News
Love of Irish dancing passes down through generations
The best businesses are inspired by passion – like Marie Mahon’s, whose love for Irish dancing was so strong that she has dedicated her life to introducing children to the wonderful skill.
Marie – nee Gavin – has been the driving force behind the Gavin School of Dancing, since she founded it back in 1989.
BY DAVID CONNORS
The school is now one of the most recognised and respected in South Galway – and after 25 years in existence, the academy continues to go from strength-to-strength.
Marie began dancing in England at the tender age of three when her mother purchased her first dance shoes. Her family moved to Peterswell when she was eleven, and her dancing continued from there.
In 1991, she undertook her T.C.R.G. examination with An Comhdháil (Congress of Irish Dance Teachers) and became a qualified teacher.
It was at this point the Gavin School of Irish Dancing was founded and began in the Joe Cooley Hall in Peterswell, now expanded to classes in Gort, Ardrahan, Kilbeacanty and recently Labane.
And it’s really within the last twelve years that Marie’s hard work has reaped reward.
“We won the All-Ireland’s back in 2003, in Ennis, in the freestyle championship and it was a really proud moment. It was a creation called Spirit of Celtic Hope,” she admits.
To invent these original dance creations takes a lot of time. “You have to get ideas, sit down with a pen and paper and make up a story, then come up with music and steps to show your story as you’re going. It is time consuming, it takes a lot of hours and a lot of practice,” she says.
And now that the school is so well established, former students are now coming through her school to become teachers themselves.
“April Dooley and Nessa Timlin have both qualified and this year my own daughter Diana is graduating in August, so I have three teachers produced school to date,” she says with pride.
And with the qualification of April and Diana, the school became a multi- teacher Academy now known as the Gavin Dance Academy.
April’s reason for moving onto the teaching side was simple – “to give back some of what I’ve learned and help children learn and progress over the years to come.”
And what she has learned is not to be sneezed at – because over the years, she has accumulated several Connacht titles, winning a gold medal as part of a team dance in the All Irelands and gold for a jig solo at 15.
Before undertaking her T.C.R.G. examination, her daughter Diana graduated with an honours degree in Business with Event Management from the Limerick Institute of Technology.
With the school regularly organising dancing events it was with an eye at ensuring the school’s name stays alive for quite a long time.
“I look forward to the growth and development of the academy. Also to the fantastic opportunities that Irish Dance has to offer, be it success at a competitive level, a chance to travel the world with a show or simply to make lifelong friendship from performing within the community,” Diana said.
The Academy caters for both boys and girls and currently boasts an impressive fourteen boys in its ranks.
“They’re loving it; they’re enjoying it and I think a lot of them are friends so they are sticking together. If you can get a few boys from the one area they will all be friends. It’s cool to be a male dancer,” says Marie,
The academy has further plans to expand and is looking at the possibility broadening the number of National Schools from the coming September.
The idea is to call to the schools and teach the pupils Irish dancing for one-two hours a week which would provide an excellent chance for students who might be interested in Irish dancing.
■ For more information on this or class enquires contact Marie Mahon on (087) 2468655, April Dooley on (086) 039489 or Diana Mahon on (087) 2140347.
Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
On the eve of completing his 150th marathon, an odyssey that has taken him across 53 countries, Loughrea’s Marathon Man has announced that he is planning to hang up his running shoes.
But not before Jarlath Fitzgerald completes another ten races, making it 160 marathons on the occasion of his 60th birthday.
“I want to draw the line in 2026. I turn 57 in October and when I reach 60 it’s the finishing line. The longer races are taking it out of me. I did 20 miles there two weeks ago and didn’t feel good. It’s getting harder,” he reveals.
“I’ve arthritis in both hips and there’s wear and tear in the knees.”
We speak as he is about to head out for a run before his shift in Supervalu Loughrea. Despite his physical complaints, he still clocks up 30 miles every second week and generally runs four days a week.
Jarlath receives injections to his left hip to keep the pain at bay while running on the road.
To give his joints a break, during the winter he runs cross country and often does a five-mile trek around Kylebrack Wood.
He is planning on running his 150th marathon in Cork on June 4, where a group of 20 made up of work colleagues, friends and running mates from Loughrea Athletics Club will join him.
Some are doing the 10k, others are doing the half marathon, but all will be there on the finishing line to cheer him on in the phenomenal achievement.
Get the full story in this week’s Connacht Tribune, on sale in shops now, or you can download the digital edition from www.connachttribune.ie. You can also download our Connacht Tribune App from Apple’s App Store or get the Android Version from Google Play.
From the Galway City Tribune – An impassioned plea for a ‘masterplan’ that would guide Galway City into the future has been made in the Dáil. Galway West TD Catherine Connolly stated this week that there needed to be an all-inclusive approach with “vision and leadership” in order to build a sustainable city.
Deputy Connolly spoke at length at the crisis surrounding traffic and housing in Galway city and said that not all of the blame could be laid at the door of the local authority.
She said that her preference would be the provision of light rail as the main form of public transport, but that this would have to be driven by the government.
“I sat on the local council for 17 years and despaired at all of the solutions going down one road, metaphorically and literally. In 2005 we put Park & Ride into the development plan, but that has not been rolled out. A 2016 transport strategy was outdated at the time and still has not been updated.
“Due to the housing crisis in the city, a task force was set up in 2019. Not a single report or analysis has been published on the cause of the crisis,” added Deputy Connolly.
She then referred to a report from the Land Development Agency (LDA) that identified lands suitable for the provision of housing. But she said that two-thirds of these had significant problems and a large portion was in Merlin Park University Hospital which, she said, would never have housing built on it.
In response, Minister Simon Harris spoke of the continuing job investment in the city and also in higher education, which is his portfolio.
But turning his attention to traffic congestion, he accepted that there were “real issues” when it came to transport, mobility and accessibility around Galway.
“We share the view that we need a Park & Ride facility and I understand there are also Bus Connects plans.
“I also suggest that the City Council reflect on her comments. I am proud to be in a Government that is providing unparalleled levels of investment to local authorities and unparalleled opportunities for local authorities to draw down,” he said.
Then Minister Harris referred to the controversial Galway City Outer Ring Road which he said was “struck down by An Bord Pleanála”, despite a lot of energy having been put into that project.
However, Deputy Connolly picked up on this and pointed out that An Bord Pleanála did not say ‘No’ to the ring road.
“The High Court said ‘No’ to the ring road because An Bord Pleanála acknowledged it failed utterly to consider climate change and our climate change obligations.
“That tells us something about An Bord Pleanála and the management that submitted such a plan.”
In the end, Minister Harris agreed that there needed to be a masterplan for Galway City.
“I suggest it is for the local authority to come up with a vision and then work with the Government to try to fund and implement that.”
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
