history - Page: 1 of 1

The Band recorded an album, No Strings Attached, in 1993 and produced a CD in 1999. The band has played in London, the U.S. and venues all over Ireland, including the National Concert Hall, Dublin, and the Waterford Hall in Belfast. In addition, former band member, Anthony Kearns, sang with the band on its 1995 and 2001 tours of the U.S. According to Gearóid Grant, Anthony played the trombone in the band from 1984-1990, but much preferred to sing.

Band costs are considerable in terms of commitment, hard work and expense on the part of parents and the school. Over the years a small number of instruments have been donated by former pupils or paid for through fund raising efforts. Nowadays, all instruments are bought by students' parents through a rental/purchase program. Students must also pay for lessons, instrument repairs and travel. While efforts have always been made to ensure that the cost of participating in the music program would not prevent any child from joining, there is no doubt that some families struggle to provide this enriching musical experience.

Consequently any and all help from outside sources is much appreciated. The purpose of this Anthony Kearns/F.C.J. Music Fund is to provide that help.

Founded in 1820 in France by Marie Madeleine d'Houet, the Sisters, Faithful Companions of Jesus, came to Bunclody 140 years ago, in 1861. The Boarding and Day Secondary School for Girls, which they established, flourished and by 1961 had 135 students.

When the Irish government introduced "Free Education" for second level schools in 1969, F.C.J. Bunclody (and the vast majority of Irish schools) chose to join the scheme whereby fees were abolished and the government paid teachers' salaries and a capitation grant for every student. This resulted in a marked increase in enrollment with boys attending for the first time.

The Boarding School closed in 1985 after 125 years.

Today F.C.J. has an enrollment of 690 students (48% boys) drawn from a 20 mile radius of Bunclody, a small town of 1400 people situated near Mount Leinster on the River Slaney in County Wexford, in the southeast of Ireland. A Voluntary Secondary Co-Educational School, F.C.J. Bunclody is owned by the F.C.J. Order and run by a Board of Management composed of representatives of the trustees, parents and teachers. F.C.J. Bunclody has always had a reputation for excellence in academics and extra-curricular activities, especially music and games.

Starting a band in a rural school in Ireland without funding or local music teachers available was a very unusual undertaking, but Sr. Margaret Quirke and Gearóid Grant saw the negatives as only small obstacles in their path. To start the band on its way the F.C.J. Order provided two beautiful copper tympani from Canada. Grant was successful in enticing music tutors to travel from Dublin (some 65 miles to the north) every week to give lessons to students.

Thanks to the music teachers, the cooperation of the school staff and the work of the students themselves, these band members have consistently achieved high grades in music in the examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music -London, and in the National Junior and Leaving Certificate exam. All this, in addition to having the extraordinary experience of performing and touring.

The F.C.J. Band was founded in 1983 by then Principal, Sr. Margaret Quirke, fcJ, and the school's music teacher, Gearóid Grant. Grant is well known in Ireland and abroad for his work with the Irish Youth Orchestra, the Ulster Orchestra, the National Symphony Orchestra, the R.T.E. Concert Orchestra and the Rathmines & Rathgar Musical Society. For the past 10 years, in association with the Irish Times newspaper and the national television station, R.T.E., he has presented Music in the Classroom concerts for 30,000 children annually at the National Concert Hall with the National Symphony Orchestra.

Today the 170 members in the Senior and Junior Bands play woodwind, brass and percussion instruments. Any child who plays a traditional Irish instrument is helped and encouraged, and, indeed, on a recent tour, the students who played them at the concerts in the U.S. brought great acclaim to themselves and the school.