Follow the call of the Carlow Ceolway
A Ceolway session last year in Doyle's Ice Cream Parlour, Royal Oak.
‘A POCKET of joy in a deeply troubled world’ is how Ceolway, a free community music project running for a second year, has been described.
The four-week project started on 5 June at the newly refurbished Doyle’s Ice Cream Parlour, Royal Oak, Co Carlow.
It is designed to encourage interaction between people and to have fun through percussion exercises, music making and singing. There was also time for story sharing and chat.
Like the blueway and greenway routes, the ambition of the Ceolway is to become a social route, where people can meet, share stories and music at a set time each week in a family friendly venue.
Community musician Angela Keogh is the facilitator. She graduated in 2025 with an MA in the subject from the University of Limerick’s world academy of music and dance.
Angela has 16 years’ experience as a community worker and is a socially involved artist. She previously facilitated the Royal Oak’s community music project Ceoltóirí Bianconi from 2022 to 2024 as part of Bagenalstown Creative Places.
Angela believes that everyone has the right to make and enjoy their own music. The social and inclusive aspects are of equal importance.
Multi-instrumentalist and songwriter John Murphy co-facilitated the project this year.
Last year, the pilot project took place over 12 weeks at three different venues â the Royal Oak, Carlow town and Tullow. It was attended by over 300 people.
The 2026 Ceolway will take place each Friday in June (12, 19 and 26) at Doyle’s Ice Cream Parlour, The Royal Oak, from 10am until noon.
The project is funded by the Carlow Development Office.
