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The Harp - MARCH 2015
ISSN 2053-5420
MARCH 2015 - £1
website: www.theharpnews.com
The last
St Pat’s DAY
Parade for
Birmingham?
By Siobhán Mohan
Fears casting doubts over the future of one of
the biggest parades in England will not deter
revellers this month with the return of the
much-loved festival.
The Birmingham St Patrick’s Day Parade will
take place on March 15 and is expecting its
largest crowd ever.
Birmingham’s first ever Parade took place in
1952 and was resurected in 1996. The St Patrick’s Festival has grown in epic proportions
and is the regional hub for the promotion of
Irish culture in Birmingham and across the
West Midlands.
Council funding cuts were the foundation of
fears that this year’s Parade may well be the
city’s last and spurred the ‘SaveStPats’ campaign.
Each Parade costs over £70,000 and council
funding went towards covering the costs of
essential services, such as road closures, barriers, street cleaning, toilets, First Aid and
security.
So as proud Irish people dust oﬀ their flags,
county jerseys, wigs and whistles in preparation for the celebration, Parade goers are
urged to dig deep and give a pound to bucket
collections on the day.
In the face of adversity, the generosity of this
community has always shone through and
I expect that this event will be no diﬀerent,
however if 2015 sees the last of the St Patrick
celebrations in Birmingham, it will certainly
go out with a bang!
See our centre pages for a guide
to the Parade and the Festival.
To donate go to www.savestpats.co.uk and
for more information visit: http://stpatricksbirmingham.com.
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The Harp - MARCH 2015
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The Harp - MARCH 2015
Over 900 dancers attend City of
Birmingham Irish Dance Championships
world, including the USA, Canada,
South Africa, Germany and Austria,
as well as those from the UK and
Ireland.
Praise covered the organisation of
the event, the venue it was held in
and the prizes.
Having been hailed a resounding
success the organisers said they
were sure it would return and
hopefully become a regular event in
the UK Irish dance calendar.
Dancers competed for specially designed and commissioned trophies
and Olympic-sized medals.
There was a trophy for each top
placing boy and girl and special
medals for the top ten in each competition age group.
Nerves ran high
with excitement
and anticipation
for dancers at the
City of Birmingham Irish Dance
Championships
Following a day of dancing on Saturday February 14, the evening saw
people treated to the first public
performance by a dance troupe
called Afterlife, who were going on
to audition for Britain’s Got Talent.
Irish dancing came to Birmingham
in a big way over Valentine’s weekend when the inaugural City of
Birmingham Championships took
place at Edgbaston cricket ground.
sponsored by Birmingham City
Council, with the Lord Mayor, This was followed by two Parade of
Councillor Shafique Shah perform- Champions competitions, where
ing the official opening ceremony.
the top three from each age group
danced against each other for a troCouncillors Ian Ward and Peter phy.
Kane were also in attendance.
The event, organised by the Carey
Academy of Irish Dancing, was
The competition attracted more
than 900 dancers from all over the
By Gabriel Filan
John Carey, the man
behind the Carey Academy of Irish Dancing
Following the end of the event on
Sunday February 15, director of the
Carey Academy John Carey said he
was “overwhelmed” by all the positive feedback and messages of support from dancers, parents, teachers and judges.
The Lord Mayor of
Birmingham Councillor
Shafique Shah
4
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Warwick Racecourse kick starts the build
up to Cheltenham Festival with Irish Day
The final countdown to the nation’s biggest festival in jump racing gets underway with a day of
racing at Warwick that celebrates
the best of the Emerald Isle.
a celebration of the Emerald Isle,
and we’re looking forward to welcoming many of the racegoers
travelling over from Ireland for
the Cheltenham Festival.
The Irish Day at Warwick Racecourse on Sunday, March 8 kicks
oﬀ the start of the Cheltenham
Festival week, which also coincides with St. Patrick’s Day.
“Warwick has a proud reputation for being a strong proving
ground for future stars of The
Festival and this year is no exception in our first season as an alljumps track which is being very
well-supported by owners and
trainers, and racegoers.
It is expected to attract an influx
of Irish racegoers heading to the
region for The Festival, which
runs from Tuesday, March 10 to
Friday, March 13.
And due to early demand, the
racecourse has opened up an
additional restaurant to accommodate punters keen to enjoy
a week of top-quality racing at
both Jockey Club courses.
Huw Williams, general manager
of Warwick Racecourse, said the
Irish Day was once again proving
to be a hugely popular warm-up
to The Festival.
He said: “The Irish Day promises
to be a terrific day of racing and
“Our Kingmaker Chase Day is regarded as one of the leading trials
for The Festival. Its feature race
was famously won by Long Run
in 2010 before going on to beat
the legendary Kauto Star and
Denham to win the Cheltenham
Gold Cup the following year.
“This year, the meeting yielded
a trio of winners who now have
their eyes on Cheltenham glory
including Vibrato Valtat and
Glens Melody who are among the
favourites in the Arkle Challenge
Trophy and the OLBG Mares’
Hurdle respectively.
“It will be exciting to see how
they get on and whether local
trainer Dan Skelton, the recently-appointed ambassador of Warwick Racecourse, enjoys success
in what would be his first visit to
The Festival.”
The gates for Irish Day will open
at 12.10pm with the first race at
2.10pm and the last of six on the
racecard at 4.50pm. The raceday will also feature live karaoke
band Rock-a-oke.
Admission is £20 for adults on
the gate or £18 if booked in advance online. A special Emerald
package is available in advance
only which includes admission,
racecard and a pint of Guinness
for £20. Admission is free for
children aged 17 and under.
Further information and ticket
details can be found at http://
warwick.thejockeyclub.co.uk
Correction
The photographic coverage of Irish
Minister Jimmy Deenihan`s visit to the Birmingham Irish Association offices in last month`s edition
had an incorrect caption on one of
the photographs.
The picture of Minister Deenihan
and Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall
with Anne Tighe should read`Irish Minister Jimmy Deenihan
and Irish Ambassador Dan Mulhall
with Anne Tighe, Chair of
St Patrick`s Festival committee
and Peter Connolly, festival board
member.`
Apologies for this typographical error.
Brendan Farrell
The Harp - MARCH 2015
5
6
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Chloe Murray (Year 10), James
King (Year 12), Marie Murphy
(headteacher), Madeleine Orduz
(Year 10), Liam O’Donnell (Year 8)
Solihull school receives
outstanding ratings
By Gabriel Filan
St Peter’s Catholic School in Solihull
is celebrating a trio of ‘outstanding’
ratings following a recent visit from
Ofsted inspectors.
Again St Peter’s was classed as outstanding in both areas.
As is the case with all Ofsted inspections now the school was given notice
just days beforehand.
The inspectors’ report stated: “Pupils
richly benefit from the provision for
rigorous and enjoyable religious education, and from the unequivocal and
inspiring attention to gospel values
within the framework of the Catholic
Church.
The Whitefields Road school welcomed a team of five inspectors led by
Mary Davies.
“The lead inspector described St Peter’s as “a vibrant hub of the Catholic
Church in the area”.
The inspectors classed the school as
outstanding in all areas.
With the school’s maths department
also obtaining a top grading in an inspection last March, the latest assessments secure a hat-trick of ‘outstandings’ for St Peter’s.
Pupils at St Peter’s were recognised as
“excellent ambassadors” and in their
report the inspectors said: “The behaviour of students is outstanding.
“They show not only great enthusiasm for their learning, but also a
strong determination to do well.”
The Ofsted inspection came just a
week after a diocesan inspection by
the Archdiocese of Birmingham to
examine the school’s religious education and Catholic life.
Headteacher Marie Murphy, who
has been in the role since September
2014, said: “Our young people are
a credit to their families and we are
very proud of each and every one of
them.”
Further details can be found on the St
Peter’s website at www.st-peters.solihull.sch.uk.
‘Owing to a late cancellation, The Holy
Show Band have become available for the
Saturday prior to St Patrick’s Day (March
14). Anyone interested in booking the band
should call Martin on 07939 408174’
7
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Thousands set to take
part in Novena of Hope
highlight a practical way of bringing hope, by sharing the gift of life
with others. By Gabriel Filan
Many people from the Midlands
Irish community are among thousands taking part in the annual
Novena of Hope organised by wellknown cleric Fr Brian D’Arcy.
The event is taking place from
March 1-9 at Passionist Church,
The Graan Monastery, Enniskillen,
in County Fermanagh. It features a selection of speakers
who have been chosen by Fr Brian
and fellow organisers for their ability to “guide us in these difficult
times”. For 26 years the Novena of Hope
at The Graan has featured a host of
speakers - the majority of whom are
lay people – who share their faith,
insights and wisdom with those
who attend. March 3 serves as a day highlighting the need for reconciliation and
forgiveness in people’s lives, with Fr
Niall Martin, a returned missionary
and native of Fermanagh speaking
at services. Fr Brian D’Arcy
The Novena caters for people of all
faiths and many of none, with several thousand coming to the Graan
to take part in what is now a major
event.
The event opens with a Vigil Mass
on February 28, followed by several opening services, with Fr Brian
preaching at all of them.
March 2 sees Joe Brolly bring his
passion and straight-talking to
Professor Ryan Feeney, a senior
GAA official and the Ulster Council’s head of community and public aﬀairs is the speaker on March
4, with the same day also seeing a
special service dedicated to the sick.
On March 5, Peter Sheridan OBE,
a former senior police officer in
Northern Ireland and now chief
executive of the peace building
charity Co-operation Ireland, is
the speaker at two services on the
importance of working together in
communities.
The Rev Ruth Patterson, who became the first woman to be ordained as a minister in Ireland in
1976, speaks on March 6. Ruth is a
Presbyterian minister and is a director of Restoration Ministries, a
non-denominational Christian organisation committed to peace and
reconciliation in Northern Ireland.
