manx celtic music and dance

Lowender Peran 2015 report from Perree Bane

30 Oct 2015


Perree Bane visits Lowender Peran

Report by John Dowling

After an absence of several years, Perree Bane made the trip down to Cornwall in October to be the Manx representatives at Lowender Peran. The performers made their way to the Festival by various means, some flying, with the bulk of the costumes, props etc. courtesy of the white van men (John & Brian!) This, at the new venue of the Atlantic Hotel in Newquay, with the demise later this year of the old favourite, the Ponsmere in Perranporth. An innovation for the Atlantic Hotel to host a folk-dance festival, the Hotel sits on top of a headland rather than by the sea as in the Ponsmere; Newquay having an even larger surfing population than Perranporth. The staff were surprised by some of the requests by the organising team, but Jojo [Davey] and the committee were confident that they would be able to educate them into the ways of festivals.

Most of the Perree Bane group arrived Wednesday evening, and spent Thursday morning exploring the (new) environment of Newquay. The formal side of the Festival was a Manx performance that evening, with the Celtic Dance spectacular on Friday evening, followed later with a Manx ceili. Saturday dawned fine, as was the weather unifomally over the festival, and the Grand Parade wound its way along the streets of Newquay. The Ceili On The Green in Killacourt was a great success, far more popular than the beach ceili of previous years, this was followed by street dancing for the various groups, with the Manx having great fun with the Irish contingent from Cork. The fine Perree Bane musicians demonstrated their skills with a Manx music session, whilst the dancers hosted a special needs ceili. The evening having a “scary” theme, a highlight was the Great Perree Bane Chainsaw Massacre (White Boys sword dance with chainsaws) which suitably terrified the audience! Sunday found Perree Bane busy; a Manx dance workshop, a performance in the Tea Room during the craft fair and culminating in a family ceili. The general opinion was a successful and enjoyable event. Maybe the Atlantic could reduce its prices somewhat for the 2016 Festival, if they choose to hold it, but they made the festival goers very welcome.

Many thanks to Carol for the excellent choreographed performance (unfortunately not with us) and to Caroline for her tireless efforts in keeping us in line and for calling the ceilis in her own inimitable style.

Thanks are also due the generous support from the Arts Council, 

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