Thanks to Cork City Council’s Night time economy for sponsoring our Christmas Special in the Church of the Resurrection in Blarney late last year. Thanks to Reverend Abigail Sines for such a warm welcome to the church, to Max Bell as always for capturing the night perfectly in these photos, to all the helpers for setting up and returning the church to how we found it, to Paul Walsh for manning the door, to the tellers, musicians and singers for the festive entertainment and most of all to the listeners who made the night so special for all of us.
Deirdre O’Mahony welcomed everyone to the Church of the Resurrection as Bean a’ tí before introducing local Cathal Ó Loingsigh. He played the beautiful, slow and dreamy, Draíocht an ghab, a tune he composed especially for the Gab.
First storyteller, Brendan O’Sullivan took us to Bonane, Co. Kerry, Christmas night 1999. A haunting tribute of a story in memory of those who had gone before, especially Tade Lee, Brendan’s father’s uncle.
Next up was a classic folk tale told by Julie Crowley, the Man with no Luck, who met many strangers as he walked and he walked and he walked to find God to find out why he had no luck.
Even though his poor father was a lightning rod for trouble, Paul O’Sullivan never wanted for anything growing up in a family of five thanks to the kindness of neighbours. There were many adventures on the family farm from pulling ragworth and picking stones to the high jinks with Georgie Garrett’s donkey.
Did you know there was a Christmas miser before Scrooge? Sharon O’Neill gave us the story of Gabriel Grub, the sexton who dug the graves and rang the bells who saw other’s happiness as a personal insult. But one Christmas night, when Gabriel is taken away by goblins, he learns a thing or two.
The West Waterford duo, Sinead O’Neill and Liam Roche, took us to the break with Taylor Swift’s “Caroline” and Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”.
Our genial BAT, Deirdre O’Mahony told us a story about how the divilment and mischief of her late father Timmy has inspired her modern day parenting and that scourge on advent households, the elf on the shelf.
Lenka Forrest took us to Eastern Europe in the last century and painted a gorgeous Christmas picture for us when Brezhnev was the Soviet leader and Reagan was seen as the bad guy where they feasted on carp fish on Christmas eve and baby Jesus brought the presents.
Diarmuid O Drisceoil gave us the sense of an ending with the story of a burial in Cape Clear, neighbours coming together to dig the grave and lay a local to rest, a glimpse into the passing of time in every sense.
Before we were sent off on on our festive way, Sinead and Liam sang out the night with a duet by Judy Collins and Ari Hest from their album, Silver Skies Blue, “Aberdeen” and the grand finale, “Oh Holy Night”.
More photos available on Facebook.
The Gab 
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