A History of Ballymena Festival of Music, Speech and Dance
INTRODUCTION
Ballymena’s first musical festival took place in May 1916. It lasted for two days, offered classes in either piano or singing, and cost £60 to stage. Nowadays, the Festival covers six disciplines, lasts for almost six weeks, and attracts thousands of entries from Ballymena and beyond. There have been many challenges and successes over the years, but the focus of the volunteers who run the Festival has always been on enabling people to display their talents before an audience and receive the judgement and advice of knowledgeable adjudicators.
The story of Ballymena Festival began in June 1915, when a group of local people met to form the Ballymena Musical Festival Association. The visionary behind the meeting was Mrs Mary Dinsmore, who was keen for Ballymena to join the growing musical Festival movement. She was determined to see an improvement in the musical education available to young people and felt that the war should not interfere with that objective.
1916–1939
The initial Festivals took place in Ballymena Town Hall and, by contemporary accounts, they were extremely popular, often with standing room only. When the Town Hall burnt down in 1919, the Festival was obliged to move to the Protestant Hall on the Galgorm Road. The number of entries continued to rise rapidly, especially in the Vocal section, where soloists and choirs alike received enthusiastic support from large audiences. Mill and factory workers, as well as schools and youth organisations, formed choirs, and competition was fierce.
In 1924, a new section, ‘Elocution’, was added. This later became known as ‘Verse Speaking and Dramatic Art’ and was the forerunner of today’s Speech and Drama section. In 1929, another new section offered competition in ‘Folk Dancing’. This included Scottish country as well as traditional Irish dancing and eventually evolved into the traditional Irish dance section we know today. More new classes were offered in 1932 when ‘Country Fiddling’ competitions began. This developed into Traditional Music over the years.
1929 also saw the return of Ballymena Festival to the Town Hall. The new building, on the site of the original one, offered much better facilities and greater space for the still large audiences. Throughout the 1930s, the Festival saw continual growth across all sections, but most especially in Folk Dancing. However, the outbreak of war in September 1939 ensured that there would be no Festival activity for the duration of hostilities.
1946–1979
The Festival began again in 1946, but there had been major changes in the committee, and it took some time for confidence to be rebuilt. It became clear that it was no longer possible for one general secretary to cope with all the sections and so, in 1949, section secretaries were appointed to improve efficiency.
The town was ready to be entertained once more, and there was still much enthusiasm for folk dancing and choir competitions. However, the 1950s saw a gradual decline in audience numbers, especially for choir nights. It was at this stage that the Festival began to be staged in February, although this created difficulties due to severe weather.
Entry levels remained high, except in instrumental music, where competition was still limited to piano and violin. By 1959, the Festival was sufficiently concerned to establish a publicity committee to attract more audience members. It was tempting to blame television for the decline in interest, since Ballymena was not the only festival experiencing this decline.
The Festival organisers were determined to continue and, in an effort to attract new entrants, classes were introduced for recorders, flutes and string orchestras. In 1965, more classes were added for brass instruments, and the County Antrim education authority’s encouragement of musical instruments being made available in primary schools began to have an effect.
It was discouraging for Festival organisers to realise that finance was becoming a problem, since fewer tickets sold meant less income to meet increasing costs. As the years went by, financial difficulties were joined by anxiety over political turmoil. There was rapid inflation in the 1970s, and by 1978, businesses in the town were approached to help keep the Festival alive.
1980–2000
The town of Ballymena saw significant changes in the 1980s, with new shopping centres being built. The Festival also introduced an innovative initiative by offering, at that time, a significant £500 prize to attract the best amateur singers to the town. They were also offered food and accommodation for their stay, provided by local hosts and hostesses.
This succeeded in raising the profile of Ballymena Festival, and soon other businesses were sponsoring prizes and bursaries. This greatly relieved the financial pressures and gave the organisers confidence to continue introducing new initiatives in order to secure the Festival’s future.
In 1991, the Ballymena Musical Festival Association, formed in 1915, changed its name and became Ballymena Festival of Music, Speech and Dance. A new logo was designed and remains with the Festival to this day.
2001–Present
Ballymena Borough Council became the main sponsor of Ballymena Festival in 2001, helping to maintain financial stability. The long-planned renovation of Ballymena Town Hall meant that the Festival had to seek alternative accommodation for a number of years. A number of local hotels played host over the years, and choirs were accommodated in Ballymena North Community Centre.
It was a great relief to return to the Town Hall in 2009 and to be able to use the excellent facilities now available. One challenge was that the seating capacity of the auditorium had been reduced from 600 to 400. This was due to health and safety requirements, but it has meant that it is especially difficult to accommodate audiences on school choir days, for example.
The Festival is nevertheless grateful that The Braid is its home. It was the excellence of the facilities that attracted a proposal in 2013 from local dance mums for Modern Dance to be added to the Festival. The newest section joined in 2014, and the organisers have worked hard to make it a great success, attracting large numbers of entrants and equally large audiences.
As 2016 and the centenary of the Festival approached, the organisers were keen to do everything possible to mark the occasion. A grand concert was staged on 13 February 2016, featuring performances from current and previous performers. It was a wonderful occasion, preceded by a mayoral reception for special guests.
Other ways of marking the centenary included:
Special gold, silver and bronze prize badges for 2016 only
Centenary certificates for every entrant in all disciplines
An art competition for schools, sponsored by the Enkalon Foundation
Centenary badges for all volunteers
A museum exhibition of the history of Ballymena Festival
Publication of the book A History of Ballymena Festival 1916–2016
The Festival made a successful application to the Heritage Lottery Fund for funding towards the certificates, exhibition and book publication, and their support was invaluable.
To make 2016 an even more special year, the Festival was nominated to receive the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the equivalent of an MBE for organisations. This recognised the vital role played by volunteers in staging the Festival every year, since committee members alone could not run the Festival.
The award was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of County Antrim, Mrs Joan Christie, at a ceremony in The Braid in August 2016.
The Festival continued every February and March until 2020, when it became apparent that life was about to become more complicated. The Festival concluded with Modern Dance shortly before the national lockdown to contain COVID-19 was announced.
In September 2020, the Committee met via Zoom and concluded that it would be too risky to attempt to stage a Festival in 2021. Announcements were made, emails were sent out, and the waiting began to see when life would return to normal.
By September 2021, the feeling was that the Festival should be arranged for 2022, but preparations were made with caution, in case cancellation became necessary. Entries were very good, and there was a great sense of hope that all would proceed.
It was not possible to have the usual choirs and orchestras, but Festival 2022 saw music, speech and dance return to The Braid with a great sense of joy and gratitude.