Westmeath Community Development

A great evening of music, song and dance took place in Sonna Community Hall last Tuesday night (Nov 3^rd) to launch the Westmeath Rural Arts Initiative which is supported by Westmeath Community Development Limited through the Rural Development (LEADER) Programme 2007-2013.

As people arrived they were equally welcomed by the sweet sounds of the Lir Youth Orchestra led by Vincent Hunt and cakes and refreshments provided by the generous local community in Sonna. There was a great turnout from the local communities and combined with the refreshments and entertainment resulted in a very enjoyable evening for all.

The night featured further performances by set dancers from Bunbrosna and Ballyncargy and members of the Ballynacargy junior ballad group and this was all mixed in with presentations from Caroline Moran from Westmeath Community Development and Conor O’Leary from Rural Arts Network.

Caroline explained the role and opportunities for communities and individuals within the new LEADER programme whilst Conor explained the goals of the Westmeath Rural Arts Initiative and how it was intended to support and encourage the local communities to work together to promote arts and cultural events in the area.

Conor also expressed his appreciation for all the support he had received from members of the local communities in preparing for the launch.

Photos
Photo at top of article features Lir Youth Orchestra



Photo features Ballynacargy Junior Scor dancers doing the Cavan reel



Photo features members of the audience at the launch



Photo features Ballynacargy Ballad Group



Photo features Bunbrosna dancers and crowd



Photo features Bunbrosna Set Dancers

This project is being supported by Westmeath Comunity Development through the Rural Development (LEADER) Programme.