THE GATHERING 2013 IN DOONBEG: INVITING OUR EMIGRANTS HOME

As has been much publicized over recent months, 2013 is the year where Ireland
welcomes home those who constitute its global Diaspora. In an effort to support
this movement, the village of Doonbeg in West Clare will be holding a central
Gathering event from 21-29 July. This week long celebration will look to reflect the
common strands that bind together Doonbeg natives, irrespective of their current
domicile. Thus, Doonbeg Gathering 2013 will be focused on GAA, traditional music,
dance and storytelling, amateur dramatics and a range of history-based activities
that will help to recount and reconstruct the history of the village and its people.
In addition to these central themes, the Gathering in Doonbeg will be linked with
the Seafood Festival that happens in the village every July. In 2013 it will be staged
over the weekend 27-29 July.

GAA
GAA has been a focal point in Doonbeg since the founding of a senior team in
1954. Although there have been many triumphs for the club in the nearly sixty
years since its inception, The Gathering in Doonbeg will focus on the County
Championship winning sides of 1967, 1968 and 1969 and 1972, 1973 and 1974, who
achieved the exceptional feat of doing the ‘double treble’ within the space of
seven years. The members of these teams, who are scattered in a number of
places around the world, will be welcomed home and brought together in a
reunion on 28 July. As part of these celebrations, Doonbeg GAA are also
investigating the possibility of welcoming an overseas club to the parish to play an
exhibition match. This will be confirmed in due course.

Drama
Alongside GAA, Doonbeg has been renowned for the quality of its amateur
dramatic productions since the 1960s and in 2012 celebrated its 51 st Drama
Festival. The Drama Committee will perform a one-act production, the date of
which is yet to be confirmed, to mark the Gathering’s significance for the village.
The theme of this production is likely to be emigration.
 Traditional Music & Dance
Perhaps Doonbeg’s greatest export on this front is the late, great Willie Keane. A
renowned set-dancer, Willie was filmed by RTE on numerous occasions and
gained his greatest acclaim as part of the ‘Mullagh half-set’. After his death in
1998, the local community deemed it appropriate to found a memorial weekend in
Willie’s honour. Its aim was to celebrate music, dance, singing and storytelling as
part of the cultural fabric of life in Doonbeg. The festival is now in its thirteenth
year and still going strong. To recognize the important place of these cultural
activities in the life of the village, Doonbeg’s Gathering Committee has confirmed
a night of traditional music, song and dance in the local community centre, Halla
an Phobail. Again, the specific date for this event will be furnished in due course.

Parish history
Doonbeg is a village seeped in social and cultural history, the latter having been
referenced above in relation to the GAA, drama and Traditional music and dance.
However, it is also home to two early-modern towerhouses, one in the heart of
the village on the northern side of the river that bisects Doonbeg, the other
constituting a focal point for the northern sea view of the parish at Doonmore. In
addition to these two historic landmarks, Doonbeg has a number of national
schools dating from the mid- to late-nineteenth century, a variety of interesting
stories behind the above-mentioned bridge and, beyond physical structures,
families that have lived in the parish’s townlands for generations. The Gathering
Committee will run a number of activities throughout the week to acknowledge
the various aspects of Doonbeg’s history. These will include: guided walking tours;
a ‘beginners’ guide’ to genealogy; a public lecture on the history of emigration
from the parish spanning the century 1850-1950; and open days at the parish’s five
schools for past pupils to reminisce about their school days whilst looking at
documents, such as photos and registers, from the eras most relevant to them. In
addition, for families with a strong connection to the parish and who would like to
celebrate their affinity with Doonbeg in a more private manner, the Doonbeg
Gathering committee welcomes the organization of ‘clan gatherings’.
CONTACT –
For up to date information on Doonbeg Gathering 2013 please interact with the
committee in one of the following ways:

Email: doongathering2013@gmail.com
Find us on Facebook
Follow us on Twitter: @DoonbegGathering13