REPORT ON 2009 ECHUCA MOAMA CELTIC FESTIVAL

Words like excellent, well done, a great week end, great music, the dancers were good to watch,

enjoyed the workshops, let me know when the festival is on in 2010  were used to describe participants

feelings about the Echuca Moama Celtic Festival.

Comments like these are very encouraging to a committee that worked diligently to ensure that

everything about the inaugural Echuca Moama Celtic Festival went to plan.

The opening dinner on Friday evening at the Moama Bowling Club set the tone for the rest of the

week-end. The piping of the haggis and the poem read with his Scottish accent by Alan Davidson

captured the attention of the people attending the dinner. The music and entertainment provided by

Meryl Wilkinson, Barker and Burke, Braemar and Claymore kept the people entertained and dancing

beyond the expected time to finish.

The success of the night was attributed to the cooperative hard work between the committee

organizing the dinner and the Moama Bowling Club.

Saturday was a great day of music and dancing as well as the well attended workshops conducted by

Fay White, Maria Forde and John Clancy. A feature of the Fay White workshop was the preparation

of a group of singers to provide choral items for the worship service on Sunday morning.

The Saturday Twilight Concert drew an attendance in excess of 1200 people who enjoyed the variety

of music and dancing that was presented. What added to the concert was the direct broadcast by Community

Radio EMFM 104.7 enabling a wider audience of people in aged care facilities and confined to their

homes to be able to hear the concert live.

The Sunday morning open air Celtic worship service at the Aquatic Reserve was well attended by

locals and visitors experiencing a different form of worship around the Celtic them of water.

For the rest of Sunday the streets and restaurants, clubs and hotels were alive with the sound of Celtic

music. A very interesting workshop by Barker and Burke on board PS Canberra provided new insights

into Celtic music. At the end of the day there was the cry, " is that all, we want more." The response

from one of the performers was that he had never sung so much to such an enthusiastic and responsive

crowd of people for a long time.

The following Sunday the Australian Welsh Male Choir sang to a sell out Paramount Theatre with

many turned away because they had left it to the last minute to purchase tickets. This world travelled

choir thrilled the audience with their choir and solo items. There were many members from the Sing

Australia Deniliquin and Echuca Moama Choirs in the audience who were invited to join with the

Welsh Choir in a rendition of "I Call Australia Home."

To all who visited Echuca Moama for the 2009 Echuca Moama Celtic Festival we thank you for

making the journey to our great twin towns and participating as you did so enthusiastically. To the

many locals who came out and supported the Festival we thank you for your support and we look

forward to seeing everyone on the following dates for 2010 - 7,12,13,14 March.