Cathaoirleach launches 2010 Scoil Acla summer school

Cathaoirleach launches 2010 Scoil Acla summer school


Anton McNulty

The centenary celebrations of Scoil Acla continued over the weekend with the start of the 2010 summer school which was officially opened by Cathaoirleach of Mayo County Council, Cllr Michael Burke.
This year marks the centenary of the founding of Scoil Acla in 1910 and also the 25th anniversary of the revival of the famous summer school in 1985. To mark these momentous occasions, members of the Dooagh Pipeband marched through the village of Dooagh on Sunday evening to Aba Teangaí, which was the original location of the first summer school.
Cllr Michael Burke unveiled a plaque to mark the centenary at the original site and the original Scoil Acla flag was blessed by Fr John Cosgrove and raised by Tommy ‘Boley’ McNamara. Fr Cosgrove first blessed the flag in 1985 and to mark the occasion used the same words he used 25 years ago. A photographic exhibition of the history of Scoil Acla also took place in Aba Teangaí.
This year’s summer school got under way on Friday evening with lectures on some of the founding members of Scoil Acla and continues until next Sunday. Diarmuid Gielty, Chairman of Scoil Acla told The Mayo News that the centenary celebrations had generated great interest in this year’s summer school.
The centenary celebrations began last February with a book launch and there has been a large number of events taking place during the year. There are also three events planned for later in the year with a Uileann piping gathering on September 26, a historical conference on October 1-2 and a Gala Concert on October 23.
One of the highlights of this week’s summer school will be the Guinness World Record attempt for the largest ensemble of tin whistle players playing the same tune ‘FΡinne Geal an Lae’ on Keel beach on Saturday at 12.30pm. Diarmuid said that this has sparked a lot of interest among the community and was looking forward to a large crowd attending.
“There has been a lot of interest in this event with a number of elderly people learning the tune.”