A SESSION WITH TOM CUSSEN AND FRIENDS AND OUR LAST FULL DAY IN IRELAND
We left Westport around 11:30 and did a little sight seeing. We wanted to see if we could find the last home that Grace O’Malley, Grainne Uaile, lived in. It’s on an inlet of Clew Bay. Fortunately for her home but unlucky for us it was undergoing renovation and very little of it was visible. This is what it looks like (below).
Grace is sometimes referred to as the pirate queen. She had enough pull with the English Court, that after her two son’s and half brother were taken as prisoners by Richard Bingham the appointed governor of Connacht, she sailed and had court with Elizabeth who granted her request for release of her family but she had to end her piracy of English ships and war against the English Crown.
This is what we saw. Perhaps we’ll see it better the next trip.
We then visited an old Abbey that was destroyed in Henry VIII’s reign. It must have been beautiful because the remains are still impressive. It was an ecclesiastical center known as Burrishoole.
After that we head south to Gort. We’re wanting to see our old friends the Neilan’s, Tommy, his wife Maureen and their daughter Martina. We arrive at our rental house that belongs to Martina’s sister in law, Helen. We’re dismayed to open a message from Helen telling us that Tommy and Maureen both have Covid, Maureen’s not suffering many symptoms but Tommy’s in the hospital with pneumonia. The reason for these two days in Gort were so we could visit the Neilan’s and now that ‘s not possible.
Tom Cussen organized a small session for us in Clarinbridge 30 minutes North of Gort. It’s going to be at Jordan’s Pub, a spot we’ve played several times. We like playing there. We settle into Helen’s home, have a light dinner and head up to the session. We arrive on time and Tom’s there with his Shaskeen bandmate Johnny. We told Tom we’ve been enjoying the smaller sessions and it looks like he’s honored that. Aside from the three of us there are Tom on banjo, Johnny on Boddhran, Gerry on box, Alan on guitar and Bridget’s cousin Martin on guitar. It was a fabulous small session. Tunes were played and songs sung. John Riley proved to be a popular song in sessions this trip. The history of John Riley and the San Patricios is well known in Ireland and Mexico. He’s a national hero in Mexico and considered an Irish patriot in Ireland.
Our last day we drove to Kinvarra and had an early dinner. The steamed mussels were delicious. We did get a short visit in with Martina and Maureen. They thought Tom was going to be released the next day but too late for us to see him. We went to bed early 12:00am, our hours were musicians hours and we rarely got to bed before 2:00-3:00am. James and Bridget had an early flight out of Shannon so we all were up by 5:00am. We got to Shannon turned in the car, Morgan and I bid farewell to Bridget and James who were returning to England, they’re staying in Europe another month, and parted sad to see it end but happy we shared the experience.
