RTE’s Nationwide
written for local Newspaper by John Fitzgerald, Callan
The grounds of the Nore
Folk Museum in Bennettsbridge resembled a scene from Ireland’s misty
past at the weekend when RTE’s Nationwide team arrived to interview the curator
and view his acclaimed collection of more than 12000 exhibits.
Not content with just
showcasing the artefacts, Seamus Lawlor had arranged for a pageant of Irish
song dancing to recreate the atmosphere of a different, older Ireland that is
now just a distant memory or a country recalled only in sepia-toned photographs
and stories passed down through the generations.
As RTE’s Helen McEnerny and her camera man walked through
the gates leading up the museum they were greeted by a large contingent of
locals keeping time to music and singing along with old favourites as veteran
Kilkenny musicians Pat Shortiss and Jim Kennedy, both in their nineties,
entertained, Pat on saxophone and Jim playing the accordion.
Pat whistled bird love songs and gave a heart-warming
rendition of the popular wartime classic Lilly Marlene. Some of those in attendance
swore that songbirds had gathered to watch and hear his performance. Jim
offered a lively series of romantic melodies on his sturdy squeezebox,
eliciting tears and smiles in equal measure.
On a wooden platform girls from the local primary school step-danced
to accordion music played by Danny Webster of Woodsgift. Eight girls took turns stepping it out, four
attired in Kilkenny hurling jerseys and four in Tipperary colours.
“I believe in equality of esteem when it comes to our great
hurling heritage”, Seamus explained. It was a truly sporting gesture, he
believed, as all the girls were from Bennettsbridge.
The girls performed superbly, calling to mind the tradition
of platform dancing that is all but lost to the present generation. They had
been well prepared by talented local dancing teacher Stella Carroll, who also
took part in a re-enactment of a typical scene on Irish country roads in the
early twentieth century, when few people drove cars and almost everyone used
bikes to get around. Seamus arranged for twenty women and few token men to form
a nostalgic procession towards the museum entrance, with vintage bikes from all
of the decades of the last century on display.
Then the curator posed for dozens of snaps pushing a
Kilkenny teddy bear in a pram, flanked by Seamus Barry of Fethard who nursed a
bear in the Tipp colours.
The fanfare was interrupted sporadically by rainfall, but
the music and the dancing continued to rapturous applause.
After the entertainment, Seamus showed the Nationwide team
around the museum, explaining the significance of some of the bewildering
variety of artefacts and recalling the origin of his extraordinary collection.
There was more than enough to grab their attention...2000 year old farm tools,
impeccably preserved threshing mills, relics of both world wars and the 1916
rising, battering rams from the 19th century Land War, a complete poitin-making
still, and a breathtaking array of hurling memorabilia, to mention a few.
The programme should be worth watching and will be aired
within the next month.
