St Kentigerns MD crowned King of Clubs

Kevin Fitzpatrick MD of Manchester based St Kentigerns Social Club has been awarded the prestigious Club Mirror Award "King of Clubs".

He is shown above holding his coveted award along with club secretary of the year "Christina Heneghan" also from St Kentigerns, the MD for the sponsor "Amgostura" and award winning TV personality Roy "Say what you see" Walker from TV's Catchphrase.
 

Kevin Fitzpatrick with Chris (John Smiths)
Ena  Kennedy ( catering manager )
Sharon Duffy ( catering manager )
Eileen Edwards ( assistant manager / bar manager )
Mary Fitzpatrick
Reverend Father Tom Connolly (who appointed Kevin in march 2002 )
Christina Heneghan the club secertary from 1971
Roy Walker, the mc for the night

Ballina inspired Festival attracts 5,000 to its outdoor Party in Levenshulme

An outdoor party in Levenshulme, Manchester, organized by Lawrence and Anthony Hennigan whose Irish roots stem from Attymass Parish in Mayo attracted a crowd of just over 5,000 on Thursday 30 October.  The event was part of the Levenshulme Festival an annual event which is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year and is now seen as one of Europe’s biggest community celebrations.  Levenshulme is home to the biggest Irish community outside of London, the majority of whom come from Mayo in the West of Ireland.  The two week event takes its inspiration from the Ballina Street Festival which the brothers religiously visit each summer in their home town. 

Lawrence Hennigan the president of the festival said  “It was great to see such a large crowd again at the event on such a cold evening, we even got a visit from a Ballina Radio production student ‘Michelle Melvin’ who had read about the festival in the ‘Western People’.  She came along to record the event for her end of year assignment and we were only too happy to help her out.  A lot of inspiration for the festival comes from our visits to the Ballina Street festival which we go to every year, we have a cottage in my dad's home village in Ballycong so its only five minutes in a car.  The outdoor party combines the best bits of Ballina's Mardi Gras and their international evening along with a massive funfair on the same site which makes for a superb night out for all the family as long as they bring their wellies!”

The outdoor event was a joint production organized by Lawrence's Irish pub company ‘The Levenshulme Pub company’, along with Michael Moloney Irish Funfairs, plus Manchester City Council, the Parks department and staging was provided by the Full Irish Radio show.  The groups pooled their resources to put on one of Manchester’s biggest and most family orientated free outdoor parties to celebrate the areas tenth anniversary festival. 

Despite the cold weather and threat of rain a crowd of  5,000 turned up to enjoy the credit crunching event which featured a free fireworks display put on by one of the city’s premier fireworks display companies.  Plus a host of free live entertainment which included dancing displays from the Banat Egyptian Dancing troupe, the Keegan Kennedy School of Irish Dancing as seen on Channel M TV, the Manchester School of Samba and  ‘Syd Bozko’ the winners of Manchester Irish Festival YGG unsigned.  The event was compered by Irish DJ James H who who kept the crowd warmed up with his selection of Irish classics.  Free face painting was also provided for the kids as an extra treat.

The two week festival was launched on Friday 24th October and runs to Sunday 9 November. Up to 10,000 people are expected to enjoy one hundred and sixty events. Some five hundred performers will take part in its Music & Arts programme and Manchester City Council Sports development team will be running a special free childrens half term multi sports week during the first part of the festival.

Festival chairperson Tony Hennigan said “The outdoor party is always one of our highlights and last year it got national media coverage when it was featured on channel 4 TV.  We have really pushed the boat out this year for our anniversary and despite the credit crunch everyone has pulled together to put on this free event.”

Other festival highlights still to come include the award winning ‘Full Irish Radio’ show who will be putting on a special live broadcast on Sunday 2 November.

