* The Annual Senior Citizens Cross Community Christmas Dinner took place in the club last Sunday Afternoon. This was well attended and a great afternoon was provided for our older citizens. Santa arrived in his own inimitable style. Nora Owens rolled back the years and sat on Santa’s knee. Santa is glad to report neither he nor Nora suffered any long term damage! A special mention must go to Moira Hawkins for all her hard work in organising this event. Thank you to all those who cooked, help set up the hall for the occasion, who worked on the day and cleaned up afterwards.
* Next Sunday afternoon will see the Children’s Christmas Disco which will be held in the Club from 3.00pm to 5.00pm. Of course the special guest will be the one and only Santa Claus. He will be arriving with his Reindeer’s Dancer, Prancer Dasher, Vixen Comet, Cupid, Donner & Blitzen and of course Rudolph. He has asked me to say that he is look forward to seeing all the children there next Sunday.
* The Down Minor Hurling squad received their Ulster League and Championship medals on Saturday Night at a banquet in Canal Court. Special guest was Noel McGrath who praised the team for being the first Down Minor Hurling team to win both League and Championship double. We were fortunate to have two of our players Paraic Og Hardy and Rory Burns on the panel. It was a most enjoyable night for everyone who were there.
* It would be remiss of me not to mention the sudden passing of the Great Gael and ex County Chairman Jerry Quinn from the Clonduff Club. On taking on this role to write this column he contacted me to wish me the best of luck. To say the least he would have written many pieces for the papers and I sent many a note to him. He took whatever snippets he could out of it. He would have been a frequent visitor to our club in his various guises. He will be sadly missed. Our deepest sympathies to his family and Clonduff GAC Ar dheis de go raibh a anam dilis.
* The fantastic film Billy Elliott told the story of a boy from a coal mining village who wanted to be a ballet dancer. In the scene where he was being interviewed for a place at the National College of Ballet he was asked “Can you tell us why you first became interested in ballet”? Billy Elliott replied “Don’t know”. He paused and said “just was”. The Interviewer then said to Billy “Well was there any particular aspect of the ballet which caught your imagination?” Billy replied “The dancin”. Yes the dancing. If you ask any of our six couples who have qualified for the final of Castlewllan Come Dance then their answers will be similar. The dancing! Since the end of the second semi final all the couples who qualified for the final have been pushing the boat out in preparation for the big night this Saturday Night. This will be a packed night in the Club so if you don’t have a ticket you will miss a great show. So who are our finalists? First couple are Sinead McCartan & Niall McArdle. There is certainly great rivalry in the McCartan household. Sinead who is the rose next to the thorn that is Gregory who we’ll mention later. Certainly Niall could not be described as modest. He has stated from the outset Sinead and his good self will win. Fighting talk. It’s not boxing gloves you will be wearing on your feet but you’ll be in it at the end. Next up are Caoimhe Kelly & Rory Burns. They have been described as the babies of the competition. They may be that but their semi final performance may well get them on the card at Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans in January 2013. Cart Wheels, back flips. But enough about Rory! Caoimhe, you are our favourite! Our next couple are Anna Scott & Mikey Hawkins. Anna has had to put up with a lot with Mikey’s diva like demands. In fairness Mikey is a perfectionist. Likes to get everything right on the night. He particularly likes the lipstick to be the right shade, the eye shadow etc. It’s hard for Anna to get the mirror before going on the floor. Next up is Kirsty McAleese & Ronan “Wolfie” King. They deservedly qualified through the dreaded vote-off from the judges. Ronan and Judge McCabe are very good friends and all that but we all know Ronan has a great two step. He is alongside the graceful Kirsty who brings elegance to their dance. No doubt it will be the same this Saturday Night. Next up are Amy Brannigan & Raymond Cunningham. One is a star with the microphone and one is a star with the hurling stick. If Amy was allowed to sing and dance at the same time we would have Cabaret. If Raymond could hold the Hurling stick and play Hurling at the same time well that would be something! A great performing couple and no doubt they will put on a performance. Last but by no means least Ciara Stratton & Gregory McCartan. In the semi final the front row had to be cleared to let Gregory make a big leap of the stage. I don’t know if it was the scary sight of the MC Mr Sweeney at the side of the stage or there was a big crowd or lots of noise. Maybe he thought he was jumping for a ball again and scattered all in front of him! Ciara will of course not be like that. Like all our lady dancers she will bring class to the performance and outshine the big man. So that is our line up. I would remind all patrons again to be there early and seated as the show will get on the road at 8.00pm sharp. Again the doors will open at 7.00pm and remember that this is a ticket only event.
* The Winter Fun Coaching continues on Monday evenings. Again we encourage and welcome as many parents as possible to help with the coaching. The programme will continue on Monday evenings. Please feel free to still come along and join in. The times are as follows; P1 to P4 6.00pm to 7.00pm and P5 to P7 7.00pm to 8.00pm.
