Fundraiser for church roof repairs
THE fantastic turnout for the launch of the St Mary’s Church Roof Restoration Fundraising Launch was matched by the magnificent evening’s entertainment which was provided by the Drogheda Male Voice Choir and their marvellous guests.
Musical Director, David Leddy, certainly had his choristers in fine voice and a beautiful programme of music ensued with a mixture of choral classics which ranged from the sacred “O Sacrum Convivium” and “Deus Salutis” to such pop classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody” and moving on to the specially arranged and composed “Sally Gardens”.
The beautiful ornate settings of St Mary’s Church certainly lent itself to a marvellous evening which began with the procession of the Drogheda Male Voice Choir taking to the alter with the wonderful Vangelis “Conquest of Paradise” which set the trend for an evening of marvellous choral and individual singing entertainment.
Soprano, Amie Dyer, is now one of Drogheda’s outstanding performers, there can be no doubt and she was given licence by Musical Director, David Leddy, to perform her wonderful talent with the Drogheda Male Voice Choir with such pieces like “La Virgine” and the “Holy City” and also rendered solo’s, “Time To Say Goodbye” and “Somewhere” which had her audience enthralled.
The introduction of local Drogheda talent continued with the lovely Sinead Curran singing a beautiful version of Imelda May’s “Black Tears” which received a fantastic reception from the audience. None more so, than from her very proud granddad in the Drogheda Male Voice Choir, Seamie Brannigan.
However, once again, the Drogheda Boys Choir, in only their second public performance, won the hearts and applause of a capacity audience.
Their rendering of “Panis Angelicus” opened the first of their two songs which melted the hearts and minds of the audience before they captivated everyone, accompanied by their excellent accompanist, Emer Leddy, with a Cold Play song sang in choral harmony.
A quartet from the choir, Tom Murphy, Pat Carroll, Tommy Finnegan & Michael Rafferty formed an excellent quartet to sing “The Parting Glass”
Other choir members who performed solo’s which were augmented by the choir were Timmy Regan, Ben Buckley and Leo Morgan.
When it comes to putting the various segments of a programme together as compere, Drogheda has none better than Alison Comyn and she played her part to perfection.
The last word was left to the Parish Priest of St Mary’s, Fr Phil Gaffney, who stated that he could not have wished for a better start to the launch of the Parish’s fundraising campaign.
He commented that his intention was to make sure that the beautiful church of St Mary’s would be retained and restored for future generations to come.