a cara....easter has just passed and its most spectacular identity is the vast amount of chocolate that is on display and ....eaten.....so last weekend driving home along the shores of lake ontario...with a collection of chocolates at my side....i noticed a familiar venue ...the palais royale was having a dance........music wafted from the building and seemed to reverborate across the calm waters of the lake....this hall...although revamped a few years ago ...to save it from the wreckers ball ....is but a poor image of its former self .....this pavillion....where some of the great bandsplayed ...the dorseys.....duke ellington ...stan kenton.....sinatra crooned here as did nat king cole.....i decided to pull in to the parking area and listen for awhile....and as i was seduced by the magic of the music ...my mind drifted back.....to rural ireland post war.......musicians were inspired then by the music of glen miller et al.....and so ireland developed a love affair with music and dancind....oh....we always had alove of those ....but there was a buzz in the air....and ballrooms and dance halls polished up and soon packed them in.....castlebar was no exception.....and the town hall was refurbished with new paint....side lighting...and a spring cushioned hard wood floor....stephen garvey expanded his orchestra....brose walshe increased his musician count.....billy newell created the skyliner orchestra....the reynolds and gavin families...teamed up to form the cecilian sextet.....tony chambers soon had madame and sean burke in his troupe as this craze for dancing ignited......jack ruanne had his band in top form ...pj gallagher got his band tuned up......soon places like the town hall ...the round tower in turlough.....the gaiety in islaneady.....the horseshoe in frenchpark...the arcadia in belcarra ...pontoon ....and toreen....thady reillys in glenisland....were sweetened by the sweet sounds of mick delahunty.....des fretwell.....and our town orchestras......we waited anxiously for the connaught to come out on a thursdays to see what band was playing ....and where....admittance to dances was uaually a half a crown.....i remember hanging out by the garden shop.....firstly gazing at mrs.wards ....selection of ....sweet delights....clarnico murray ....produced iced caramels...and an oatmeal flavoured toffee.....then looking up towards the town hall ...pete coyle would beopening up.....next in was gussie garvey.....gussie would sprinkle the floor with lux soap flakes.....then slide around it so that the floor would have dancers floating like butterflies.....and maybe later stinging like bees.....some of the local girls would then start congregating around the four corners....wards....garavans.....oconnors......and jimmy hobans....marie gibbons....cait neary.....binnie gannon....nora donaghhue.....and maybe bridie maloney.....by 8 oclock....linenhall street got crowded.....as the dancers filed into the hall.....usually the boys were still having a last pint to steady the nerves...as the halls of those days were ....booze free......in the town hall as in other halls men on one side ....females on the other.....th town hall had what was called an alcove ...here the guys sat and congrgated and hoped eventually to have a fair damsel sit on their knees here.....the band tuned up .....and depending on who the orchestra was started the dance with a quick step....this was to encourage dancers out......soon the floor got plenty of action for a three set dance.....next time a sense of the intimate ambiance of theses ..."ballrooms" of ....romance..... amarach....sceil eile....re; ceoil agus craic... .....tog go bog e..... thank you oliver killeen