Ballybay Monaghan Ireland

A great achievement was celebrated last week for two local secondary school music teachers who reached the final of the annual Walton’s Music for Schools Competition 2017 held in the National Concert Hall, Dublin. The director of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Deborah Keliher and the infamous composer and music guru, Bill Whelan, judged this years extraordinary final concert in the NCH. The coveted title in this prestigious competition went to Micheal Kerr of Edenane, Ballybay with his performing arts group from Scoil Mhuire in Trim, Co. Meath with a piece entitled ‘Music makes us strong’. The runners up in the completion were Coláiste Chill Mhantain from Co. Wicklow under the tuition of Claire McAdam from Drumar, Ballybay with her Music Ensemble ‘Love grows with each Piece’.
The open nature of the competition, now in its sixth year, offers schools the opportunity to think and work creatively with students, developing a creative and original musical project. Furthermore, the Competition awarded a total of €10,000 worth of vouchers for musical instruments, accessories, books, music technology or PA equipment from Waltons Music, to be divided among six winning primary and post-primary schools. Both Monaghan natives managed to scoop the two top prizes in the post-primary category for their individual schools in vouchers to the sum of €3,000 and €1,500. This was a remarkable achievement for these two local teachers who both attended Ballybay N.S. and Our Lady’s Secondary School Castleblayney were their musical journey was fostered and nurtured.