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For the last three years, Steve Nolan has been putting on two sing-along events a year – one in the summer and one in the winter – tailored for an age-friendly audience and aimed at incorporating all the groups he works with. Steve is Project Co-ordinator at The Neighbourhood Hall in the Butts. And there are quite a few groups: A.B.I.I. (Acquired Brain Injury Ireland), Kilkenny Women’s Group (a social group for senior ladies), Connect Café (a social group for multinationals to connect and create arts and crafts), and two fledgling art collectives which have nested in the building, Art with Graham (Carew) and From Acorns to Oaks, facilitated by Alice Bennett.
The Kilkenny Observer made its way to The Neighbourhood Hall towards the end of December for what was billed as a sing-along of Christmas songs. Project organiser at the centre, Steve Nolan, didn’t put a tooth in it. “There’s no big secret,” he explained. “It does exactly what it says on the tin. You come along, and the only criteria is that you have a bit of fun, relax and enjoy the day.” And that is exactly what happened. The 40-plus attendance sang – and then sang some more.
The songs were selected by the Women’s Group as their favourites, including ‘Do You Hear What I Hear’, ‘Away in a Manger’, ‘O Little Town of Bethlehem’, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful’, and many more. Then there were Christmas cards and candles handed out, and it is doubtful that anybody left without one or the other. The Christmas cards handed out were handmade by the Women’s Group and then mass-produced at the hall. The candles were made by Steve Nolan and volunteers Dami, Esther and Ayo, who took people’s old candles, melted them down and re-moulded them.
Martin O’Reilly and Carmel Cashin supplied the music, and what a terrific job they did. During the year, A.B.I.I. wanted to write a song as a project and, along with Steve, they workshopped for a few weeks and, using their ideas, wrote a parody of ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas’ so that it fitted in with their theme and everyone could feel part of something special.
The manager at The Neighbourhood Hall, Jenny, named the show Elastoplast in reference to Band Aid, and the plan was for all the members of A.B.I.I. to dress up as their favourite 80s musicians. They were to perform the song live for the audience but a sudden untimely passing within the group meant that they couldn’t attend.
