“A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC” – to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, the Ailbrin Society presents a musical evening with John Kennedy. John is well known to the many listeners of CRY and we look forward to an entertaining and informative evening. It will be held on Wednesday, 15th February at 8.30 pm in the Red Store, North Main Street, Youghal. Members free; non-members 5E. New members always welcome.

John Kennedy from Community Radio Youghal presented a wonderful evening of music and nostalgia entitled ” The sound of greatness” celebrating the World famous Irish tenor Count John McCormack at The Walter Raleigh Hotel as special guest of The Youghal Ailbrin Society.

People often ask what is Ailbrin? It is a small society that hosts a series of talks on a variety of subjects, from September to April on the third Wednesday of the month. The name Ailbrin is the oldest known Irish name for Youghal and means wooded rock.

The talks cover a wide range of subjects from local history, current affairs, travel, art, music, architecture to deep sea diving. Many of the most popular talks with the public have been given by local speakers.

The society was founded in 1966 by Noel Mc Namara a local solicitor, as a discussion group. Michael Murray acted as Chairperson in its early years. Members met once a month in the Devonshire Arms Hotel and as the speakers were friends and the room was free there was no fee.

After some years the Society expanded, speakers were brought in from outside to broaden our horizons. All this activity involved more expenses, fees for speakers, room rental and inevitably insurance. It also required a hard working and dedicated committee, most of whom have given several years and much of their time to keeping the show on the road. What we now need are more members interested in helping the present committee. At a meeting on Monday September 17th, a discussion was held on whether or not to continue with the society’s activities, the present committee has agreed to stay on until April of next year.

THE AILBRIN SOCIETY presents an illustrated talk by Frances McCarthy on Blackrock Castle Observatory and the various programmes undertaken there. Blackrock Castle is one of Cork’s best known landmarks.

In 2007 a state of the art observatory and educational facility was opened there. A team of astronomical researchers from CIT are working on Ireland’s first robotic observatory, the Planet Search, as well as projects such as a Deep Space Live Webcam, Comet Chaser and most intriguing – Movies by Moonlight. Frances will be discussing these and other interesting facts on Wednesday 20th April at 8.30 p.m. in the Red Store, North Main Street, Youghal. Admission: members free, non-members 5E. New members always welcome.

THE AILBRIN SOCIETY presents a talk by Veronica Whyte ” Exploring Antartica- How Retirement led to Adventure” on Wednesday, 16th February at 8.30 p.m in the Red Store, North Main Street, Youghal. Admission: Members free; non-members 5E. New members always welcome.

THE AILBRIN SOCIETY commences the new year with an interesting and stimulating talk from Youghal native , Catherine Power. Catherine is the archaeologist with Cork County Council.

” A Ringfort on my Lawn; Rolling Heads and Family Trees: the work of a Cork County Archaeologist”

The talk will be held on Wednesday, 26th January at 8.30 pm at the Red Store, North Main Street, Youghal. Admission: members free; non-members 5E. New members always welcome
* Please note change of date.