Minutes of Sacred Harp Singings

Saturday, March 2

The 3rd annual Ireland Sacred Harp Convention was held in St. Fin Barre’s Cathedral Hall on Dean St., in Cork, Ireland, on the first Sunday and Saturday before in March. The class was called to order by Sinéad Hanrahan leading 171. Michael Walker offered the opening prayer.

Leaders: Eamonn O’Neill 312b; Dara Desmond 348t; Kev Kennedy 95; Kate Kirwan 38t; Jennifer Barry 65; Mark Cosgrave 267; Amanda Parkes 272; Nancy Kulik 303; Mike Morrisroe 411; Dara Fitzgerald 49t; Alex Dixon 276; Sadhbh O’Flynn 173; Declan Synnott 53; Theresa Mittmann 448t; Hugh McKenna 209; Ronan O’Donovan and David Ivey 122; Leah Hearne 481; Colleen Jones 344; Lisa O’Grady 313b; Beth Gregory-Dixon 39t; Ella Cumber 172; Michael Jude O’Neill 274t; Carmel Wood 195; Fergal Malone 86; Al McCready 269; Rob Wedgbury 440.

RECESS

Eimear O’Donovan and Mary Ryder called the class back to order leading 35. Leaders: Thom Fahrbach 283 (in memory of his mother); Rebecca Over 353; Andreas Manz 84; Dan Light 49b; Sarah West 175; Matthew Parkinson 112; Dan Hunter 360; Melissa Kelley 123b; Emma Rock 318; Edwin Macadam 280; Kama Dembinska 313t; Cheri Hardy 361; Gerry Skerbitz 34t; Steve Helwig and Olgierd Orlikowski 183; Ellen Lueck 275b; Mary Barrett 47t; Fynn Titford-Mock 298; Magdalena Gryszko 542; Rick Foreman 107; Aaron Kahn 547; Anne Eringa 268; Joanne Fuller 121; Judy Whiting 222; Erik Schwab and Ana Tighe 106. Nancy Kulik said grace before lunch.

LUNCH

The class was called back to order by Niamh O’Sullivan leading 270. Leaders: Ben Cocchiaro 182; Álvaro Witt Duarte 430; Phil Tyler 174; Rachel Hall 444; Richard Ivey 432; Bryan Seale and Declan Synnott 77t; Gosia Perycz 373; Claire Hogan 457; Sheila Girling Macadam 553; Sonny Erwin 480; Dick Patterson 228; Mike Morrisroe 56b; Nathan Berry and Tivey 505; Sonia Chin 454; Tollie Lee 68b; Michael Walker 227; Lauren Bock 498; Nick Hall 455; Paul Landskroener 528; Emma Rose Brown 426b; Aldo Ceresa 500; Henry Johnson 398; Rachel Jordan 200; Jesse P. Karlsberg 428.

RECESS

The class was called to order by Karen Ivey leading 186. Leaders: John Davis 384; Janell Draper 319; Cheryl Foreman 492; Dan Brittain 193; Juniper Hill 245; Justyna Orlikowska 442; Bruce Coates 503; Chris Brown 28b; Terry Barber 278t; Pauline Hyde 38b; Helen Brown 436; Mary Skidmore 567; Beverly Coates 163b; Anne Missavage 383; Eva Striebeck 203; Eimear O’Donovan 216; Eamonn O’Neill 397; Sadhbh O’Flynn and Danny Forde 489; Elizabeth Schallwig 47b; Dara Desmond 189.

Sinéad Hanrahan led 335 as the closing song. The closing prayer was offered by Ted Brown.

Sunday, March 3

The Sunday session of the Ireland Sacred Harp Singing Convention was called to order by Sinéad Hanrahan, who led 33b. Tollie Lee offered the opening prayer.

Leaders: Eamonn O’Neill 89; Kate Kirwan 71; Declan Synnott 65; Ruth Clinton 328; Andreas Manz 47t; Vicky Langan 504; Mark Cosgrave 300; Lisa O’Grady 142; Mike Morrisroe 217; Renata Pekowska 31t; Ted Brown 187; Dan Hunter 57; Alex Dixon 215; Colleen Jones 284; Jennifer Barry 542.

RECESS

Kev Kennedy led 571 to bring the class back together. Leaders: Elizabeth Schallwig 448t; Joe Jones 354t; Dara Desmond 299; Ellyn Stokes 110; Amanda Parkes 475; Matthew Parkinson 42; Jo Ellis 473; Pauline Hyde 46.