On March 7 Liamy Mac Nally
from Westport in Mayo is the
main speaker. Liamy was a highly
respected priest before resigning
from the ministry to marry. He is
still extensively involved in church
aﬀairs and his talk aims to highlight
diﬀerent forms of service within
the church. On March 8 newly-ordained Passionist Priest, Fr Gareth Thomas, is
the speaker at several masses.
The Novena draws to a close with
well-known priest and speaker,
Daniel O’Leary.
Daniel, an acclaimed author and
lecturer, is also a priest in the Diocese of Leeds. He was born in Rathmore in Co Kerry and worked in
parishes in England for 30 years and
taught theology at St Mary’s College, Strawberry Hill, for 20 years. He is an award-winning author of
12 books and a regular contributor
to The Tablet and the Furrow. To cater for the large congregations
attending the Novena, closed circuit television is available in adjoining rooms throughout The Graan.
In addition to those who attend
each year more than 10,000 people
share in the Novena from their
homes throughout Ireland and
Britain. To find out more about the
event visit www.thegraan.com.
8
The Harp - MARCH 2015
9
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Four-year-old gains
yellow belt with
Childsafe Martial Arts
By Gabriel Filan
Leah Wadley might only be four
years old but she is already following in her late grandfather’s footsteps by showing great promise in
the sport he loved.
Leah recently achieved a yellow
belt, becoming the youngest student to pass a grading exam at Solihull-based Childsafe Martial Arts.
Her late grandfather, Les Goldingay, was a martial arts enthusiast,
and a close friend of Leah’s instructor, Eddie Quinn.
Leah Wadley with
martial arts instructor Eddie Quinn
“We’re so proud of her,” said mum,
Jodi. “Dad was a real enthusiast of
martial arts for keeping himself fit
and safe, and he would be so pleased
to know that Leah was sharing his
passion.”
Leah was only five months old
when her grandfather lost his battle
with cancer but after learning all
about his life she said she wanted to
take up martial arts in his memory.
“She knows all about her granddad
and asked if she could do it,” Jodi
said..
“Though she’s only four, Eddie was
very enthusiastic about encouraging her, and she absolutely loves it.
“The classes are fantastic – Eddie
makes it fun, and it’s brilliant for
children; it’s all about giving them
confidence, discipline, co-ordination and self belief, and I can’t recommend them highly enough.”
Eddie – whose company Team Approach has been teaching self defence and martial arts to children
and adults in Solihull for 15 years
– said he was delighted to welcome Leah to his Tuesday classes at
Monkspath School in Solihull.
He said: “Les Goldingay was a brilliant guy and is a much missed
friend of mine. “Les had an amazing enthusiasm
for martial arts, so it’s wonderful
that Leah is continuing the trend.”
Leah is already demonstrating a
real talent too, according to Eddie.
He added: “She works extremely
hard, and she has really earned that
first belt – I’m convinced it will be
the first of many.”
* For more information about Eddie Quinn’s Childsafe Martial Arts
classes in Solihull, email theeddiequinnap [email protected].
10
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Busy weekend planned
for Tractor World Show
By Gabriel Filan
Tractor enthusiasts are being urged
to attend one of the biggest shows
of its kind dedicated to the goanywhere agricultural vehicles at
the Three Counties Showground in
Malvern this month.
The venue will be home to hundreds
of tractors, displays and trade stands
when the Tractor World Show takes
place on March 14 and 15.
One of the biggest shows of its kind,
the event will feature more than 450
new, classic, vintage and veteran
tractors, machinery, horticultural
and farm model displays, stationary
engines and classic Land Rovers, as
well as spares, parts, toys, clothes,
books and models.
Over the course of the weekend students from Lackham College will
also be entertaining visitors with an
unusual challenge in the shape of
their “Build a Fergie” competition. The students will be racing against
each other to see who can put a grey
Ferguson tractor back together in
the quickest time.
There will also be the annual vintage
“sort out and spares day” plus a charity tractor road run into the Malvern
Hills.
The show is aimed at families, as
well as the farming community and
tractor enthusiasts, and last year’s
show saw a record-breaking number
of visitors through the doors.
New for the 2015 show is a special
“Spring Steam” theme, featuring
both full-sized and miniature steam
engines.
Organised by Mark Woodward and
sponsored by Kelsey Media’s Tractor & Machinery Magazine the show
celebrates tractors in all their glory. Over the weekend visitors will be
treated to restoration and practical
demos, Turner tractors and machinery displays, hedgerow themed displays from regional clubs, as well as
displays from the big name tractor
manufacturers.
Anyone looking to pick up spare
parts for tractors should head to the
show on Saturday when HJ Pugh &
Co will be hosting their vintage auction, with more than 2,000 lots up
for sale.
The show also hosts the “Tractor
Championship and Awards”.
Organiser Mark Woodward said:
“Last year we erected a massive marquee which meant we had lots more
space and most of the show was undercover. “Visitors enjoyed browsing the trade
and club stands in comfort, so this
year with visitor numbers set to be
even higher the marquee will be
used again. “I’m really looking forward to seeing the spring steam spectacular as
we’ve lined up several remarkable
steam engines that will all be “in
steam” throughout the weekend.”
Sandwell Irish Society meet TWO dignitaries
Sandwell Irish Society was delighted to receive an invitation from
Birmingham Irish Association to
meet Mr. Dan Mulhall, Irish Ambassador to Britain and Mr. Jimmy
Deenihan TD, Minister for the Diaspora, when they recently visited
St. Anne’s Centre.
A group of Club Eireann members
enjoyed a lovely 3 course lunch at
the centre, saw some of the
activities taking place and met the
Ambassador and the Minister.
Siobhan Gorman. Manager of the
Society said “We were pleased to
join our colleagues and friends in
Birmingham for the afternoon and
meet with the two Irish dignitaries.
They spoke of the great work being
done within the Irish community
in Birmingham and in other parts
of the UK, also about the tremendous amount of support given by
volunteers on a daily basis, all of
which makes a big diﬀerence to the
lives of many Irish people.”
“Our thanks to staﬀ at Birmingham
Irish Association for inviting us to
share the afternoon with you and
many other Irish people, we had a
lovely afternoon.”
For more information about the
work of Sandwell Irish Society,
please ring 0121 553 4402 or email:
[email protected].
11
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Health Clinic short
listed for Chamber of
Commerce Future Face
of Business Awards
ture death of my Father, I was determined that no-one else should be at
risk suﬀering from conditions, that
if diagnosed early, could save lives.
This is the reason why Pat and I set
up Solihull Health Check Clinic, to
provide aﬀordable and accessible
Health Care to all”.
The Director of Health
Care, Eileen Fegan
Solihull Health Clinic, based in
Dickens Heath are going from
strength to strength and with their
first birthday on the horizon, the future is looking very healthy indeed!
The Director of Health Care, Eileen
Fegan along with her husband, Pat,
who is the Managing Director of the
Private Early Diagnosis Clinic, have
been short-listed to the last 5 finalists, in the Chamber of Commerce
Future Face of Business Awards, to
be announced on the 23rd April at a
glittering Awards ceremony, taking
place at the International Convention Centre.
The Award Ceremony, which recognises ambitious and innovative
individuals, who are dynamic and
inspirational in their careers, and
are destined to become strong business leaders within the local Community, will see entertainment
from the politician, author and
broadcaster Gyles Brandreth, and a
key address by Andy Street, Chairman of the Greater Birmingham
and Solihull Local Enterprise Partnership. The dinner currently has
more than 500 guests confirmed,
to hear the winner of the Future
Face of Business Award, being announced.
The Early Diagnosis Clinic is the
brain child of Eileen, following the
tragic loss of her Father in 2013, to
a condition that if diagnosed early
could have been reversed and seen
Eileen’s Father living into old age.
Eileen said, “Following the prema-
Eileen has been a qualified Clinician for 25 years, initially training at
Dudley Road Hospital, now known
as City Hospital, before going onto
achieve senior positions within the
NHS, the Prison Service and working on Strategies in Stroke Care
and The Paperwork Trap, with the
Government. Eileen is already an
Award winning Clinician, following her success at being awarded
the Foundation of Nursing Studies Prize, for her Care and research
into survivors of Stroke Care. Eileen
is also a qualified Intensive Care
Nurse and a qualified Teacher, and
the Clinic has recently been awarded the Birmingham City Council
Social Responsibility Accreditation
for 2015.
The Clinic has recently been working with the Birmingham Irish Association, based at St Anne’s in Digbeth, to set up free Health Check
clinics for our older Irish community, who do not regularly or
routinely access any other form of
health screening. The Birmingham
Irish Association engages in charitable purposes, the area of culture,
arts, heritage or science, the area of
arts, culture, heritage or science. It
tries to aid the youngest, people of
particular ethnicity or racial origin,
all the people. It tries to help the
above agents by providing advocacy
and counselling services, providing
human resources and providing human resources. The Clinic is willing
to provide monthly mobile Health
Screening checks, at The Birming-
ham Irish Association centre, at no cost. However, the Clinic are calling on local Irish Business Owners, to support the Older Irish Health
campaign by sponsoring the blood testing equipment and diagnostic tools, needed to provide a
Health Check to the older Irish members of our
community. Any level of sponsorship will be
gratefully accepted, from £10.00 to thousands of
pounds. Eileen, Pat and their team are donating
the time, the experience and the mobile Clinic to
the campaign and an input from our local Irish
business men and women would hugely kick
start the project into fruition. So, if you feel that
you would be able to sponsor Health Checks for
our older Irish community, please contact Solihull Health Check Clinic on 0121 745 7400 or the
Birmingham Irish Association on 01216046111.
