Tim Tierney tells a room packed full of nearly 200 people to turn to one another and introduce themselves.
The moment isn’t all that different from what you’d expect at a Sunday Church service, as strangers lean from chairs to say hello and shake one another’s hands. With an immaculate arched roof and Tim standing before a stage, it feels very much like this is his congregation.
But it isn’t, and instead, this is a guitar group, something that has been run by Tim at the Florrie in Dingle for the last seven years. Tonight its members have swelled almost three times in number to see 197 players pack out the upstairs room for what’s been billed as the Guitar In - a one off to help raise money for the ornate building in L8, but more importantly bring people together.
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The group is usually attended by 40 or so people, but an ambition to see its impact extend has seen the call for more players answered - with the target of 100 players originally set. The setup is simple; all players face towards the front and play along in tandem, led by Tim - first strumming the chords to Bebop-A-Lula, then Dirty Old Town before finishing on The Beatles’ Ticket To Ride.
But as Tim points out himself, the guitars are the least important part of the night. He previously told the ECHO: "The guitar isn't the main point, really. It's a disguise for being with other people."
This hasn’t changed, even with the larger group coming together for the occasion. "People want to do things," says Tim before things get going, "people will be sat in their own home alone otherwise."
He added: “The whole point of this is to bring people together and to ensure the Florrie is here for another 100 years.”
Julie Wetherill, 72, has been coming to the group for a few weeks now. She told the ECHO: “The whole idea is a community - about being with other people.”
Olga Fitzpatrick, 12, has been brought along by her dad John for the first time, but there are players younger than her among the group. It’s a cohort of newcomers, established players and even Paul Arthurs, guitarist from Oasis.
Pauline Alsop, 71, has been coming to the guitar group since the first session in 2016. She told the ECHO how she was recovering from illness and had arthritis in her hands when she first attended.
Unable to play at the time, she said Tim re-stringed a guitar so it would play left handed and gradually taught her chords. Asked how it feels when the group begins to play, she said: “It’s so uplifting. It doesn’t matter what is going on at home.
“The people here are so wonderful. It’s like you come here and get a cuddle.”
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