Club history/foundation:
100 people
attended the opening night 8th Jan with John Ruddy and Kate
Purcell.
The formation of
the club is a natural progression of the revival of session music
in the Sixmilebridge area.
Donnellans Pub in
Kilkishen and Malachy's pub in Quin would both be in the running
for the oldest local sessions (both now running for
over a quarter of a century!)
Sixmilebridge
had a history of sessions in the seventies/eighties and Andy
Irvine and Donal Lunny bring back memories of those days long
gone with their arrangement of the song "My heart's tonight
in Ireland"
A chance
meeting on a train between Brendan Walsh (founder member) and
Mike Nix (proprietor of McGregors) brought about the first
regular sessions in the bridge area for over twenty years.
Brendan had been a regular visitor to
the Limerick Folk Club (Glentworth Hotel) and had fond memories
of hearing Mike Hanly and Frances Black play there. He is also an
active member of the Ennis Singers Club and the Ennis
Fretted Instruments Club with this experience behind him when he
saw the upstairs of McGregors pub he realised that it was an
ideal venue for a folk club.
Venue:
80 seater attic room with open fire.
Club location:
McGregors pub is in the village of
Sixmilebridge Co Clare in the west of Ireland and borders the
square in front of the Catholic Church and the main Shannon Road.
Club musical preferences.
As
traditional music is so well catered for in all of Co.Clare it is
hoped that Blues, Bluegrass Cajun,Contemporary folk and
traditional music will all get an equal airing.
Visitors accommodation.
There is a new modern 60 bed.Hostel
in the village.The Jamaica Inn has hotel like accommodation at
reasonable rates. It is within 5 min. walking distance of our
club.
For Accommodation Contact Mike or Nuala tel: ++353 (0)61 369220.