44 Pages in Full Colour
with news sport, entertainment and your
community pictures every month
12
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Nathan
Carter on
stage at the
Irish Centre,
Birmingham
Wagon Wheel
star Nathan
Carter at the
Irish Centre
Pictures by Vince
Irish singing sensation Nathan Carter
surprised fans with a visit to the Irish
Centre in Birmingham, one afternoon
last month.
Fans queued to speak to the
twenty-four-year-old star that
was born in Liverpool
The singing sensation with
Queenie Mulvey, Irish Centre
Manager Shaun Preece and fans
The Wagon Wheel star sang for the
crowd and talked with fans as part of a
promotional visit ahead of his up and
coming concert at the Birmingham
Town Hall on March 15.
www.nathancartermusic.com
Nathan was deemed a pleasure to
talk and listen to during his visit to
the Midlands last month
13
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Trip of a lifetime for
Midlands volunteer
ing the youngsters through community projects and sport she can begin
to build trust and confidence of those
involved whilst targeting important
issues such as HIV/AIDS, de-stigmatisation of HIV testing, sexual health,
basic human rights, and most importantly basic life skills.
Once returning back from her placement she will begin to work with
Skillshare International within her
community to help fight poverty at
home.
By Brendan Lowe
This summer, 20-year-old Ailish Connell will embark on a journey of a lifetime and travel to Lesotho and work
as a volunteer for ten weeks.
Growing up in a family of six, with
good moral values, she was always
taught to be mindful of others and
give back to the community. Having been inspired by an organisation
called Skillshare International she
applied to volunteer, and later was
accepted to join a team of volunteers
who will fly out on the 29th of June
2015 for a ten week placement in a
small country surrounded my South
Africa called Lesotho.
Here Ailish will work with the Olympic Youth Ambassadors Programme
(OYAP) which is organised by the
Lesotho National Olympics committee and aims to develop young people
through working as a community
and sport. This is aimed at orphans,
vulnerable children and young adults
between the ages of 9 to 21. By engag-
Ailish has set up a Just Giving page to
help raise £800 for the organisation,
she will hold cake sales, a fundraising
night and a weekend of bag packing,
as well as relying on kind donations
to help reach her target.
You can donate at www.justgiving.
com/Ailish-Connell or text AGGC48
and the amount you would like to donate (£1, £5, £10) to 70070.
All funds raised will go straight to
Skillshare International to help
change lives. None of proceeds raised
will go to the cost of the trip, which
is funded by the department for international development.
14
The Harp - MARCH 2015
‘Save Our Parade’ Concert
pulled in record crowds
Pictures by Sam Yapp
The campaign to Save Our St Patrick’s Parade stepped up a gear last
month with a spectacular event at
the Irish Centre in Digbeth Birmingham.
The event, on the 20th of February
was a sell-out with 700 tickets purchased and the crowd were treated
to a night packed full of entertainment including The Father Ted’s,
Black Jack Davey, Danny Darcy,
The Hurling Boys, Lampa, Cairde,
The Full Sha Bang, Mick Sullivan,
Pat Breslin, Little Jimmy, Aidan
O’Brien and The Small Geezers.
The Harp - MARCH 2015
From 7pm until 3am, the Irish
Centre was alive with music,
dancing and chat. The event was
the brainchild of Manager Shaun
Preece.
Chair of St Patrick’s Festival committee Anne Tighe said, “ I would
really like to thank Shaun, all of
the bands that played for free
and everyone who supported the
event. It was just amazing and as
one person said to me, it did feel
like Digbeth’s answer to Glastonbury!”
15
16
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Gathering Your Stories
Through The Harp
What do you think Irishness means to people in the
West Midlands? Tell us your story in The Harp.
By Pete Millington
In the last edition of The Harp I reproduced some short oral history
interviews sent via email by Margaret Gilbert of Gorey in Co. Wexford. The interviews were carried
out by teachers and children from
Wexford schools in the 1930s, part
of the ‘Schools Collection’ which
was a countrywide exercise carried
out under the direction of the Department of Education at that time.
Even these short extracts, one about
the Land League and one about a
local eviction, show us the importance of gathering stories from people in their communities.
During the past few weeks I have
carried out some more research
into the history of the county of
Wexford and have been amazed at
the powerful way that social memory has been transmitted very accurately in the area by word of mouth
for many generations, in some instances for over 200 years. History
books tell us that Wexford was one
of the main areas of the 1798 Rebellion, an uprising led by Wolfe Tone
and the United Irishmen which affected large parts of Ireland but was
probably most fiercely experienced
in Wexford.
The brutality of the 1798 Rebellion in Wexford is comparable to
some of the worst modern conflicts
we see on the world news today,
though it is difficult to imagine such
events taking place in the tranquil
rural surroundings of this beautiful
Irish county, with its friendly mar-
The 1798 Rebellion in Wexford
ket towns and picturesque seaside
villages. Yet thousands of poor Irish
farmers rose up against the oppressive tyranny of British rule and,
fighting with long picks against soldiers with guns, they took control
of the whole county.
But the victory of the Wexford rebels was short lived and retribution
was swift and brutal. Rebels underwent such tortures and punishments as ‘half-hangings’ and ‘pitchcapping’, the latter meaning that
a prisoner had hot pitch poured
over his head and was then left in a
public place as it dried. Many were
simply rounded-up and shot in the
fields and town squares. It has to be
recognised that the atrocities occurred on both sides and the local
Protestant community of Wexford
also became victims of the violence.
But as one digs deeper and discovers the full impact of this short but
awful period on the people of Wexford, it is hardly surprising that the
echoes of 1798 can still be heard
today.
For the people of Wexford, the
events of the 1798 Rebellion have
a similar importance in terms of
local heritage as the 1847 Hunger
has in Connaught or the 1916 Easter
Rising has in Dublin. But whilst it
seems that every village and town
in Wexford has a monument to the
Rebellion and a local written account, what is more significant is
the stream of transmitted memory
where local people of the older generation still talk of local people and
events as if they happened in their
own lifetimes, not 200 years ago.
My correspondent Margaret Gilbert, who is a local historian in
Wexford, told me the seeds of
some stories, like the story of John
Mellon from Monaseed who frequented the market in Gorey in the
late 1790s, using the opportunity
to circulate information about the
whereabouts of the enemy. Margaret told me that John was shot at
the Battle of Ballyellis but nothing
is written of him.
She suggested I telephoned a gentleman named Aiden McDonald
who is 85 years old and lives with
his daughter at the post office in
Camolin. I duly called Mr McDonald who told me he was a descen-
dant of the John Melon in the eviction story we published last month
and also the John Melon of the
1798 Rebellion, the first man mentioned probably being the grandson
of the second. Mr McDonaled told
me: “John Mellon, the man who
was threatened with eviction, was
my great
grandfather. He
lived at Monaseed near Gorey on a
small farm. He was out in the Land
League. He was living on an estate
that belonged to William Foster.
The
estate was divided up and
they started to evict all the tenants.
The tenants at Monaseed were
evicted and 5 farms built on it.”
I asked Mr McDonald about the
man named John Mellon who was
shot in the 1798 rebellion. He said
that this man used to go to the markets at Gorey where they sold pigs
on Fayre Day. Mr McDonald told me
that John Mellon made mats to sell
at the fayre. He said that he learnt
to make mats whilst in prison. It
was at the fayres that he watched
the English landlords and picked up
information. Mr McDonald spoke
of his ancestor John Melon almost
as if he actually knew him, which I
felt reinforced the power of the storytelling tradition in rural Ireland
– if the rich have fine oil paintings
by which to remember their ancestors, the poor have constructed
their portraits through the spoken
word. I would wish to thank Margaret Gilbert and Aiden McDonald
for sharing these fascinating social
memories with us.
Visit the blog at
harp-gathering.blogspot.co.uk/
Join our Facebook group at
www.facebook.com/groups/420135884725856/
Please send your stories and photos to Pete Millington at
[email protected]
17
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Michael Duggan feeding his new friend
who he affectionately named Cheeky!
Propriator of recovery business
makes an unsual FEATHERED friend
By SHEILA FITZGERALD
Lombardstown, Co. Cork native
Michael Duggan is one of those
people who can quite literally
charm the birds oﬀ the trees and
lately he has upped the ante to a
whole new level to where he actually hand feeds a Crow who has befriended him near the Supermac’s
Complex on Mallow’s Limerick
road.
“About two months ago, I was
stopped here having a sandwich
and throwing a bit of crust out to
the Crows when this cheeky fellow
landed on the mirror of the truck”,
Michael told the Corkman News.
This large Crow who he has named
Cheeky has a keen palate for tasty
culinary treats and favours high
quality cheddar cheese above all
else. In the course of his work, Michael is on the road a lot and stops
almost every second day at this
particular location.
“The minute I stop the truck now,
he arrives and he takes the food
out of my hand, and if I oﬀer him
bread, he pecks at my hand as if to
say I have no interest in that, give
me my cheese!” said Michael.
Michael is the proprietor of Duggan’s 24 hour recovery in Lombardstown, and also has raised
substantial monies for various
charities through his work as a
Country Music DJ at various social
dancing venues.
18
The Harp - MARCH 2015
ithappenedin by Liam Smith
march
March 5th
On this day in 1888, Charles Lartigue’s famous monorail system
connecting the towns of Listowel and Ballybunion, Co.Kerry,
opened to the general public. The
eight mile monorail became one
of the most successful modes of
transport in Ireland at the time,
and would continue in service for
the next thirty-six years. As a result of damage to its rolling stock
and operating mechanism during the Civil War, the railway was
eventually forced to close in October 1924.
