Fifteen years ago, I would go every week to the session at Devitts on Camden Street in Dublin. Phenomenal craic, just a wonderful time. There was another bodhrán player there most nights who I had seen take second place in the World Bodhrán Championships in Milltown, Kerry, the year before.

But most of all, there was an older gent, Gerry, who played the squeezebox and always made sure that the energy bounced around, but whoever wanted to play or sing something, got to. A gentle but kind hand.