Hello to you all,hope everything's fine and sunny in your world,you may know by now (if you've been following crimewatch) that we've decided to hang up our geetars,squeezebox,banjo,drumsticks,corsets,false teeth and false legs plus any other instruments of torture at the end of this year.The constant gigging and making a racket has made us a little weary,and it is with sadness after 30 years that we've come to this decision.   It has not been taken lightly,we've made countless lifelong friends on our long journey from the Exley Park early gigs.We've had a blast and whilst it will be a bit weird for a while, just look on it as merely the passing of time good folks.   We looked at the option of quitting,then reforming the day after as a Belt of The Celts tribute act but that would've meant another 30 years and your ears would have given up the ghost :) The good (!) news is we have a number of public gigs before our final hurrah at The Irish Club on Sat Dec 30th.The next two coming up are at The Blind Pig,Strawberry Bridge on Easter Sunday,16th April,think we're starting around 6pm,then the week after on Sunday 23rd April at The Cross Keys,Siddal,starting 3ish.     We would like to thank you all for coming to gigs all these years,for singing,drinking,dancing and generally having a great time in spite of the chaos happening on stage,we wouldn't have lasted half as long without you all,and we genuinely thank you from the bottom of our glasses and the whole of our hearts.     The Belt of the Celts xxxxxx                      Good evening to all you good folk,we're playing at Halifax Irish Club this Sunday (12th March),starting approx 2pm for an afternoon of guinness and tunes,free entry,and a sparkling dancefloor,aw yeah.. Then,on St.Patricks evening,we're at The Casa (towards Brighouse),it's a fiver a ticket,from the venue,or 7 squid on the door on the night,supper included,I think we'll be on around 8.45 or so,and there's also a young Irish dancer,Maisie,who'll be dancing between sets,she danced at The Rishworthians gig a few weeks back and she was brilliant :)   And last,but by no means least,the day after,on Sat,(March the eighteenth day),we're at the Gundog in Halifax town centre,starting 9pm (hangovers withstanding),it's a fantastic pub,and we've had some belting nights there in the past,hopefully it'll be the same again.   Be great to see you at one,two or all three if you know your onions and your livers can cope,have a great Paddys day/weekend/month..   TBOTC xxxxxx         Jan 2017..around teatime..   Hello to you all,and a belated happy new year.We have a few gigs coming up to get your twangers in a twist,and here they bloody well are....   Sat 4th Feb  Old Rishworthians RUFC,Copley,Halifax £10 entrance (and in true club style,inc. pie and peas).We had a top night last year at this lovely venue,and looking forward to it again.We would like to dedicate this gig to our very good friend and sorely missed busking partner Sprat,especially the bum notes....we're not worthy :)   Sun 12th Mar 2pm at Halifax Irish Club for the Irish parade.   Fri 17th Mar at the Casa,think we're starting 9ish,I'll update when we get some more info.   Sat 18th Mar at The Gundog in Halifax town Centre 9pm start,in this listed beauty of a pub.   Sun Apr 16th The Blind Pig,Sowerby Bridge 5pm,we had a cracking time here last year the landlady and barstaff were great,an in house PA,and a bank holiday to recover,aw yeah.         Here's a quick Bernard Manning joke..   Quasimodo goes into a bar and asks for a double scotch,the barman says "Bells ok?" He replies "Mind your own business"       That's enough rambling for now,see y'all real soon xxxxxx  :)                                  Updated 13/03/2016       Evening all,just a quick update,we're playing at The Casa,Brighouse on St. Patricks evening,it's £5 entry,including a supper,not sure what time we're on as there are a couple of other things going on,Irish dancers,a comedian (besides us) and a duo,we're aiming to get there for 7pm and take it from there,if times are confirmed in the mean time,we'll update the site.   Also,on Saturday 19th March,we're playing in Halifax town centre at the Gun Dog (formerly the Sportsman),it's a fine real ale pub with regular band nights,so get your booties down there :)       Update 10/02/16   Hi all,hope you're fine and sunny,we had two belting gigs in January,firstly,many thanks to the good folks at the Old Rishworthians in Copley and beyond,who supported their fundraising evening,and made it a great night,hopefully it won't be another 7 years before we return there again (thanks for that stat Jeff!).   We also played at The Headrow pub in Leeds,which,after a few sound issues early on, (new gear but same booze addled brains trying to work it!),turned into a good night,with special mention to Paul,Diane,Sara,Haggis,Stevie D,Karen,Greg and Verity,who made the trip from Halifax to see us,and a special gold star to Steve,our roadie/driver/all round nice chap for his patience in the face of such druffen shenanegins,vodka cocktails and chilled white wine (and cheers for the van use Kev).The new year cobwebs are well and truly dusted off.   Anyways,just a quick update on forthcoming gigs,we've left Feb floating,as we have quite a few coming up in March,and spring chickens we ain't (apart from Tim of course)...so here are the March ones...   Saturday March 12th at The Crossroads Inn,Wainstalls..9ish start Sunday    March 13th at Halifax Irish Club in town...2pm start Thursday March 17th  The Casa,Brighouse,£5 entrance fee,inc.supper,starts 8ish(tbc) Saturday  March 19th  at The Gundog in Halifax town centre...9ish start     That's all for now folks,don't forget we also have a facebook site complete with boozy snaps from various gigs down the years...be back in touch in a week or two,before the St. Patricks onslaught begins,and the 17th of March venue is confirmed,keep dancing,stay kind and generous,and remember these words from the wonderful Tom Waits....we are monkeys with money and guns.   