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Irish Dancing - Hemel Hempstead Open Feis
The recently formed Céad Míle Fáilte Association (CMFA) has just five dance schools and these are based in Hemel Hempstead, Leicester, Isle of Wight and Essex. As the name implies it is a very friendly association that aims to hold a feis each month.
Normally these are contained within one day but the Hemel Open Feis had to be extended to a full weekend because of the very large entry from associated organisations in Britain and Ireland.
This third annual feis was hosted by the association’s two schools in Hemel Hempstead – the Carter School (teacher Bernie Carter) and the Phipps School (teacher Ann Butler).
Competitors included dancers from the British-based Celtic Association, festival dancers from Somerset and from Northern Ireland, and schools from CRG and CRDM in Ireland.
CMFA may be a very small organisation but this feis was really buzzing. It was the association’s third and largest open feis. Certainly the atmosphere was very friendly, with a mix of styles, but the organisation on stage was as professional as they come and competitions were kept running along smoothly.
I’m sure that all those who travelled over from Ireland and from various parts of Britain came away feeling that the association had lived up to its name and that they will be back again next year to experience another weekend of ‘a hundred thousand welcomes’.
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