Friends of Collon Church

Registered Charity Number 20152826

The singing was lead by the Rosemount Choir and the Boyne Valley Chamber Orchestra assisted by well known tenor Shane Barriscale, and soprano Rachael Moore.

Garden Party at Collon House on Saturday 1st September

Collon House and gardens is a hidden gem in the centre of Collon village www.collonhouse.com . Guests were able to relax and enjoyed tea and a stroll through the garden. There was a cake sale, children's activities and guided tours of the historic church and village.

The full Lourdes Band from Drogheda played, including the main band and the youth band. The band, founded in 1959, is one of the most active, successful and distinguished brass bands in the country, and has received many awards and prizes. They have represented Ireland at the European Band Championships in Lille, France and in the past have performed at the International Youth Music Festival in Geneva and at many distinguished venues including Aras an Uachtarain www.lourdesbrassband.com

On SATURDAY 19th MAY, 2018 at 8.00pm

Featured

The Rosemount Singers with an eclectic mix of music from Gregorian Chant to Renaissance Baroque & Jazz

Classical Guitarist: Leslie Cassidy

Barbershop Group: 4 in a Bar

String Trio: Gerald Peregrine, Anna Mitchell, Philip Keegan

Raise the Roof !
On Sunday 15th April, 2018, at 7.00pm
In Collon Church of Ireland Friends of Collon Church
presented a music evening by
Eugene Ginty – Tenor
Sandra Oman – Soprano
Ciara Taaffe – Harpist

The programme included excerpts from La Boheme, Messiah, Phantom of the Opera and lots more

Service for James Samuel Emerson VC

100th Anniversary Service in Collon Church on 3 December 2017

James Samuel Emerson was born in Collon, Co. Louth. He was educated in Collon and at Dundalk Grammar School. He enlisted on 16 September, 1914 only 19 days after the outbreak of the Great War on 28 July, 1914. He was awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of conspicuous bravery in the face of the enemy in an action near La Vacquerie, France on 6 December, 1917 when he was killed. His grave is unknown. The Victoria Cross was received by his mother on 3 April, 1918 at a ceremony in Drogheda. His name is recorded on the war memorial at Collon Church, and at Dundalk Grammar School, and in France, - on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing.

The ecumenical church service was held on 3 December the ceremony included flag parties from the Irish Defence Forces, the Royal Inniskilling Regiment, the Royal British Legion and the Organisation for National Ex-servicemen

Big Houses in Ireland – Past, Present and Future

8.00pm Friday 10 November 2017

A lecture by Terence Dooley is associate professor and director of the Centre for the Study of Historic Irish Houses and Estates, National University of Ireland, Maynooth. He is the author of several books on country houses and the land question in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Ireland,

A magical & mysterious musical journey from plainchant to jazz was brought to you by KenDu Music!

Church of Ireland, Collon, Co. Louth at on Friday 20th October 2017

Trick or Treat Halloween came early with classical guitarist Leslie Cassidy supported by the Rosemount Singers and very special guests 4inaB

Tickets were €20 (incl. of refreshments after concert &Contribution towards Church repair)
Tickets were available by contacting [email protected]

Fundraising Garden Party was held at Collon House, on Saturday 17th June 2017

A Fundraising Garden Party was held at Collon House, on Saturday 17th June 2017 2 - 5pm.

The Lourdes Brass Band from Drogheda played. See Link to Lourdes Brass Band

Activities included

Guided tour of the Church building, and walk around historic Collon Village.
Childrens activities
Cake sales

Fundraising launch on 13 May 2017

On Saturday 13 May, 2017 at 11.00am in Collon Church – Friends of Collon Church launched a major fundraising drive to re-slate the outer roof on this historic building, so that the stunning plaster ceiling can be saved.

Chairman:

Seamus Roe (Joint-Secretary of Louth Archaeological and Historical Society)

Speakers:

1. Dr Christine Casey, Associate Professor of Architectural

History, Trinity College Dublin

Christine spoke about the architecture of the building

2. John Rountree, Chairman of Friends of Collon Church CLG

John described the fundraising so far.

3. Mairead McGuinness, MEP, First Vice-President of

European Parliament with responsibility for the Parliament’s

dialogue with religious and non-confessional organisations.

Mairead formally launched a major public fundraising

appeal to save the building.

Enjoying Refreshments
Buy a Slate
Rev Iain with Mairead McGuinness MEP

Visit of Fr Nikolay on 11 March 2017
On the south side of the church is a group of three Russian Orthodox Cross headstones marking the graves of a family who fled the October Revolution in 1917 and who eventually settled in Collon in the 1930s. One headstone commemorates Nikolai Ivanovich Couriss (1896-1977) and a second his wife Ksenia Nikolaevna Couriss (née Bibikova) (1895-1966) who is reputed to have been a lady-in-waiting to the last Czarina. A colourful rumour once circulated that Couriss taught Russian to intelligence agents and, although never substantiated, photographs exist which are said to show George Blake (b. 1922), the double agent, at Collon