A hooley every night, with poetry, swimming, dancing, sight-seeing and learning during the day? It could only be the Merriman Summer School, which celebrates its 40th year in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare, this year.
It is one of the country's longest-running summer schools. "It's the richest way you could spend the week in an Irish climate," says committee member Diarmuid Breathnach. "You can be serious and you can find things out that you never knew before."
"You can learn set dancing every day at noon," adds Doireann Ní Bhriain, the director of this year's school, which has Changed Utterly? Ireland 1968-2007 as its theme. "You can hear wonderful poets reading their poetry," she adds, listing Liam Ó Muirthile, Mary O'Malley, Paddy Bushe and Leanne O'Sullivan as the poets who have star billing in this year's programme.
In the afternoon, there will be lectures and symposiums, while "the brave can head off to the sea for a swim," says Ní Bhriain.
On the first morning, sean-nós singer Áine Uí Cheallaigh, fresh from performing in the Pirate Queen in the US, will conduct a seminar on the evolution of sean-nós singing. Or for those who want to brush up on their Irish, there's a class each day with Dr Eoin Ó hAnluain, who runs a very popular session called Renew Your Irish.
Later in the week, writers Nuala Ó Faolain and Anne Enright will take part in a symposium chaired by Marian Finucane titled Finding Our Voices.
Later the same day, another symposium, chaired by archivist Catriona Crowe, will hear from historian Diarmaid Ferriter and commentator Fintan O'Toole about signposting the future from the lessons of the past. There's "a little gap" in the programme each day between five and eight, says Ní Bhriain, "because you'd want to be gathering your forces for a long night ahead of you. You may go off and repair to your dinner, have a walk or a swim or revive yourself in a good corner."
On opening night, Prof Gearóid Ó Tuathaigh will deliver the keynote lecture, addressing the school's theme with In Time of Change, Ireland 1968-2007. The next night, the subject of wealth and its consequences will be examined by former Labour minister Eithne Fitzgerald and Prof John Bradley. But, Ní Bhriain points out, "There are people who come to the school who never go to a lecture at all. It's a case of 'I wasn't at the school but I met the scholars'," quips Breathnach.
The first school was held in Ennis, Co Clare, in 1968. It is held each year in honour of the poet Brian Merriman who was born around 1747. His famous poem, Cúirt an Mheán Oíche (The Midnight Court), which was written in his native Irish, has well over a thousand lines. The principal themes are the plight of young women who lack husbands, free love and the misery of a young woman married to a withered old man.
Merriman's vigour, fluency and earthy humour made his poem widely popular and while he was still alive numerous manuscript copies were circulated. According to Breathnach, "as well as its literary worth, The Midnight Court is full of information about spells, folklore and 18th-century rural life as well as matters revolving around marriage, sex, population, women's rights, births outside marriage, clerical celibacy - all perennially suitable topics for a summer school in Clare." In the past, themes have included subjects such as the Vikings and Ireland (1971), the Irish emigrant (1974), priests and people (1984) and music and the people (1996).
A special feature this year will be held on the last day to remember and honour the late Seán Mac Réamoinn, a founder member of the school, who died earlier this year, with a special 45-minute film presentation comprised of some of the contributions he made to RTÉ programmes over the years.
It's around lunch-time that the set dancing starts each day. Perhaps it's this particular element of the school that helps explain its long-standing allure and its strong links with the past. Sparks fly when the scholars and the revellers take to the boards each day. Under the stewardship of Johnny Morrissey and Betty McCoy, the crowd learns to channel exuberance and excitement, laughter and concentration, into one great sequential, rhythmic dance. Brian Merriman will no doubt be smiling down on the school's shenanigans again this year.
Merriman Summer School runs in Lisdoonvarna, Co Clare from Sun to Aug 25. See www.merriman.ie
