'The Dublin City Moochers' on stage , Saturday 28th November 2009.Another full , busy and noisy night at another RSF-organised ballad session in the 79'r pub in Ballyfermot , Dublin ! Two of us from this blog arrived at the premises at about eight-fifteen pm to see if we could help out in any way with the final preparations, only to find that Frankie , Liam , Robbie ,Pat and Keith had the hall ready to go , and Tom , Shay and PJ - 'The Moochers' - were already on stage , tuning-up. Happy Days! We retired to the bar...
The banner of the RSF Cumann which organised the function , the 'Anne Devlin/Robert Emmet' Cumann. At about half-past nine , Frankie Nolan , representing the organisers of the night, took to the stage and welcomed the hundred-or-so people that were in the hall at that time (that number doubled within the following hour!) : Frankie stated that 300 tickets had been printed , distributed , sold and returned , and that this was just the first such event in a new programme of fund-raisers that had been organised by Republican Sinn Féin in that general area. He mentioned that a bus load of RSF members and supporters would be in later , as they were currently on the road back from County Armagh , where they and others had held a picket at Maghaberry Prison in support of Irish Republican POW's - this drew a round of sustained applause from all present.
Some of those at the ballad session.Frankie mentioned the raffle that was going to be held at the gig , stating that all five prizes (three bodhrons and two framed Republican mirrors) had been made by Republican POW's in Maghaberry and Portlaoise prisons, and he made special mention of the up-coming annual CABHAIR Christmas Day Swim which , after 32 years, is still going strong and still raising much-needed funds for the families of Republican prisoners - this point was also stressed by the newly-elected President of Republican Sinn Féin , Des Dalton who, during his brief speech on the night, delivered a short report on the Maghaberry Prison picket , which he had just returned from.
The five raffle prizes , all made by Republican POW's in Maghaberry and Portlaoise Prisons.
Another section of the crowd at the ballad session.Finally ; another issue which RSF is also involved in was highlighted from the stage by Frankie , Des and John - that of the atrocious and vicious cutbacks that are taking place in this State in order that the 'establishment' friends and business and political colleagues of the politicians in Leinster House will not have to sell their third or fourth home or , worse , downsize the fleet of luxury cars they own : the on-going pickets and protests by ordinary workers against those fatcat politicians . The 200-odd people present at the gig cheered loudly when told that RSF members and supporters will , once again, be joining in a picket on the near-by (Clondalkin) constituency office of a local Fianna Fail elected representative on Monday 30th November 2009 , beginning at 3.30pm - the poor , the unemployed and the low-paid workers will not pay for the greed of the wealthy elite and the political class which supports them.
Very 'Well Done' to the 'Anne Devlin/Robert Emmet' RSF Cumann which put the night together , thanks also to the pub management , staff and 'bouncers' , to the 'Dublin City Moochers' , to Frankie and Crew (including Morris , Andy , Cathy , Des and John) and to YOU , for taking the time to look at our cider-induced out-of-focus pics and our rambling words! A report (and better pics!) will be carried in the December 2009 issue of 'SAOIRSE' , which will be published on Wednesday, December 2nd next.
Thanks!
Sharon.
