Speakeasy kicked off on March 26th at The Tanyard whisky bar on Main Street, Skibbereen – and what a great night it was. We had puppetry, story-telling, poetry, readings and a Toastmaster talk.

Story-teller extraordinaire, Rae McKinley spun a magical tale of wolves and sorcery; Trace Irwine raised many laughs with her Scottish tale of a generous pig and its ungrateful penny-pinching owner. Organiser and founder of the national spoken word agency, Boundless and Bare, Melissa Ridge joined us from Dublin and recited some of her highly original poetry; Anne Crossey had everyone crying with laughter as she recited some heart-felt and moody poetry by her 15 year-old self. Phoebe Cotton and Josephine Dennehy had everyone spellbound with their highly original puppetry performance of XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.

Travel writer John Devoy read from his acclaimed book “Quondam” – the story of his travels through Africa as a younger man. Alun Rees of West Cork Toastmasters told us the story of how he could never get his mother to tell him how he came by his first name – and why, when he finally found out, he discovered she had good reasons for it! The inimitable Cormac Lally moved us to laughter and tears with his performance poetry.