Mamo McDonald on Bealtaine

As Honorary President of Age & Opportunity, Mamo McDonald has an unrivalled perspective on what Bealtaine has achieved since its inception in 1996. Sitting in the library at An Grianán in Termonfechin, Mamo McDonald tells me she's leading a book club here. "It's my first time doing this," she confides. "I was surprised to be asked, and delighted to be doing it," she explained. "We're reading a book about friendship, end of life, and - it's really about the test of friendship, and how much of oneself you can give." Mamo has certainly given over a lot of herself to Bealtaine. But how important is it, as a festival?

"I know many people who would acknowledge how much they got out of Bealtaine; women whose eyes would light up at the very mention of Bealtaine, like Pat Egan from Cork or Eileen McDermott from Roscommon (who have both sadly died since). For them to be involved was reinvigorating, a rekindling of the spirit. You could see the fire in their faces, the fire of creativity, and of fun".

It's a fire that has now been burning since 1996 and yet it has changed so often in that time: "Change is important. Often if people can take hold of things themselves, instead of having the same thing year after year, it can develop and become an event that belongs to the community. It can become self-sustaining, and that is important."

And speaking of sustainability, it's important to remember, she says, how Bealtaine has also become the starting point for ongoing friendships, gatherings, clubs and adventures: "Even just last week, coming home from Dublin, there were two women from Clones on the bus. They had been down at the Matinee Club at the Abbey. That started up with a Bealtaine outreach programme, and here, years later, are two women who probably never had much opportunity of involvement with the theatre, making that journey to the Abbey regularly ever since - it's become part of their lives. That has to be immensely enhancing in every way. The arts are like that but people only discover this after they take the first step."

And so, how difficult is it to get people to take that first step, to 'go and open the door'? "I remember there was this woman in a care centre who announced at a workshop that she 'wouldn't be bothered with all that old cod.' And then added, as an afterthought, 'I drew a cat meself once.' So, she was persuaded to do so again; she drew cats and then moved on to making a family of papier mâché cats. Then they were selected for exhibition and someone bought them! But later, when invited to another exhibition, she declined to go, explaining 'I'm only in it for the money!'"

But this is how Bealtaine works, Mamo explains. It gives people a chance to try new things and to develop them in their own way, as far as they want to. "But I know that if you can get people to come for the first time, they will return again and again."

And while Bealtaine is all about enjoyable days and nights of good craic, she also acknowledges that there is something deeper to be gained from it: "Virginia Woolf spoke somewhere about all the little bits and pieces in one's life and that people have to get involved in the search, through all of those bits and pieces, to discover a few diamonds in the dust. Those diamonds can be a legacy to pass on to the next generation. And Bealtaine can help you find them."