St Bedes students create history at Monastery

Students from the College’s award winning ‘Young, Gifted & Green’ troupe are the first ever Irish group to perform in the newly restored Monastery which is now a prestigous arts and conference cente. The sell out show on Saturday 7 March raised close to fifteen thousand pounds for the Gorton Monastery Trust and South Manchester Lourdes Pilgrimage.

Tony Hennigan the director of Young, Gifted & Green from St Bede's College said "It was a fantastic evening, the Monastery is a unique building and holds a very special place in the hearts of Manchester's Irish Community. We were delighted to be the first Irish troupe to stage a sell out show on the opening weekend of the Manchester Irish Festival at the now newly restored arts venue. The atmosphere in the Monastery was very special and the show managed to raise a considerable amount of money for the Gorton Monastery Trust and the South Manchester Youth Lourdes Pilgrimage."

"Demand for tickets was at an unprecented high and I think we could have filled the Monastery several ties over . We would like to thank all of the one hundred performers in the show, our special guests, the audience, our sponsors and to everyone who helped to make it such an historical event."

The one hundred strong group of Irish musicians, singers and dancers have appeared on numerous TV shows which have included BBC’s Blue Peter and Songs of Praise. They will create their unique piece of history by being the first Irish dance troupe to ever appear in the newly restored Monastery which is now one of the Northwest’s leading events centres.
The Irish Prime minister Brian Cowen TD has event sent his own personal letter of support to students for staging such a unique event and congratulating them on being the first group to receive the Royal Variety Club of Great Britain ‘Pride of Erin’ Award. During the last decade the troupe have performed sell out shows at the Bridgewater Hall, The Lowry, The Royal Festival hall in London, Manchester Town Hall and the College itself.

The Pugin designed Gorton Monastery was saved from destruction by the Monastery Trust and has had £6.5 million spent on its refurbishment and conversion into one of the UK’s most prestigious conference and events centre. The building is listed in the world’s top one hundred historical sites and is described by English heritage as the Taj Mahal of Manchester.
www.gortonmonastery.co.uk