Mayo memories: And the band played on...

By Tom Gillespie

CASTLEBAR has a proud musical history where bands of musicians entertained since the 1920s.

I have written on several times before on the illustrious Stephen Garvey from Castle Street and his famed Radio Orchestra. From opera to pantomime and dances in local village halls, he was the Mike Denver of his day.

Since I was very young I remember my father, Dick Gillespie, being involved in a variety of bands, a trend he continued up to a few years before his death.

As a young lad Dick’s parents, my grandparents, Thomas H. and Katherine Gillespie, who resided at Creagh Villa on the Westport Road, sent Dick to Sonny Comer on Staball to learn to play the trumpet. Sonny, though mobility restricted, was a musical genius, and taught many fine musicians the art of reading and playing the scales.

My earliest memory was when he was a trumpeter in the pantomime orchestra in the town hall in 1955 when Andy McTigue presented Mother Goose.

I vividly recall waiting in anticipation on St. Stephen’s Day evening for hackney man Billy Newell, himself a noted musician and band leader, to collect my mother, my two sisters and I from Marian Row to go to the panto in the town hall.

Earlier, I remember my father practising his scales on the trumpet in our sitting room, before he left for the panto venue. When the show was over we all walked home together.

We had a repeat performance in December 1956/January ’57 for the production of Ali BaBa and the 40 Thieves, which was produced by Andy McTigue and Fr. Tom Shannon.

The following year both were still in charge for the production of Sinbad the Sailor.

Participation in the panto orchestra involved hours of rehearsal as well as the shows themselves and I believe it was all voluntary and for the love of music. Among those in the orchestra were Jimmy Feeney, Sue Murphy, Brendan Carney and Angela Corcoran.

Dick would have been a regular member of the orchestra up to 1965, when Martin Lydon produced Aladdin, and panto in Castlebar ceased and was not revived again until 1986, when Fr. Des Fahey produced Dick Whittington. That year, one of his granddaughters, Rowena Gillespie, joined the panto cast and has been a member ever since.

In those days variety shows used to be staged in the dining hall of St. Mary’s Hospital, and again Dick and his companions provided the musical accompaniment. These shows were always a sell-out and I attended several of them.

The one vivid recollection of the dining hall was the distinctive hospital smell. The hall was also used for boxing tournaments and I recall attending one with schoolmates to cheer on (Fr.) Chas. Guthrie from St. Patrick’s Avenue who was a talented pugilist and won his bout on the night. Chas would have trained in the old boxing club on the Mall.

Dick also ran The Maryland Swingtet and I remember them playing in a marquee in the Paddock, opposite the old tennis pavilion where the Telecom building is, and also in the pavilion. Dick also played with his great friend and fishing companion, Brose Walsh. In those years the dances were all-nighters, going on until three of four o’clock in the morning, after which the musicians would have to return to Castlebar.

Dick also played the drums and was part of the resident band at Paddy Jennings' Travellers Friend Hotel in the town.

Along with Dan Doyle (saxophone), Madame Bourke (piano) and Nan Monaghan (vocals), they entertained locals and visitors alike for several seasons.

Dick was also a founder member of the Castlebar Silver Band, which has progressed into the highly successful and gifted Castlebar Concert Band.

In his more latter years he played with Old Spice with various members - Seamie Gavin, Padraic McDonnell, Tony Conway, Joe Bourke and Brose Walsh.

Weekly, Dick would visit Collins’ Music Shop on Castle Street to purchase sheet music so he would be up-to-date with the latest hits of the day.

One of their remarkable traits was they played annually at old folks parties around Castlebar at Christmas time, while not admitting they themselves were in the same age bracket.

Dick often brought his trumpet on his fishing trips. Two in particular stick out. The first was an outing from Ainsworth’s Pub on Spencer Street, Castlebar, to Inishturk. This would have been well over 40 years ago and it was my first visit - and thankfully not my last - to the island.

Back then those arriving by boat had to take a curragh to the tumbled down pier, as there was no proper, safe landing place. We were welcomed to the island by Peter Faherty and his late father Paddy.

There was a shebeen near the harbour were we enjoyed a few hours. When we prepared to depart Dick stood on the ramshackle pier and played the trumpet, much to the amazement of the islanders.

Many years later while fishing on Lough Carra, Dick gave another recital at Castle Carra where we moored for lunch.

In the 1950s and ‘60s each town had several bands and it was not unusual on a Sunday afternoon to see Brose Walsh, Billy Newell or Tony Chambers from Newport recruiting musicians around Castlebar for a gig somewhere that night.

Brose made his debut in the Horseshoe Hall at Frenchill outside Castlebar on Monday, December 27, 1937. Ever since, the band has been on the road year after year without a break.

Brose himself passed away on April 10, 1995, aged 75, but his three sons, Tomas, James and John Noel, are still members of the famous Mayo outfit.