Top Brass! Balbriggan’s finest to mark 140 years

ST Patrick’s Day is going to be a very special one this year for Balbriggan’s 35-strong brass and reed band, which bears the name of Ireland’s patron saint.

For St Patrick’s Brass and Reed Balbriggan Town Band, it marks the start of celebrations of its 140th anniversary.

Founded in 1883, the band has taken part in every St Patrick’s Day Parade in the town since then.

It will be an emotional day for long-serving members, including band master Larry Dunne, oboe and clarinet player Damien Byrne and saxophonist Gary Tolan. Larry has been integral to the band since reviving its fortunes in the mid-1970s, while chairperson Damien, a native of Artane, where he was a member of the famous boys’ band, found a ready-made community when he moved to Balbriggan in 2003.

For Gary, a third-generation member since the age of 10, the band has been a staple of his life, as it was for his grandfather and father, Bill and Richard Tolan.

The band and its music has proved an enduring symbol of the town at public and private events across north County

Dublin and beyond. But, in the late 1960s, numbers had dwindled and its instruments were put in the care of the town commissioners until Larry revived the band. Now, its make-up is representative of Balbriggan’s youth and cultural diversity, with a burgeoning beginners’ group and members and past members from across the globe. “When my wife Amelia, who plays trumpet, and I moved to

Balbriggan we knew nobody until we joined the band after seeing it at the St Patrick’s Day Parade,” said Damien. “Now, our daughters, Emily (12, clarinet) and Norah (9, trumpet), are in the beginner