The renowned New Inn Mummers’ Festival will take place on Saturday January 3 and Sunday January 4.
This unique festival of traditional music, song, dance, and storytelling draws patrons and participants from all over the country and is eagerly awaited as part of the Christmas and New Year festivities.
Festival chairman Michael Mullins said this week that the competition for senior groups will take place as usual on the Saturday night, while the junior competition will take place on the Sunday afternoon. “Last year we had 11 groups at the festival, and we expect to equal this for our 31st event,” he said. “The festival secretary, Michael Finnerty is pleased with the initial early expressions of interest in participating, and he is urging all groups to confirm their entry as soon as possible. He can be contacted at New Inn, Ballinasloe, telephone (090 ) 9675600. We really appreciate the wonderful effort that groups put into rehearsing at this busy time of the year.”
Last year’s senior festival winners from Rahan, Co Offaly, will be defending their title, and they will be difficult to dethrone, but they can expect tough competition from many groups who will want to capture the Peter Donohue Perpetual Trophy.
In the junior section last year there was intense competition for the major honours, and in a very keenly contested event, Rahan emerged to record a historic double for the Offaly visitors. The festival organisers are pleased with the increased interest in the junior section this year, as this is the lifeblood of the event, and it augurs well for the future of the festival.
Last year the BBC recorded some material at the festival, and there was a very positive reaction to this from many quarters.
Despite the recession, there will be plenty of prizes on offer thanks to thanks to generous sponsors. There will be cash prizes as well as perpetual trophies for winning groups, and many individual prizes to recognise great singers, musicians, dancers, and storytellers.
The New Inn Mummers’ Festival is organised by the New Inn Community Council, and as well as encouraging and promoting a great tradition, it helps fund some of the costs of running the community leisure centre. Some of the proceeds are also given to charity; following the 2008 festival a donation was made to the East Galway Sunflowers, a group which brings Chernobyl children to Galway every summer, and whose volunteers have travelled to Chernobyl to improve facilities for the children in schools and orphanages.
The New Inn Mummers’ Festival will take place in the New Inn Leisure Centre on Saturday night January 3 and Sunday afternoon January 4.
