Levenshulme Gets ready for an Irish Party

Levenshulme village which is home to the biggest Irish community outside of London is gearing up to celebrate its eleventh annual community Festival. Once again the two week celebration will have a strong Irish flavour as well as other events which will celebrate the area’s other cultures and communities.

Levenshulme’s trendy Irish bar, M19 Bar will host the VIP launch of the event on Friday 23rd October. It features appearances by Irish singer songwriter Claire Mooney and the traditional Irish duo The Scally brothers featuring world champion accordion player - Sean Scally. The event is being broadcast by ALLFM radio who are the official media sponsors of the festival.

The ten day Festival aims to celebrate all things great about Levenshulme. This year’s festival features over 100 events spread out in venues across Levenshulme offering something for everyone. The events are spread out in various sections covering just about everything with events in Sport, Live Music, community, arts, dance, pub and club and children’s events.

Highlights include a Family Irish night on Saturday 7th November in aid of the Niall Mellon Shanty Township trust which builds homes in Africa. The event is being held at St Mary’s Parish Centre, Levenshulme, Manchester and features up and coming trad band ‘Shake the Barley’ and the fantastic dancers from the Keegan Kennedy School of Irish dancing.

A massive fireworks display and outdoor party takes place in Cringle Fields on Monday 2 November with Irish DJ JIB Sounds and a whole host of Irish acts to keep the expected 5,000 visitors to the event entertained.

Other highlights include a traditional Irish session run by Grace Kelly on Wednesday 28th October and an Irish night featuring singer/songwriter Kieran Cunningham Saturday 24th October both at the Union Inn.

Special free sporting events are taking place during the half term holiday including a Gaelic Football tournament hosted by the award winning St Mary’s underage GAA on Saturday 24 October at the Energy Box.

For those who fancy brushing up on their dancing skills there will be a number of Irish dancing sessions taking place including an Irish dancing night with Justin Ward Mallinson on Monday 26th October and an Irish set dancing class with Barbara Ahern on Wednesday 28th October both in St Mary’s Parish Centre.

The Festival runs from Friday 23rd October until Sunday 8th November. Up to 10,000 people are expected to enjoy the ten day party which includes just over one hundred events. The festival is funded by a grant from the city council and the generous support of local traders.

Festival President Lawrence Hennigan said “Its great to see so many Irish acts performing during the Festival, traditionally Levenshulme had a strong Irish population and the amount of Irish acts in the festival reflect this. The festival is now established as the city’s longest running community celebrations. It is a celebration of everything that is good about the suburb. As well as an Arts programme involving Art, Dance, Literature, Music, and Poetry, there are over fifty Health and Fitness events for adults and children. Most of the events in the festival are free and we want to see as many people out and about in the village joining in the festivities and getting to know their neighbours.”

More information is available on the festival website www.levenshulmefestival.co.uk
Or by contacting the festival office on 0161 257 2484 or by tuning into ALLFM 96.9