February 2026.
Sara, Ian and kevin are just back from a great weekend's music at cambridge tradfest. non-stop sessions all weekend, great workshops and concert. what more inspiration could one need? Bookings for 2026 are now coming in, with st patrick's day in coggeshall and a street event in may in colchester. we're planning to make a couple of new recordings next month as well. get in touch if you need irish music services this coming summer!
OCTOBER 2025
IAN AND SARA ARE JUST BACK FROM THE RETURN TO LONDON TOWN FESTIVAL WHERE THEY SAW SOME REALLY INSPIRING ACTS AND ALSO TOOK THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRUSH UP THEIR SKILLS IN WORKSHOPS WITH THE EXPERTS.
SEPTEMBER 2025
WE HAD A BUSY WEEKEND OF MUSIC, WITH BOTH A SESSION AND A GIG IN COGGESHALL AS PART OF OUR LOCAL'S BEER FESTIVAL. tHE FOLLOWING DAY, WE WERE TO BE FOUND PLAYING AT A GREAT NEW(ISH) SESSION IN O'CONNOR'S, CHELMSFORD. OUR NEXT OUTING IS CODA IN COLCHESTER IN MID-NOVEMBER. NOW BOOKING INTO MARCH 2026…
AUGust 2025
We welcome sarah Smith (greg's wife) to the band. Sarah is a long-established bodhran player and she sings harmony vocals; a great catch! We are now a six-piece band.
AUGUST 2025
linda has splashed out on a hARMONIUM, WHICH SHE IS WORKING HARD TO MASTER. IT BRINGS A NEW TEXTURE AND DEPTH TO OUR SOUND, AND MEANS WE CAN FINALLY RETIRE OUR ‘VIRTUAL PIPER’ WHO (VIA FOOT PEDAL) HAS PLAYED A BASS NOTE FOR US OVER THE PAST YEAR OR TWO…
may 2025
with new boy greg settling in very quickly, we decided to lay down some new recordings. recorded live at our usual rehearsal venue, they have come out very well, and can be found in the media section.
March 2025.
Alan has moved on, and we welcome greg smith on guitar, mandolin and vocals. with much experience on the scottish trad scene, and strong irish roots, he is a fine addition to the lineup. we had good craic playing a gig and a session over the st patrick's day weekend.
September 2024
A busy month for us, with two gigs. we had a blast on 21st playing for the chapel inn's beer festival, and we had a great bar music session beforehand. New boy alan is shaping up well, and our next outing is in november at the half butt PH, great horkesley,colchester.
July 2024
Sadly, dom has had to step down due to personal commitments elsewhere in the U.K. In his place we welcome alan turner on guitar. alan has much experience of playing in trad bands and is ‘dropping in’ nicely… ;-)
May 2024
ian and sara are heading over the irish sea for the second time this year, to visit their friends in co mayo. A few days of non-stop music lie ahead, with a different bar session each evening and a lot of house music to boot.
March 2024
St patrick's day coming up so a busy weekend for us. We will be playing three times over 16th-17th march, both gigs and sessions. see our events page for details of our long gig. we are having an extra edition of our monthly pub session at the foresters arms, castle street colchester from 7.00pm pm on sunday 17th. slainte!
january 2024
if you trace the prehistory of erin's grove far enough back, you get to ian's discovery of the bothy band in around 1981. they were his first benchmark for great irish traditional music, only saddened by the fact that he never saw them live (they split in 1979). That is….until now. in december, the bothies announced that they were reforming to play their first gigs in 45 years. hence, Ian and sara are gearing up to head to belfast next month to Pay homage :-) what's more, as part of belfast tradfest, there will also be a concert by master-piper mick o'brien and fiddler Caoimhin O Raghallaigh and workshops with some of ireland's top players. not to mention endless sessions. the anticipation is already growing…
December 2023
we're looking forward to taking the new line-up out on the town this weekend, 16th december, when we play coda music bar, high street colchester. on stage at around 4.30.
OCTober 2023
We are pleased to introduce our new band members linda darrington and dominic jones. both are vocalists and we are looking forward to developing our songs in the coming months. Linda also plays the bodhran and dom plays the guitar. oUR FIRST OUTING WITH THE NEW LINE-UP WILL BE AT CODA MUSIC BAR IN COLCHESTER HIGH STREET ON SATURDAY 16TH DECEMBER FROM 3PM.
September 2023
over the summer, sadly Jon left the band owing to other commitments. in the meantime, we have been joined by linda (vocals) and dom (vocals and guitar). We are now working as a five-piece and aim to be gigging again shortly. more news about the new line-up soon.