The Rafferty School of Speech and Drama from Killavullen made a most successful return to Castletownroche Community Centre on Friday night last for their annual youth concert – 31 years after hosting their first ever concert there.

Kilavullen hall is being refurbished at present, necessitating the change to Castletownroche this year for the well anticipated annual event.

The youth concert presented a full programme of variety entertainment including drama, music and dance. The drama featured a range of topical sketches including ‘The Bear’s Story’, ‘Growing Organically’, ‘Mrs Brown’s Boys’, ‘Teenage Problems’, ‘The Committee Meeting’ and ‘How I Got A Girl’. Children aged from six up to 15 took part.

“We’re a small rural school. We take part in Feis Maitiú and the concert grew out of that. So from September to March  we work to produce the annual concert,” Mai Rafferty explained. She says it’s not a money-making venture but rather an opportunity for the children to showcase the talents they’ve developed with the speech and drama school.

“Parents come steadfastly and they bring with them grandparents and other family members. The support is absolutely fantastic, parents are great,” Mai says. “It’s the community that has kept us here” she says adding that there is a real feelgood factor to the annual event as demonstrated by the great support it receives in the area generally.

As a reward for their efforts, the children were treated to a party back at Mai’s house.