Friends of the Irish Night returns to Jarrow for October - with a special guest to help proceedings

Fans of celtic culture and tunes from the Emerald Isle are in for a treat as a popular music night returns – with a special guest to help banish the autumn blues.
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The next convening of the Friends of the Irish night takes place on Thursday, October 27, with regular hosts Shamrock Street taking to the stage.

The group returned from touring over the summer to host the September installment of the long-running event. Guest hosts took their place instead in July and August.

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However, Shamrock Street’s guitarist Kevin Campbell cannot make the October session, so the group has arranged a special stand-in.

Shamrock Street are the regular hosts at the Friends of the Irish Night.Shamrock Street are the regular hosts at the Friends of the Irish Night.
Shamrock Street are the regular hosts at the Friends of the Irish Night.

Friends of the Irish night organiser Eddie Mcintyre: “Due to other commitments, Kevin Campbell can’t attend, so we have Mick McCormack flying in especially from the Emerald Aisle to deputise for him.”

Mick McCormack is a popular solo performer on the Irish music scene, and Eddie said attendees are in for a treat.

The Friends of the Irish Night at the Alberta Club in Jarrow takes place on the last Thursday of each month, which this month falls on October 27.

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There is no cover charge for the event at the venue, in Railway Street, admission is free, with proceedings getting under way at 8.15pm.

The event takes place at the Alberta Club in Jarrow.The event takes place at the Alberta Club in Jarrow.
The event takes place at the Alberta Club in Jarrow.

The Friends of Irish Night is one of South Tyneside’s longest-running regular events, dating back to 1962.

The event originally took place at the Bede’s Club, but moved to its ‘new’ home at the Alberta Club more than 25 years ago, with the new hosts promising organisers at the time ‘we will look after you’.”

The Friends of the Irish Night may have been running for some six decades, but South Tyneside, and Jarrow and Hebburn, have been alive with the sounds of music from Ireland for more than a century, thanks to the settlers who came over to work in the heavy industries on the River Tyne.

The Irish workers’ influence on the area is well documented, with the area having been dubbed ‘Little Ireland’ due to the large population of people from Hibernia who came to know Tyneside as home.