See y'all real soon,T,N,J,G,J and S xxxxxx                       Updated 16/01/2016     Hi folks,hope you're doing well,we've finally got our asses into gear,and will be updating the site with news/gigs/tours/change of Y-fronts from here on in,many thanks to Paul Gibbons for his patience with the eejit sat next to him earlier this week,I think I have it now Paul :)   We have lots of gigs coming over the horizon,with Nick waiting to confirm a few,so for now,here are our January ones...   Sat 23rd Jan at The Old Rishworthians RUFC,Copley,it's £10 entry,(which includes pie and peas supper),and think we're on around 9pm.   Sat 30th Jan at The Headrow at er,the headrow in Leeds...looking forward to a new pub venue,it'd be great to see you if you fancy a venture out,again,think we're making a racket around 9ish.   We also have 5 or 6 all but sorted for the annual St. Patricks fortnight :) which I'll post up in a week or so,and another date for your diaries is Wed 9th March,when we return to Phoenix Radio for a chat and a few tunes (and a clinking of bottles),we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves,and must have sung at least a couple of notes in tune,as the chaps down there have asked us back.   Right,that's enough of my inane ramblings for now,be in touch real soon,   Lots of love,lager and guinness,   gez,nick,tim,jim,john (and of course,steve) xxxxxx           Updated 12/01/2016 Happy New Year everyone,like the Death Star,the website will be fully functioning again this week,with updated gig list,and anything ongoing in Celtsville.Many thanks to the lovely Stu for his hard work,both behind the kit,and his upkeep of the site down the years.The marathon torch now passes to me,until I run out of things to say,or there's a mutiny aboard ship.See y'all real soon,John....and may Lemmy and David Bowie forever keep shining on.   Updated 7/03/2015 Hello everyone, we hope you're well. A lot of our information is now communicated from our Facebook page so the website does get ignored to a degree, apologies for any people this cuts out of the loop. However you've missed nothing thus far as we are only about to play our 1st gig of 2015 unbelievably! We have St Patrick's weekend next weekend and all our gigs are now on the Calendar page for that period. The abridged version of that is: Sun 8th March - White Hart, Cloth Hall St Huddersfield - 5pm Fri 13th March - The Moorlands, Ogden - 9pm Sat 14th March - The Crossroads, Wainstalls - 9pm Sun 15th March - Halifax Irish Club - 2pm Tues 17th March - The Casa, Brighouse - 9pm - £5 entry That's all for now, we are going to be doing less gigs this year for one reason or another so please ensure you grab as many opportunities to see us as you can. Next one after this run is in Mid April. Goodbye friends S,G,J,N,J - (BotC) 26/12/2014 - Hello, ho, ho Good evening and season's greetings to each and every one of you. As we approach the end of another year for the band which has seen fantastic highs and heartbreaking lows we want to say thanks to every single person that makes the effort to support us, check the website or Facebook group, buys a CD, buy us a pint, drives us about, hits the dance floor when we play or just stands and listens. We really could not continue to do this without you all and we appreciate it each and every time. We have one final gig before we put 2014 to bed and with your attendance it could and should be a corker.      SATURDAY 27th DECEMBER - The Old Post Office 9pm A huge dancefloor , a lovely pub. No excuses. See you there 02/09/2014 - The Return of The Celts............. Well hello there, how have you been? It seems that some of you do actually use this place as a sounding board for what we're up to (God bless ya') and you've noticed that its not been updated for about 6 months and the main reason for that is that its all been a bit quiet on the Celts front. After St Patrick's weekend we have only played a handful of slots at all day gigs with other bands but we have also had to have some enforced time off due to some running repairs needed to our guitarist James. He needed a small operation on his wrists (insert smutty joke here) which has meant we were unable to play as regularly as we'd have liked. However as the site is being updated you've probably guessed that Belt of the Celts are on their way back and we're raring to go. We have a full calendar of gigs up to the end of the year with a couple of special "one off" gigs in the pipeline too - more details to come.                              As the photo above shows, we have been using the down time productively to not only help James get back up to speed  after his operation but also to knuckle down to some serious rehearsal  we've now got some belting new songs added to the set. All done in the hope of providing you all with some great nights at the back end of 2014. The Calendar page has been updated with the confirmed gigs but we also have a very well run Facebook page too if that's your thing. There you can keep up to date with all things to do with the band with the exception of ice bucket challenges, vague statements about people who have pissed us off or heavily tinted pictures of our tea! To hopefully whet your whistles and to kick us off in grand fashion we can excitedly announce that our first public gig for almost 6 months will be on:       SUNDAY 21st SEPTEMBER at HALIFAX IRISH CENTRE from 2pm It would be fantastic to see as many of you there as possible to welcome us back in grand style and also help support the club too. Quickly following off the back of that we have a gig in a newer venue to us and again your support will be needed on:       SATURDAY 27th SEPTEMBER at THE IVY HOUSE from 9pm That's all for now - we're really looking forward to returning, we've missed playing, we've missed the people who come to support us and we intend to make up for the time we've lost. We'll see you at the bar! G J N J S (BotC)  X X X X X