This article is from page 100 of the 2008-10-07 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 100 JPG
COME to sing or come to listen – the Kilnaboy X-PO is pioneering a new venture that will brighten up Monday evenings for local music lovers this winter.
The singers club is the first in a host of new projects started at the former post office since it was taken over by the local community last month.
Young and old have been making their way to the revamped post office each Monday for an evening of mu- sic, tea and catching up with friends and neighbours.
“We started off by saying it was a singers and players club but we soon found out that there was a lot of peo- ple who wanted to come and listen. So we have changed it into a singers, players and listeners club,” said Phil Gaston of the X-PO.
“We have a real wide range of age groups. We have some older people who have been involved in choirs down the years but we also have a few younger people and a young singer-songwriter from Ennistymon who is playing a lot of newer music.
“Everyone plays or sings what they like. It not about the quality of what
is sang but more so about the partici- pation.
“We have people who have come who say that they can’t sing but after an hour they have decided that they have no problem singing and have joined in with the rest.”
Along with the singers club, the X- PO 1s also hosting a range of commu- nity events including set dancing, an Irish conversation evening, mapping and history group, the local Macra, music teaching, a coffee morning and drawing classes.
The idea of the project is to protect the community interaction and fel-
lowship that existed in the building when it was a post office.
“We had a few of the old school songs there last week and all of the sudden there were all of these memo- ries about school days years ago and great banter back and forth,’ contin- ued Phil.
“Music is a great medium for trig- gering memories. If someone asks you about a song they almost always have a story to go with it. It’s a great way of getting chat going with a group.”
For more information on the X-PO e-mail xpo.kilnaboy@ gmail.com.