Des Keegan, Anne Gavin, Teresa Deely and Tommy Byrne
Celebrating the third year of banter and ceilidh with Café le Cairde
Popular Clondalkin coffee morning group Café le Cairde celebrated three years of banter, beverages and ceilidh on Friday morning.
Based in Áras Chrónáin, the grassroots bilingual meetings have evolved to become much more than just a hot beverage and a chat for the elderly.
Initially conceived as an Irish language-based social activity that aimed to get the older age brackets out of the house after Covid, co-founder Don Harper sees it as a community service that anyone can be a part of, regardless of age or fluency in the native tongue.
“The larger community came into it then and we opened our doors,” Harper explained. “There was no membership and there was no charge for it, and it was set up then as a sort of community service. Anyone can walk through the door, everybody’s welcome.”
The average turnout currently ranges from 50-70 people each week and song and dance have become a frequent pastime for regulars on Friday mornings.
A range of music can be heard in Áras Chrónáin in the midst of a Café le Cairde gathering. Traditional music such as the likes of Galway Bay will rattle off of the walls of the cultural centre but so too can pop songs and ballads.
Dances accompany the Hokey Cokey as Gaeilge every so often as the event begins to resemble an aerobics class more than a retreat.
The popularity of Café le Cairde has reached such a height that Harper and his fellow co-founder Gerry Keane often bring the craic to those who cannot make it.
“We play in the schools, we play in the care homes . . . [it’s] just another way of us reaching out into the community.”
Many people are involved in making the community meet-up as successful as it is, from Susan Quinn and Hazel Baker who make fresh cakes and scones weekly to past word-of-mouth from the likes of Jimmy Gavin and Ann Gavin.
Faces such as Bernard Dunne, Al Porter and Jim Gavin have all made appearances on Friday mornings and a WhatsApp group ensures that no one falls out of contact.
On top of all this, Harper has seen an increase in the lrish skills of regulars who began their Friday mornings with limited vocabularies in the language.
Bereavements have occurred within the group over the past three years but the memories of those no longer with Café le Cairde only provides them with a stronger bond as they move from strength to strength.
“Cafe le Cairde has become a family.”
