CHESAPEAKE — It was a couple days ahead of schedule, but Kelley’s Bridge was ready to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in musical style in a special concert at the Chesapeake branch of the Briggs Lawrence Library Tuesday.

The group started four years ago with the mission to present authentic folk music from the British Isles.

The ensemble is made up of Christine Hunt on penny whistle, Bruce Brown in fiddle, Hub Rose on guitar and bodhran, the handheld Irish frame drum, Fay Reinhardt on harp and keyboard and Tim Lester on bass.

It was an inspirational novel that got Hunt wanting to teach herself the whistle.

“It was set in Kentucky in the mountains and one of the characters was a school teacher who had a flute,” she recalled. “Something happened to it. It was destroyed and the children could only afford to buy a penny whistle to replace it.”

A few years after reading that book Hunt ran across a whistle at a fall festival at a high school. With just $4 out for the plastic whistle the Briggs librarian launched a new avocation.

Now Kelley’s Bridge plays at civic functions and is also available for hire for private parties.

No matter how many concerts Hunt has played the music continues to captivate her.

“It is kind of haunting and has such a beautiful melody,” she said. “There is a difference that I can’t explain.”