Hello, my name is Róisín Kissane. I’m seventeen years old and am a member of Ballydonoghue Lisselton CCÉ. My first friendship with music was greeted by a Friday evening with TP McNamara with a tin whistle in my right hand at Lisselton National School. I started off with the tin whistle, the beginning of an instrument journey and at age nine progressed to the fiddle after watching the elegance of the instrument in a County Fleadh of my sister. At that stage ‘Twinkle Twinkle’ was daunting! My first Fleadh Cheoil was in Causeway with good company, the Grupai cheoil and Céili bands under the guidance and leadership of Katie McNamara.
Not only is playing the music pleasurable but the decent friends and memories you make along the way. My favourite memory is when Darragh Mackessy, Ryan O’ Neill and I won our trio at the Munster Fleadh in UL in the u12 competition. It was an unforgettable day when our names were called out. The road to Derry was an extraordinary experience for our parents, who we couldn’t do it without and ourselves which led to the winning of our Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann silver medals. In Ballydonoghue we competed in Pléaracha and reached the finals in Dublin. This was a great experience and assisted the growth of many new friendships, craic and tunes. It was a different competition with a much larger group and a different variety of tunes. Because of a Scór group with four other Ballydonoghue girls, we received the opportunity to perform on TG4 in RTÉ. This was an unforgettable experience. During transition year, I started learning the piano and help teach music to the children in Lisselton on a Friday evening alongside with teaching at home. It’s remarkable what can become of a hobby and interest, and long may the music play!
