ARCH is looking well but it will always be Dreamland to me
The Athy Recreational Community Hall, (ARCH) formerly known as Dreamland
I WAS passing the ARCH (Athy Recreational Community Hall) the other day and noticed that the old ballroom is getting a lick of paint, which I was delighted to see, and the Lions Club has done a lot to the building since taking it in hand, including renovation work and upgrading the facilities.
The Lions Club has also hosted a number of successful events there ‒ concerts, book fairs and numerous other events. Great credit is due to the Lions Club committee and members in ensuring that the building remains part of the community for years to come.
For generations of Athy people it will always be ‘Dreamland,’ the place where Johnny Cash, Horslips and Thin Lizzy played, the venue where so many of us had our first dance and romantic moment. My own memories of Dreamland go back to the 1960s when my late mother worked in the ticket office at weekends and would bring home the band promotion flyers after the shows. I kept a scrapbook full of them ‒ Big Tom, Brendan Boyer, The Indians, Margo and dozens of others.
Dreamland is, possibly, the last of the Reynold’s brothers ballrooms still in public use. Sadly, its identical sister, Roseland in Moate, was demolished in 2013.
Dreamland ballroom will be forever associated with Athy, just like The Ierne and The National on Dublin’s Parnell Square and the Galtymore in Cricklewood, North London. Generations of townspeople, home and away, still hold the memory of hot August nights under the legendary starlight ceiling in their hearts. Maybe it is time to give it back its name?
