News
Gleneagle Concert Band race night
The Gleneagle Concert Band will host a fundraising race night on Friday, March 21 at 7:30 pm at the hotel to raise funds for their concert tour to Spain in July 2025.
The Killarney-based community band, now in its 44th year, will perform joint concerts with the Midleton Concert Band in Seville and Gibraltar under the baton of band conductor Robert O'Brien.
This will be the band’s eighth foreign tour following visits to Holland, Germany and Sweden in the 1980s, Austria in 2002, Paris in 2007, Lisbon in 2013, and Monaco and Cannes in 2017.
Band manager Ciaran Lynch said: “The band will perform an open-air concert in the centre of Seville. This will be a wonderful spectacle as close to 80 musicians will be performing on stage between our own band and the Midleton Concert Band. This tour will be an amazing musical and cultural experience for band members and we are extremely proud to represent Killarney and Kerry abroad.”
Music development officer Vincent Condon said: “There are many costs involved when taking a band on a foreign concert tour. Members pay for their own flights and accommodation, but the band must fundraise to book concert venues, hire percussion equipment, transport instruments and music stands, bus hire, insurance, etc. Parents and band members have been working tirelessly to fundraise for the trip and will visit businesses in Killarney throughout March to sell ads for our race night programme. We are appealing to local businesses to support Killarney's town band, and any assistance will be greatly appreciated. A half-page ad for the race night programme is €75, a full-page ad is €120, and to sponsor a race is €250.”
Inquiries regarding the race night or parents who wish to enrol their child in lessons in the Gleneagle School of Music and/or as a member of the Gleneagle Concert Band can contact the band at 087 2229513. Past members and adults with previous musical experience are also welcome to join.
Gneeveguilla apprentice wins national stonemasonry title
Darragh O’Sullivan from Gneeveguilla won the overall prize in the Architectural Stonemasonry category at the WorldSkills Ireland competition held recently at the RDS in Dublin.
An apprentice stonecutter and stonemason with the Office of Public Works (OPW) based in Mallow, O’Sullivan secured gold for his technical accuracy and craftsmanship during the three-day event.
The state agency relies on traditional trade skills to manage, conserve, and restore national monuments, public buildings, and heritage sites across the country.
O’Sullivan’s success reflects the training provided by his OPW mentors and team, highlighting the importance of apprentice development in preserving traditional heritage crafts for future generations.
Picture Caption: CRAFT CHAMPION: Tom Little (Kerry ETB), Terri Sweeney Meade (OPW), category winner Darragh O’Sullivan (OPW), and Donal Keys (WorldSkills Ireland) at the RDS in Dublin.
Jessica Cronin donates hair for children’s charity
Ten-year-old Killarney resident Jessica Cronin is set to cut and donate 12 inches of her hair to support young cancer patients, alongside a fundraising campaign for LauraLynn Children’s Hospice.
The hair donation will go directly to the Little Princess Trust, a charity providing real hair wigs free of charge to children and young people who have lost their own hair through medical treatment.
Alongside her hair donation, Jessica is collecting financial contributions for LauraLynn through the Locks of Love campaign.
“I want to help somebody that doesn’t have something that I have, hair,” Jessica said.
Her family expressed their pride in her decision to support both organisations.
“We are all so proud of her,” her mother, Grace O’Shea-Cronin, said. “Any donation, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.”
Donations to support Jessica’s fundraiser can be made online at
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