On Saturday, Dave Hegarty of Dublin and Tralee, Kerry was named a Patron during the Breandan Breathnach night. Anyone who has met and spent time with Dave know that it is a well deserved and appropriate honor. Many have met Dave through his reed making efforts at the Willie Clancy Summer School.
Joe Shannon of Mayo and Chicago was also named a Patron. His award was timed for Joe’s 88th birthday on Jan 1. It is great that NPU reached over to America to honor Joe’s lifetime commitment to Irish piping. I know that Joe appreciates notes and messages from pipers; Joe’s address is 7225 N Ottawa, Chicago, IL 60631.
Good news regarding Dave, who joined NPU around the same time as myself - he brought me up to meet Matt Kiernan from whom we both bought Greenheart C chanters so that we could blend into the concert-pitch-hostile environment.
For a long time he was the main repository of shared reedmaking lore, and was the first person to put it all together in easily usable form for others to learn from. In that sense he was the very incarnation of what NPU was all about. In the current thriving state of piping, pipemaking and reedmaking, it’s easy to forget the important role played by people like him.
I hope that the fact that he is being honoured in this way doesn’t mean that he has worrisome health problems!