Countdown to Olympics continues for local girl

With less than ten days to go to the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics, the excitement is building for a Ballymahon drummer who will be among the cast of thousands performing in the Olympic stadium. The eyes of the world will be on former Athlone IT student Gráinne Kavanagh from Clonard, Ballymahon, as she takes her place among 15,000 performers in the UK's biggest ever live show on July 27 next, signalling the beginning of the largest sporting event of the year. Speaking to the Westmeath Independent this week in between a hectic schedule of rehearsals, the 24-year-old musician was keeping tightlipped about exact details of the opening ceremony, but she said it promises to be a massive spectacle for audiences, both in the Stratford stadium itself, and the estimated four billion people watching worldwide on TV. "It has been hectic the last two months but thoroughly enjoyable so far...Everyone is just very enthusiastic and energetic and looking forward to the final event on the night," she enthused excitedly yesterday (Tuesday). "The whole thing is going to be a spectacle. It's the last final push for us, it's just ten days away until July 27. It's hard going but well worth it," Gráinne, who graduated on July 1 with a Diploma in Music Performance from the Tech Music School in London outlined. The opening Olympic show spectacle dubbed 'Isles of Wonder' is the vision of Artistic Director and Oscar-winning film director Danny Boyle, who himself has extensive roots in nearby Ballinasloe. It will kick off with the sound of the largest harmonically tuned bell in Europe before the stadium is transformed into the British countryside for opening scene 'Green and Pleasant', which includes real farmyard animals. Just to be part of something of the scale of the Olympics is such an honour, Gráinne added this week, thanking all of the people who have got in touch with good wishes to her and her family back home since news of her participation first emerged. "Everyone is really eager to see what actually takes place. You never think of the amount of work that goes into something like this, I've watched opening ceremonies before and I never realised the scale of what is happening back stage. All my family and friends are very excited," she said. Hailing from a highly local musical family, Gráinne is the daughter of Kathleen and Willie Kavanagh, himself an All-Ireland banjo player. She has a brother Liam and sister Laura. Although none of her family will be in the stadium on the night, she joked that they will be glued to the television back in Ballymahon in a bid to catch a glimpse of her playing the drums at the ceremony, having been lucky enough to be selected after hearing about the auditions by chance last October. The Ballymahon girl actually only started playing the drums when she was a teenager after persuading her parents to get her a drum kit for Christmas. "I've been playing ten years and I love it. It is a male dominated pursuit but it is becoming more popular with girls," Gráinne, who also plays the guitar and sings admitted in the run-up to the Olympics in London. She and her sister previously brought out a number of local charity CDs for the Irish Hospice Foundation. But what of her plans after the Olympics? Well Gráinne laughed that she is looking forward to coming home to Ballymahon and a long rest during August. For the future, she said the dream is pursue music one way or the other in Ireland and she has a number of ideas on that front.