 Live Music plays a huge role in this years’ celebration with twenty six gigs featuring just over two hundred musicians taking place over the two weeks.  With everything from Alt Country, Brazilian, Irish and Jazz music through to Acoustic festivals celebrating the Beatles, Bob Dylan and Oasis taking place.  Highlights include appearances by the likes of Tom Hingley from the chart topping Madchester band ‘The Inspiral Carpets’ and international Irish Country and Western star ‘Kevin Prendegast’.   

More information is available on the festival website www.levenshulmefestival.co.uk

Or by contacting the festival office on 257 2484

Mayo singer Kevin Prendergast jets in from Boston to appear at the Levenshulme Festival

Sunday 2nd November 2008

Mayo Irish Country and Western singer ‘Kevin Prendegast’ flew direct from a tour of Boston in the USA to appear at the Full Irish Radio broadcast for the Levenshulme Festival.  A packed out m19 bar in Levenshulme village gave Kevin who lives in  Carrimack and Brickens in County Mayo a warm Irish welcome.  The special live broadcast to celebrate the festival’s tenth anniversary was hosted by the award winning Joe Casserley and the Full Irish Radio team.  The show was broadcast live on 96.9fm and over the internet.

Lawrence Hennigan the president of the festival whose own Irish roots stem from Attymass in Mayo said “Levenshulme is home to one of the biggest Mayo communities in the UK and we wanted to do something special for our tenth anniversary.  Kevin was fantastic and the Levenshulme community just loved him.  We had a fantastic array of performers appearing on the broadcast which included ‘Three’s a Crowd’, ‘Shake the Barley’ with special guest Beth Noble.  Plus the ‘Keegan Kennedy’ School of Irish Dancing, the award winning Irish poet ‘Tony Walsh’ and traditional musicians from Tara O’Carolan and St Wilfred’s.”

“It was great to see so many families coming out to enjoy a Sunday afternoon of live entertainment, I remember fondly the times my parents used to take us out on a Sunday afternoon to listen to live Irish music and it brought back a lot of good memories.  The Full Irish team did a fabulous job with the live broadcast and we are very grateful for their support.”

Full Irish Radio Show FamilyFun Day

SUNDAY 24th August 2008

The Fun Day at its new venue of Burnage Rugby Club
Varley Industrial Park, Battersea Road, Heaton Mersey, was yet again very popular with the thousands of visitors. Well done to all the team for a fantastic event and a great day.

The Keegan Kennedy School of Irish Dancing were a huge success and one of the highlights of the day.

The Full Irish team were present along with Kevin Fitzpatrick from St. Kents and the Manchesyer Irish Festival

Matrin Logan of The Full Irish Radio Show presented various trophys for GAA games.

For more details phone 0161 973 0951
email info@thefullirish.net
or write to The Full Irish
PO Box 119, Levenshulme, Manchester M19 1XP

Charity Night with Innisfree

Thanks to everyone who came down on Saturday 23rd August to the Union Inn, Levenshulme with trad Irish Band "Innisfree" from Liverpool, raising funds for a local youngster who is a great friend to us all here in Levenshulme.

Family Ceili in aid of Australia Youth Day Pilgrimage

Thurs 26 June 2008

Features performance by three times World Irish Dancing champion - James Keegan,

plus Ceili and Disco

Doors 7.30pm,
St Kent's
Hart Rd, Fallowfield

Adults £3 adv,£1 children advance, £4 doors

Manchester turned Green for Night of the Oscars

Palace Hotel

13th June 2008

Manchester's Palace Hotel in the city centre was turned green when the variety club of Great Britain in conjunction with the Full Irish Radio show from ALL FM staged their inaugural "Pride of Eireann Awards".

Dubbed as Manchester's very own 'Irish Oscars' the evening paid tribute to Manchester's wealth of Irish talent and creativity alongside a number of international Irish stars which included the likes of Keith Duffy from 'Boyzone' and TV personality 'Gloria Hunningford'.

The sell out event was packed with the city's Irish community and Irish stars from the world of Irish entertainment and media.