March 8th
On this day in 1966, Dublin’s most
recognised landmark, Nelson’s
Pillar, was destroyed by an explosion caused by person or persons
unknown. Erected in 1812, the
Pillar was the first of many to be
erected in major cities around the
Empire to commemorate Nelson’s
victory at Trafalgar, and would
precede its famous counterpart in
London’s Trafalgar Square by thirty-two years. Over the years, the
Pillar became a favourite meeting place for courting couples and
flower sellers, and had the added
attraction of a viewing gallery just
below the statue of Admiral Nelson. The former site of the Pillar
is now occupied by Dublin’s newest landmark, the 120 metre high
Millennium Spike.
March 17th
Born in New Ross, Co.Wexford,
on this day in 1877, was patriot
Michael O’Hanrahan. Born into
a family with deep nationalist
roots – his father a Fenian and
participant of the 1867 rising - Michael O’Hanrahan, an Irish language enthusiast, became an active member of the Gaelic League
and founder-member of the Irish
Volunteers. In the 1916 Easter Rising, Michael O’Hanrahan played
an important role as second-incommand to Thomas McDonagh
in the Jacobs factory garrison. Not
only excelling as a soldier, Michael
O’Hanrahan was also a successful
author with several publications to
his name, including ‘A Swordsman
of the Brigade’; ‘When the Normans Came’; and ‘Irish Heroines.’
For his part played in the Easter
Rising, Michael O’Hanrahan was
executed in Kilmainham Jail on
May 4th 1916
ate, while ratifying the Versailles
Peace Treaty, added a resolution
declaring, “The United States adheres to the principle of self-determination and to the resolution
of sympathy with aspiration of the
Irish people for a Government of
their own choice adopted by the
Senate, 6th June 1919, and declares
that when such Government is
attained by Ireland - a consummation it is hoped is at hand - it
should promptly be admitted as
a member of the League of Nations”.
March 25th
On this day in 1920, Christopher O’Sullivan, a reporter with
the Limerick Echo, wrote in his
weekly column of what he observed whilst boarding a Limerick
On this day in 1920, in Washing- bound train at Limerick Junction.
ton D.C., the United States Sen- After witnessing a group of R.I.C.
March 18th
constables wearing poorly fitting
uniforms consisting of R.I.C. dark
green and British Army khaki,
he wrote; “One of the men who
spoke with a pronounced English
accent measured up to about five
foot six inches and could scarcely
weigh ten stone, I would associate
him with the hounds of the Pallasgreen Scarteen Hunt, to judge by
the colour of his cap and trousers”.
The hounds that O’Sullivan was
referring to was the famous pack
of hunting dogs from the Limerick-Tipperary border, known by
the colours of their coats as ‘The
Black and Tans’.
O’Sullivan’s
description of the new recruits
quickly spread throughout Ireland, and without hesitation the
new ‘temporary constables’ were
given the name,...’The Black and
Tans’.
Tarmac company sold
The total deal is worth £4.9 billion and will give CRH the number one market position in the UK
in cement, aggregates, ready-mix
concrete, asphalt and construction.
Lafarge Tarmac was formed in
January 2013 following the merger
of Anglo American and Lafarge’s
cement, aggregates, ready-mixed
concrete, asphalt and asphalt surfacing operations in the UK.
By Gabriel Filan
Switzerland’s Holcim owns Aggregate Industries in the UK.
In order for the Lafarge Tarmac
sale to CRH to proceed, the operation’s 50 per cent owner Anglo
American will first sell its stake in
the UK business to Lafarge.
Midland cement giant Lafarge
Tarmac is being sold to Irish company CRH as part of the £5 billion
sale of assets by merger partners
Lafarge and Holcim.
Dublin-based CRH, which is Ireland’s biggest company, is buying
assets covering operations in Europe, North America and emerging markets.
As well as ownership of Lafarge
Tarmac, the deal will give CRH
a presence in a number of new
markets such as Germany and the
Czech Republic.
The sale of Lafarge Tarmac, which
has its UK headquarters in Solihull, will help France’s Lafarge
and Holcim secure regulatory
clearance for their tie-up.
Lafarge Tarmac employs 6,600
staﬀ at 330 sites and produces 45
million tonnes of aggregates and
seven million tonnes of asphalt a
year.
It has been reported that private
equity firm KKR is set to pick up
any assets which CRH may need
to sell in order to address competition concerns.
The Harp - MARCH 2015
19
20
The Harp - MARCH 2015
The Irish of the
West Midlands
Peaky Relatives
by Carl Chinn
Born in 1879, my great grandfather, Edward Derrick, was a thief, violent man
and one of ‘the peaky type’. Nicknamed ‘Bummie’, he led a life of crime like his
grandfather, James, who had been born in Cork in about 1797. By 1841, James was
settled in the Black Country, where he married Eliza Hennessey.
Because of their criminality, their
children were brought up mostly
in Wolverhampton Workhouse.
Thereafter, their son, John, moved
to Birmingham where he married
Catherine Thompson and settled in
Sparkbrook.
According to Mr G. B. Davis, clerk
to the Birmingham School Board,
‘an industrial school child should be
one who is not yet a little criminal or
does not deserve the name, though
he may have committed little acts
which are technically crimes. He is
a child in bad circumstances who
Unhappily their sons became noto- needs to be saved from his surrious as peaky blinder gang mem- roundings.’
bers or as petty thieves and villains.
They included my great grandfather, Sadly Penn Street Industrial School
failed with my great grandfather. In
Edward. By 1891, and aged 11, he was
1893 he was convicted of vagrancy
in the Penn Street Industrial School,
and in October 1894, he served
which was actually in Allcock Street, seven days’ in prison for stealing
Deritend close to Heath Mill Lane. five loaves. Just weeks later, the
‘Birmingham Daily Post’ reported
In 1857 the Industrial Schools Act
that the 16 year-old Edward Derrick
had given magistrates the power to had been sentenced to four months’
sentence children between the ages hard labour for burglary.
of 7 and 14 years old to one of these
institutions if they were homeless. Then in 1897, he was sent down for
Four years later the categories were five months and handed a two-year
extended to include boys under 14 supervision order for stealing a biwho had committed an oﬀence pun- cycle. He was not out of prison long
ishable by imprisonment or whose before he was convicted of using obscene language and then imprisoned
parents could not control them.
for twelve months in October 1898
for breaking into a counting house.
It was stated that he was 5 foot 3 ½
inches tall , had a blue mark on the
back of one forearm and wrist, and
a tattoo of a mermaid on the back of
the other forearm.
Now a serial oﬀender, in 1899 Edward assaulted a police constable;
in 1900 he was arrested for drunkenness; and in October 1901 at Stafford, and under the alias of Fredrick
Pitt, he was sent away for three years
for bodily harm. Finally in October 1906, he was sentenced to two
months’ hard labour for stealing a
basket carriage from a widow.
always doubted this, thinking that
it was too expensive for a workingclass person to be able to aﬀord the
high costs of a divorce. I was wrong.
Ada did get a divorce in 1922 and was
able to do so as ‘a poor person’ under
the rules of the Supreme Court. She
was unable to sign any of her statements and had to make her mark in
the presence of a commissioner for
oaths.
The divorce documents confirm that
from the summer of 1913, Edward
Derrick had failed to provide food or
clothing for his wife and child. They
got by on her wages as a press worker in the brass trade. Then in April
1915 he violently assaulted Ada and
threatened to kill her at her house at
25, Studley Street. Six months later
Edward physically attacked his wife
with his fist and caused her bodily
harm.
Brewery Street, Coventry to live
with a widow called Mrs Murphy.
My grandmother, Maisy, was only
eight when her father abandoned
her and her mother. Although she
was raised amongst her mother’s
people, the Weldons who had
moved to Studley Street, it is likely
that she kept some contact with her
father as my Uncle Bernard went to
see him a few times in the 1950s.
As for Maisy’s mother Ada, she went
through ‘a form or ceremony of
marriage’ with my Granddad, Richard Chinn, at St Mary’s Church in
Birmingham on August 22, 1922. She
was five years older than him but
my Aunt Mavis and I think that they
were the loves of each other’s lives.
Unhappily they did not have long
together as Ada died of stomach
cancer in September 1925. She was
39 and mother to my Aunt Vi, who
It was emphasised that ‘he had fre- was just two. By contrast, Edward
quently given way to drink and had Derrick lived until he was aged 85,
used foul and abusive language’ dying in 1964 in Nuneaton.
towards Ada, and that ‘he has frequently smashed various articles This article is from Carl’s latest
of furniture and has broken up book, ‘The Real Peaky Blinders. Billy
two homes’. Thankfully from Janu- Kimber, the Birmingham Gang and
ary 1916, he deserted his wife and the Racecourse Wars of the 1920s’
daughter and he then moved to (Brewin Books £12.95).
A year later, Edward Derrick married
my great grandmother, Ada Weldon, at Christ Church, Sparkbrook.
He gave himself as a bricklayer, although previously he had stated he
was a tailor and he would later be
described as a scrap iron dealer and
a rag and bone man.
Ada had been born in the very poor
Park Street by the Bull Ring. She now
worked in a warehouse and lived
with her older and younger sisters
with their mother and her second
husband in Vaughton Street, Highgate. After her wedding she went to
live at 23, Studley Street, just a few
yards from Edward’s brother, James,
who rented a back house in Sills
Buildings.
Marriage did not change Edward
for the better. When I was researching my doctoral thesis in the early
1980s, I spoke with Lil Preston who
had lived in the same yard as him,
his wife Ada and his daughter, Maisy
- my grandmother. She recalled that
Edward was a violent man who often
smashed up his home when he was
drunk and that on occasions Ada
and Maisy had to sleep in the brewus
in the yard or hide from him in the
house of her grandmother, the wellloved Granny Carey.
