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All Ireland Reel Champion 1943: Bernie Kirwan (1933-2014) [Updated]
Recently Michael Ashcroft contacted us to correct our blog post of 19 June 2022. While sharing information concerning his grandparents and Glenmore kin he sent the beautiful photograph of his mother as a child with one of her Irish dancing trophies and her medals that covered her skirt. Today we are going to highlight the role of the Gaelic League in promoting Irish dance and feature “Little” Bernie Kirwan and some of her early Irish dance achievements as recorded in local newspapers. [See our corrected blog of 19 June 2020 regarding Bernie’s mother Mary Kirwan née Dillon (b. 1899).]
The Gaelic League & Irish Dancing
The Irish céilí dates back to the end of the 19th century when Ireland was trying to assert itself politically and culturally as a separate nation. The Gaelic League was established in 1893 as a cultural nationalist movement. Its primary objective was to promote cultural nationalism and the “de-anglicisation” of Ireland. It sought to re-establish the Irish language as the primary language of Ireland, to promote Irish literature, singing traditional music and dancing. The Gaelic League established numerous branches both in Ireland and wherever Irish people emigrated (Foley p. 44). A Branch of the Gaelic League was established in Glenmore in 1910. [See our post of 19 Aug. 2020 for details regarding Glenmore and the Irish language.]
Irish céilí events were held in public dance halls, hotels, and community centres. The approved dances were collected from rural areas predominantly in the west of Ireland. The céilí dances were performed to lively reel and jig tunes played by a live céilí band. The names of the dances reflected places in Ireland and historical events and included the popular Ballaí Luimní (Walls of Limerick) and Iosaí na hÍnse (The Siege of Ennis) (Foley p. 46). Gaelic League céilí were popular cultural and social events throughout Ireland and abroad, particularly before and after the establishment of the Irish Free State in 1922 (Foley p. 49).
In 1930 the Gaelic League established the Irish Dancing Commission in order to provide a governing body for the teaching of, and competition in Irish Dance. From the 1940’s on one of the ways in which dance schools defined themselves was through the wearing of class costumes, with specific colours and embroidery motifs. For girls costumes were simple knee length dresses with long sleeves and full skirts with embroidery on the skirt, bodice and cape (Wilson, Costume Society blog). Little Bernie Kirwan danced with the Rolleston School of Dancing of 22 Waterpark, Waterford City from 1940 until about 1946 when she appears to have joined the Troy Dance School of Waterford. In 1947 the younger Kirwan children emigrated with their parents to England. Bernie’s older siblings had previously emigrated to Canada and the United States.
Bernie Kirwan (1933-2014)
Bernadette Kirwan was born on 23 July 1933 at Knockboy, Waterford to William Kirwan (b.1898) and his wife Mary Dillon (b. 1899). William and Mary were married at Glenmore on 16 July 1919. Mary had originally been from Shortcourse, Waterford but was living and working in Gaulestown, Glenmore at the time she married. Bernadette, or Bernie as she was called by the local newspapers, was the second youngest child of the family of 13. Her father William Kirwan was the eldest child of James Kirwan (c. 1872-1941) of Scartnamore, Glenmore and Mary Kirwan née Lowry (c. 1873-1938) of Rochestown, Glenmore.
Rolleston School of Dance
Bernie Kirwan (1933-2014) received her first dance lesson in Ballygunner in 1940 when she was 7 years old (Waterford News & Star, Fri. 13 Oct.1944, p. 5). Bernie belonged to the Rolleston School of Dance. Bernie’s teacher was Mrs. William Denn (c. 1895-1974) who was known in the Gaelic community by her maiden name Mai Rolleston. Mai Rolleston was the winner of the All Ireland Step-dancing Championship at the Oireachtas in 1917. The Waterford Standard labelled the Oireachtas Waterford’s biggest Gaelic Festival (Waterford Standard, Sat. 19 April 1941, p. 3). According to Mai’s obituary she was well known in South Kilkenny where her students performed at many concerts and she gave lessons in many parishes. Her son-in-law Michael Power was a native of Bigwood, Mullinavat and he and his wife lived in New York (Munster Express, Fri. 18 Oct. 1974, p. 18).
The earliest dance award that we could find that was won by Bernie was in June 1940 the year she began dancing. The students of the Rolleston School of Dancing competed in the Dundrum Feis in June 1940, and Bernie achieved a first in the (confined) Jig & Reel (Waterford Standard, Sat. 15 June 1940, p. 9).
In the spring of 1941 Mai Rolleston took four of her pupils to the Father Mattew (sic) Feis in Dublin. Over 1,500 contestants from across Ireland competed in Irish dancing. The newspaper noted that she received “remarkable success” with her students as all four of her students won prizes (Waterford Standard, Sat. 19 April 1941, p. 3). Although Bernie did not participate in the Father Mattew Feis in 1941 she was photographed in a Rolleston School of Dancing photo that appeared in the Waterford Standard (Sat. 16 Aug. 1941, p. 5). The caption for the 1941 photo is Left to right: Front Row—K. Casey, winner of the Bro. Brendon Cup; B. Kirwan, first prize winner under 8 and 10 years, and Betty Bible, winner of numerous first prize medals under 10 & 14 years. Back Row—Sisters Tess and Angela Heery and Master Collins (seated), first prize winners at the Father Matthew Feis, Dublin, the first named winners of the Sean Goulding Cup. (Centre) Miss Mai Rolleston (Mrs. Denn), Oireachtas Championship of Ireland; Bridie Cleary winner of the P.J. Little Cup and two medals; K. Madigan, winner of the Ml. Morrissey Cup. Thus, Bernie is the child in the front centre and it appears that she is wearing 3 medals. Mai Rolleston is standing at the centre of the back row.
