This article is from page 10 of the 2014-01-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
IRISH folk star, Luka Bloom, has joined a host of Clare’s finest musicians to record a single to help raise money for the Lahinch Playground Rescue Fund.
The playground, which was completed just three years ago, was devastated by Storm Catherine, which ripped away most of the ground works and cause damaged estimated to be well in excess of € 100,000.
The song, ‘Seaweed in Ennistymon’ was written by local musician Darragh McGlynn as he listened to the storm from his sea front property in Lahinch.
“I live by the sea front in Lahinch and we were getting trashed by every high tide. I worked on the song right through the storm and it was pretty much finished by Sunday night,” said Darragh.
“On Monday night, I went to a session in Cooley’s in Ennistymon and played it there. Everybody loved it, they were singing the song back to me before I had finished it. Within a week it was recorded and the rest is history.
“It was great to get Luka Bloom involved. He was a big fan of the song – he was all over it once he heard it. He played guitar and sang with me on the chorus and we were all really happy in the way that it turned out.”
Alongside Luka and Darragh, the song also features some of the vest of Clare musicians including Yvonne Casey, Quintan Cooper, Jon O’Connell and Adam Shiparo.
The song is currently available to download from I-Tunes for a cost of 99 cents. Darragh and Luka Bloom will perform the song at the Lahinch Christmas Frolics which will take place at Lahinch Seaworld this Saturday. Proceeds from the song will be donated to the Lahinch Playground Rescue Fund.
It was confirmed last week that the damage done to the Lahinch Playground by the recent storm will not be covered by insurance. The playground was sealed off to the public for 10 days amid fears that the ground works in the area might be unstable.
The Lahinch Playground Rescue Fund committee have launched a number of fundraising drives locally in recent days including a Wellington Collection Campaign as well as asking people to purchase sponsored bricks.
A special account for donations has been set up at account number 02334222, sort code 93-51-58. For more info search for “Lahinch Playground Project” on Facebook.