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News
and Updates
18th
March 2002
St. Patrick's Day
The 2002
Manchester Irish Festival reached its climax at the weekend when tens
of thousands of people lined the city centre streets for the St. Patrick's
Day Parade
.
The Parade took place in glorious sunshine as the biggest Irish Festival
crowd ever seen flocked to Albert Square to watch the parade of over 60
floats and marching bands. Once again the hugely popular Irish Festival
Craft and Gift Market was a roaring success with many of the 50 strong
Irish traders stalls completely sold out by the end of the weekend.
13th
March 2002
Manchester Goes
Green !!
To celebrate
the St Patrick's Day weekend Manchester's own Town Hall and famous clock
has now 'gone green' for the first time ever. From now until St. Patrick's
Day, special green lighting will bring a festive night-time glow to Albert
Square.
Festival in TV Spotlight
again
Granada
are producing a six part documentary about the Irish in the
Northwest. They
started filming on Monday 11th March by filming the numerous Irish
venues dotted along Stockport Road in Levenshulme. They also popped into
the packed Manchester Irish Festival BBC GMR live outside broadcast by
'The Parlour' at the Packhorse Pub on Stockport Road in
the centre of the village. (Photos)
Sale
Band win Festival Competition
Metal band 'Dr Rinse' from Sale in Manchester were crowned
the cream of the crop as the winners of this years Manchester Irish Festival
'Boddingtons YGG Unsigned 2002' at thePalace Nightclub in Levenshulme.
(Photos)
12th
March 2002
Festival
Launch
The
YGG troupe performed the official VIP civic launch with
the BBC's Gordon Burns at Manchester Town Hall on Sunday 10th March.
Mike McGoldrick (BBC Radio 2's Instrumentalist of the Year) and
Dezi Donnelly (RTE's Young Traditional Musician of the Year) were
just two of the special guests at the show, which was compered by BBC
GMR's Alan Keegan. (Photos)
5th
March 2002
Manchester Irish
Festival Polo Shirts and T Shirts are
now available.
All profits
from the shirt sales will be donated to various charities.
The Polo Shirts are bottle green with the Festival logo
on the left. Price: £10
The T Shirts
are black with the Festival logo in the centre.Price:
£8
They are available in Small, Large and Extra Large sizes.
They can be purchased
at Hennigans Sports Bar Levenshulme.
Please contact
Joyce for further details on 0161 257 2484 (Monday to Friday,
9am-5pm only)
4th
March 2002
Admission to the The Annual
Grand Charity Dance at the Irish Association Club
on Friday 22nd March is not Free as stated in the Festival Brochure.
Tickets are £2.50 in advance and £3 on the door
This is a charity event all in aid of Father Pat Clarke's Mission for
the street children of Brazil.
22nd
February 2002
Pop
Stars’ wanted for Irish Festival
This
years Manchester Irish Festival is on the look out for wannabe ‘Pop
Stars’
Two competitions are
taking place during the festival
‘Green Idols’ is a Karaoke style competition for over
18’s taking place at the Packhorse Pub, in Levenshulme Village
on Thursday 14th March.
Admission is FREE and the event starts at 8pm.
The other competition
is called ‘Pop Pupils’ and takes place at the under 18’s
night called ‘Manchester Schools Unite’ at the Palace
Nightclub in Levenshulme on Monday 18th March. Budding participants
must be aged 11-17 only.
To enter the competition
simply send a tape with your details to
‘Pop Pupils’ or ‘Green Idols’ care of
The Palace Nightclub, Farmside Place, Levenshulme, Manchester, M19 3BF.
22nd
February 2002
Granada TV are producing a six part documentary about the Irish in the
Northwest which is
to be screened in July. They
will be filming highlights of the festival.
21st
February 2002
Irish Festival Brochures are now available
Members
of the public can obtain copies by ringing 0161 234 3999 for a free copy.
For extra copies, please ring Mark Swanwick on 234 5214.
20th
February 2002
Sham Rock'n'Roll featuring Blue Gary's EP Launch at the Palace
Nightclub
on Friday 15th March.
Blue Gary, launch their new EP and are supported by The Hatters,
Gridlock, Lookin, Shake, Karigma.
16th
February 2002
The Bands appearing in the Boddingtons YGG Unsigned 2002 Final
at the Palace Nightclub on Thursday 14th March are:
Dr Rinse
A.metal band from Sale
The Flaws Celtic Pop from
Hasslingden
The Haze Indie guitar band from Radcliffe
Shallowater Indie Rock
from Cheadle...
Two Tone
Karma Rock band from Bury
Rising Inertia Indie
Funk band from Salford
14th
February 2002
Irish
Festival Civic Launch on Sunday 10th March
Manchester Town Hall, 6pm - late
Entertainment and Show by The
Award winning
‘Young, Gifted & Green’s Irish Music, Song & Dance
Troupe’
in Manchester’s majestic ‘Great Hall’.
The troupe of over
one hundred dancers, musicians and singers from St. Bede’s College
and the Manchester branches of CCE have won national acclaim
for their performances and fundraising shows for charity. Since being
formed just over four years ago the troupe have raised over £78,000
for charity and have appeared on numerous TV shows including the BBC’s
Blue Peter and Songs of Praise.
The show will be a
short presentation of the highlights of their two and half hour show which
sold out the prestigious 2,000 capacity Bridgewater Hall during
last years festival. The troupe will be joined by a number of Manchester’s
premier professional Irish musicians which include fiddle player Dezi
Donnelly (RTE’s Young Musician of the Year).
Last years show was
filmed by Handel Productions and a video of the show was produced with
the profits being donated to Francis House Children’s Hospice. Copies
of the video are available by sending a cheque for £14 made payable
to ‘St Bede’s College’ to A.P.Hennigan, St Bede’s
College, Alexandra Road, Alexandra Park, Manchester, M16 8HX.
Further details about
Young, Gifted and Green can be obtained by
telephoning 0161 225 0706, or emailing ygg@levenshulme.com
10th
December 2001
Alan
Keegan of Irish Festival Radio is now presenting The Parlour
on BBC GMR 95.1 & 104.6 fm from 7 - 8pm on Mondays.
Requests & information should be sent to
PO Box 951
Oxford Road
Manchester
M60 1SD
Telephone 0161
228 2255
e-mail: gmr.parlour@bbc.co.uk
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