In addition to competitions the Rolleston School of Dancing also performed at variety concerts. For example, on St. Stephen’s night in 1942 they entertained troops at the Military Barracks in Waterford City. Topping the bill was Mick O’Shea and his Olympia Dance Band, who performed “a fine selection of popular melodies.” Miss Rosey Power, the well-known vocalist, opened with “Smiling Through.” John “Hal the Great” Roche, described as the “tiny youngster with a high entertainment value kept the audience in a merry mood. His conjuring tricks were of a very high order.” T. Fitzsimmons sang “Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair.” “The Rolleston School of Dancing gave a fine exhibition of a reel and hornpipe and double jig and hornpipe.” Bernie Kirwan was one of nine dancers named in the article (Waterford Standard, Sat. 2 January 1943, Front page).
Just three years after her first dance lesson Bernie participated in the Feis Maitius, held in the Father Maitius Hall, on Church St., Dublin in the spring of 1943. The Rolleston School of Dancing won 22 prizes that day and “received very high praise for their fine display of the traditional art from the adjudicators. Bernie gained an All Ireland honour with a “1st in Reel, under 9 P.W.; 3rd in Hornpipe; and 3rd in Double Jig.” Phyllis Denn, youngest daughter of the teacher Mai Rolleston, won a “3rd in the Babies Jig, under 7; and highly commended in Babies’ Reel.” (Munster Express, Fri. 14 May 1943, p. 2).
The Ferrybank Feis of 1943 was interesting because a new rule was introduced that no medals were to be worn by competitors as some people thought in former years that the display of medals by competitors helped to influence the judges (Munster Express, Fri. 18 June 1943, p. 5). It is not clear from the article whether this was a local or national rule. However, we did locate later photos of dancers wearing medals, but it may have been the case that the medals were not worn during the competition.
In October 1944 the Waterford News & Star congratulated “Little Bernie Kirwan” for winning the Morrissey cup at the Moloney Social Club Aerdheacht (Waterford News & Star, Fri. 13 Oct. 1944, p. 5). Earlier in the summer at New Ross Bernie had taken a 1st in the Jig and Reel (Munster Express, Fri. 2 June 1944).
Bernie continued to dance although it appears in 1946 she joined the Troy Dance School of Waterford.
[Update: Thanks to a Waterford reader we learned that Nancy Parker née Troy started the Troy Dancing School in Waterford. A newspaper search revealed that Nancy Troy commenced teaching Irish dance in October 1944 (Waterford News & Star, Fri. 28 Oct. 1994, p. 19). By June 1945 Bernie was dancing competitively with the Troy Dancing School. At the County Wexford Feis held in Adamstown Bernie received awards in two compeitions: 4 hand Reel under 15—1st place was awarded to the team of Shiela Murphy, Kathleen Tyrell, Betty Bible and Bernie Kirwan; Jig, Reel under 14—2nd place went to Bernie Kirwan (Waterford News & Star, Fri. 29 June 1945, p. 3). We also have a better idea of when Bernie left Ireland in 1947. She was still present in June when the Troy Dancing School at the annual Feis in Youghal (Cork) was awarded 18 of the 18 prizes awarded. Bernie at Youghal took a 1st in Jig, Reel, Hornpipe (under 15); a 2nd in the Jig and Reel (under 15); and a first in the Junior Four Hand Reel (under 15) Set A—with her team of Eveline Kavanagh, C. Keane, and S. Murphy.]
About the same time Bernie left Ireland in 1947 her former teacher Mai Rolleston was flying to New York to attend the annual New York Feis (Waterford Standard, Sat. 24 May 1947, p. 4). In 1958 Bernie married Michael H. Ashcroft (1936-2015) in Liverpool and the couple had four children. Bernie died in 2014 one month shy of her 81st birthday. Her former teacher, Mai Rolleston Denn continued to teach Irish dancing and died in 1974 at the age of 79.
Foley, Catherine E., “The Irish Céilé: A Site for Constructing, Experiencing, and Negotiating a Sense of Community and Identity,” in 29(1) Journal of the Society for Dance Research (Summer 2011) p. 43-60.
Wilson, Valerie, “A Step in Time: The Story of Irish Dance” The Costume Society blog, at https://costumesociety.org.uk/blog/post/a-step-in-time-the-story-of-irish-dance [accessed 10 Sept. 2022].
Special thanks to Michael Ashcroft for his corrections, family information and sharing his wonderful photographs.
Please send any corrections or further information to glenmore.history@gmail.com.
Dr. Kathleen Moore Walsh