For a quick overview of what's on this term, have a look at the programme with all classes, concerts and more.

Sunday 15^th March

The 43rd Armagh Pipers Club Annual Concert took place Sunday 15th March in The Market Place Theatre.

The concert featured groups drawn from the current club enrolment of 250 pupils of all ages including the beginners singing class aged from 3 to 7 years of age right up to members of the adult fiddle and uilleann pipes classes.

The 34 tutors who take the classes each week have been working with groups drawn from all the classes since Christmas and have put together a very diverse programme of both instrumental and vocal arrangements utilizing the huge range of instruments taught.
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This weekend marks the start of a fairly intensive period of activity for the club beginning on Saturday 14th when club founders Eithne and Brian Vallely travel to Virginia in County Cavan to receive an award for their contribution to the development of traditional music and song in Ireland. Then the annual concert takes place on Sunday 15th with the entire membership of the club in performance at the Market Place Theatre.

Then on Friday March 27th the uilleann pipers from the club will perform at the inaugural Foyle Piping Festival organised in Magee University by Andrew Carlisle of the Field Marshall Montgomery Band. The Field Marshall plus the Lawrence O’Toole Pipe will both be performing at the Festival. The Armagh Pipers Club will take part in a series of talks exploring piping in Ireland and Scotland on the Friday afternoon in the University.

Then on Saturday 28th members of the club will perform at 4.30pm during the annual Féile Scoildrámaiochta in the Market Place Theatre.

Sunday 29^th March

On Sunday 29th March a 26 strong group from Armagh Pipers Club head off to the Isle of Skye to take part in Feis an Earraich . They will join some 150 young musicians and singers from all over the highlands and islands of Scotland in a week of classes, concerts, ceilidh etc of Scottish traditional music, Gaelic language, song and dance.

The Festival is supported by COLMCILLE the organisation which promotes the 2000 year old Gaelic links between Ireland and Scotland. This will be the 10th year of this exchange between the Armagh Pipers Club and the Isle of Skye with each area hosting the other in alternate years.

In 2008 young musicians from the Isle of Skye spent 5 days in Armagh at the 15th William Kennedy Piping Festival. This exchange has greatly broadened the repertoire of both groups and underlined the close ties between Gaelic Scotland and Ireland.

We are indebted to Father Donaghy, headmaster of St. Patrick's Grammar School for allowing us to hold our classes in the school. We expect all our pupils to respect the premises and leave classrooms tidy. The Assembly Hall is available for older pupils to do their homework, or parents to wait for their children.

The monthly Family Session takes place in Pearse Óg club house.

Trad at the Trian is held in the Auditorium of St Patrick's Trian in English St.

• Increased membership - over 40 classes catering for 210 pupils who came from all over Counties Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan, Derry, Down and Louth. They represented 48 schools, the largest membership was from St. Mary's P.S. Granemore (21) and St. Patrick's H.S. Keady (19)


• Launch of APC 40th Anniversary CD; also CDs from Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn and Stephanie Makem; and from Jarlath Henderson & Ross Ainslie.


• Trad at the Trian - 6 concerts with Tommy Peoples (fiddle), Patsy Hanley (flute), Síle Denvir (harp), Cormac Breathnach (whistle), Paul O'Shaughnessy (fiddle), Angelina Carberry (banjo), Mairtín Quinn (accordion) and singers Pauline Hanley, Rosie Stewart, Griogair Labhruidh, Len Graham, Rita Gallagher, Kevin & Ellen Mitchell


• Flight of the Earls Concert in Grand Opera House, Belfast and Leuven, Belgium with music composed by Niall Vallely & Art Exhibition by Brian Vallely


• 14th WKPF with Topanga, Capercaillie, Nicola Parov Quartet, Espido, Ulster Youth Ensemble, Pipes of Four Nations, Vallely Brothers with Karan Casey, Brian Finnegan, Paul Meehan, Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn, Trevor Hutchnson, Brian Morrissey, Allan & Iain MacDonald, Hamish Moore,Mike Katz, Ivan Georgiev, Denis Brooks, Sean Og Potts with Ciaran Tourish, Jim Higgins & Steve Cooney, Iain MacFarlane, Rónan Browne, Mick O'Brien, Peter Browne, Rita Gallagher, Nasarín Elsafty, Ciarán Ó Gealbháin, Peter Browne, Jarlath Henderson, Harry Bradley, McKeon Family, Michael O'Connell & Darragh Murphy


• Annual Concert at Marketplace Theatre; Burns Night at the Stage Bar; Singing Night at O'Toole's, Ballymacnab


• Edward Bunting Harp Festival organised by Patricia Daly


• The Singing Tree project organised by Brian Finnegan, in Armagh and Glasgow


• Celtic Fusion Festival Award for Eithne & Brian Vallely

• all the teachers who come along every week to share their love of traditional music with you.


• Maura Mallon and Kathy Kiernan who ensure the smooth running of classes and sessions.


• all the parents who volunteered their help during WKPF to look after our guests, do airport runs, manage the CD shop and art exhibitions, organise raffles, supervise workshops etc.


• Fr. Donaghy for the use of St. Patrick's Grammar School, and Eugene McKinney, who looks after us in the school on Monday nights.


• St Patrick's Primary School for the use of their school for our family sessions.

LCM graded examinations in Irish Tradition Music take place three times every year and APC has entered pupils in these examinations since 1999. Although they are not compulsory, most of our pupils find that they provide an objective measure of their progress. In addition, marks in the higher grades are accepted by UCAS towards university entrance points.

The 42nd Annual Concert took place on Sunday March 9th in the main auditorium of the Market Place Theatre in Armagh.

This year's concert was a very special event with over 200 performers on stage in various groupings of instrumentalists and singers. Lynette Fay the BBC presenter hosted the concert. The annual concert is the show piece of the work of the Armagh Pipers Club reflecting the energy of the pupils and the dedicated work of the more than 30 tutors now working in the club.

Armagh Pipers Club is not affiliated to any organization, but has links with various music groups in Ireland and abroad. These include Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, with whom we have had an ongoing exchange for many years, Open House Festival in Belfast, "Piping Live" in Glasgow and Malahide Festival of Piping in Co. Dublin.

FEIS AN EARRAIGHL
We look forward to continuing our links with young musicians from the Isle of Skye during the coming year. The Scottish musicians will visit Armagh for the William Kennedy Piping Festival in November while a group from APC will travel to Skye in the Spring for Feis an Earraigh.

Armagh Pipers Club is a registered charity. 'Colmcille' supports our ongoing exchange with Feis an Earraigh on the Isle of Skye, and also Gaelic Singing workshops. Armagh City and District Council provides grant aid towards the WKPF.