BREAKING: Death of former Bridge House owner and founder of Tullamore Show

THE death has taken place of the former owner of the Bridge House Hotel in Tullamore, Christy Maye.

Christy passed away in the early hours of Saturday morning following a long illness. No funeral details have yet been released.

The deceased was a stalwart member of the business community in Tullamore for many years and developed the Bridge House Hotel into one of the leading establishments in the Midlands.

A keen farmer, Christy was also proprietor of the famous Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar.

He was one of the founder members of the Tullamore Show and FBD National Livestock Show in the early 1990s and played a key role in the event up to his retirement in recent years.

READ MORE: Tribute paid to key figure in revival and success of Tullamore Show

It can be said that disco music in Ireland all began with his own brainchild, ‘Disc A Go Go’ in 1965.

Disc A Go Go started in Mullingar Parochial Hall, when Christy came up with the idea of holding a ‘discoteque’ during the interval of showband acts.

Before he launched his Disc A Go Go – which gave rise to ‘disco’ music and disc jockeys all over the country within a few years – putting together equipment capable of producing the right sounds and creating the atmosphere he wanted, was Christy’s biggest problem.

“There were record hops in those days, but you could only use two small speakers, and there was no atmosphere. I had to find a way of cushioning the turntables, and used a spring from a car seat, and foam, and other padding, so that we could get the volume. We managed to separate the bass sounds and got the hi-fi effect, and we improvised in various ways to get the lighting effects,” says Christy.

By modern standards the twin turntables, and all the equipment Christy used were primitive, but all the time it was something completely new, creating an atmosphere for dancing – and the crowds loved it!

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Proprietor of the Lake County, Mullingar, Paddy Fagan, asked Christy to hold Disc A Go Go in his hotel. Christy recalled, “On the first night, 70 or 80 people were there, after that the crowds just got bigger and bigger. He built a bigger ballroom and after a while built an even bigger one!”

Disc A Go Go went from strength to strength, spreading throughout the Midlands at a very fast rate, gathering hundreds to the local parish halls.

“A lot of the success at Disc A Go Go at Greville Arms Hotel Mullingar and Bridge House Tullamore has been due to loyal and supportive people and staff who have contributed a great deal to our success. We try to offer as much variety as possible and I am always looking at new ideas and thinking of new approaches,” says Christy.

Christy is survived by his wife, Eileen, and three children, and their families, to whom the deepest sympathy is extended.