Write a comment
The 70th Newry Drama Festival was launched on Monday at Flagstaff Lodge, Cloughogue.
Chairperson Kate Carragher, thanked sponsors, patrons and personal donors for their continued support. She remarked that two festivals in Northern Ireland have closed their doors this year due to financial difficulties and decreasing audiences, and that the committee of Newry Drama Festival were working tirelessly to ensure that their festival does not meet a similar fate.
Kate further remarked that the programme of plays for this year was of exceptional quality and that some of the groups have already been placed in other festivals. Local group Newpoint have already won the Carrickmore festival, and Balally players have been awarded third place in another festival. With Newry being one of the latest festivals in the season Kate said we can be assured of polished performances from all the groups.
She acknowledged the contribution of the many people who had worked so hard down through the years to ensure that Newry had one of the most prestigious festivals in the country. Many of them are no longer with us and are too numerous to list but she felt that the most recent passing of one of her predecessors, Gerry McNulty, who died in February should indeed be mentioned. Gerry had been on committee since the 1960s and was Chairman for 20 years until 2019 and made a huge artistic and administrative contribution to the festival.
Vice Chairperson Eileen Mooney also spoke about the late and much missed former Chairperson Gerry McNulty "He was brilliant. He was known all over Ireland" She added "Gerry and I worked together for 20 years on the festival. Gerry was Chairman for that period of time and I was Secretary. He was an unbelievable worker. Meticulous attention to detail is what I would say about Gerry. The Programme for the Festival he would have had it measured out and every little iota, there was nothing missed out ever. The work was no problem to him. He was just a great guy and he spoke very well on the stage as well.
"Prior to being Chairman he'd been Stage Manager so he knew everything there was to know about putting on a show. Whether it be lighting, sets in particular. He just was a hard worker and it's very sad to see somebody like him going."
Kate expressed her hope that Newry Drama festival would continue to flourish well into the 21st century and beyond and with the level of commitment and passion in the current committee one would expect nothing else.
