Le Chéile Singers: Cootehill’s all-singing, all-inclusive group
The Anglo-Celt Community & Sports Awards, in partnership with Mannok and Kingspan, will take place this Thursday evening in the Cavan Crystal Hotel.
Cootehill's Le Chéile Singers are finalists for Community Group of the Year...
A no pressure motto is attached to the Le Chéile Singers in Cootehill, outlined co-founder of the group Gemma Kettle.
The group was set up two years ago this month, when the Cootehill native saw a post on Facebook about ‘One Town One Voice’, an initiative to set up singing groups throughout Ireland.
“I contacted the page for Cootehill Town Team,” Gemma recalled.
Philomena McQuaid responded and within a few days, the pair of women met up and the idea was set; they would bring an all-inclusive singing group to the town. No matter your background, age or singing abilities, the door was open to everybody who wanted to come along.
There are now around fifty members involved with the group, many of whom come and go as they please. On average, they have between 20 to 25 members each Wednesday in Hub Muinchille in Cootehill, which they consider their “home”.
“The luxury of it is, you can go any week, you can pop in and out,” Gemma explained.
“If you enjoy singing, just go along. We’ll sing a few songs,” she said, adding that there is “no homework” or “no auditions”.
Each night’s singing is followed by a cup of tea. The group has also taken part in various events within the community, such as Culture Night, St Patrick’s Day, Heritage Week and other local events.
“The original idea behind One Town One Voice, the national umbrella group, is diversity, inclusion, reaching out to new members in the community so that they can try something that maybe they’ve never tried before.
“When it started up we had members from many different communities, we had members from different backgrounds, different age groups.
“We have one thing in common that we love to sing.”
Honouring the different nationalities within the group; Irish, French, Bulgarian, German and Ukranian among them, they have learned song lines in each language, so that everybody’s culture is represented.
“Each member phonetically did the sound for us and kept repeating it so that we could actually use their language in the songs.”
The singers are accompanied by musician Cliona Bartley Brennan, who plays the keyboard each night.
“It’s a unique thing for the area, it’s something different,” Gemma opined.
On Sunday May 25, the group will travel to Athlone to take part in the National One Town One Voice event, with over 33 other community singers from all over Ireland. They will sing their own song named ‘The Annalee’ written by group member Nora Connolly.
“It’s a big thing for us, it’s great.”
With special thanks to our partners and sponsors in these awards - Mannok, Kingspan, Sherry FitzGerald Declan Woods, Cavan Crystal Hotel, Dovida, Kyte Powertech, CICS Silo Clean and Joe Rowley Windows