BIG LAUNCH FOR DE LA STRICTLY DANCING IN IMPERIAL HOTEL
On Saturday night I headed for the Imperial Hotel where the official launch of the Strictly De La Dancing was taking place. This will be a fundraising night where parents, teachers, staff and past pupils of De La Salle school take part in a Strictly Come Dancing night scheduled to take place on January 20th in the Carrickdale Hotel.
This is the first fundraiser organised by the school in 30 years and 13 different couples will do battle to see who is the first winners of Strictly De La Dancing.
I wasn’t too long in the door when I met up with deputy principal Nicola Connolly who was busy making sure that the launch night was a success and told me that already the 26 dancers had been taken under the wing of choreographer Alicia Grills in preparation for big night and everyone was on hand to see who got paired with whom for the big night.
Heading for an adjacent table I then met up with some of the organising committee who included Millicent Murray from Upper Faughart, Angela McGinn from Louth Village and Bernie Callan from Louth Village who were chatting to dancer Patricia Smith from Kingswood who was really looking forward to the contest and finding out who her partner would be.
Next I caught up with Thomas Campbell from Kilcurry who is a past pupil and is currently a teacher in Colaiste Ris who was having a laugh with Michelle Cunningham from Cavan and Martin Crawley from Newry who was there to lend moral support to Leanne Carroll from Bay Estate who told me she had been coerced into taking part by her brother Eoghan who is in 3rd year in the school.
One man who certainly wasn’t going to miss his chance of strutting his funky stuff on stage was David McArdle from Greenacres who told me he couldn’t wait to find out who his partner is and get dancing.
Next I headed over for a word with Damian, Roisin and Gavin Smith from Kingswood who were there to support wife and mum Patricia who works in the school and they wanted to wish her all the best in the competition.
After this I caught up with Mary Richardson from Blackrock and Robbie who told me he is from the class of ’89 and that Richardson’s can trace links to the school all the way back to the 1930s so when the offer was made, it certainly couldn’t be refused.
Sitting having a laugh together were Clodagh Malone from Jenkinstown and Ciaran Rogers from Avenue Road. All Ciaran would say was that a woman had roped him into taking part, while Clodagh admitted she had family ties with the school with her late husband, her two brothers and two sons all educated there and both seemed quietly confident on the night.
Heading over to another table I had the pleasure of meeting up with Sinead Woods from Hackballscross, Pamela Campbell from Medebawn and Lorraine Delaney from Cavan who are all working in the school and couldn’t wait to see who would be tripping the light fantastic with them.
Not too far away I caught up with Daren McKeown from Dublin who is also a teacher there and he told me that when Pamela said he was taking part, he was taking part!
After this I got talking to Gina Quigley from Drumbilla who said she wasn’t taking part, she was supporting everyone but had a particular support for Sinead who works in the office.
Meanwhile up near the bar I then got talking to Paddy Veerkamp from Hoeys Lane, Gareth Larkin from Belfry Drive and Stephen McCourt from Woodbury Gardens who told me he had spent the week slagging the hell out of Aidan McGuinness for taking part in the competition, then someone had to drop out and he had to take the bullet for the team and was now in the thick of it.
Heading for another table I met up with Gavin Coleman from St. Alphonsus Road and Aidan McGuinness from Ard Easmuinn who was delighted that Stephen was now part of the competition and said he’ll have to concentrate on dancing more than football and mentioned something about nutmegging Stephen in a recent game.
Not too long later I met up with two lads who had bowed to peer pressure and they were Aaron Mathews from Lis Na Dara and Jordan Mackin from Darver who told me one of their old teachers had got in contact with them and told them they were taking part, once you’re told, you’re told lads!
Next I got a word with Orna McCabe from Meath and Niall Fanning from Stabannon who have both signed up for the big night and couldn’t wait for the real training to get going.
Finally before I departed I met up with Sharon O’Connor from Blackrock who was coerced in because she is a teacher in the school and Emma O’Brien from Carrick Road who said it’ll be a great fundraiser for the school and she couldn’t wait to find out who her dance partner was going to be.
Anyone interested in being at this dance extravaganza, it takes place on January 20th in the Carrickdale Hotel and tickets can be bought from the school.