About Us

How it all began........

In 1993 whilst in America at an International Police Memorial, Willie Kirwan (APF) had his first tentative thoughts about setting up a band within the Dublin Airport Police/Fire Service.

While trying to generate interest in the band within the force, the new Fire Station was opened by Brian Cowan T.D. and music on the day was provided by the Army Nr 1 Band. This energised Willie and with the help of M. Sutcliffe and B. O’Malley, set about putting a band in place that could play at such functions in the future.

Willie approached the then General Manager, Mr. Brian Byrne (R.I.P.) who was very much behind the idea. Mr. Byrne arranged Low Interest Loans to buy our instruments and some financial donations from our employer, Dublin Airport Authority, formerly Aer Rianta .

Mr. Bill Dowdall, the owner of a music shop and musician in the RTE Concert Band was approached to help. He assessed the 26 members as to which instrument they might be suitable for, and then the instruments were bought.

Mr. Jim Lowe (retired Army Band) was approached to become the Musical Director and Conductor of the band and soon we were up and running. The band was launched in October 1995 on the Mezzanine Floor, Main Terminal, Dublin Airport. We set about learning music. Our first performance was in January 1996 in the Fire Station. We were on a high, sounded well, we had ‘taken off’ and have never looked back!

Unfortunately real life rarely runs smoothly, some members of the band found shift work and family obligations too much to allow time for practice and others realised that it was easier to listen to music than learning to play it. Hence, over time, membership began to fall. In the early noughties, a decision was made to allow others outside of the force to join the band and membership began to revive. We now have 25 regular members. They range from serving and retired members of the force to plasterer, Garda, Taxi driver, car sales man, and our three latest recruits are still in school and are all learning the Alto Sax.

Every year we play between 6 to 10 gigs, from community parties to weddings, to fundraising shows. This year, 2012, sees the APFS Band celebrating its seventeenth year and is growing from strength to strength.

We would like to thank each and everyone who has supported the APFS Band over the last 16 years.