There was a story in our family that
Ada went on to divorce Edward
Derrick after he had left her. I had
Ada Chinn nee Weldon and previously Derrick is sitting on the
right of this photo taken at the Peace Party in Studley Street,
Sparkbrook in 1919. Her mother and my great, great grandmother,
Rosina Weldon, is standing on the left with Mrs Preston, Lil Preston’s mother, next to her; and Mrs Waldron is the other seated lady.
21
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Co. Cork Artist Mary O’Connor displays
her Modern Irish Landscapes paintings
By SHEILA FITZGERALD
The intriguing and striking paintings emerging from the brushes of
talented Boherbue, Co. Cork Artist
Mary O’Connor will certainly strike
a chord with all those who shudder
at the advancing sentinels of the
next phase of technological progress.
“I am looking at the legacy that we
as a nation are leaving behind us to
our environment, in particular the
man-made objects in our surroundings. Pylons and wind farms are intruding on our landscape. Will the
next generation see them as just
a normal part of the landscape?”
Mary asks.
Mary O’Connor pictured with some of her art
Mary originally hails from Rathcormac and has been living in Boherbue for the past 25 years. She always
had an interest in art, but while
busy raising a family did not get the
opportunity to pursue her dream
until five years ago when she did a
course in Davis College where she
completed a Portfolio and then
went on to study at Crawford College for four years.
She was amazed and delighted
when at the Degree ceremony last
May she was awarded the CIT Registrar’s Prize of a Solo Exhibition;
“I’ve completed eight new pieces for
the Exhibition and these were on
show along with several paintings
that I had already completed for the
Degree Show,” Mary told the Corkman News. “I’ve always loved Art,
and I get inspiration when walking
or driving,” she added.
Mary’s Exhibition of Modern Irish
Landscapes was held at the James
Barry Exhibition Centre at the CIT
Campus in Bishopstown, Co. Cork
recently.
While creating new paintings is
obviously Mary’s first love, she
also has a passion for teaching Art
which she hopes to pursue in the
very near future, both in a class setting and on an individual basis. She
is also in the process of setting up a
website where images of her work
can be viewed and purchased.
22
The Harp - MARCH 2015
YOUR GUIDE TO TH
DAY PARADE AND
BIRMINGHAM ST. PATRICK’S
FESTIVAL FRINGE EVENTS
It won’t be long before Birmingham
St. Patrick’s events will be kicking
off across the city. The official start
of festivities will be marked by the
Gala Launch Party and Civic Reception, 8pm till late on Friday March
6th at The Macdonald Burlington
Hotel. Live Irish music will greet
guests, who will then enjoy an evening
of traditional Irish food, entertainment
and dancing, all for just £12 a ticket.
The parade will march through Digbeth between 12pm and 2pm, starting
at Camp Hill with a confetti blast.
Birmingham Irish Pipes and Drums
band will lead the parade, followed
by the VIP bus which will host the
Lord Mayor and Birmingham’s own St.
Patrick, and an array of floats, dancers,
flag bearers, and vintage tractors.
On the following day, Saturday March
7th, Edgbaston Street in the markets
area of The Bull Ring will be buzzing with activity as The ‘Reel’ hits
town from 1pm-3pm. A showcase
of traditional Irish music and dance
will get the city in the St. Patrick’s
spirit in preparation for the following
weekend’s parade. The Irish music will
continue on the evening of Monday
March 9th with a traditional Irish jam
session at The Spotted Dog, Digbeth from 8:30pm.
This year, Birmingham St. Patrick’s
Festival will welcome the return of
Emerald Village alongside the parade
on Sunday March 15th. It will be bigger
and better than ever, taking over Bradford Street, Digbeth and its adjacent
car park.
A bit of history will also feature
amongst the festival events, with a free
exhibition of archived Irish photographs and accompanying stories take
will over The Dome in The Custard
Factory in the week leading up to
parade day,starting Monday March 9th.
The exhibition, organised by Birmingham Irish Association, will embody
the theme of this year’s festival, ‘The
Contribution of the Irish in Birmingham’ by tracking the Irish footprint
in the city through photographs and
stories.
After the week’s events, Parade Day
will hit Digbeth on Sunday March
15th. The day will begin with Festival Mass,10am at St. Anne’s Church,
Digbeth. St. Anne’s Catholic Primary
School Choir will perform a Melody
of Irish Songs, alongside performances
from Birmingham Slovak Community
and Eritrean Culture and Music. St.
Anne’s Parish Musicians and Choir will
also perform a variety of Irish Music
with some classical pieces.
Bradford Street will feature The St.
Pat Rocks Stage, which will play host
to a mix of upcoming local bands and
traditional Irish musicians. An outdoor
bar area and marquee will accompany
the stage, allowing parade goers to
enjoy a real party atmosphere.
Emerald Village will also spill into the
adjacent car park, bringing fun for all
the family with fairground rides and
The Children’s Area, which will include
face-painting, entertainment, bodhran
and tin whistle workshops, and much
more. Market stalls offering something
for everyone, from beautiful crafts to
street food, will also fill the car park.
Emerald Village is an exciting addition
to the already thoroughly enjoyable St.
Patrick’s Parade Day.
Tickets for the St. Patrick’s Gala
Launch Party and Civic Reception are
available for £12 atwww.wegottickets.
com/event/301286. See ‘St. Patrick’s
Birmingham’ Facebook for more
details.
NOT TO BE MISSEDCountry singer Roisin Murphy from Co. Monaghan will be on tour over the
Parade weekend and is being supported by Little Jimmy.
You can see them in action at the following venues:
Fri 13 - St Huberts, Warley, Parish Dance.
Sat 14 - St Patrick’s Club, Rotton Park Rd.
Sun 15 - St Patrick’s Club from 5pm till late.
St Patrick’s Day - 1pm till 5 Irish Centre, Birmingham
St Patrick’s Night - The College Arms, Hall Green from 8.30.
TRACKING
THE IRISH
FOOTPRINT IN
BIRMINGHAM
The theme of this year’s Birmingham St.
Patrick’s Festival, ‘the Contribution of the Irish
in Birmingham’, will be celebrated with a weeklong exhibition of photographs and stories
at The Custard Factory, Digbeth.
Contributors range from b
dentists, and musicians to s
a sneak preview of a few o
stories, before the full stor
nying historical photograph
Factory on March 9th-
From March 9th, The Dome in The Custard
Factory will play host to the exhibition, organised by Birmingham Irish Association. Archived
photographs of the Irish in Birmingham will
feature alongside stories contributed by Irish
people who have made Birmingham their home.
The exhibition will showcase the variety of careers Irish immigrants ventured into upon their
arrival in Birmingham, celebrating their success
in their industry.
Pat Benson: Mayo man, Pat
career aged ten and went o
Irish Army, winning a nation
came to Birmingham in the
tured into coaching and to
Boxing Club. A number of h
national and world titles, an
Olympics. The club has bou
fire in 2004, and has since c
strength to strength, with P
23
The Harp - MARCH 2015
HE ST. PATRICK’S
D FESTIVAL 2015
bus drivers to
sportsmen. We have
of these inspiring
ries with accompahs hit The Custard
t, started his boxing
on to box for the
nal title. When he
e late 1950’s, he venook over Small Heath
his pupils have won
nd competed in the
unced back from a
continued to go from
Pat winning the BBC
DIGBETH PUBS RALLY ROUND
TO SUPPORT ST. PATRICK’S
FESTIVAL AND PARADE
Birmingham St. Patrick’s Festival and
Parade faces a difficult future. The Festival Committee are working tirelessly
to ensure next year’s celebrations will
go ahead, despite the council’s funding
cuts. As well as donations flooding in
from the general public, Digbeth pubs
and bars have also rallied around the
parade, generously offering financial
support amounting to an impressive
figure of nearly £5,000.
The contribution is a huge boost
for St. Patrick’s Festival. The Festival
Committee further added to the pot
through a fundraiser at the Irish Centre on Friday February 20th. Tickets
for the event, which featured live Irish
music and a hot buffet, quickly sold
out. Attendees also had the chance to
further support the future of Birmingham St. Patrick’s by purchasing raffle
tickets on the night.
Chair of the Birmingham St Patrick’s
Festival Committee, Anne Tighe,
says:‘The Birmingham St Patrick’s
Festival Committee is grateful for the
support given by loyal local businesses.
As a voluntary community group, in
the present climate of budget cuts, it
is heartening to know that with their
help the future of the parade will be
secure in the spiritual home of the
Irish in Birmingham, Digbeth. We are
very grateful for all those that have offered such generous support this year
and have helped us to preserve the
wonderful tradition of the St. Patrick’s
Parade in Birmingham.’
Birmingham St. Patrick’s Festival Committee would like to extend a huge
thanks to the following pubs and bars
for their financial support:
The Old Crown, The Kerryman,
Hennessey’s Bar, Alfie Birds, Big Bulls
head, The Irish Centre, The Paragon
Hotel, The Spotted Dog, UnPlug Live,
Cleary’s Irish Bar, The Anchor Inn, The
White Swan
LAW FIRM SPONSORS FESTIVAL
AND PARADE IN THE CITY FOR
SECOND YEAR RUNNING
For a second year running, national
law firm Irwin Mitchell has been
confirmed as an official sponsor of
this year’s Birmingham St Patrick’s Day
Festival and Parade in Birmingham,
which is taking place in Digbeth from
noon on Sunday March 15th.
Unsung Hero Award in 2010. Boxing is in the
Benson blood as Pat’s grandsons are following
in his footsteps at the club.
