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Kathleen O'Mahony was born in Midleton in 1931 to James O'Mahony and Mary Cunningham. Her father taught Irish dancing in Castlemartyr and around East Cork. Kathleen and her brother Patrick danced from a very young age at local events and Feiseanna. She later commuted to Cork to dance in Peg McTeggart’s School of Irish dancing. She won the Munster senior ladies’ championship in 1948 and was also a member of the team that won the Ring Cup in Feis Maitiu.

Kathleen O’Mahony married Dominic Keniry in 1953. Two years later, she started a dance class in the parish hall in Midleton, naming it the O’Mahony School of Irish Dancing. To this was added a class in Youghal 1959, in addition to which Kathleen Keniry also taught classes in various locations in East Cork and in Tallow, county Waterford. When her father died in 1973, she changed the name of her business to Keniry School of Irish Dancing. Under her directorship, it enjoyed great successes over the years, including All Ireland figure dancing championships. In 2007, she was elected President of An Chomhdhail, in which capacity she served until 2010. When she died in 2018, her daughter, Geraldine Cunning, took over the school in Midleton. She continues to run it with a former pupil, Michael Cahill, under the name Keniry Cahill Academy of Dance.

See Mariinsky Ballet

Myrtle Lambkin was a ballet dancer who ran a ballet school in Dublin.

Hugh Lilburn was born on 6 November 1888 in Dromore, County Down into a farming family. In 1912, he emigrated to Australia, where he trained as an accountant and was actively involved in the Presbyterian church in Preston, Melbourne. On 25 December 1913, Hugh married Susan Stinson of Ballymoney, County Antrim (b. 18 February 1888), whom he had met in Ireland before emigrating, and who had travelled to Australia with her brother for the wedding. The couple had three children: Stewart, Jean, and Olive. The Lilburn family returned to Ireland in the early months of 1920 and initially settled in Dublin, where Hugh secured a position as an accountant with Craig Garner & Co. In November 1920, he moved to Limerick city to take over the auditing practice of C. W. Metcalfe & Co. In 1941, Hugh Lilburn and his colleague James Leslie Enright were made full partners and the company name was changed accordingly to Metcalfe, Lilburn and Enright on 23 May 1941.

Back in Ireland, Hugh Lilburn continued his strong association with the Presbyterian Church, serving as Honorary Treasurer of the Limerick Presbyterian Church from 1927 and as a ruling elder and clerk of sessions from 1928 until his death. He served as governor of Villiers school and was the author of Presbyterians in Limerick (1946). Hugh’s other interests included history and archaeology, and he was an active member of the Thomond Archaeological Society. Hugh Lilburn died on 27 November 1964, and his wife Susan on 15 October 1967.

Hugh Lilburn’s son, Stewart, was born in Melbourne, Australia on 13 January 1917. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and, like his father, trained as an accountant. In 1944, he joined Metcalfe, Lilburn and Enright and was made full partner in 1954, when his father took a less active role in the company. Stewart was also an active member of the Limerick Presbyterian Church, serving as its accountant and Honorary Secretary for a number of years. A keen and talented hockey player, Stewart represented Munster and Ireland on many occasions. In 1949, Stewart Lilburn married Florence Eva Armstrong (b. 13 September 1925) of Clontarf, County Dublin. The couple had three children: David (1950-2021), Hugh and Gary. Stewart Lilburn died on 26 July 1998, and his wife Florence on 21 April 2005.

Limerick County Club was formed on 27 March 1813 as a gentlemen’s social club for the benefit of the landed gentry, military officers, bankers, lawyers and other high-ranking professionals of Limerick city and county. The club premises were located in a town house on George’s Street (now O’Connell Street) and provided dining facilities, sleeping accommodation and spacious drawing rooms for meetings and social interaction. The building remained in use by the club until 1897, when it was leased to the Augustinian order, whose church adjoined the club house.