;D ;D ;D
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Luton's special 'bond' with St PatrickIrish get set for a nine-day craic
Music, dancing and Pierce Brosnan are on the bill for Luton's fifth St Patrick's Day festival.
The nine-day long celebrations begin tomorrow and are being organised by the Luton Irish Forum.
Forum member Joe Ward said: "This is the biggest festival outside of Birmingham and London in the whole country."
The week's centrepiece will be the St Patrick's Day Parade, which marches through the town centre on Sunday, March 14.
The parade will be decked with banners and flags of all 32 Irish counties, and flanked by stilt walkers, marching bands, line dancers, and the Luton University pipe band. It starts at 11am on Manor Road, while the day's celebrations will have a main stage at Market Hill.
A second stage at Smith's Square in the Arndale Centre will also have music and dancing throughout the day, and an Irish market will run from Market Hill to George Street selling Irish food and arts and craft.
On Saturday March 13 there is the Grand St Patrick's Ball at the Holy Ghost Centre, with music from the Brose Walsh band and dancing from the Abbeyknockmoy set dancers.
The Arndale Centre first hosts Luton Alive - Alive-O, a mixture of music, song, dance and laughter on Sunday March 14 from 11am.
And on St Patrick's Day it houses a three-hour show of Irish dancing and music.
The Library Theatre is the base of the final three nights, beginning with Thursday March 18 movie screenings of Agnes Browne, and the Pierce Brosnan flick Evelyn.
From 8pm on Friday March 19 there will be a combination of music and dance, featuring Celtica dancers, a harpist, and folk music.
And the week concludes with the theatrical drama The Rare Oul' Times, about the playwright Brendan Behan and poet Paddy Kavanagh, beginning at 7pm on Saturday, March 20.
DIARY OF EVENTS:
Friday March 12: Local talent, drama, and music at Holy Ghost Parish Centre, Beech Hill, 8pm.
Saturday March 13: Sean O'Riada Mass in Irish at Holy Ghost Parish Church, 6.30pm.
Grand St Patrick's Ball, with the Brose Walsh band and the Abbeyknockmoy set dancers at Holy Ghost Centre, 8pm.
Sunday March 14: Grand St Patrick's Parade, beginning at 11am on Manor Road.
Irish Market Market Hill-George Street, stalls open 8.30am.
Luton Alive - Alive-O! Music, song, dance and laughter in the Arndale Centre from 11am.
Wednesday March 17: St Patrick's Day. Irish dancing and music in the Arndale Centre, 11am-2pm.
Sean O'Riada Mass, St Joseph's Church, 7.30pm.
Thursday March 18:
Two films shown in the Library Theatre. Agnes Brown, 7.30pm, and Evelyn's Story, 9.15pm.
Friday March 19:
Music and dance, featuring the Celtica Dancers, a harpist
and folk music, the Library
Theatre, 8pm.
Saturday March 20:
Theatrical drama The Rare Oul' Times, about Irish legends
Brendan Behan and Paddy Kavanagh, with musical support, the Library Theatre, 7.30pm.
For festival enquiries call: 01582 720447.
* Library Theatre box office: 01582 547474.
* Irish Centre: 01582 720447.
11 March 2004