John sees photo of himself at 1963 fleadh for first time

The Mullingar man in this picture was delighted to find a photo of himself that he had never seen before, in this week’s Westmeath Examiner.

The photo was taken at the Fleadh Cheoil an hÉireann in 1963, outside The Club Hotel, later the Lake County Hotel, and it show a crowded street, a man playing the piano accordion, another on the fiddle, and a 14-year-old enjoying the fun.

That teenager is John O’Reilly.

“We lived on Earl Street (now Pearse Street) at that stage,” said John. “We moved the following year, actually.”

“Earl Street it was then, and at the time of the 50th anniversary of the Rising, in 1966, it was changed to Pearse Street."

Where John grew up was number 10, in a building that is now part of John P Foy menswear – he and his family moved to Millmount Avenue after the Foys bought the house and expanded their shop.

“That photo was taken on the Sunday of the fleadh, of the June bank holiday weekend, the day of the parade. I tell my grandchildren about people dancing on top of the phoneboxes and they don’t believe me, but there’s a picture there of a gentleman sitting on top of a phonebox.

“It was absolutely packed, the town, and I went out for a wander. I was warned not to go too far, so I went up to the Club Hotel and there was seisun going on in the street. I don’t even remember that gentleman playing the accordion, and I never knew that photograph was taken till I opened the paper yesterday.

“It was nice to see that at one time I had hair!”

John plays the bodhrán and sings and is a regular at the seisuns at Áras and Mhuilinn on Wednesday nights and at The Chambers on Thursday nights.

The photo John refers to is in this week's special fleadh edition of the Westmeath Examiner. It is part of the Fáilte Ireland Collection, and we published it courtesy Of Dublin City Library And Archives.

The original is at https://www.dri.ie/.