Musicians gather for unique musical marathon for Offaly woman Ashling Murphy
"She came into me carrying a very small fiddle but it was still too big for her and she was exceptionally musical."
ASHLING Murphy was being remembered in music in Tullamore for 23 hours when the talented traditional players of Killeigh Comhaltas staged a unique marathon.
The musicians, young and old, were scheduled to play non-stop for one hour for every year of the murdered schoolteacher's life after mounting the float at the St Patrick's Day parade.
They then took their seats in Teach Comhaltas, the new traditional music venue in the town, for an unbroken session which will last until 10.30am on Friday.
Fiddlers, tin whistlers, accordion players, flautists and much more joined in a selection of jigs, reels and hornpipes under the direction of Attracta Brady of Killeigh Comhaltas.
“Ashling Murphy was a gifted musician, she was my fiddle pupil from the time she was five years old,” said Attracta.
“She came into me carrying a very small fiddle but it was still too big for her and she was exceptionally musical. She was very conscientious and she was absolutely enthusiastic about the music. She never came with a tune not learned,” she added.
Ashling, who was killed on the bank of the Grand Canal near Tullamore on January 12 when she went for a jog after a day's teaching at Durrow National School in Offaly, went on to learn the whistle and flute and had begun lessons on the uilleann pipes before she died.
“Never once did I have to tell Ashling Murphy that she had something wrong.”
Ashling was a member of another Comhaltas branch in Offaly, Ballyboy: “We organised this because our music world is very important to us and all of us here are musicians.
“All the Comhaltas branches in Offaly, we're all like one big happy family and we all help each other out and we all know that what happened to Ashling was beyond anybody's worst nightmare so we want to keep our memory here, we want to make sure she's part of St Patrick's Day.”
The marathon will raise funds for the Offaly Domestic Violence Support Service and permission was received from the Murphy family.
Killeigh Comhaltas was in contact with Offaly Domestic Violence Support Service manager Anne Clarke.
"She was telling us that raising money is terribly difficult for their organisation for the very fact that people feel uncomfortable with the idea that this problem exists."
The organiser said: “Originally we said we'd do 24 hours but it just seems more poignant, more fitting and more appropriate that we would do the 23 hours, one hour for every year of her musical life.”
One of the musicians among the first 20-strong group to begin the marathon was 14-year-old Jason Donoghue, a student at Colaiste Choilm in Tullamore and a member of Killeigh Comhaltas.
“We practise every Friday and Attracta just brought up the idea over the last few weeks and said it's important to be there. I think it's just a good cause to be here,” he said.
Attracta Brady thanked the organising committee and everybody who supported the project, including sponsors Signs by Design and Davy Lambe plant hire.
"People are very very good when it comes to something like this," she said.
Two guests of her family, husband and wife Stuart and Louise Curry from Edinburgh, are over in Ireland for the rugby match against Scotland and they even joined in the St Patrick's Day festivities - leading the float as 'St Patrick' and 'St Brigid'.
“They didn't know they were going to be St Patrick and St Brigid until after dinner last night. We dressed them up and gave them packets of sweets to hand out to the children at the parade and they really enjoyed it. They're loving Tullamore. They couldn't believe the crowds that we had."
Ashling Murphy was killed on the bank of the Grand Canal near Cappincur, Tullamore on January 12 when she went for a jog after work on a Wednesday afternoon.
A resident of Blueball, past pupil of Sacred Heart School, Tullamore and graduate of Mary Immaculate College, her death shocked the local community, the county, the country and the world.