Charlie Gallagher (2001)

This interview took place in 2001:
We were delighted to catch up with Charlie after his successful charity fundraising jet-ski trip to the Clare Island Festival.

Favourite drink: Heineken
Favourite food: Fish, steak, curry.
Favourite night out: An evening in McLoughlin’s with family and friends, with music from Ray Cox, Wallop The Cat and The Mulloy Brothers.
Favourite sports: GAA, Rugby, Soccer.
Favourite teams: Mayo, Celtic, Liverpool, the Irish Rugby Team.
Which person would you most like to meet (living or dead): Michael Collins.
Do you have any plans for the year ahead?: I’d like to spend more time with my family (or rather, have them spend more time with me!), and to enjoy myself a bit more. I would love to organise music and dancing lessons for our young people to keep our traditions going. I would love to meet a nice, faithful, loving girl to share the good things in life with.
You’ve just completed a charity fundraising jet ski ride to Clare Island. Tell us about it: It all started when John Moran and I were relaxing over a few pints after a hard day’s work, discussing all the friends and people in the area who had died of cancer. We decided that we should organise some kind of beach party and barbeque to raise funds for a cancer charity. I then saw and advert in the Mayo News for the inaugural Pirate Queen Music Festival on Clare Island and it occured to me that a jet ski run from Achill to Clare Island might be a good fundraiser, so I persuaded Rory to bring his jet ski over from London. Yvonne and her husband, Mick Kelly, were over for a wedding the week before the event but unfortunately couldn’t stay on. 

We are grateful to the Garda Superintendant, who gave us a special permit to collect money, and we put collection buckets in many pubs and shops in Achill. The response from local people was fantastic and several people from Mulranny and Newport asked for collection buckets but our permit did not stretch this far.

On the big day, Sunday July 1st, we held a collection at the Michael Davitt Bridge at Achill Sound, and afterwards in Alice’s (Ostán Oileán Acla). From 1pm to 3pm, at Alice’s, there was music from Ray Cox, Wallop The Cat, The Mulloy Brothers, and Steven and Greg from Scotland.

We then had a half hour boat display from John McLoughlin, David Campbell and Michael Fallon in the backup and safety boats, and Rory on the jet ski, after which we departed for Johnny Patten’s where there was a further display before we set off for Clare Island.

The crossing was not as fast as we had hoped as the weather was poor and the sea pretty rough. Although we weren’t cold – we wore wet suits – my arms got quite sore from holding on! We certainly enjoyed the challenging conditions!

On arrival at Clare Island we were met on the beach by a crowd of people, including one of the Fureys, Dick Burke of Dazzle Discs in Westport, the Festival organiser, who was very helpful and supportive, Carl & Chris Grady and Jane & Patrick O’Toole who organised the collection team on Clare Island.

We enjoyed a fantastic night of song and dance with all the great musicians and to cap it all Dick Burke gave Steven and Greg special permission to close the Festival with a few songs, finishing with “Meet me on Clare Island.” They felt deeply honoured and were invited back for next year’s Festival.

As if this weren’t enough, we must say a special “Thank You” to Carl and Chris Grady for their kind hospitality as they put us all up in their hotel free of charge.

Thanks to the many people helped with the event, including my family from Scotland: Martin & Gillian Gibbons, their son Steven and his friend Greg; the collection committee and all the collectors, especially John McLoughlin, Michael Fallon & Noel Duggan who organised the collections in Achill and Jane & Patrick O’Toole, the collection organisers for Clare Island; the publicans and shop owners of Achill; Maureen and Owen of the Compass Bar, Currane; Pat Cawley and Cormac Ó Cionnaith of The Mayo News; Gerry Glennon of Mid West Radio and everyone else who was involved.

This was the first Festival and the first such Jet Ski run, but we hope to repeat it next year.

Finally, thanks to Al & Jane for all their hard work setting up and maintaining the Currane web site.

Editor’s note: We’re sure you’ll agree that this was a fantastic effort by Charlie to raise money for the The Irish Cancer Society.

Thanks Charlie for talking to us and all the best for the year ahead.