I got a job at the community education centre next to Clancy’s as a printer. After a disagreement with the coordinator I was sacked for incompetence. Even though the union fought the case for me, the coordinator stacked the meeting and I remained sacked. As fate would have it, following that meeting I walked straight into Clancy’s and offered the manager an in house band - the Mucky Duck Bush Band.
Before long we were doing two nights a week at Clancy’s. The manager told me ‘Since you’ve been playing here I’ve never had to step between people in a fight’. Well, Celtic music makes people happy. Those were fantastic memories - the whole place going up and down to the songs we played.