A dance down memory lane
The tale of how husband and wife Séan and Maureen McDermott first met and began “courting” is a familiar one for a certain generation in this region.
“It all started at the dance,” says Séan with a chuckle, harking back to a time when nearly every parish had at least one dancehall and the showband era was in full swing.
Many halls had fantastic names, such as the Blue Haven in Kiltyclogher, The Star in Ballyconnell, or The Wonderland in Bawnboy. The names of the bands who played them were just as striking - the Golden Eagles from Glangevlin, The Sunbeam from Swanlinbar, The Starlight Band from Derrylin, and the Emerald Valley Band from Rossinver.
Specifically, Séan and Maureen first met outside Glenfarne’s iconic The Rainbow ‘Ballroom of Romance’. They would meet again later inside, enveloped by the heady smokey din - echoing back on top of them from the corrugated roof above. Beneath the famous glitter ball and across the polished hardwood sprung floor, through a sea of swinging arms and twists of feet, the couple joined hands for their first dance. The first of many.
“The rest as they say is history,” Séan recalls, a spreading smile evident even down the phoneline.
A member of Glenfarne Community Development, Séan has spent much of the intervening years championing his local ballroom and its legacy, not just in his own household, but far beyond the confines of the quaint rural border village.
Carnival dancing became popular in the 50s, a trend that continued right up to the 70s. Dancing also took place on lofts, at crossroads, in houses and indeed anywhere a requisite space could be commandeered and a group of musicians, playing guests, thrown together.
Glenfarne’s Ballroom of Romance first opened its doors in 1934, a lifelong ambition of returned US emigrant John McGivern.
At the height of the showband era, ‘McGivern’s Dancehall’ as it was colloquially known, attracted acts such as Britain’s Victor Sylvester Big Band and the Jimmy Shand Ceilí Band, not to mention Irish household names Joe Dolan, Joe McCarthy and the Dixies, Dickie Rock, Big Tom, Philomena Begley and more.
Séan tells a story, one of many, about how after the advent of the car, the driver might get in cheaper if he had brought four others along with him. “I’m told what happened is the smart boys would get a key of their own, whether they had a car or not, they’d say they had four people with them. There are dozens of stories like that, and tonnes of stories. So many stories about the dancehalls. There’s a lot of colour to that era.”
Before dancing Séan started out “lifting tickets on the door” at The Rainbow. He remembers on night, close to Christmas, somewhere in the region of 1,400 people passing through the doors.
“Philomena Begley was on stage, so it was a big crowd. You could have had 1,200 people up dancing. The way it was back then was, only half an hour further up the road, you had a similar dance on, maybe the Mayflower in Drumshanbo, and you had people travelling between the two.”
Glenfarne Gala Festival
Séan’s own enthusiasm for the Glenfarne landmark picks up where many before him left off.
The late Gerry Finneran, a mine of information who shared it willingly right up to death this time last year, will be honoured by the local development committee during the Glenfarne Gala Festival over the August Bank Holiday Weekend.
Like the late John McGivern, both men live on in a 15-minute video available to visitors to the ballroom’s impressive showband exhibit featuring also an interview with Big Tom who first played the historic venue in the mid 60s.
The ballroom’s fame only grew in the 1970s when Cork-born writer, William Trevor, captured its the gloom and essence of immigration in his short story ‘The Ballroom of Romance’.
At its peak, Séan estimates there were over 600 showbands in Ireland, each travelling the country at the weekend, and sometimes playing twice a night.
Today The Rainbow ballroom remains in use, with the age of the dancehall revived somewhat by the spike in interest in Irish country music.
Along with still hosting monthly Sunday socials, the hall also immortalises the showband era in its dedicated museum upstairs, with displays remembering a selection of bands from the local and surrounding counties such as the Savoy Swing Band, Carrick-on-Shannon; Kevin Woods and Barney McCormack’s bands, both from Drumshanbo; The Castle St. Band, Manorhamilton; Glenfarne Fife and Drum Band; The Navak Showband from Cavan and the Texans from North Leitrim/West Cavan.
Other bands that played locally were The Blossoms, Shannon Aces, Red Sunbeam, Emerald Valley, Breffni Dance Band, Overlanders, Golden Aces, Rhythm Swing Band to name a few.
“Now you have the likes of Nathan Carter and Derek Ryan, and when they appeared, they brought another generation of young people to the scene,” says Séan of the recent uplift.
