Saturday 1 October 2011

CCE Regional AGM - 16 October 2011 - Kingston ON

Friday Night - There will be a session/siamsa at BEN'S PUB Street in downtown Kingston (please note that it no longer is at the RCHA Club). It will run from 7:00 to 11:00 or so. A group of us will be having dinner at Ben's Pub - 105 Clergy Street East (Good reasonably priced pub grub) at 6:00 but you can get food there up until about 9. Steafan Hannigan will be there to help lead the session.

Accommodation has been arranged at the Peachtree Inn 1187 Princess Street at a discounted rate of $79 + tax. You must ask for the CCE rate to get the discount. They will only hold this rate until October 1 so you should book right away. They have said that if there are lots of rooms available after the first they will still honour the discount but they will not guarantee to. To avoid missing out you should book right away. Telephone number is 613-546-4411.

There are other hotels in the area but they are all over $100. The Peachtree is clean and comfortable and close to the seniors' centre. We use it for the Irish Language Weekend. They serve a complimentary continental breakfast as well. I would recommend using Expedia or another internet booking service if you don't want to stay at the Peachtree. The Travelodge (moderate price) and Best Western Fireside Inn (more expensive) are good facilities in the area.

Saturday - All events are at the Seniors Centre at 56 Francis Street.

Workshops

10:30 to 12:00
- set dancing (Maureen Mulvey)
- woodwinds - flute, whistle uillean pipes (Steafan Hannigan)
- fiddle(Saskia Tomkins)
- Bodhran (Jack Hickman)
- Introductory conversational Irish Language

1:00 to 2:30
- woodwinds - flute, whistle uillean pipes (Steafan Hannigan)
- fiddle(Saskia Tomkins)

Workshops will cost $15 per morning or afternoon session.

We will serve a sandwich/cookie/veggie/luncheon from 12:00 to 12:45.

The AGM will be from 12:45 to 4:30.
We will have an attitude adjustment/personality development break with a cash bar (beer and wine) from 5:30 to 6:00.

Dinner will be from 6:00 to 7:15 at the seniors centre. Delegates, East Region Executive and the award recipients will be complimentary. All others will be charged $25 ($20 for Comhaltas members).

We plan on making the 60th anniversary awards presentations between 7:15 and 8:00 so as not to interfere with the ceili. There are a lot of awards so we felt that it would be better to have the presentation as part of the dinner. It is our regular ceili night and to take an hour out of it for the awards could put a damper on the ceili for non-Comhaltas members who regularly attend our ceilis. The dinner will be a more intimate setting anyway in our groups opinion. Anne McConnell-Strong invited the Irish Ambassador to present the awards and he has accepted.

The ceili will go from 8 to 11:00 or 11:30 and admission is $10 ($8 for Comhaltas members). Steafan & Saskia will provide the music along with any other musicians who would like to play with them and are comfortable playing for dancers.

Please note that the dinner charge does not include admission to the ceili. There will be separate tickets for each.

The main thing we need to know as soon as possible is numbers for the dinner. The seniors centre will need fairly definite numbers by the 10th or 11th so people need to commit prior to that date. We can accommodate about 100 for dinner in the dining room and there will be some additional standing room if people are going to come just for the awards. If you are going to come for the dinner, please confirm with Julie or myself at bowesjulie@sympatico.ca ASAP so we can hold a place for you before we reach capacity.

This will be a great weekend with lots of music, dance, workshops and the opportunity to help continue the work of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, so plan on attending and please spread the word to members of your group and particularly to the recipients of the award!!

Slan tamall
Stephen

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