Boyle Musical Society still going strong after forty years

The origins of Boyle Musical Society date back to January 1984, when local Bank of Ireland employees Joan Tuohy, Belinda McCauley and Adrian Moore discussed the possibility of starting a Musical Society in the town.

The town has always had a rich tradition of musical talent, going back to the days of local operettas and concerts in the 1920s, up to the pantomimes presented by St. Joseph's Musical Society during the 1960s and 1970s. However, there had not been a musical or pantomime in the town since 1975.

A notice was placed in the Roscommon Herald to see if there would be sufficient local interest in the idea.

A substantial number of people turned up at the meeting on January 24th, 1984 and it was agreed to form a committee and organise a show, with a view to staging it in the late spring.

Boyle Musical Society was born on this date, 40 years ago and the first committee was elected -Chairman and Director, Liam O'Callaghan; Secretary, Joan Tuohy, Treasurers, Michael Gilmartin & Belinda McCauley; PRO, Siobhán Moran; Musical Director, Sr. Richard; Committee - Liam Cahill, Breda Dodd, Emma Dodd, Mardette Lynch, Mary Ryan, and Jenny Sloan.

The meeting discussed several show possibilities and it was eventually agreed that 'The White Horse Inn' was to be the first production and it would be staged in St. Joseph’s Hall from April 29th to May 6th, 1984.

In the last 40 years, the group has taken audiences on musical journeys from Oklahoma to Oz, taking in Anatevka, Vienna, Galilee, New York, London, Paris, Munich, Japan, Chicago, Mexico, Kansas and Penzance along the way. Members have travelled on showboats, steamboats, ocean liners, broomsticks, a surrey with a fringe on top, a car called Greased Lightning and even a motorbike down the middle of the hall!

They have followed rainbows, yellow brick roads, wandrin’ stars and ruby slippers to meet gypsies, pirates, guys, dolls, sharks, jets, Indians, Mexican bandits, Swedish superstars, hunchbacks, fiddlers, T-birds, pink ladies, barber shop quartets, artful dodgers, orphans, stowaways, producers, jailbirds, brothers, sisters of mercy, gunslingers, apostles, minstrels, wizards, messiahs, pearly kings and queens, fandango girls, soldiers and a fair share of beauties and beasts.

They’ve watched the Ascot races, rang the bells at Notre Dame, visited the little shop of horrors, stayed at the White Horse Inn, taken part in The Corny Collins Show in Baltimore, tried on Technicolour Dreamcoats a few times and escaped with their lives after dinner with the Addams family!

It has been a rollercoaster ride, one hell of a trip in fact - and the good news is that the end is nowhere in sight.

Boyle Musical Society was well named because there can hardly be a home or family in this town that has not been touched by its magic over the last four decades.

It is our Musical Society. It is your Musical Society and it is 40 years old.