MOST SUCCESSFUL CRAWLEY IRISH FESTIVAL AND FLEADH TO DATE
The Fleadh Week was held 20-28 August 2005 and concluded with the 10th Annual Crawley Irish Festival. Sunday’s Irish Festival was the most popular ever as over 10,000 people attended the event. The Festival and Fleadh were sponsored by Foundation Developments Limited, Cappagh Group, LFN Group, Accurate Construction, McCabe Group and Tourism Ireland – organised by the Celtic and Irish Cultural Society.
It was such a fantastic day, the weather was outstanding and it was a day of family fun with a wide selection of music, dance and sport. The FDL Stage hosted many of the largest and loudest music acts whilst the Cappagh Stage went traditional.
The Irish dance displays at the Cappagh Stage were as popular as ever while the Accurate Construction sponsored Open Dance Competition attracted competitors from all over the country and to the festival. The competition was kindly organised by Andromeda Edmunds of the Andromeda School of Irish Dancing.
The 2005 festival saw a return of Tug o’ War. Sponsors McCabe Group beat challengers Cappagh Group by two pulls to zero (best of three) to win the McCabe Challenge Cup in front of large crowds of festival go-ers.
Irish sport was clearly catered for at the LFN GAA Arena: Gaelic Football and Hurling was played out with representatives from throughout the southeast competing for the London Carlow Association Cup. Meanwhile, the London Hurlers, back from their recent success at Croke Park, attended with their newly acquired silverware: the Nicky Rackard Cup. Meanwhile, live TV links from the big Croke Park match as also available.
Leading up to the festival, the week long Fleadh featured a number of events including a Celtic Comedy Night at the Rat and Parrot, an Art workshop for children, history and cookery evenings as well an introduction to the Irish language. Crawley’s Emerald Club also featured their regular Ceili Workshop with live music. If you are interested in attending regular Ceili dances you can find out more at What’s On. If you would be interested in attending more regular Irish Language classes please contact us.
The Celtic and Irish Cultural Society have raised record revenues from this year’s festival and we will be looking at ways to further enrich Celtic cultural heritage in the area as well as donating money raised to local charities.