Stan O'Donohue from Fanore brought the Barefield Ceili Bands of 25 musicians to Toronto for the special annual convention of North America to mark the 50th anniversary of Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann. www.cce2001.com

This was a huge task for Denis to undertake and the last six months were really hectic in preparing for the trip. We stayed at the Howard Johnson Hotel for the week April 17th-24th and saw the sights at Niagara Falls, CN Tower and Sky Dome. The "Galway Arms" was our first port of call and Kieran Hanrahan recorded the session for "Ceili House" and this will be aired every Saturday night in May on RTE Radio 1 www.rte.ie

The band was the main event at the gala concert on Friday night which was packed to the rafters and included such dignitaries as Mary Coughlan, Minister for State, Senator Labhrás Ó'Murchú, Dr.John O'Connor and Micheál Ó hEidhin.

Informal sessions were in full flow all weekend and many big names played with us including Larry Reynolds, Felix Dolan and Ena O'Brien. The whole idea of 13-16 year olds playing good Clare music has inspired many ideas after the weekend and lots of opportunities are arising as a result.

Everyone associated with the band is very proud of them and their achievements over the past few years and this ranks with the very best.

The list of musicians in Toronto includes; Michelle, Therese, Liz, Claire, Orla, Maria, Rachel, Méabh, Ciara, Anna, Lorna, Patrice, Joanne, Mary, Aodhnait, Sarah, Aisling, Pádhraig, Brian, Neil, Cormac, David, Edward, Conor and Enda. Parents included Liam, Seán, Brian, Bernie, Mary and Ann, Frances, Aileen and Marie.

The whole weekend received rave reviews in "The Irish Voice" newspaper in USA.

Plans are already afoot for another trip next year!