Bright future for Derry Feis after successful week

Feis Dhoire Cholmcille, the city’s premier cultural event - 102 years old and stronger than ever - was back home in St Columb’s Hall, after a brief hiatus.

The impressive Newmarket Street doors were thrown open at 9.00am on Tuesday heralding a week of Derry Feis competitions in An Ceol, An Teanga, History, Classical Music, Rince, Speech and Drama and Traditional Music.

All week the Feis Office was mobbed with children being awarded beautiful certificates; people handing in sheet music; late entries being taken; missing tickets being re-written; and last year’s conversations being resumed.

Stalwart volunteers warmly welcomed visitors; sold programmes and wristbands; fed results into computers; put hundreds of pictures up on social media - did whatever needed to be done to make sure everything ran smoothly, smiling all the while!
Speaking to Derry News, the indomitable Ursula Clifford, Feis chairperson and registrar, said she was delighted the Feis was “back in St Columb’s Hall where we should be”.

“This year was a tester but things have settled down quite quickly today which bodes very well for the future,” added Ursula.
“The entries this year are very good. We are very pleased. The Drama section was huge. The Singing was very good too, particularly the over 16s. I was very pleased about that.
“And then, of course we had this new Stanford Competition, which took place on Wednesday night. Last year we had the Moore’s Melodies competition which was recorded and broadcast on TG4.

“This year The Stanford Association got in touch with us about running a competition in memory of Irish composer, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. He is dead 100 years this year. The Association gave us a prize of £1,000 for the first prize.

“Derry Feis contributed £200 and £100, for second and third place. We had a lovely entry, from all over Ireland.

“We were very pleased with that too. The competition was won by Eilis Fox, with Aimee Kearney second and Jacq Herbots third.

“I noticed that the number of over 16s competing increased this year. The John McCabe Cup, where competitors perform a song from a Stage Musical, had a great entry. All in all we were very happy. It was a very busy but enjoyable week.”

Shauna Doherty, co-ordinator of the Rince section of Derry Feis said she had been very excited to welcome Irish dancers from all organisations “from Derry to Dublin and beyond this year”.

“We had a fantastic lineup of events! From the new 'Tiny Tots' under 5 competition at 2.00pm on Thursday, which has seen incredible entry numbers for the feis, right through to the Céilí Club and Veterans Competitions on Thursday night to close,” she added. 

“Then on Friday we had the gorgeous Championships, where the stage was graced not least by World Globe holders from both organisations. 

“To close the Feis, we held our brand new Champion of Champions Competition in memory of Father Kevin Mullan, our former chairperson and a former dancer.

“We were delighted to see lots of past and present dance heads coming up to see how stunning St Columb’s Hall was right now. The stage isn't even a ski slope any more.”

Keeping an unobtrusively watchful eye on proceedings in the busy and bustling Feis Office, ever cheerful PRO Eamon Sweeney said “an hour into Tuesday and it was so far so good and the rest of the week went magnificently well.

“As you can see around you even now, the crowds are coming in. We had a lot of children coming back down to the Office to collect medals and certificates. 

“Our historic connection with St Columb’s Hall is being reestablished and I think we are all delighted that the Feis  is back up and running here.

“While the Millennium Forum provided a great service for 20 odd years, I think everybody knows St Columb’s Hall and the Derry Feis have a very, very dedicated connection. 

“It was good to be back here and hopefully we will stay here. I think the St Columb’s Hall staff are doing their utmost to get it back to its former glory and hopefully we remain part of that for a long time.”