Newtownabbey music school continues to hit the right notes as it marks 20 years

Glengormley School of Traditional Music, which meets at Edmund Rice College in the Hightown Road area, was established in 2002.

The group is a registered charity and is supported on a yearly basis by the Lottery Fund via the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

There are 190 members, mostly aged between six and 18, however, 20 per cent of members are adults. The group is reporting a reduction from the 300 members who attended pre-pandemic.

The group’s chair, Ray Morgan, detailed what inspired the founders to set up the school two decades ago and the main activities members undertake.

He said: “The founders had an interest and love of Traditional Irish Music and a knowledge that there was a demand for quality tuition in Traditional music in our local community.

“The group’s main activity is tuition in Traditional Music. We provide weekly tuition in all the Traditional instruments, fiddle, tin whistle, flute, harp, uileann pipes, button accordion, concertina, guitar, banjo, mandolin and Bodhran.

“We also provide lots of opportunities for our pupils to play together and are also heavily involved in playing traditional music throughout Newtownabbey/south Antrim and north Belfast at numerous and various events.

“We hold workshops including a week-long trip to Donegal. We hold a weekly traditional music session and hold a Traditional Music Summer scheme in Edmund Rice. We’re the lead Traditional body in Belfast Tradfest, an annual Summer school based in Ulster University in July.”

As with many community organisations across the province, activities were curtailed during the height of Coronavirus restrictions, with activities only starting to return to a full programme.

Commenting on the impact of the pandemic, Ray explained: “We were quite seriously impacted by the pandemic given the nature of our activities, playing music, having to change to online classes and to limit the occasions that we played together as a group.

“We provided music on occasions to various groups when circumstances allowed, including when two of our pupils played outside the window of a patient in the Hospice as he had requested. We focussed on our own young musicians and their mental health, providing support and giving them as much opportunity to engage in our activities as possible, often Covid and weather permitting.

“We’re now back to face to face classes and look forward to life post-Covid when we can resume all our educational and social activities.

“Pre-Covid we played on a monthly basis for the patients and staff of the Hospice in Belfast and occasionally at the Children’s Hospice. Our regular visits to the Hospices and nursing homes will hopefully resume in the near future.”

As the Glengormley-based group celebrates 20 years being part of the Newtownabbey and greater north Belfast communities, Ray wishes to thank everyone who has supported their efforts.

He said: “We’re proud of our achievements over the last 20 years, providing a quality arts product to our pupils, with excellent governance, in our overall contribution to the community in Newtownabbey/south Antrim and north Belfast and the number of excellent musicians we have and continue to produce. GSOTM is very much a community in itself with a fantastic group of enthusiastic families and volunteers involved in running the school.

“We are currently celebrating our 20th anniversary with a week-long Tradfest with a number of varied events, the culmination of which is a free Traditional Music family fun day on Sunday (March 20) from 1pm-5pm in Edmund Rice College. We have been able to hold this celebration of GSOTM with support from Antrim and Newtownabbey BoroughCouncil.

“The Fun day is open to everyone and will give the wider community the opportunity to see what GSOTM is all about. We are hopeful that as may people as possible get the opportunity to attend this event.”

For more information about the school and its anniversary events, visit gsotm.org or follow the group’s social media platforms.

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