Entertainment on the evening was non stop from early evening to the small hours of Saturday morning. Upon arrival at the venue guests were greeted by traditional Irish music performed by musicians from South Manchester's 'Young, Gifted & Green'. The troupe also performed the opening for the Awards ceremony on the main stage with a short presentation taken from their recent sell out show at the Lowry Theatre.

Other entertainment on the night included a traditional Irish dance display from the Lally School of Irish Dancing, plus music performances from the 'Queen of Country' - Philomena Begley and Manchester fast rising Irish star 'Michael Muldoon'.

'James Keegan' the three times Irish world dancing champion jetted in from the 'Lord of the Dance' show to perform at the evening along with impromptu Comedy performances from Irish comedians Brenda Carroll (Mrs Brown) , Frank Carson and Jimmy Cricket. Even the compere for the evening – Joe Casserly put his dancing shoes on to give a slick song and dance routine with fellow Manchester musician Ged Graham and comedy writer and actor Phil Mealey.

Joe Casserley from the Full Irish said "It was a fantastic event, the setting was superb it really felt like you were at the Oscars. We even had our own giant replicas of the famous icons at the front of the stage. The evening was a great success and we hope to make it an annual event and one of the annual highlights in the city's Irish calendar. The entertainment was second to none and you would be hard pressed to get together such a wealth of talent on the same night again anywhere in the world."

One of the award recipients - Tony Hennigan from the award winning 'Young, Gifted & Green' received an award for his work in the community and helping to raise just over £120,000 for different charities.

He said about receiving the award "It was a lovely evening and it was great to see so many people from Manchester's Irish community share the stage with the other Irish celebrities. I was only too happy to accept the award on behalf of the work done by the troupe over the last twelve years. The dancers and musicians had a great time performing on the night in front of such a prestigious audience."

Other award winners were former Manchester United legend and Irish international 'Paddy Crerand' who is currently a pundit for Manchester United TV. Paddy won the Sports award. Media awards were given to 'Eamonn Holmes' the current anchorman for Sky News, TV Radio presenter 'Henry Kelly'and the 'Irish Post' newspaper for broadcasting media.

Boyzone member 'Keith Duffy' won a award for his work with the Autistic Society. The award winning Tv and Radio presenter 'Gloria Hunniford' from Armagh in Northern Ireland won the TV and Radio Award. Music awards were given to the legendary Irish Folk group 'Foster & Allen', traditional Irish musician 'Dezi Donnelly', the Queen of Country – 'Philomena Begley' and Irish showband star 'Dickie Rock' and major Irish recording star – 'Moya Brennan'.

Representing the world of Irish Comedy is 'Brendan O'Carroll', 'Frank Carson' and 'Jimmy Cricket'. Finally representing Irish Dance is Eileen Lally MBE and the three times world Irish dancing champion – James Keegan who also holds the title of being the youngest ever principal dancer with 'Lord of the Dance'. James was also one of the founding members of 'Young, Gifted & Green' and flew in from a European tour to appear in the troupe's recent charity event at the Lowry.

Community Awards included Fr John Aherne the parish priest of St Mary's Levenshulme and official chaplain of the ALL Ireland champion 'Kerry GAA'. Along with 'Sister Lucy' of Cornerstone, 'Tommie McKenna' from Irish Community Care, 'Kevin and Mary Maguire' of the Good Life Orphanage and 'Joe Cahill' from Manchester's GAA.

A special award was given by the Variety club to the Full Irish Radio show for their unstinting work in the community in promoting Irish culture and for having the vision and ability to help put on such a successful event.

The evening was jointly presented byJoe Casserleyof the 'Full Irish' and BBC Radio Manchester breakfast show presenter 'Eamonn O'Neal'.

Photos by Bernie O'Brien

www.bernieobrien.co.uk

Photos by Tony Hennigan

Pride Of Eireann Awards

Variety Club Pride Of Eireann Awards