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Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Charitable works of the most imaginative kind
BY PAUL CLAFFEY
WHEN Terry Reilly wrote the story of Monsignor James Horan in his book A Wing and A Prayer, wonderful reviews and a general sense of goodwill prevailed that finally the story of one of the West of Ireland’s most remarkable men had been rightly documented.
The story really brings home the fact that in the last five frantic years of his life, he achieved more than most people would carry out in five lifetimes.
The story continues, a new chapter begins, A Wing and A Prayer – The Musical is on the way as the story is being transferred from page to stage in what will undoubtedly be a box-office smash. What is so novel about this project is the fact that Terry is donating all proceeds from the show – which will run for four nights in the Royal Theatre, Castlebar in November – to the fine work being carried out by the Mayo/Roscommon Hospice.
This musical is going to be a gigantic undertaking and having listened to Terry outline his hopes and aspirations for the show I’ve no doubt that this is one that could have much wider appeal than just the West of Ireland. Rarely a day passes that somebody somewhere isn’t hailing Monsignor Horan “a saint” for bringing an airport to the West and his memory will live forever.
I know that plans for the musical tribute are at the very early stages and I understand the show will feature sketches that will document the characters and the events that led to the Pope coming to Knock and then the building of an airport on a “foggy boggy hill”. The show has all the ingredients for a sell-out and the notion that it’s all factual makes it more authentic and original. Somebody said if you sat down and tried to come up with a fairytale story you wouldn’t come close to writing something as true as what A Wing and A Prayer will soon bring to audiences.
The show will be staged in the Royal Theatre in Castlebar at the end of November for four consecutive nights and initial auditions for some of the leading roles in the musical will be held at the end of June. It promises to be something very spectacular.
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OVER the Bank Holiday weekend, a couple of events took place in Castlebar with very little fuss or pre-publicity but at the same time were a remarkable success. The first was on the Saturday when over 200 cyclists did a 100km cycle throughout County Mayo in aid of cancer services in the region.
All of these amateurs, who I’m sure were very busy in their own lives, spent weeks in advance planning and preparing for the event and in the process raised a lot of money for a very worthy cause. Then on the Sunday, over 3,000 women, including some galloping grannies, descended on the county town to take part in the first ever West of Ireland mini marathon.
Such was it’s success, it now seems it will be an annual event on the calendar. Organised by the Western Peopleand the Mayo Sports Partnership, great credit is due to both parties for spending I’m sure long hours dotting the Is and crossing the Ts, ensuring that the event ran as smoothly as it did.
The icing on the cake of course is that all of these participants used the opportunity to raise funds for charities of their choice. When the Dublin City Marathon is run every October, the entire country has to almost grind to a halt, yet nice and quietly this event in Castlebar was organised and ran without a hitch and a minimum degree of disruption. Once again congratulations to all concerned and it’s great to be talking about success on our own doorstep.
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