in
the Caribbean!!
I'm sure music and live entertainment will always be a part
of people's lives and who knows, maybe in 50 or 60 years
from now someone will discover an old ticket for a Barry Mc
Cabe concert and their children will say to them - wow,
you've seen him live?
Barry McCabe ~ Visit Barry's
website
HERE! |
