Fear of flying

Big Tom overcomes fear of flying to sing out The Galty

Country Roads
Michael Commins

BIG TOM is getting ready to take to the skies again. Almost three decades since he last boarded a plane, the famous country singer is all set to jet out from Dublin to London on Friday for the big weekend in The Galtymore in Cricklewood.
Tom’s fear of flying is legendary. It all goes back to a bad experience he had during an emergency landing at a London airport in the early 1970s. The lasting effect of the ordeal has been deep. On one of his trips to America, he went on board the QE2 rather than fly to New York.
Apart from one other trip to America on board an Aer Lingus flight in the early 1980s, Tom has refused to fly ever since … until now. “Thinking about flying is the worst part of it. You get yourself all worked up. The last time I flew, I read a magazine the whole way over. If you asked me getting off the plane what was in it, I couldn’t tell you.
“All the lads are flying out on the plane from Dublin on Friday and Rose said to me that I might as well join them rather than face a boat trip and a five hour road journey all the way from Holyhead down to London. So I more or less said ‘here goes, I’ll do it this time’.”
For Big Tom and The Mainliners, it will be both a nostalgic and historic weekend in London. They have been honoured with playing the last two dances in the iconic Galtymore Ballroom, which will close its doors on Sunday night after more than half a century of service to the Irish community and friends.
The Galtymore was more than just a ballroom, it was where people shared a common heritage and found solace in a land away from home. There is no more definite point to mark the end of an era in Irish emigration to England than the closing of The Galtymore.
One entertainer that Tom would love to see in the Galtymore over the weekend is Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, a man with a great fondness for Big Tom McBride. “Shane was passing through Castleblayney a few months ago and stopped off in the Glencarn Hotel. He made a few phone calls to see if he could meet me but I wasn’t at home on the evening. I know he has one of my posters included in one of his videos. I saw it myself.
“It’s hard to believe it but he has often mentioned me in interviews in relation to our shows in England and our popularity with the Irish over there. He’s a great performer, and ‘Fairytale of New York’ is one of the great songs of the last 20 years. Yeah, if he is around London at the weekend, I’d love to meet Shane,” said Tom.

Music festival ties in with Ballinrobe Races

THE McWilliam Park Hotel in Claremorris is hosting another music festival to tie in with the Ballinrobe Races. Keith McDonald, Mike Denver and Robert Mizzell are leading the three nights of dancing at the popular venue.
The celebrations get under way on Sunday afternoon, May 25, when the Loughree Céilí Band will provide the music for a Céilí Mór from 3.30pm to 6.30pm. The recently formed Longford band are already doing good business and should prove firm favourites with the dancers.
Keith McDonald and the Showband Show are on stage on Sunday night. Country and show-band hits form the main part of their repertoire.
The Ballinrobe Races are on Monday and Tuesday, and the McWilliam Park Hotel will host two special country-night shows to tie in with the celebrations in Ballinrobe. Mike Denver and his band are back by popular demand on Monday night while Robert Mizzell and the Country Kings will be in stage on Tuesday night.
The hotel is also running an all-in package for accomodation and entertainment over the three nights. All the details can be had from 094 937800.