My fleadh: Gary McGivney, photographer

How was your fleadh, were you busy?

The fleadh was amazing, exhilarating and exhausting at the same time. It was an extremely busy time for me, as I was a volunteer photographer for the week. I was part of the photographic volunteer team of 18 photographers, who spent countless hours documenting the fleadh in pictures, including heading home every night to download and edit the photos and get them ready for the next morning's social media posts.

Did you get time to enjoy the music and the different sights and sounds?

It was a wonderful experience working with so many other talented photographers and seeing how they captured the fleadh. It was a bonus that my wife Deirdre O’Brien McGivney was the co-ordinator of the photographers, who took charge of making sure that as many events that could be photographed had a photographer assigned.

As a volunteer photographer, I was in an extremely privileged position to have access to areas and venues. While busily running from venue to venue or from one end of the street to the other, I probably got to see more of the fleadh than most, albeit in small amounts at each stop. One could not be anything other than totally awestruck at the skill of the young musicians playing their instruments on the streets, or of the performers on the Gig Rig and the impressive performances in the many venues around town like the Cathedral or St Paul's Church.

From time to time I would find myself just stopping in the middle of town and taking in the energy that filled the streets. Observing people walking up and down the streets with smiles on their faces, listening to the waves of music that filled the air, was an experience to behold.

How would you compare this year's fleadh to 2022?

This year's fleadh was more – more craic, more people, a little more rain and, of course, more music. The one thing that remained the same was the enthusiasm and friendliness of all the volunteers. The event was extremely well run from start to finish, it seemed to run even more flawlessly than the previous year. I think the success of 2022 directly led to the huge numbers of people that came to Mullingar to experience the fleadh in 2023. The crowd in town on Saturday night was a sight to behold.

There are so many to choose from. I covered the community sessions where the fleadh was brought to some of the nursing homes in the town. It was amazing that everyone got to experience some little taste of the music, and it was thoroughly enjoyed by all.

What are your standout memories from the fleadh?

The stand out memory for me will always be the work that the volunteers put in. The fleadh may be about music, but none of it could happen with the enormous effort put in by the volunteers to make it run smoothly. Every single volunteer had a constant smile on their face, and were helpful to the thousands of visitors to the town. No task was too little or too large, and when called up at the last minute for assistance, there was always someone willing to help. It is something that we should all be proud of and went a long way to making the fleadh a massive success