God I could write a book on dromkeen,I lived in a village and you got a bus to dromkeen .the band,s were great,The Dixies,Dickie Rock,even saw BIG TOM when I was desperate.I wonder if anyone remembers the crush when the guy,s asked the girl,s to dance,

In an effort to continue building our database of photos, are still still near Dromkeen , or do you visit? Is the ballroom still standing? Any info and update would be appreciated and keep coming back!

I live in Kent now,I think it is still standing, the last time I saw Dromkeen it was a furniture store . going back to Limerick in July, shall try and get some information

Believe it or not, that little bit of info led me to the answer. It is still Dromkeen Furniture and there is now a photo on the ballroom page under D-F. Thanks for the info! I also have disocvered it was the Stella Ballroom...is that correct? While you are in ireland, maybe you could bring a digital camera and get some shots of any ballrooms you see!! By the way, if I knew your name, I'd love to credit you on the ballrooms page! Let me know...
Gerry

Something else,  Lucky Numbers came from around the area where I used to live .I knew three of the band, one of them I saw the last time i was in Limerick

the Oyster Ballroom, Dromkeen was never called the Stella. The Stella ballroom was in Limerick city.

Thanks for the correction, we have deleted the Stella reference. We depend so much on people like yourself to get these things right! Please let us know if you see any other errors and thanks again for setting us right!

Lucky Numbers came from Cappamore about 3 to 4 miles away.

The staff of the Oyster and in particular the owner Packie Hayes were dead nuts on male patrons with long hair. Even at the height of Beatlemania I wasn't allowed in due to the length of my hair. I also recall some ballrooms who barred male patrons who had tight trousers and when asked why the doormen quoted the line "no teddy boys allowed".

[quote=monsoon]Lucky Numbers came from around the area where I used to live .I knew three of the band, one of them I saw the last time i was in Limerick[/quote]

As they still playing?  they were'nt a bad little band, doing original songs and playing gigs the week or two after Brendan Shine played a venue (how did that happen!!!!)

They were so proud to be Irish when other guys their age were emigrating, well done lads!

Gene and the Gents regularly played the Stella back in the mid sixties .
The thing that sticks in my mind about that particular ballroom is the fact that most of the audience was made up of members of the travelling community. To the best of my knowledge this was the only gig where travellers were welcomed.

BTW. I don't remember any trouble at all at these gigs.

Barry

There was a Travelling family here in the Arklow?Wicklow area. A really lovely family. We got to know them well. A sister and brother from the family used to be at the dances in the Entertainment Centre. Arklow. and you should have seen them jiving. They were as good or better than anyone you would see.