My name is Angi Ward and I live outside the town of Edenderry. I went through Secondary School in Edenderry and it is our main shopping facility on a weekly basis.
I became involved in Creative Places, Edenderry in Summer 2023 when Seonaid Murray, Creative Places, Edenderry Coordinator asked me to facilitate a workshop. My aspiration at the time was to bring music to the older generation in the community. I had already established music as a therapeutic support in St Brid’s, in Peamount Hospital. I witnessed the difference music made, how it broke down barriers and helped create friendships. My parents both loved music and I grew up with it in social environments when family would visit. With Seonaid’s help and encouragement I decided to try and establish a music and singing group and what started out with one musician and an audience of five, has now grown into something much bigger and much more diverse. The Ethos of the group is Inclusion and as far as I am concerned, everyone wants to sing! The second Ethos is Autonomy which allows individuals to perform their version of a song or a piece of music. This in turn results in Diversity and much laughter!
Being part of Creative Places, Edenderry has been really good for me personally, for my mental health, for a sense of purpose and belonging, for a new set of friends and endless creative challenges. My aim is to share this with as many others as I can. It is a formula that works for my age group in this age of technology! Having Creative Places, Edenderry at my back has given me the confidence to continue expanding and attracting more members all the time.
In spring of 2024, Seonaid suggested I apply for the Creative Lives Award that was being hosted in London. I didn’t feel that I would qualify as the group was not quite a year old and so I left it until the last minute. I got the application in with an hour or so to spare, quickly setting up online accounts and was greatly surprised when we were shortlisted and subsequently won the place as Ireland’s runner up. It was indeed a great acknowledgement and an honour and I was delighted for the members of Acoustic Hearts, who were born from the Monday Group. There was great excitement as we organised our trip to London and it was with great pride that I accepted the prize on behalf of the group!
The Monday Music Group continued to attract more people but Acoustic Hearts, a group within a group, has continued to evolve. Playing once a week was not enough. We formed a Rambling House and once a month would visit each other’s houses, just like in days gone by. Members grew in confidence and continued to challenge themselves and try different genres of performing art.
In Spring of this year, I decided to apply for some Seed Funding from Creative Places, Edenderry, and I was once again successful. I had written a play about the bog from the bog’s perspective through time, together with other members of the group. With the funding, I was able to produce and perform it with the members of Acoustic Hearts. Eddie Byrne, a long-time member, provided the sound equipment and with the seed funding we were able to build a stage and buy lights! We used the Parish Centre and it was a complete success, playing to a full house. For many of the cast, it was their first time on stage….and what an achievement it was for them. We performed it last week in Clonbullogue to a group of retired Bord na Mona men and they all really loved it, commenting on its clarity, truth and acknowledged that all aspects of it were accurate! We plan on performing some more over the coming months. The Sequel is currently being written and we hope to have it ready for stage in April of 2026.
So, to reflect, what started as a single musician and singer with a small audience, the Monday Music Group now boasts anything up to ten different musicians, a full group of singers and now budding actors! The world is our oyster! Age is a licence to explore and grow, and we continually try to find more people to join us! Our most senior lady is 87 years old and puts us all to shame with her voice, elegance, and energy while our eldest performer is 84 and when asked, declared that it is something he would love to do before he grew too old.
