I contacted Michael Funge and Bernard McHugh and together with
some others we presented a Gala Irish Variety Night in the heart of Cricklewood and raised enough money to get the project
up and running and I am pleased to say that it is still active to this very day.
I was doing some TV work at the time and I persuaded a friend
to give us a slot on the "Live at 6 Show" to help trail the event. This worked wonders and we got a full house, in fact two
full houses as we extended the run for a second night
At that stage, as far as I was concerned, that was that
and it was back to the day job BUT I had not taken into account that Parish Priests and Pastors throughout the Country
had seen the TV trail and thought to themselves "I could do with some help to raise money as well" and so began an never ending
series of "Gala Variety Shows" played all over Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales.
In the early '90's we spread our wings and went overseas touring
in all parts of the world where the Irish had settled over the years. We started with Australia and then the USA and have
done 5 tours in New Zealand.
Other watering holes include Sri Lanka, The Far East, The Middle
East including Dubai and Bahrain in fact anywhere we could get a gathering of Irish or even vaguely Irish people or even those who just want to be Irish for the night
Over the last 20 years we have helped to raise well over US$2,000,000
for all sorts of good causes and are still touring. 3 of the original cast are still in the Show - Michael, Bernard and myself.
We always have a top class Irish Dancer and here I would like to pay tribute to Louise Hanaphy from Melbourne, Australia who
toured with us for 9 years until old age (23) and wedding bells put a stop to her gallop.