Noel McLean: Noel left Co. Cork to join his
brother on building sites in England. They
decided to go into the construction business
together and had great success. He is a man of
many talents, helping develop GAA sports in
Birmingham and running a string of clubs. He
and his wife, Mary, currently own Casey Joe’s,
which is run by their daughter, Caroline. He is
very proud of his Irish heritage and his ‘home
from home’, Birmingham.
Susan Roche: Susan grew up in Birmingham,
after moving from Armagh as a child. She has
dedicated her life to dentistry, both practicing and teaching. She has travelled all over the
world to present at dental conferences, from
Japan to Hawaii. Her career culminated in her
appointment as the President of the Odontological Society of the Birmingham Medical
Institute, before she finally retired in 2008.
To read more and view the accompanying photographs, don’t miss the ‘Contribution of the
Irish in Birmingham’ exhibition at The Custard
Factory from March 9th.
More exciting events will be announced soon
so keep checking out http://stpatricksbirmingham.com/ for all the details.
Irwin Mitchell’s continued partnership with the parade and festival ties
in with its ongoing work with the
Irish community in Birmingham and
nationwide. The firm work with Irish
in Britain to campaign on issues that
affect the Irish community, such as Dementia, and also holds fortnightly legal
advice clinics for the Irish community
at the Birmingham Irish Association’s
charity offices at St Anne’s Parish
Centre in Digbeth. The clinics are
run by County Tyrone native, Mark
Lennon, a solicitor at Irwin Mitchell’s
Birmingham office and a Trustee at
Birmingham Irish Association.
Mark Lennon of Irwin Mitchell said:
“We are delighted to lend our support to Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day
Festival. We have always placed a great
emphasis on being actively involved in
the communities where we are based
and are incredibly proud of our links
with the Irish community based across
the West Midlands. The event is a
fantastic celebration of Ireland and its
traditions and culture – and we look
forward to joining everyone at the
festival in March.”
Anne Tighe, Chair of Birmingham St.
Patrick’s Parade and Festival Committee, added:
“We are delighted to welcome back
Irwin Mitchell as a sponsor for this
year’s Birmingham St. Patrick’s Festival
and Parade. Without the support of
businesses like Irwin Mitchell, the
event would not be possible. Being
such a key stakeholder in the city and
with the work they do in the Irish
community, we feel proud to have
such a great organisation like Irwin
Mitchell as our sponsor for a second
year. We look forward to working
closely with Irwin Mitchell throughout
the Festival.”
24
The Harp - MARCH 2015
The Bootleg Beatles
Lunar Festival line-up announced
While Moseley Folk and Mostly Jazz take place
in the more constrained suburban confines of
Sixties legends The Pretty Things are just one Moseley Park, Umberslade allows organisers
of many great acts set to light up the main the opportunity to spread their wings considerably.
stage at this year’s Lunar Festival.
And spread their wings they do with a diverse
Taking place on the Umberslade Estate in and varied festival programme that surely ofTanworth-in-Arden from June 4-7, the festival fers something for everyone.
returns for the third time and this year’s event
promises to be the biggest and best yet with- If last year’s event, which featured stunning
out any shadow of a doubt.
performances from the likes of Temples, Arthur Brown and the Polyphonic Spree was
Organised by the team behind the Moseley anything to go by, this year’s festival should
Folk and Mostly Jazz Funk & Soul festivals, prove to be a sell-out.
Lunar diﬀers from its sister festivals in oﬀering a full-on festival experience with camping, As well as The Pretty Things, some of the main
rather than just a daily programme of events. musical acts include Tinariwen, a spellbinding
By April Stoneman
group of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara Des- Given its Tanworth-in-Arden setting the festival
ert region of northern Mali and former Dr Feel- also reinforces the village’s connections with singgood guitar legend Wilko Johnson.
er-songwriter Nick Drake.
Rising stars Public Service Broadcasting, who
weave samples from old public information films,
archive footage and propaganda material around
live drums, guitar, banjo and electronics are a perfect festival act, while The Bootleg Beatles doing a
1966-70 set is surely a must-see.
Drake grew up nearby and following his untimely
death was buried in the village churchyard.
A hugely popular part of last year’s festival is set to
return, albeit with a slightly diﬀerent twist.
Last year, in association with the Nick Drake EsOther main acts include The Fall, Sun Ra Arkes- tate, 40 people were whisked away to a secret lotra, Julian Cope, Robyn Hitchcock, Claudio Sim- cation to listen to Drake’s Five Leaves Left album
onetti’s Goblin, Jane Weaver,
on the Drake family’s own radiogram. This year,
BBC Radiophonic Workshop, the Amazing Snake- 40 lucky festival-goers will be given the chance to
heads, Psychemagik, Sylvan Esso and Higher In- listen to his Bryter Layter album in similar fashion.
telligence Agency.
BBC Radio 6’s Mark Radcliﬀe will compere pro- Lunar also oﬀers an impresive array of activities
aimed at young and old alike. They include Calypceedings on the Saturday.
so Kids, Crochet Skills, Drum ‘n Bounce and Ska
The Pretty Things are sometimes described as the Aerobics, as well as African drumming, Bhangra
most under-rated and overlooked band Britain dancing and Northern Soul dance workshops.
spawned in the sixties.
The Pink Moon Meadow oﬀers an area dedicated
Guitarist Dick Taylor parted company with fel- to play, creativity and tea and cakes, spanning evlow Rolling Stones founders Mick Jager and Keith erything from five-a-side football to workshops in
Richards to do his own thing.
felting, freestyle dance and hip hop theatre
The band had a truly seminal influence on the Facilities are also being expanded this year to inmusic of the era, being cited by many of their clude a quiet camping field away from the main
more famous peers as a major influence.
festival and luxury camping facilities which inThey were later name-checked by the likes of Iggy clude romantic wooden gypsy caravans.
Pop, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols, Nirvana, &
Families can also avail of reduced price admission
The Libertines, as a primal influence and guiding
to Umberslade Children’s Farm, with a £5 wristlight. band enabling access to the attraction for the
They were also responsible for the world’s first whole weekend.
rock opera in 1967 in the shape of SF Sorrow,
which was acknowledged as the template for The * Day tickets cost £19 for children and £39 for
adults. Weekend tickets (including camping) cost
Who’s Tommy.
£39 for children, £89 for adults and weekend famAs previously Lunar will oﬀer much more than ily tickets are £189. Children under 12, accompajust an array of musical acts with some great club nied by adults, go free.
nights - including Magic Door and well-known
Birmingham psychedelic club Sensateria - oﬀer- To find out more and buy tickets visit www.lunaring entertainment into the early hours.
festival.co.uk.
25
The Harp - MARCH 2015
St. Patrick’s Day
Celebration in
Sandwell
By Siobhan Gorman
Not long to go now till Sandwell
Irish Society’s 13th St. Patrick’s
Day Celebration in the borough
- and we hope you can join us
on Saturday, 14th March from
10.00am until 3.00pm at Central Sixth - Sandwell College,
New Street, West Bromwich,
B70 7PG (formerly The Public,
where the event has previously
been held).
A great day is planned, and we
invite you to come and enjoy
five hours of exciting music,
singing and dancing from a
variety of traditional Irish and
other musicians, adult and
young dancers, singers and musicians from several Irish dancing academies as well as from
local schools. There will be
Irish language drop-in sessions,
face painting, Celtic badge and
bookmark making, St. Patrick’s
Day card making, Celtic bead
and craft workshops, food tasting and several other activities,
with displays and photos of
our work and a variety of Irish
items to see.
will be assured of a warm “Cead
Mile Faílte” – a hundred thousand welcomes to Sandwell and
plenty of fun and craic!
There are always lots of jobs
to do on the day so if you can
volunteer your time for an hour
of two to help, that would be
very much appreciated. Please
contact Siobhan at Sandwell
Irish Society for more information or if you are able to help.
Telephone 0121 553 4402, mobile 0777 391 7073 or email her:
sandwellirishsociety@yahoo.
Why not join us for a great co.uk - she will be pleased to
“Green” family day out? You hear from you!
26
The Harp - MARCH 2015
attend Youth Alpha after school
on the Wednesday, with more
We were blessed to hold our than 160 pupils in attendance.
school mission in January at St
Paul’s and the theme of our mis- We are very grateful to the
sion was: Conversion of heart priests who came to hear conand mind in the footsteps of St fessions and who supported
our mission in their prayers.
Paul.
We are particularly grateful to
We were delighted to welcome Sr Therese who welcomed each
the Sion Community into our Year 7 form group to the convent
school, and thank them for shar- and gave them an inspirational
ing the word of God in very rele- insight into the vocation of the
vant terms of today’s world. The religious life. I was told that both
girls enjoyed many workshops, staﬀ and pupils “could listen to
including ‘Who’s your Daddy’ her for a thousand years!” We
and ‘Choose Life’. There were have been - and are - blessed by
also services of reconciliation, her and all the Sisters here at St
staﬀ morning prayer and lunch- Paul’s.
time masses for all.
The Sion Community brought
It was quite amazing to see a very special atmosphere to
queues of girls waiting to go to our school and left many happy
the Chapel during lunchtime for memories and positive experiprayer before the Blessed Sac- ences behind. Sincere thanks to
rament in Light Fever and also all the team from the Sion Comto see the individual prayer op- munity and staﬀ and pupils. Our
portunities in Prayer 4 U over- school mission will be rememsubscribed each day. The team bered by the girls for many years
had never seen so many pupils to come.
