On the Feast of St Patrick, last Friday, it was my cousin’s birthday; on Saturday Bertie was four and on Sunday my brother was eighty. He celebrated the occasion with a family dinner at Barmeath, preceded by a short concert given by a detachment from the Ulster Youth Orchestra. They played in the hall and Rosemary and Bru’s guests divided into those prepared to sacrifice a front row seat for warmth by the wood burning stove and those like me wanting to be close to the action. The programme was well chosen with an excerpt from Handel’s The Water Music, so suitable for a wet March day and a view of the lake at Barmeath behind the orchestra, to start with; then some Elgar and at the end some Pops by McCartney and Moon River, composed by Henry Mancini when Bru was eighteen. It would have been even better with a sultry singer …
Moon river, wider than a mile I’m crossing you in style some day Oh, dream maker, you heart breaker Wherever you’re goin’, I’m goin’ your way.
We were left wanting more which I suppose is better than finding it too long; a sentiment probably not shared by one of my neighbours at dinner. She politely evinced some interest in our family history and may have got more than she bargained for. Meanwhile I remembered being in the same dining room for my paternal grandfather’s 80th and 90th birthdays. A link to those luncheons was provided by a great-nephew who, having mislaid his dinner jacket, was wearing a dark suit made in London in 1936 for his great great-grandfather. An advantage of staying put in the same castle for almost four hundred years is that nothing is thrown away and they made suits to last in the Depression.
After dinner my valiant niece rolled up the carpet and was the caller for an Irish reel, Walls of Limerick. This may be the Irish version of TheDashing White Sergeant. In any event both are supposed to be easy to learn but she was catering for an elderly team of dancers and it was no Riverdance. The scene was one of convivial chaos.
I have friends looking for a property in Ireland and believe this to have capabilities. It already has a roof garden, albeit no roof.
