Mairead Cranley, Donegal County Council with Veronica McCarron,
Choral Director with members of Ceol le Chéile Intergenerationa
l Choir as they prepare for their first major performance in An
Grianan Theatre in Letterkenny on Friday night.
Ceol le Chéile takes to the stage on Friday night
Friday night will be a special night for the 100+ members of the Ceol le Chéile choir as they take to the stage in An Grianan Theatre in their first ever performance in front of an audience of family and friends.
Ceol le Chéile is an intergenerational choir made up of older people, children and young people, male and female from all walks of life in Donegal and Mairead Cranley from Donegal County Council explains that it is a project that was conceived as part of the Donegal Age Friendly Programme with the aim of promoting social inclusion and developing stronger relationships between older people, children and young people.
“We have been very fortunate to have well known Choral Director Veronica McCarron working with us on this project. Veronica’s professional conducting included voice training, breathing techniques, elocution lessons, choreography and building the confidence to sing in front of others which was a huge challenge for everyone” explains Mairead.
“She pushed everyone to their limits most days but they all loved the challenge and came back for more. Everyone had homework practising their mouth movements ‘north to south’ in front of mirrors. We even had some of the men standing in front of the mirror in the toilets singing,” laughs Mairead.
Mairead Cranley, Donegal County Council with members of Ceol
le Chéile in the background getting ready for Friday night’s
performance in An Grianan Theatre
When Donegal County Council put out a call in early March this year for people to register their interest in taking part in the choir they were inundated with calls and emails with approximately 115 people registering their interest to take part.
“We were thrilled with the response, if even a bit overwhelmed but we have all been on the most wonderful journey” says Mairead.
“All the members have built great relationships and the kids look at the older people in a very different way now. It has helped alleviate fears some had about older people. They now see them as interesting, fun, helpful, caring and very loving. The older people have the advantage of having years of experience behind them and sharing stories with the children has helped them feel good and gives a sense of purpose and they also feel energized by the children. Confidence is oozing out of everyone and the relationship has grown into one big family”.
“The social side of this project was the most important for us. We introduced different activities over the last few months and even brought in a sports facilitator who encouraged physical activities and this really helped people get to know each other better and build confidence. The group met weekly for rehearsals initially but we have been meeting twice a week for the last few weeks as we put in place the final touches for our inaugural concert in An Grianan on Friday night.”
“One of the highlights for the choir has been getting the opportunity to record backing tracks with the famous musical director Ollie Hennessy and we hope that there will be a few more surprise guests at next Friday night’s concert!”.
The concert in An Grianan Theatre is a family showcase and is not open to the public however, there will be opportunities in the future to see Ceol le Chéile when they perform at the opening of Social Inclusion Week in October.
This initiative was kindly funded by Healthy Ireland, Donegal County Council, Local Links Bus, Creative Ireland with valuable support from the Regional Cultural Centre, Donegal Library Service and LYIT.
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