By Miss M Roche
The Sion Community was welcomed into St Pauls
School for their mission in January
Our School Mission St
Paul’s school for Girls
Academic Success and Trinity College Links
Academic Success – Dr Casserly with Patricia Wroe from
Trinity College Dublin with Mrs Canavan
St. Paul’s School for girls has lived St. Paul’s School for Girls’, Edgup to its long tradition of academ- baston has proudly maintained its
second position amongst similar
ic excellence.
schools across the country and
Pupils and staﬀ at St Paul’s School has achieved third position among
for Girls were delighted to be non-selective schools in Birmingawarded one of the top spots in ham. The staﬀ and students are
the league tables and to rank in immensely inspired by this sucthe top 4% in the country in terms cess and are committed to continof results.
ue on the journey to ensure success for all. Dr Casserly, Head of
81% of the girls achieved 5 or more
St Paul’s School for Girls has paid
A*- C grades in GCSE results this
tribute to the tenacity of the girls
year including English and Maths.
and teachers in achieving this sucThis is a time for both celebration
cess for St Paul’s - Birmingham’s
and encouragement as the school only all Girls’ Catholic school in
has improved considerably over Birmingham.
the last year’s performance especially, when most schools nation- Recently Dr Casserly was deally have been hit adversely under lighted to have welcomed Patricia
Wroe, from Trinity College Dubthe new performance measures. lin, to speak with Year 10, 11 and 12.
As you are aware, Trinity College
Dublin is the Oxford/Cambridge
of Ireland and is an internationally renowned university. They are
very keen to establish links with
St Paul’s and we are thrilled to extend our links across the Irish Sea.
Apart from the academic reputation of the university, it is also financially attractive as Irish tuition
fees are only 3000 euros a year in
comparison to England where tuition fees are £9,000 a year, thus
saving at least £18,000 on a threeyear degree course. For further
information on admissions to St
Paul’s School for Girls, please visit
our website www.stpaulgl.bham.
sch.uk.
The Harp - MARCH 2015
27
28
The Harp - MARCH 2015
askrosie
If you have any questions you would like to ask, please write to
Rosie, c/o The Harp News, 17 Glenavon Road, Birmingham, B14 5DD or
email: [email protected] - I am looking forward to hearing from you.
dear rosie
I am due to retire in 2016. It
appears that pension rules are
about to change. How will it
aﬀect me?
Lilian
Sparkhill
Hello, my name is Rosie; I am an advice and information worker at the Irish in
Birmingham Centre at St Anne’s in Birmingham. My background includes Citizens
Advice Bureau, NHS Direct and housing support work and debt advice. My current
employers, IWIC provide support and advice on a wide range of issues including
welfare benefits, Irish pensions, homecare, housing, debt, alcohol and drug misuse,
consumer problems, returning to Ireland etc. What I don’t know, I will research on
your behalf and I will do my best to keep you informed and empowered.
Do you have any questions or issues that
require answers or advice?
It is said that a problem shared is a problem halved and I aim to help with some valuable advice and information. Your confidentiality is respected and all material will be
presented in a way that does not compromise your privacy.
rosie
Dear Lillian,
State Pension is changing from
6 April 2016 for people who
reach State Pension age on or
after that date. This aﬀects you
if you are a man born on or after
6 April 1951 or a woman born on
or after 6 April 1953. You can find
out what your State Pension age
is by using the calculator on the
GOV.UK website.
If you reach State Pension age before 6 April 2016, you are not affected by these changes even if you
have put oﬀ claiming your State
Pension. You will still be able to
claim a State Pension under the old
rules, or continue to get the State
Pension that you are already getting now.
When the new State Pension is
introduced, it will replace the existing basic and additional State
Pension. It will still be based on
your National Insurance contribution record. What you get depends
on how many ‘qualifying years’
of National Insurance contributions you have. Each tax year (6
April to 5 April) that you pay or are
credited with National Insurance
contributions counts as a qualifying year, provided you earn or are
credited with earnings of at least
a minimum amount. This amount
changes every year.
dear rosie
Christopher
Weoley Castle
Non-advanced education or approved training can include GCSEs,
A/AS levels, Scottish Highers, national diplomas and NVQs up to level
3, as well as apprenticeships or traineeships. You can find information
about what counts as non-advanced
education or approved training on
the GOV.UK website at www.gov.
uk. The education must be nonadvanced, so studying for a degree
at university doesn’t count. A young
person must be accepted onto the
course or approved training before
their 19th birthday to be eligible.
dear rosie
07794 059888
My son had to claim Employment Support Allowance because he is unwell
and has had to leave his
job. He did not get paid
for the first seven days he
could not work. Is this
correct?
Phil
Highgate
is where you pay a lower rate of
National Insurance contributions
because you are contributing to
a certain kind of workplace pension scheme, such as a final salary
scheme. If this applies to you, you
will start paying the standard rate
of National Insurance from April
2016. You will not usually be able
to claim a State Pension based on
your husband’s, wife’s or civil partner’s contributions, although there
will be some limited exceptions to
this rule.
The full amount of the new State
Pension will be at least £148.40 per
week, but it is likely to be higher
than this when you can first claim
it in 2016. It will be set above the
basic level of means-tested support, which means that fewer
people will need to claim Pension
Credit as a top-up
rosie
Changes introduced this year mean
that Child Tax Credit will also stop
automatically when your child turns
18 or 19, unless you tell HM Revenue
and Customs (HMRC) that they are
in non-advanced education or approved training.
These benefits usually stop on 31
August after a child turns 16, but
if your child is in full-time nonadvanced education or approved
training, you can still claim for
them until they are 19, or in some
cases 20.
To enquire phone Barbara at The Harp on:
The new State Pension will end
‘contracting out’. Contracting out
I am looking after my
granddaughter who is
currently 15 years old.
What happens to her
child tax credit and
child benefit when she
turns 16?
Dear Christopher,
Book your companies
advertising with us
If you have paid or been credited
with National Insurance contributions before 6 April 2016, these will
be taken into account when your
new State Pension is calculated.
The amount of pension you get for
those contributions will not be less
under the new State Pension than
you would have got under the old
State Pension, provided you have
at least ten qualifying years. These
can be from before or after 6 April
2016 and they don’t have to be ten
years in a row. Future pensioners who have no National Insurance contributions before 6 April
2016 will need 35 qualifying years
of contributions to get a full State
Pension. If they have less than 35
qualifying years, they will still be
able to get some State Pension,
provided they have at least ten
qualifying years.
You can tell HMRC if your child is
eligible in the following ways:
by phoning 0300 200 3100
by post to Child Tax Credits, Tax
Credits Office, Preston, PR1 4AT,
and to Child Benefit Office, PO Box
1, Newcastle Upon Tyne, NE88 1AA.
You’ll need to write to each office
separately if you’re claiming both online at https://online.hmrc.gov.uk for
Child Benefit only.
It’s also important to let HMRC
know if a young person leaves nonadvanced education or approved
training, for instance to start work
or because their course has ended. If
you don’t report a change, you could
build up an overpayment, which you
will have to pay back. You could also
be given a penalty for failing to report a change, or even prosecuted for
benefit fraud if you are found to have
deliberately claimed money you were
not entitled to.
rosie
Waiting days are days at the start
of your claim for Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) or Employment and
Support Allowance (ESA) for which
you are not paid benefit. New rules
from 27 October 2014 increased the
number of waiting days from three
days to seven days if you’re making
a new claim for JSA or ESA. This
means you won’t get paid for the
first seven days of your claim.
The increase in the number of
waiting days doesn’t aﬀect your
entitlement to Housing Benefit
during this period. You can still get
Housing Benefit as if you’re getting
JSA or ESA, even though you’re not
being paid it.
29
The Harp - MARCH 2015
spotlight
on...
by Sheila Fitzgerald
LINDA MARTIN
ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND DOWN
TO EARTH PEOPLE IN IRISH SHOWBUSINESS
Johnny Logan Song ‘Why Me’, Linda delivered
a stunning performance, subsequently scooping the top accolade and winning the contest
for Ireland. ‘Why Me’ reached No.1 in the Irish
Charts and became a huge hit in several EuroThe beautiful songstress has, however, several pean Countries.
more strings to her bow including acting, television presenting, and mentoring young hope- “Eurovision was a dream come true,” Linda explained, “my good friend Dana won in 1970 and
fuls on RTEs You’re a Star.
from then it was one of my goals; step in anothLinda is of Italian/Scottish descent and more in er pal - Johnny Logan. We came second with
depth and interesting information on her an- Terminal 3 which gave me the drive to come
cestry recently came to light on the programme back again”. While it took eight years for the
Who Do You Think You Are; “My great grand- winning song to arrive, it was worth the wait
father was Francis Martini, born in South Gt. and what many people do not realise is that
George St. in Dublin, his mother’s maiden Linda’s Manager at the time was Louis Walsh,
name was Lazzaroni,” Linda explained. Linda’s
relatives, The Lazzaroni’s still live in Milan and who has consistently proved his mettle as a star
make Amorretti Liquer. Meanwhile, her Moth- maker ever since.
er’s people were Nangle/Green from the LarkhLinda is a natural in front of the television camill area of Scotland.
eras, as a presenter of the Lyrics Board and also
Linda’s love aﬀair with music began when as a judge on You’re a Star, the Irish equivalent
she was quite young, she loved singing in the of the X Factor; “I loved You’re A Star, the caChurch Choir which led to performing at Wed- maraderie among all concerned still has a very
dings and then to a Saturday job singing with special place in my heart”. When asked what
her first Band Chips; “I finished school and tips would she oﬀer to youngsters starting out
went on the road with Chips and went professional - nearly gave my Dad a stroke,” she says in the business she replied; “The only advice I
ever give to beginners is to listen, take all the
with a smile.
advice in, use it, and get as much experience as
“I’ve good and bad memories of that time, the possible even if it’s only local Amateur Dramatmanic days of working 6 nights a week in Ball- ics or Karaoke, there’s an abundance of help
rooms and Cabaret venues, there’s a map of available - just ask”.
