St. Aidan's N.S. Kiltimagh Co. Mayo, Ireland

American Visitors

THE QUAKER CITY STRING BAND

PHILADELPHIA

The Quaker City String Band first came to Kiltimagh for the St. Patrick's Day Parade in Kiltimagh in 1988.They come from Philadelphia in The United States of America each year. They are very tall and they play a variety of instruments including banjo and lots of brass instruments. They wear very colourful costumes and every year they have a different theme. This year they were wild animals.
In Philadelphia, they compete each year and they always earn high marks in the New Year's Day String Band Parade and Competition. .The people of Kiltimagh welcome them and big crowds come to the town to see them in the parade. They also perform in a concert in the Community Centre. Every year the school band welcomes them and marches ahead of them as they arrive in the town. Two years ago, they gave a gift of some money to the school and it was spent on equipping the majorettes who walk and perform in front of the band.
They visited our school on Tuesday, March 19, their last day in Kiltimagh, and entertained the children and taught us some songs.

 

Here they are performing in our school

 
The pupils all join in
 
Bob Shannon, leader of the Quaker City String Band presents the Lion's Head, part of the costume worn by the band members in the parade, to Jim Fogarty, School Principal.
 
In 1999 they presented us with a plaque on which was a photo of the band competing in the New Year's Day competition in Philadelphia.
They added the following verse

When the visitors from Philly roll in
They are greeted by whistles of tin.
The sight and sound is surely grand
Thanks to the St. Aidan's School Band.

Message from Bob Shannon (pictured above)
The band loves to come to Kiltimagh. We look forward to playing for all the pupils and especially the children. Music is an international language. We all understand music and love.
We look forward to seeing Bob and the band next year.

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