Paddy Casey performs at Singing Pubs launch
SINGER Paddy Casey gave a well-received performance at the launch of Wexford’s 66th annual Guinness Singing and Swinging Pubs competition in the back bar of Bugler Doyles in South Main Street.
The competition will run from October 20 to November 2 and shows in the 26 pubs participating pubs will be adjudicated this year by the Waterford based singer and actor Ray Collins who famously judged entries by video link from hospital a few years ago after he became ill in the middle of the contest.
A total of 80 prizes will be awarded in four categories - Singing, Swinging, Variety and Traditional Style and the results will be posted on a TV screen in the window of Macken’s pub in the Bullring after midnight on the last night following the final Talbot Hotel performance. The results will also be read out on South East Radio.
The competition which is a year younger than the Opera Festival itself, is one of the highlights of the fringe programme, attracting packed audiences every night. Guinness, now owned by Diageo Ireland, has been involved as the major sponsor since the start.
This year’s launch was held in ‘The Big Wash’ at Bugler Doyle’s, a room named after the former and famous Broaders pub which was situated nearby at South Main Street, and Paddy Casey was invited along to entertain the attendance.
‘It was a great night out’, said Wexford publican Johnny Gaynor, one of the organisers of the competition which has been co-ordinated since 1996 by Brian Cantwell, Sales Executive for Diageo in the Wexford area who was unable to attend due to illness. Representatives from a large number of the participating pubs were in attendance.
Another man who was missed at the launch was Joe McGuinness who has created an amazing archive by having sound recorded the entries in each pub for more than 40 years. This is the first year that Joe will not be out and about with his tape recorder as he is in poor health.
A 30-minute documentary film about the enduring Singing and Swinging pubs contest, featuring video footage from the past mixed with contemporary clips and interviews, which was made by Michael Benson and Sharon Clancy, was premiered at the launch and according to Johnny, it was such a fascinating insight into a unique Wexford event, you could hear a pin drop when it was being shown,
Last year, the Talbot Hotel won the Singing section, Culleton’s Bar won the Swinging category, The Porter House in Castlebridge won the Variety section and The Lock and Quay took the overall Traditional Style trophy.