Craobh Chois Muaidhe
(Moy Valley Branch of Comhaltas)
It is once again, the honour and privilege of Craobh Chois Muaidhe to welcome you all back to Mayo, to Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann and to Ballina. As this is our second Fleadh we intend to make it special for all participants and visitors. We issue a special céad míle fáilte to all our overseas visitors and we hope your stay with us will be a very enjoyable one.
We hope you have the opportunity, between events, to explore the beautiful Moy Valley itself and to follow the River Moy as it Makes its way into Killala Bay. This Year of the French has a special significance for Killala Bay as it was at Kilcummin, that General Humbert and his men landed, August 22nd, 1798. The story of 1798 will be told in pageantry, paintings and of course songs. We hope to hear "The Men of the West" being sung at every street corner in Ballina during the Fleadh. We will commemorate the 1798 Rising during the Fleadh, bringing you back 200 years through our turbulent history. We can also bring you back 5,000 years, to the dawn of civilisation on our western shore, if you avail of the opportunity to visit the Céide Fields near Ballycastle where our first farmers tilled the soil on cliff tops higher than the Cliffs of Moher!
If you are interested in fishing, you will not find better than the River Moy. We have the beaches, we have the accomodation but most of all we have the people of Ballina who dearly wish to welcome you back to their homes and hearts for what is going to be the Fleadh of the century.
Bigí Linn!