Let's go to the hop - charity night for The Galaxy Club

The Tennis Club, St Mary’s Hall, the Parochial Hall, Old Chapel House and The County Hall – who remembers those?

They are some of the places where we of a certain vintage spent our early teenage years going to hops, listening to the best music of the time, impressing the girls with our dancing skills (not) and hoping to meet the love of our life!

More often than not the highlight of the night was a bag of chips from The Malocca or The Rome on the way home.

We probably had more hot chips than hot dates!

Later in our teens, we progressed to dances and discos in places like The Lake County, The Greville, The Beehive, Heatherville and The Fountain Blue, where we all probably did meet the love of our life and settled in to the routines that are our lives today.

I never lost my love for ’70s music and most evenings I can be found, headphones on, listening to music from the era, music that, in my opinion, has never been equalled.

I thought of the idea of trying to recreate a hop or disco night and following positive feedback I decided to do it.

So, Smiddy’s Bar on Saturday November 17 is the place to be for all us wrinkly rockers!

Spinning the discs on the night will be DJ Sarge Geraghty, who is busy sifting through his vast collection of seven-inch vinyl records to guarantee a playlist from the best singers and groups of the ’70s that will hopefully bring back good memories.

Who will be the first to mention ‘flagons of cider’?

By no means is the night exclusive to our generation. I know from Facebook that many of the younger generation have a good liking for and appreciation of ’70s music, so I’m hoping to see a good balance of old and young on the night.

Dancing is from 9.30pm till 12.30am and admission or cover charge, as it used to be called, is only €10,

All money raised on the night will be going to a local good cause – The Galaxy Club Mullingar and in particular one of their athletes, Mary Daly, who will be representing Ireland in badminton at the Special Olympics World Games in Abu Dhabi next March.

Mary follows in the footsteps of Ruth Geerah and Stephen Walshe, who have represented Ireland in the past.

The Galaxy Club is based on the Delvin Road in Mullingar and currently has 35 athletes receiving training in golf skills, swimming,pitch and putt, badminton and bowls.

Eight athletes represented the club at this year’s national games and from that Mary Daly was selected for the Special Olympics World Games.

Mary is attending monthly training sessions in Dublin until next February. Locally she plays under the instruction of badminton coach Mary O’Donovan.

So, Smiddy’s Bar on Saturday November 17 is the place to be to enjoy a great night of ’70s (and a bit of ’80s) music and knowing that your contribution will be helping to ensure that Mary has the trip of a lifetime.