The Kick Inside

You lookin’ at me…? FRI22MAR19

t may not look like it in the pic above, but, when GG called to Anne Randolph’s Bray home back in March 2019, her beloved companion and protector, Joni, was actually glad to see us.

That sneer you’re looking at is far more Elvis than Attila, and Joni was soon hyper with excitement once her tummy was being tickled.

It’s a trick that also works on tigers, dragons and mother-in-laws.

Besides, the Randolph home is no place for snapping or fighting, my friend, being very much a happy home. Then again, how could it not be? The kids, Darren and Neil, are doing rather well in their chosen fields, the latter following the hoop dreams of noted basketball coach dad, Ed, all the way into the Templeogue Basketball Club’s Super League team (think Avengers, only with bigger balls), and the former currently keeping the goals at bay for AFC Bournemouth and the Republic of Ireland national team.

And to think it all started in the little County Clare market town of Ennistymon, when Mayo bank girl Anne twisted her ankle playing badminton and Florida basketball coach Ed came to her rescue.

Ed, Anne, Darren & Neil Randolph

A transfer to Dublin for both led to Anne and Ed setting up home together in Bray – Greystones, of course, proving just a little bit too expensive.

Today, with all the Randolph men still getting a major kick out of the sporting life, the woman of the house has gone back to her first love, music.

Having first been nurtured during her school years in Kiltimagh by the rockin’ Sisters of St Louis, when Anne met Ed, she was continuing that passion as part of Ennistymon Choral Society.

Such fine-set-of-pipes dreams were put on hold as the Randolph kids arrived, and it’s only in recent, as they’re making their mark on the world, that Anne has stepped up to the mic once again. Having learnt from her sons, the lady always puts the very best team around her whenever she’s stepping into a recording studio or out onto a stage.

For her latest Greystones visit, Ms Reynolds will be teaming up with the mildly legendary Mick Hanly – the man who took his 1950s love of rock’n’roll into Irish folk with the likes of Munroe in the 1970s and Moving Hearts in the 1980s before a prolific solo career beckoned. Also present on the night will be keys queen Vera Craughwell.

Returning to The Whale on Friday, April 19th, we jump back to our 2019 interview with Anne, all about taking the long, scenic route to that solo spotlight…

You can catch Anne Randolph and Mick Hanley on Friday, April 19th at The Whale right about here. This interview first appeared on March 24th, 2019.