Celebrities Unite to help YGG raise over £10,000 for Christie’s

Celebrities Unite to help YGG raise over £10,000 for Christie’s

Celebrities unite to help ‘Young, Gifted & Green’ raise over £10,000 for Christie’s at their annual concert on Saturday 6 March for the opening weekend of the Manchester Irish Festival. An interval auction at the event featured items from David Beckham, Sir Alex Ferguson, Roberto Mancini, Shay Given and the United’s Premiership winning team. Plus a VIP package for Peter Kay’s concert at the MEN was donated by Chris O’Connor Promotions and Jason Orange’s father donated backstage passes to see Take that on their next tour. The auction was conducted by Alan Keegan who is the on the pitch announcer at the Theatre of Dreams, he was assisted by the award winning radio presenter Joe Casserley from the Full Irish Radio show. The Lord Mayor of Manchester councillor Alison Firth was the guest of honour along with her consort Andrew Fox.

Tony Hennigan the director of the troupe and Head of Technology at the College said “It was a fantastic evening and a fitting finale for the troupe, the performances from every member was perfect and left the audience were left screaming for more. We were delighted with the amount of money raised for The Christie Cancer Hospital, people had been very generous with the auction prizes and bidding for them. I do hope Roberto Mancini the Manchester City manager does not catch a cold after donating his signed scarf! The Town Hall was a fabulous venue and I would like to thank the co-chairs of the Irish festival – Cllr John Flanagan and Kevin Fitzpatrick for helping us secure it for the event and the generous support of all of our sponsors.”

The award winning Irish music and dance troupe based at St Bede’s College raised over £10,000 for The Christie Cancer Hospital on Saturday 6th March. They staged their annual sell out concert at the prestigious Manchester Town Hall as part of this years 2010 Manchester Irish Festival opening weekend. The troupe which first started in 1995 has now helped generate just over £190,000 for different charities and this last show was its farewell concert.

Close to one hundred singers, dancers and musicians were involved in the show, which are based at the College and from other Schools throughout Greater Manchester. The show was choreographed by Louise Keegan and it featured dancers from her dance school, the Keegan Kennedy School of Irish Dancing, plus dancers from the College. Other special guests included traditional Irish music groups ‘Shake the Barley’ and the ‘Scally brothers’ plus Cuban musician Jesus Moreau Batallan, Irish harpist Kate Brett and Gaelic singer and fiddle player Rebecca Fox.

The troupe was put together by myself, along with Louise Keegan a former pupil at the College who looks after the dancers, John Gibson who looks after the music and is Head of Classics at the College and Prep School teachers Denise Jones and Lesley Cavanagh who look after the singers and choir.

The troupe have appeared on numerous national TV shows which include the BBC’s Blue Peter and Songs of Praise. Shows have been staged at The Lowry, The Bridgewater Hall, The Royal Festival Hall in London, Gorton Monastery, Albert Square, Castlefield, The Palace Nightclub, Mere Golf Club, The Arndale Centre, The Trafdord Centre, St Bede’s College and in the Town Hall exactly ten years ago. Its former founding principal dancer is the three times world champion – James Keegan who is currently one of the principal dancers with the world famous Lord of The Dance show. A number of this years cast have qualified for the forthcoming World Irish dancing championships and hope to follow in James’s famous footsteps.

For more information about the troupe visit the official Irish festival website at www.stbedescollege.co.uk