“There’s a generation of young people now dancing, they love jiving. And of course they would love jiving in a hall like ours with that magic bounce.”
Even the the way people dance has changed, suggests Séan. “There’s a certain bounce to the jiving you see today. It’s a different jiving to when I was dancing. But its a good thing. That’s the thing about all of this, it has to be brought on. The young people have to make it their own. They’re the ones out dancing now and they put their own interpretation on it. Things change, and its wonderful to see. The whole dancing scene had nearly died off, but now it's thriving again.”
A Selection of the Dancehalls in West Cavan
1) St. Patrick’s Hall, Glangevlin was packed to the rafters on a Sunday night in the late 40’s and early 50’s admission: Ladies 1 shilling, Gents 1 shilling and 6 pence. Over the years the Derrylin Starlight’s, Red Sunbeam, The Blossoms, Shannon Aces, The Great Margaret Barry and the legend Peter Dunne performed in the Hall.
2) St. Felim’s Hall Doobally is still there today. As well as dances this hall was famous for its drama and plays.
3) Timoney’s Hall, Barran, also known as the Central Ballroom. The Derrylin Starlight’s and the Emerald Valley Band from Rossinver were regulars here.
4) Corlough in Cavan had Tonlagee Hall, the Red Sunbeams were favourites here.
5) Caratillen Hall where Eugene Leddy and his band were regulars and also Ken Brown Ceili band.
6) St. Mary’s Hall Swanlinbar 1954 where the Starlight’s were on stage admission 3 shillings.
7) The Star Ballroom Ballyconnell admission 4 shillings in 1954 for Bert Flynn and his Danceband.
8) The Wonderland Bawnboy after being closed for some years was reopened in the early 70’s by Fr. Michael McManus a native of Glenfarne. The band that played here on Sunday 14th January 1973 was Gerry Black and the Seasons, dancing 10pm to 2am admission 50 pence.
9) Mooney’s Hall, Blacklion where the Shannon Aces and the Derrylin Starlight’s were regulars, also Bazaars were held here too.
10) Templeport Hall in Templeport where St. Mogue’s Ceile Band was a regular.
11) Bawnboy Workhouse Bawnboy. Where St. Mogues Ceile Band also made regular appearances.
Selection of Dancehalls in North Leitrim.
1) Newtown Manor had a Temperance Hall in the 20’s same location as the present hall.
2) Creevelea Hall had a social on the 15th January 1973.
3) Manorhamilton Community Centre presented the Cotton Mill Boys on Friday 12th January 1973.
4) St Clares Hall located on the Carrick-on-Shannon Road Manorhamilton.
5) Connollys Hall near the Centre of the town Manorhamilton
6) McGloin’s Hall also located in Manorhamilton had a Red Cross Dance in 1945.
7) The Blue Haven Ballroom, Kiltyclogher had an old time Waltzing competition on Friday February 19th 1960. The Red Sunbeams were playing admission was 4 shillings.
8) Ballinaglera, Co. Leitrim had St. Hughe’s Hall in the same location as the present hall.
9) Newbridge’s old hall has been turned into a church this had been a popular dance venue in the past.
10) Ballaghameehan Hall located close to where the turn off is for Glenaniff.
11) Patton’s Hall in Dromahair hosted some of the bigger Irish dance bands such as Big Tom, Philomena Begley, Susan McCann, Daniel O’Donnel and many more.
12) Kinlough Hall, if you were from Kinlough or the surrounding areas and you wanted to lose some calories after the Christmas of 1946 McNamara’s Band would do the job in this hall on the 5th January 1947 admission 2 shillings.
13) Glenade Hall up the road from Kinlough had its dance hall situated not far from the church they were dancing there on Friday 16th June 1967.
14) Drumkeerin had two dancehalls Tessie Lee’s also known as Crown’s and Wynne’s known as kelly’s.
15) Diffreen Hall, Glencar located on the N16 road to Sligo.
16) Mullies Dance Hall close to the present church.
17) Fidley’s Dancehall, Glenfarne which was located in upper Glenfarne was owned by The Keaney family who had a band called the Breffni Dance Band, they played in many venues.
18) Ballroom of Romance, Glenfarne opened its doors in 1934 all the top bands played here such as Hugh Toorish, Clipper Carlton, Brendan Bowyer, Dickie Rock, Eileen Reid, Big Tom, Susan McCann, Philomena Begley, Melody Aces, Declan Nearney, Mike Denver, Jimmy Buckley, Nathan Carter and many more.