This article is from page 27 of the 2008-02-19 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 27 JPG
RETIRED principal of St Tola’s Na- tional School, Joe Walsh, will be the master of ceremonies at this year’s St Patrick’s Day parade in the town.
Mr Walsh, who retired last year, will also be the adjudicator for the parade. He has close links with sev- eral groups and associations in Shan- non and is highly respected.
Several groups will participate in the parade this year, many of who will demonstrate novel and fun ways to celebrate the event.
While several community groups and organisations from Shannon town will take part, groups from sur- rounding areas will also enter floats
on the day.
Among those are Bunratty Rescue and the scouts in Newmarket-on- Fergus.
The Ennis Brass Band and a band from the CBS in Sexton Street, Lim- erick, will also join in the festivities in Shannon.
The local international club, Le Chéile na Sionna, has entered its own group, which will consist of members of several countries, who have moved to Shannon.
Le Chéile was set up last year and its aim is to integrate all ethnic groups in the town. It has representa- tives from countries including Egypt, France, Germany, Mauritius, Eng- land, Netherlands, Pakistan, China
and Africa, who live in Shannon.
A school group from Derby in the UK will also take part in the cel- ebrations. The group, which will be on holidays in Liscannor, will take part in music and Irish dancing in the SkyCourt foodcourt after the pa- rade.
One of the organisers of the parade, Greg Duff said everything will be done to ensure everyone is welcome to take part.
“We are going all out to try to in- clude the multi-cultural. There will be a good variety,’ he said.
“Thirty-six groups took part last year, which reflected a variety of eroups including sports groups, along with voluntary, cultural and
community groups,’ he added.
He said the decision to invite Joe Walsh to take on the role as master of ceremonies this year followed on the popularity of Aodhan Fox, who carried out the role last year.
“Joe would know the groups, schools and teams very well, as he is very well known in Shannon. We wanted someone who would be able to interact with the crowd on the day,’ he said.
The participants will meet in the Wolfe Tones carpark at lpm and the parade will get underway at 2pm. The parade will round up at Sky- Court, where the music and dancing will continue throughout the after- noon.