Lillian O’Moore: Irish Dancing legend 100 years young
‘As well as Derry City, I taught in the county, in Dungiven, Feeney, Magilligan and Coleraine, and Strabane’
Lillian O’Moore-O’Donnell - ní bheidh a leithéid ann arís.
Without a doubt, there will never be the likes of Lillian O’Moore-O’Donnell again.
It was an absolute honour to interview Derry’s newest centenarian and legendary Irish Dancing teacher a couple of days after her 100th Birthday party in the City Hotel - following in the nimble footsteps of the supremely talented Jean Butler, who interviewed Lillian in 2021 as part of the Our Steps Oral History Project.
Originally from Westend Terrace in the city, Lillian is the daughter of the late Benjamin and Marianne Moore (née Doherty) and the sister of Jim, who sadly died of TB at the age of 18, Ernie, and Anne.
She received her first Irish Dancing lessons from Miss Nellie Sweeney, the woman she described as the “Mother of Irish Dancing in Derry”.
‘It was a very special occasion and I saw my lovely little great grandchildren for the first time. To me, that is my happiness’
“Miss Sweeney was my legend,” said Lillian affectionately. “I had only a few lessons with her but to me she was the Mother of Irish Dancing. She taught people like the late Brendan De Glinn and Ted Kavanagh, a marvellous dancer, and Katie Daly.
“The Gaelic League awarded them their certificates, not TCRG (Teagascóir Choimisiúin le Rincí Gaelacha), but they were worthy of being good Irish dancing teachers. That is where my talent came from I would say,” acknowledged Lillian.
“At the beginning, I went to Henrietta Street with Nellie Sweeney, and then with Brendan De Glynn I went to 42, Clarendon Street. There was something about Irish Dancing that I just loved,” she said with enthusiasm.
Relaxing after her ‘birthday do’ on Saturday, Lillian said she wanted to thank her “lovely family” who travelled from different parts of England and Wales to help her celebrate the milestone event.
Some of the Irish Dancing teachers who helped Lilian celebrate her 100th Birthday.
“It was a very special occasion and I saw my lovely little great grandchildren for the first time. To me, that is my happiness. I love my family and I loved my late husband, Brendan (O’Donnell), who came from Shroove,” she added.
“All my relations and Brendan’s relations came to see me on Saturday, and to me that was the icing on my cake. My lovely Derry friends, too numerous to mention, came also.
“I’ll just say it, ‘I’m 100 and I love everybody and that is the way the world should be today.”
In 1943, at just 18 years of age, Lillian passed the first TCRG [Irish Dancing teaching certificate] exam with the late Miss Anna McCoy from Belfast.
“Anna had a marvellous school in Belfast. The two of us got the first TCRG going at the time,” recalled Lilian, “and from then I started teaching, in all parts of Ireland.
“I was going from one hall to another with a big tape recorder,” she smiled. “Now the children have their music on laptops and phones. On top of that, I didn’t drive so I had to travel to Fanad, in County Donegal - and everywhere else - on the bus. And, if I couldn’t get a hall, I had to go to Portsalon or Rathmullan looking for a hall.
“As well as Derry City, I taught in the county, in Dungiven, Feeney, Magilligan and Coleraine, and Strabane.
“When I was teaching in Fanad, I got on the bus on a Saturday morning at 8.30am. Changed buses. And the old buses threw out newspapers to the different shops. It took me five hours to get to Fanad. I could have been in America. But, on my birthday, two of the people I taught came up and I thought, ‘Isn’t that lovely?’ That is what Irish Dancing is all about,” said Lillian, who brought five World Champions back to Derry during her teaching career.
‘I travelled the World with Irish Dancing, but when I went to Donegal to Shroove, and was out in the hill footing turf, that was lovely’
Her pupil, Murianna Clarke, won the first World Title in 1970. Her other World Champions were: Kathleen McConnell, John Gallagher, Voureen McLaughlin and Stacey Lynch.
“To me Irish Dancing is lovely and I must thank An Coimisiún le Rincí Gaelacha for sending Mr Francis Curley down to me on Saturday, that was lovely. He presented me with a beautiful gold medal, a world medal. I really appreciated that,” said Lillian, clearly moved.
“I also want to thank Aberfoyle Surgery, their staff and their doctors, for their lovely bouquet. I want to thank Praxis, the lovely people who do my shopping; Good Morning North West; and Feis Dhoire Cholmcille,” she added.
Lillian attributed her long life to her faith.
“My faith, especially Our Lady of Fatima who saved me in a very serious car accident a few years ago. I am also thankful for my lovely family and my late husband. I just couldn’t ask for anything more, "said Lilian, who said her sitting room was like the Chelsea Flower Show on Saturday she received so many congratulatory bouquets,” she said.
“I am so grateful for them all,” she added. “I just want to thank everybody who contributed to my lovely day, a day I will never forget. I want to leave nobody out. I just love everybody who did that for me,” she added.
“I travelled the World with Irish Dancing, but when I went to Donegal to Shroove, and was out in the hill footing turf, that was lovely, and Brendan’s aunt made me some tea out there, and then I went for a nice dip in the sea afterwards, that type of thing to me was good. It meant the world to me.
“My mother, who was widowed at 35, was such a great woman. She pushed me for my music lessons and dancing, and kept my children when I went to do my adjudicating. She was a great lady. I had a very happy childhood,” reminisced Lillian, who revealed her favourite Irish Dance was the Slip Jig.
“I never was a champion dancer,” said Lillian. “I did come in seconds and thirds but I always loved Irish Dancing and I felt there was potential there that I was able to take out of the children I was teaching, which I did because one adjudicator, the late Harry McCafferty said, ‘I’ll be making enemies for I love Lillian O’Moore’s dancers’.
I had so many lovely chats with the Irish Dancing teachers who came along on Saturday and my past pupils. My dear friend Una Roddy, who is originally from Derry, was there too - her husband, her son and her grandson were all World Champions - and it was nice to see Ray and Michael McGinley.
“All the people that I love and have been good to me, I’ll never forget them. There are so many people who are so good to me. I just would love to thank everybody that has kept my long life so happy.”