A birthday bash to remember for Bill!
IT MAY have been Bill Doyle’s birthday recently, but his celebratory bash was a walk down memory lane as a host of Wexford musicians, past and present, entertained the almost 200 people who packed into the Riverbank House Hotel.
Bill, who celebrated his 70th birthday, has been a well-known figure in the local music scene for the past 50 plus years. He showed no signs of slowing down as he played with all seven of the performers at the bash!
The house band on the night was the Top Cats, made up of Fintan and Colette Cleary, Tony Carty, Helena Bates and Bill on drums. Also performing were: Ger Busher, Sharon Clancy; Don Sadler and Gary Maguire of ‘Bourbon Street’; ‘The Menapians’ featuring Billy Roche, Mike Odlum, Bernie Barrett, Toddy Walsh and Nadine Roche; Johnny Dunne, James O’Sullivan, Matthew O’Brien, Paul Molloy and master of cermonies for the night Maurice McCarthy.
There was also a special reunion of the band ‘Full Circle’, which was made up of Maurice McCarthy, Jimmy Gaddren, Anthony Ryan and Bill on the drums.
Speaking after the event, Bill said that the main point of the event was to get everyone together, saying there were people he hadn’t seen for years at it.
‘There was a good mix of music between us all. I’ve been involved in music, in some way or another, for the last 50 years and I’ll keep carrying on in the same way. The main thing was to get family and friends together for an evening of nostalgia. Everyone had a great time.’