Westport drama group receive council award

Award for St Patrick’s Drama Group


Áine Ryan

TIME to take a bow! St Patrick’s Drama Group, Westport, has been awarded the Mayo County Council Amateur Drama Award  2010.
According to the Arts Department of the council the independent, expert judging panel was ‘very impressed with the standard in the county’.
“The group have shown exemplary dedication to the future of their group and to the promotion of amateur drama in Mayo,” the Arts Office stated.
The statement continued: “Mayo Arts Office would like to take this opportunity to wish St. Patrick’s Drama Group the very best of luck in all future endeavours.”
Responding to the news yesterday, founding member and well-known thespian, Martin Curry said: “It’s nice to get recognition for the amount of work that the group has done on a voluntary basis.”
He also  acknowledged the dedication of chairman, Tony Varley and president, Lenny Grimes.
Mr Curry, along with the late Michael Collins, established the group in 1964. It was then part of the larger St Patrick’s Club, based in the Town Hall.
He told The Mayo News that his favourite roles over the decades had both been born through the pen of John B Keane. “They were Danger Mulally and the Hiker in The Year of the Hiker,” he said. 
For many years St Patrick’s  Drama Group has been renowned for providing audiences with a broad repertoire of drama both humorous and melancholic. So it is no surprise that in 2010 it once again staged a busy programme of plays including ‘Makem and Clancy are Coming’, by group member, CiarΡn MacSuibhne, ‘The Cripple of Inishmann’ by Martin McDonagh and a staging in Dublin of Michael J Ginnelly’s ‘A Wake in the West’.
Speaking on behalf of the group, Regina McCormack PRO said they were delighted to receive the award. “We are continuing to fundraise for the new Town Hall project which we understand is set to go out to tender early in the New Year,” she said.
The Mayo County Council Amateur Drama Awards are assessed on the criteria of innovation, development of excellence and quality and creativity. All amateur drama groups based in the county are eligible to apply for the award.