On to the Accony School Reunion Banquet

We made it back to Louisburgh in good time for the banquet meal at "The Derrylahan" Pub and Banquet Facilities. ("No smoking" in public places has been in effect since 2005, so a few folks were outside for a smoke.)

The banquet food was extensive as seen in the menu below. (The "sweet plate" at the end of the meal was especially good whether you had a "sweet tooth" or not.)

We couldn't get a good photo of the entire room---with the 300 attendees---so, here is just a section in the middle of the four rows of tables, that ran the entire length of the hall with people on both sides of the tables. You couldn't have squeezed in another body we'd guess.

And the organizing committee was surely pleased with the turnout. They weren't sure if anybody would show up when they started planning this a year ago, according to the committee secretary, Maura Kerrigan, shown below with her husband and co-treasurer, John Kerrigan.

We meet up with Patsy again who came with her cousin, Aluine ("ah-LUNA"). Patsy had McHale and O'Toole kin from the area that she was related to.

And right across from us at our table were a part of the O'Malley family. That's Michael O'Malley on the right who came back a while ago to take over the family farm after spending 15 years in Boston. And that's his sister and her daughter who came over from Boston just for the reunion.

Here's another of the long-lost cousins from somewhere in the Prendergast family tree---Maggs Mahon---who with her partner has an art studio in Galway City that we will try to visit later on the trip.

After the meal was finished, they honored some of the committee members for all their work. They also had a raffle of donated items from the area to help cover expenses. Patsy won a photograph of nearby Bertra Beach. Sue and I won a dinner for two at The Helm, a Westport Pub and Restaurant. There were also filled baskets, more photos, more dinners and bottles of whiskey to be won as well.

Besides the dance band, there was also entertainment from the local young people. Below is a group of them performing an old traditional "Straw Boys Dance." There was also a young girl who sang and played her guitar, as well as a brother and sister who sang and played guitars. And two young ladies did some Irish jigs and reels.

There was plenty of room for everyone to dance later on. The young ladies could hardly wait and got to the dance floor first, but there was plenty of room for the adults too as the night went on.

One little girl was determined to have many a turn on the dance floor with her mother.

It's probably a good thing a lot of the photos didn't turn out in the lowly lit hall, but it should be clear from the above 11 photos that a good time was had by all.