AN OPEN LETTER FROM A CT FAN

Elaine received this beautiful letter from Ron, one of our Celtic Thunder fans who joined us on the 10th Anniversary Cruise. This photo of Ron and the lovely Elaine was taken on the cruise.  Ron, thank you, for sending us this gorgeous letter and putting your lovely words of praise down on paper and sharing with us and the CT fans. We’re so glad you had a wonderful time especially after travelling so far, all the way from Australia!

Elaine receives lots of letters from our fans from all over the world and these letters often tell us how important Celtic Thunder have been in their lives and we are delighted to be part of the celebrations and that we offer some solace to our fans in their darkest hours with illness, grief etc. If you would like to share your Celtic Thunder experiences we will do our very best to include your photos, letters, poems etc. in the Celtic Times and share them with the worldwide Celtic Thunder family. Please send them to elaine@celticthunder.com

Dear Elaine – Good morning (or good whatever it is as you read this!)

It’s 3am here as I write this. My brain hasn’t quite caught up with the time zone yet and I couldn’t sleep after the initial “collapse” onto the bed. The flight home was a 21 hour sunset to sunrise night – it was a bit brutal but I’m still alive to tell the story.

My head is so full of memories that I had to put some of this stuff on paper and it looks like you have to be the poor suffering recipient of my ramblings.

My entire 20 day holiday was remarkable – I shouldn’t be surprised as God is gracious and I had prayed for months that everything would go well and according to plan. I wanted to have a good holiday but He rewarded me with an amazing holiday.

I saw things and met people that gave me great joy. Canada in its autumn glory, the legendary “The Canadian” train that I’d known of since childhood, Niagara Falls, the “Big Apple” with Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty and Ground Zero – the world changing emblem of 911 – and then there was Mexico and a cruise on thankfully calm seas (I’m not a good sailor and could get sea sick at the sight of a shaken glass of water).

But that’s not necessarily what I need to talk to you about. You see, I’m confused: I am probably a cynic but I’ve often thought that with success, fame and fortune comes pride and arrogance but all I have witnessed from “the boys” and their entire team is courtesy, comradeship, gratitude and grace.

In a way, I was representing a group of my neighbours who are (let’s say) in senior years and great fans of Celtic Thunder. Diana is one of those neighbours – we are good friends and have been travelling companions on several occasions. We wanted to bring back something of our time with the group for them but I felt I was really pushing my borders by needing eight copies of everyone’s autograph. However instead of being treated as one “pain in the b… /neck” I was met with patience and great willingness.

I was so pleased to meet you – the warmth of your considerable number of emails to me left me hoping that you might be on the cruise. I wasn’t disappointed and I was not surprised to see so many other folk too who just wanted to meet you “in the flesh”.

Ryan is an absolute gentleman; Colm too who I shared a game of mini golf with; David Munro who was most helpful in my quest for autographs and in ensuring the paperwork made it back to me. I was delighted to meet Carolyn and Sarah for whom I had prayed several times after George’s death. Belinda – what a gem she is. While I didn’t have much time with others, I’m sure they would be similarly delightful folk.

The closing concert on Friday night was wonderful and the Tuesday night concert was amazing. The individual artist concerts too were all so good and I know they would have been grateful for the incredibly appreciative and responsive audience.

Okay this novel has droned on long enough. Please do, or feel free to, pass this on to the group although I’m sure they’re not short of fan letters.

Now…….the original point in my writing:

• Thank you, I have the autographed copy of the DVD
• Don’t worry about the calendars – they were here waiting for me when I arrived home.
• Thank you too for the T shirt.
• How about a C.T. Cruise in the Pacific ex Sydney (New Zealand, or Fiji, or Tassie)

Okay, that’s all so get back to work. Blessings to you and your team there and I trust you will have a wonderful Christmas and 2018 year.

Kindest regards,

Me…………XXXX (Ron)