ROUGHLY £500 of musical equipment has gone missing in Birmingham belonging to the band which played the St Patrick’s Festival Launch event held over the weekend.
Local Irish folk group The Hurling Boys were on hand to provide entertainment for the bash at The Burlington Hotel last Friday night, which marked the start of the annual festival honouring Ireland’s national day in the city.
But things took a turn for the worst when lead man Pat Brennan, who formed the band 14 years ago, found one of their cases of equipment had gone missing as he was setting up for the gig.
“I was at the venue early on Friday to unload and get set up, but when I looked at all the gear we had in the room at about 6pm I realised this one case was missing,” he told The Irish Post today.
“It’s a grey case and it had five mouth organs and six microphones – with the most expensive one worth £200 alone – inside it. All good quality stuff that I have collected over the years,” he added.
“There was also a soft toy cat, as I am from Kilkenny, with a plastic hurley in the case - which we use as kind of a mascot on top of our speakers, so if anybody came across the case that would surely stick out.”
With no microphones or mouth organs – and the gig due to kick off at 8pm - Mr Brennan had to make a rapid series of calls to his fellow band members, who managed to pull enough equipment together to ensure the fundraising event went ahead as planned.
But the case in question has yet to be found and Mr Brennan is still hopeful of its return.
“I’ve been back to the hotel today and it’s nowhere to be seen,” he said.
“We also checked the CCTV around the hotel to see if anyone might have made off with it, but we couldn’t see anything, there was no joy there at all really,” he added.
“So I am still puzzled to know where the case has gone. I just really want to get it back and it would be fantastic if anyone who might have seen it or knows anything about it could get in touch.”
The contents of the case, which Mr Brennan last saw while unloading for the event at around 5pm on Friday, are worth roughly £500.
The Kilkenny native, who came to England in 1965 and now lives in Bourneville, claims he has only ever had equipment go missing at one other occasion during his musical career, which began in 1990.
The missing case is “grey, about a foot wide, a foot deep, two feet tall and on wheels”, Mr Brennan confirmed.
“But the cat with the hurley will be the giveaway,” he added.
Anyone with information can contact The Irish Post on 0208 9004329 or email fionaaudley@http://http://irishpost.co.uk and we will pass on your details to Mr Brennan.