Cath Saunt spoke on behalf of the sick and housebound, and led 45t for the following people: Catherine Seale, Duane Nasis, Allan Jones, Tammy Titford-Mock, Leander Mock, Cath Tyler, Peg Pearson, M.A. O’Neill, Peggy Hyde, Aodhrua Fitzgerald, Paddy Langan, Aidan Scally, Siobhán Buckley, Jean Finnegan, Elizabeth Gillis, Kathleen Clinton, Bea Gilmore, Alan Jackson, Henry Guthery, Jerry Rollins, Elspeth Gracey, Barry Ratzkin, G.R., Elizabeth Perry, S.T. Reed, Lessie Reed, Bud Oliver, Donald Walker, Charlotte Walker, Tat Bailey, and Brendan O’Neill.

Thom Fahrbach gave the memorial lesson. He asked members of the class what makes them say ‘Hallelujah’, and recalled the chorus of 176t. Then he spoke about his last days with his mother, and how she passed away on the Sabbath. In his lesson he referred to 285t (verse 2), 283 (verse 2), and 435. He led 435 in memory of Tim O’Donovan, Ted Ryder, Alice Fahrbach, Mark Ferguson, Joan Fitz, Finnbarr Kennedy, Irene Skidmore, Leland Owen, Níall Henderson, Jack O’Flynn, Gregory Kyle Barber, William Bennett, Elli Manz, Sylwek Jedrzejczak, Michael Lee, Brenda Grimshaw, Harold Newell, Malcolm Robertson, Ann Beasley, Reginald Girling, Gladys Girling, Keith Worton, Vic Newman, Tristan Mirabaud, Alison Turner, and Samuel Thomas.

Leaders: Dan Brittain 425; Rebecca Over 70t; Sonny Erwin 441; Michael Walker 134; Ewan Paterson 569b; Olgierd Orlikowski 102; Sonia Chin 179. Grace before lunch was offered by Ted Brown.

LUNCH

The class was called to order by Bryan Seale and Paul Synnott leading 114. Leaders: Jesse P. Karlsberg and Lauren Bock 392; Steve Helwig and Dominika Jedrzejczak 210; Ben Cocchiaro 327; Ellen Lueck and Eva Striebeck 139; Tollie Lee and Dan Hunter 285t; Álvaro Witt Duarte 543; David Ivey, Karen Ivey, and Richard Ivey 422; Aldo Ceresa 550; Sheila Girling Macadam and Edwin Macadam 534; Paul Landskroener and Joseph Rauwolf 178; Rachel Hall 227; Ella Cumber 506 (for Duane Nasis); Justyna Orlikowska 144; Cheri Hardy and Michael Jude O’Neill 347; Bruce Coates and Beverly Coates 176b; Melissa Kelley and Eamonn O’Neill 236; Dorothy Robinson 275t; Gosia Perycz and Bogna Rozyczka 535 (for Kuba Choinski); Hessel Castricum 181; Ted Brown and Helen Brown 546; all singers from Norwich 362.

RECESS

Tivey and Janelle Draper called the class back to order by leading 99. Leaders: Anne Eringa and Tjitske de Schipper 440; Joanne Fuller and Mary Skidmore 176t; Anne Missavage, Christy Rauwolf, and Ulrike Tietjen 155; Emma Rose Brown and Henry Johnson 521; Rob Wedgbury, Aaron Kahn, and Heather Thompson 148; Corrina Frische, Eva Striebeck, Harald Grundner, and Ulrike Tietjen 108b; Erik Schwab and Ana Tighe 111b; Phil Tyler, Carmel Wood, and Sally Sumner 340; all singers from Poland 86 (for Blazej Matusiak); Gerry Skerbitz and Nathan Berry 76b; Juniper Hill 254; Cheryl Foreman and Rick Foreman 377; Nick Hall and Rachel Jordan 497; Judy Whiting and Chris Brown 323t; all singers from Dublin 472; all London singers 131b; Sadhbh O’Flynn and Eimear O’Donovan 145t.

Sinéad Hanrahan made announcements and thanked everyone involved in organizing the convention, and all who travelled to join us. Secretary Dara Desmond reported that 174 songs had been sung, with 119 leaders and 166 registered singers from twelve countries (Ireland, Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Lithuania, Belgium, France, and Canada) and eighteen American states (Alabama, Texas, Arkansas, Maryland, Georgia, California, Florida, North Carolina, Vermont, Washington, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Alaska, and Michigan). Mike Morrisroe announced that all expenses had been met. Announcements were made. Harald Grundner offered closing thoughts on the convention.

Sinéad Hanrahan and Al McCready led 62 to conclude the final session.

Chairman—Sinéad Hanrahan; Vice Chairman—Eamonn O’Neill; Secretary—Dara Desmond