Published: Wednesday, 20th January, 2010 6:00pm

Drama group meet Ernie Els

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Members of the Mullingar Arts Centre bumped into famous golfer Ernie Els while on holiday in South Africa just after Christmas. Pictured with Ernie (in the white baseball cap) were, from left, Billy Gilleran, Sean Lynch, Ann McCoy, Jemma McNamee, Gavin Moore, Caroline McEntee, Neville Casserly, Mickey Towey, Niamh O'Shea, Aidan Ennis and Joanne MacDonagh.

Forty-five Mullingar youngsters will not spend Valentine's Day waiting to see if the postman is going to drop a pink or red envelope in through the letterbox.

They will, in fact, be 3,000 miles away from their own letterboxes - off in New York on the annual trip away organised for members of the Mullingar Youth Academy for the Performing Arts, based at the Arts Centre.

"We are taking 45 kids, and we have 16 minders going as well," says Sean Lynch, Director of the Arts Centre.

The group is heading over on February 13, and will come home on February 18.

Their hotel is on 1st Avenue, close to the UN headquarters, and efforts are underway to see if the youngsters will get to see inside the building.

Mainly, however, the focus is on New York's thespian offerings, says Sean Lynch.

"They're going to see two shows, 'Memphis' and 'Chicago', and we're trying to get to see a grand opera as well, one I don't know myself, but that is by Richard Strauss," he says, explaining that it's of great benefit to young performers to get to see large-scale professional productions of the type staged on Broadway.

Each year, a trip away is organised for the students of the Academy. Last year, they were in England; the year prior to that, Paris; and for the two years prior to that, England.

"Next year, I don't know: I was looking at - depending on how this goes - if this goes well, I wouldn't mind taking them to Washington," says Sean.

The youngsters pay for the trip themselves, but there were a few youth discos organised to help subsidise the cost of the trip, which will be for some of them, their first time to travel away so far from home.

Those going are aged between 12 and 17, and the minders are, of course, adults.

South Africa

Just back last week from South Africa was another group: people involved in various drama groups that use the Mullingar Arts Centre. An attractively priced package meant that 22 people opted to take part in the experience, and what pleased Sean greatly was the fact that the age spread was from 14 to 71 years.

"It was a great trip," he says, adding that the possibility is being mooted of a trip to Argentina in two years' time.