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Enniscorthy gets Christmased It was beginning to look a lot like ………… well, old times on Saturday evening 18th December at The Presentation Centre as the lovely and festive-looking Aileen Donohoe and friends invited the audience to join them in singing the old favourites that take us all back down that Christmas memory lane. Every year around this time I yearn for that Ho, Ho, Ho, feeling of my youth, and search around frantically until I find something that might just make me feel Christmased. This year I was thrilled to see that The Presentation Centre, right here in Enniscorthy, was presenting a Christmas By Candlelight event featuring one of my favourite performers, Aileen Donohoe, accompanied by Michelle Mason on Cello, Katherine Atkinson on Violin, Louise Malone on Clarinet and Flute, Robert Scott, Musical Director, on piano, and joined on stage by her husband Peter McCamley, and Mick Dàrcy and James O`Sullivan of Corner Boy. And I was not disappointed. For a mere €10 I was whisked away to Christmases past, with beautiful renditions of Silent Night, Adeste Fideles, White Christmas, Winter Wonderland, and many more golden Christmas treasures, by the talented lady in red, peppered with magical versions of the famous Clement Clarke Moore poem, T’was the Night Before Christmas, and the lesser known but equally entertaining A.A. Milne’s, King John`s Christmas, both delivered enchantingly by Peter McCamley. Mick and James from Corner Boy were a delightful addition to the occasion, and we were treated to some new material they have been working on in these enduring Covid times. Of course, no Irish Christmas evening would be complete without the Christmas Anthem – Fairytale of New York, this strange musical enigma with its depressing lyrics and jaundiced festive
Aileen Donohoe performing ‘Baby it’s cold outside’ with husband Peter McCamley.
outlook that has the amazing ability to lift Irish people everywhere – that must surely say something about us! All I can say is that we gave it a right old blast to close a most enjoyable evening at The Presentation Centre that left me feeling totally Christmased. Christmas By Candlelight was part of the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, and Media’s Local Live Performance programme, one to be most certainly applauded. – Maria Nolan
Aileen Donohoe
James and Mick from Corner Boy.
Page 76 - 7th January 2022
