Roundwood Welcomes Breton Band
Roundwood Village is twinned with Spezet, a small town in Brittany since 1986. After their recent rip roaring festival, the highest village is again preparing for another festival of music and dance with the arrival of 34 musicians, singers and dancers from Spezet for a week on the 16th of August. The group are members of Spezet’s traditional Breton band, Bagad Osismi Speied who will be staying with local families. The Roundwood and District Community Council have pulled out all the stops to ensure the group have a week to remember in the Garden County as they have organised the Bagad to perform in various iconic locations during their week’s stay. The fun begins on Saturday 16th at 8pm with the official welcome night in Roundwood’s Coach House where the group will join with local band ‘Coddle’. On Sunday the Bagad heads west to perform at the very popular Hollywood Fair at 3pm. That night some of the musicians will join in with the Roundwood Sessions in Byrne and Woods, Roundwood. Monday will see the group heading to explore Bray with a radio interview on East Coast FM followed by performances at 2pm and 3:30pm on the Band Stand on Bray Promenade. Tuesday, the group will stay in the hills with a visit to the ESB Turlough Hill, then a lunch time performance in the grounds of the Glendalough Hotel followed by some well deserved time off to explore the valley. That evening the group plan to head to the Glenmalure Lodge to join in with the traditional music session there. It’s off to the big smoke on Wednesday where the group plan to do some sightseeing and a spot of busking on Grafton Street. It’s back to the coast on Thursday, but this time to Wicklow Town, to visit and perform at Wicklow’s Historic Gaol at 3pm and hopefully to catch a few waves at Brittas Bay if the weather permits! That night the dancers will take to the floor in Kavanagh’s Vartry House in Roundwood as they join with the local set dancers and musicians in the regular Thursday night set dancing session starting at 9pm. After all that action, the group will have a free day on Friday to prepare themselves for their last performance in their host village, in a grand finale BBQ evening with many local musicians at Roundwood Parish Hall kicking off at 6:30pm. The performances by the Bagad will be up to one hour long and are guaranteed to provide a colourful display of traditional costumes as they entertain with traditional dances and Breton musical instruments. The group are eager to interact with the crowds and encourage their audiences to try the Breton instruments and join them in with the Breton dancers. The visit is set to continue to strengthen the links that Roundwood has forged with this area in Brittany and also showcases the great tourism product that Wicklow has to offer our visitors. The geographical spread of the various free events provides a great opportunity for the people of Wicklow to catch a performance by this award winning group, the Bagad Osismi Speied. The Roundwood Community Council hope the people of Roundwood and beyond will give their visitors a great welcome by coming out to support the Bagad as they perform throughout the county.