My Weekend: Hitting all the high notes for a perfect weekend

Tell us about yourself?

Dad of four smallies who keep me busy... and broke! Living in Cobh and slowly renovating (in between parenting) a 200 year old beauty which we bought last year - although 'beauty' is currently and most certainly in the eye of the beholder!! Floorboards up, no skirting, raw stairs, freshly leaking patches on the roof... We'll get there. By day, I'm deputy principal in Bunscoil Rinn an Chabhlaigh - a primary school here in Cobh with 700+ kids and nearly 80 staff. By night, it's all music, music, music! I conduct the Carrigaline Singers and I'm the MD for the Everyman Sunday Songbook (celebrating 20 years this year!).

Ideal way to spend Friday nights?

The selfish answer... volunteering to go collect the Chinese takeaway and sneaking in for a quiet Murphys at the bar "cos the queue was absolutely huge".

The dad answer... getting in from work around 5ish, not having a gig on and heading out for an unplanned dinner with the family. We don't get long at the restaurant - we still have nappies and highchairs - but that 45 mins to an hour is gold.

Basically on a Friday - anything that doesn't involve cooking or cleaning up!

Lie in or up with the lark – which is it for you?

Up with the lark - kids do that to you - but now that they are happy to play away when they wake, I love heading out with the dog to the woods or strand before Saturday morning breakfast. I try to practice visualisation on my walks... visualising freshly baked croissants and crispy rashers waiting for me when I get home. I need more practise at it though as it's yet to work and I usually cave first and throw a few bits on the grill before the lads start the getting-ready-for-training weekly saga... where are my skins? ...where are my boots? ... where are my parents?

Does work creep into your weekend at all?

Yes, I tend to always be 'on call' for school with staff touching base about maybe being out sick so I'll be sorting subs or catching up on a few bits that I didn't get to the previous week but in general I've gotten way better at switching off and I can leave school at school for the weekend. I tend to avoid checking my work email on weekends. It doesn't phase me if there's things to catch up on, that's just the job and I genuinely love it. It's crazy busy but so rewarding. 

Music is different - naturally that is condensed into the weekends. Music, though, is my 'golf'... it's hard to think of it as work when there's a great social side to it and it gives me that creative outlet too.

If money was no object where would you head to on a weekend City break and who would you bring?

Madrid with the better half (Gillian)! No question. Close enough not to spend the weekend travelling (there used to be flights ex Cork pre Covid), lots of sights, beautiful architecture, great meats, cheeses and wine... what's not to love?

Closer to home, is there some place you like to head to recharge the batteries

Coumeenole on Slea Head. Harder and harder to get to with my crew these days because of matches, training or gigs; but the minute the car door closes and we've packed our lives into the boot, I get that sense of breathe. Gill's grandparents live that direction and run a small cafe in the sitting room and garden lookingover the Blasket Islands. 

God almighty, if coffee and fresh apple tart doesn't recharge you in that setting, nothing will!

Do you catch up with friends / family at the weekend?.

I'm lucky that most of my family are around so we get to keep in touch throughout the week. My brother coaches my eldest's basketball team so there's always contact with the cousins there and my sister has the kind of house where you can bring four kids and a dog without feeling unwelcome so that's a big advantage!! Both sets of grandparents are in Cobh too, so we're really very lucky. 

Our own friends are spread all over the country these days so when time allows during holidays etc we always make the effort to meet up - sometimes with the kids, sometimes without!

I've a new nephew in the States who I've yet to meet though and also a new niece and even a new grandnephew all in Cork in the last few months so looking forward to a time when we can have all the cousins together soon! God help that venue when the Carney and their respective tribes arrive en masse that day!

Do you get to indulge any hobbies? Even as a spectator?

Music is my hobby! And boy, do I indulge! God bless the supportive wife! The Songbook gigs are the main indulgence but I'll fill in for people at a jazz gig or do some recording or scoring for upcoming shows too. That's my 'decompress' time when I'm not walking the legs off the dog.

Entertain or be entertained? If it is the latter, do you have a signature dish?

Entertain - that's my nature I think! My thing is a roast. When I've a Sunday free, I'll start prepping straight after being out with the dog. And I'm not talking about basic stuff... it's something like a beef wellington or baking a ham... and all the trimmings of course; glazed carrot, sage and clementine roasted pops, puree of parsnip cooked in cream and garlic, cauliflower cheese, maybe some spiced red cabbage or butternut squash depending on the season - all made from scratch. 

Some kind of pie then for dessert to top it off if time allows... of course there's  six  for dinner before we invite any guests so it's always a feast in our place! Love having my parents, in-laws or a sibling or two around too though... anyone who'll appreciate the effort but who'll also cope with four noisy kids and a needy dog really!!

We have so many places to eat out in Cork – where are your spots for coffee / lunch / special meal?

For coffee you can't beat the Wholey Ground in Cobh... for lunch it's Seasalt or Ellen's (love buying a lunch on payday as a little well done to myself!) but for that special dinner I think cocktails upstairs in Arthur Mayne's before dinner in Orzo just hits the spot!

Sunday night comes around too fast, how do you normally spend it?

I religiously do the kids' uniforms and my shirts for the week early during the weekend and the school lunches made after dinner too so that Sunday night isn't ruined with the Glenroes. Best spent next to the fire with a calm dog, chilled out and stuffed-from-a-roast kids and a trickle or merlot left from dinner in hand. Bliss.

What time does your alarm clock go off Monday morning?

6.30am every morning! Rushing is not my thing. I'll get a workout in or a short run before settling into an extra hot cup of tea as the kids start to rouse. The baby (nearly two year old Matilda, Milcie for short) is first to beckon for service and she'll snuggle in to our bed while we drink the tea and listen to the morning radio (I'm a Newstalk kind of guy). The middle two next (Alfie and Julz) are easy to rise and will dress themselves without much fuss other than the odd inside-out pocket, lost shoe and back-the-front jumper. The pre-teen (Theo) seems to be inflicted with rapid onset hearing issues between the hours of 7.15am and 8am which can only be cured by a frustrated parent bursting into the room, opening the black-out blinds and a window and giving a stern but passive aggressive 'get up' look!

Anything else you are up to right now?

We're touring The Story of the 60s at the moment... just finished in National Concert Hall, The Civic in Tallaght, The Mermaid in Bray and coming to The Everyman on April 16.

 It's got that Tom Jones, Cilla Black, The Beatles,Dusty Springfield vibe going on. The audience, for me, make it the show with their singing along and the craic! If you've never experienced the Sunday Songbook show in The Everyman, you're missing out!! Totally biased point of view of course!

Alan Carney is Musical Director for The Everyman Sunday Songbook Group and their next outing will be on Sunday, April 16 where they’ll take you back to the glory days of the Swinging Sixties. Joined by Linda Kenny, Alf McCarthy and Damian Smith, music by stars like Dusty Springfield, Cilla Black, Cliff Richard & Tom Jones will bring people on a fabulous musical journey. Booking on 021 5510673 or everymancork.com