At an Extraordinary General meeting of Connemara West on the 8 April 1976 it was formally decided to proceed with the building of the Teach Ceoil. With the help of a grant from Bord Failte, the Teach Ceoil was built in Tully village, Renvyle in 1977 for £17,000. The first session and the official opening took place on the 5 July 1977. In People in Development – A History of Connemara West 1971-1992, there are two lovely quotes that give an insight into how people felt then about traditional music, the first one from Josephine Aspell, RIP “I grew up in an environment of house dances and a wealth of talented musicians. Their talent was unknown as their was no outlet as there is today. I was happy… to attend a meeting to try and revive this dying tradition” and another quote from a well known and loved local musician and one of the original session group in the Teach Ceoil, Johnny ‘Mark’ Coyne, RIP “It was one of the greater things that happened here, really, because traditional music was on the way out”.
Pictured here are the first group of musicians that performed in the Teach Ceoil – Johnny ‘Mark’ Coyne, RIP on fiddle, Charlie O’Malley, RIP on tin whistle, Jarleth Hession on banjo, Phil Coyne on flute and Gerard Walsh, RIP on accordion.