The band are now rehearsing for their 27th Annual Christmas Concert which will be held on December 4th in the Bohemian Centre at 8pm, so that’s a date for the diaries. This year the band are not issuing tickets, therefore it will be admission at the door on the night, adults €10 and children €7. This is mainly due to the popularity of the concert so come early for a good seat. Thankfully they have played to packed houses for the last number of years and hopefully this year will be the same.
The act opening the concert is the Ardee Concert Band Recorder Group. The current recorder group which only started in September is thirty strong, one half being tutored by Adam Byrne, a transition year student, and the other by Aisling Reilly, a first year college student, both young members of the senior band. Aisling and Adam are preparing their students who will be helped out by last years recorder group, this will mean that there will be 52 children on stage performing in the combined recorder group. The concert is a wonderful platform for these young musicians to experience their initial public performance plus its great for the mums, dads and families to see their little darlings on stage. Likewise it is good for the people of the town to see the musical progress of its young citizens.
The recorder group will be followed by local storyteller and raconteur, Dick Murphy who will regale the audience with his tales. He will be followed by the Ardee Concert Junior Band conducted by John Gaynor who will give an entertaining programme. The senior band will entertain for the second half of the concert and will be joined for a few numbers by singer Corinne McLoughlin. As usual there will be plenty of Christmas flavour, which will hopefully let the audience forget the hustle and bustle of Christmas preparations for a short while. All the band members old and young are looking forward to this special night, hopefully the audience are too.