Ireland embedded in my brain, looking back all
the intense travelling was horrendous but then When she’s not on stage or busy in RTE, there
performing in the TV Shows on RTE was fabu- is nothing Linda likes better than gardening
lous and I was so lucky to have been involved and spending time with her beloved pets; “I live
with that huge music era in Ireland,” she added. in the country and I have a bit of land,” she exFor a period of almost twenty years, Chips were plains, “I’m a green fingered fanatic, so gardenone of the most popular Bands in the country, ing in warm weather takes up a lot of my time”.
releasing numerous singles and performing in She’s also a voracious reader and Frederick Forthe most prestigious venues and festivals. Lin- sythe is her favourite author.
da was lead vocalist throughout the life of the
Band except for a brief stint with Lyttle People Linda is known the length and breadth of Irein 1973. The Band’s Leader, Paul Lyttle, was one land for her commitment and incredible work
of the pioneers of Irish Pop Music throughout for Animal Welfare; “Animals and their welthe 70s and beyond and is a gifted songwriter, fare have always played an enormous role in
producer, and guitarist.
my life, I work with a lot of dedicated people
Linda participated in the National Song Con- all over the country who pick up, rehabilitate,
test as a member of Chips and also as a solo and home anything with four legs and a tail,
artist, winning the Contest twice and going all out of their own pockets,” Linda explained.
on to represent Ireland at the Eurovision, first “So much needless cruelty, if only spaying and
in 1984 with ‘Terminal 3’ when she came sec- neutering was at the tip of pet owners minds,”
ond in the final. However in 1992 with another she continued.
Despite a glittering career in music which has
seen her delight audiences all over the world
for several decades, Linda Martin remains one
of the nicest and most down to earth people in
Irish show business.
Singer, actress and TV presenter Linda
Martin is one of the nicest people in Irish
showbusiness. Inset - Linda performing
her winning Eurovision entry ‘Why Me’ in
Sweden 1992
Linda gives an enormous amount of her time
to Dog’s Aid which is a non profit Animal Sanctuary located close to where she lives.
And for this busy and talented lady 2015 is proving to be another hectic year -the 2015 Contest will be the 60th edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest. The contest will take
place in Vienna, Austria, following Conchita
Wurst’s victory in the 2014 edition with the
song Rise Like a Phoenix. “Just now Eurovision is gearing up for another
spectacular Contest,” Linda says, “thanks to
that Contest I’m still working in Europe, I love
every second and will forever be grateful that I
won”. A sentiment echoed surely by her legion
of fans both nationally and internationally.
I’ve good and bad memories of that time,
the manic days of working 6 nights a week
in Ballrooms and Cabaret venues, there’s a
map of Ireland embedded in my brain
my good
friend
Dana won
in 1970
and from
then it
was one
of my
goals
30
The Harp - MARCH 2015
The
Paragon hotel
Opened in 1903, the buildings original name,
Rowton House is taken from its founder Lord
Rowton, a former private secretary to Benjamin
Disraeli, who in the late 1800’s built a series
of these buildings to accommodate the large
numbers of Irish immigrant workers coming to
England.
Now is 2015, The Paragon Hotel has 13
function rooms available for private dining,
parties or celebrations and with the capability
for up to 550 guests in the Rowton Suite.
This magnificent and beautiful function room
is located at the heart of The Paragon and
offers 2 private bars, private dance floor and
is the perfect place to hold any special event.
From masked balls to wedding anniversaries,
birthday parties to Christmas celebrations,
christenings to school leaver parties, the event
spaces and the team at The Paragon can deliver
an unforgettable experience for you and your
guests.
Located in the heart of the Irish quarters
in Digbeth only 15 minutes walk from
Birmingham city centre, with excellent transport
links to the M42 / M6 / M40 and Birmingham
International Airport, The Paragon is one of the
largest and best conference, wedding and leisure
venues in Birmingham.
For any information, please contact us on
t. 0121 627 0627
f. 0121 627 0628
[email protected]
31
The Harp - MARCH 2015
travel
centre works in “The Spirit of Saint
Patrick” by promoting reconciliation
in Northern Ireland and bringing people together irrespective of their faith,
politics or physical or mental ability.
The centre is also home to the growing Friends of Saint Patrick organisation, which has a chapter in Phoenix
Arizona.
A Visit to
Downpatrick
By Brendan Mulvey
Sunday 17th of March 1996 was a very
special day for the Irish Community
in Birmingham, it was the re launch
of The Saint Patrick’s Day Parade,
the hard working committee under
Chairman Anthony Duﬀy brought
the parade back to the streets of the
city. It was the vision of the
Late Fr Joe
from strength to strength and great
credit to all committee members past
and present, if Saint Patrick was not
our Patron Saint all of those wonderful events might not have happened,
in this issue I am going to share with
you my experiences with my coach
tour following the footsteps of Saint
Patrick.
From Slave to Saint
Saint Patrick was born around AD
400 near the West coast of Roman
Britain, he was the son of a Cleric
who owned a large estate. He was
captured and brought to Ireland
as a slave at the age of 16.
Taﬀee
that
t h e
parade
would be re instated and
he was a very proud man that day as
he went round on the open top bus
watching the 5000 that had turned
out for the parade. In 1997 the crowd
had increased by 10,000 and in 1998
a staggering 25,000 came out to take
part and watch the colourful spectacle, following the success of the
parade it was decided to try an re
launch the Irish Pipe Band, along with
Parade Chairman Anthony Duﬀy five
other attended the meeting, The Late
Frank Brennan R I P, Maurice Long,
Bill Grigg, Geared Weir and myself,
we had no money but plenty of enthusiasm and motivation and all were
determined to set up a Pipe Band, a
lot of fundraising and great support
from the community and the band
was re launched and is now a fantastic Pipe Band, the parade has grown
He was brought to Slemish
Mountain in County Antrim
where he took care of the animals, during the long lonely
days and nights on the mountain he prayed and while praying he discovered his Christian faith, under the cover
of darkness he made good
his escape and returned to
England, he then went to
France, at this point he
was around 21 years old.
He studied as a cleric and
eventually became a Bishop.
He believed he had been called by the
Angel Victoricus and he returned to
Ireland with his followers in AD 432 as
a missionary.
His first convert was a local chieftain Dichu who gave Patrick a barn
for a church in Saul which is close to
Downpatrick. He travelled around the
Northern part of Ireland converting
thousands of pagans and baptising
royal chieftains.
He established Armagh as a Christian
seat of learning and travelled far and
wide preaching the word of the Lord.
On his way back from Croagh Patrick in Mayo he rested in Elphin in
County Roscommon, it was there that
he consecrated the first Bishop of Elphin St Asicius. On another occasion
Saint Patrick was preaching in County
Leitrim a man named Macarten heard
him preach and was deeply moved by
what he heard and became a follower
of Patrick, Macarten was a big strong
man, he became Patrick’s Bodyguard
and when Patrick became tired he
would carry him on his back. There is
a window in the Catholic Church in
Carrickmacross depicting Macarten
carrying Patrick on his back, he consecrated him to Bishop and he in turn
set up his church in Clogher, County
Tyrone. The Cathedral is still used in
Clogher which means “The Golden
Stone”, The Diocese of Clogher Catholic Cathedral is in Monaghan Town
and the Church of Ireland Cathedral is
in Enniskillen. St Patrick passed away
in Saul on 17th March possibly in AD
461.
Downpatrick
The tour of St Patrick’s Country starts
in the town of Downpatrick, its historical centre is Down Cathedral built
on the hill of Down, and is a place of
worship since the 5th century. Within
the small medieval town you can see St
Patrick’s Grave at the historic Cathedral Hill, this is one of the most holy
sites in Ireland and has been a place
of pilgrimage for over 1600 years. A
short walk down the hill takes you to
the Visitor centre and is the only permanent exhibition about St Patrick
in the world and houses a wonderful
interactive display about Patrick’s life
and times.
The centre was established using Millennium Project funding from The
National Lottery, the total cost was
£6.3m and opened in 2001.
The exhibition is called Ego Patricius,
Saint Patrick’s own words are used to
illuminate the arrival of Christianity in
Ireland and its development through
his mission. It also reveals the artwork
and metalwork which were features of
the Early Christian period, as well as
the major impact of Irish Missionaries
in this period in Europe.
The exhibition uses a multi media approach and state of the art technology
to focus on the historical Saint Patrick
and not on the legends, as well as a film
shown in a purpose built cinema. The
On return to the station you then can
travel the four mile journey to Saul
Church which is said to be the first
ecclesiastical site in Ireland and where
Patrick began his crusade to convert
the Irish.
Close to Downpatrick is the ruins of
the 6th century St Tassach’s Church, it
was on this site Saint Patrick received
the last rites from St Tassach. A visit
to the Holy Wells at Struell which is
believed to be the first holy well in Ireland is also worthwhile.
Apart from the permanent exhibition,
the centre also features a Tourist Information centre where staﬀ are so
helpful in making the most of your
visit to the area; there is also a fine art
gallery, craft shop and café. The cen- Of course the visit would not be comtre has an Education Initiative reach- plete without a visit to Armagh where
you can visit the Catholic and Church
ing out to local schools.
of Ireland Cathedrals. I have written
all about Armagh in a previous edition
of The Harp.
Saint Patrick’s Trail
Leaving the exhibition centre the restored railway station is just a short
walk and is well worth a visit, from
here you can take the Steam train to
Inch Abbey, it was here that the legend of the snakes was written. The
abbey is set in
lovely peaceful surroundings beside the
River Quoille,
this Cistercian
Abbey
was
founded
in
1180 by John
De Courcy ,
who led the
1177
Anglo
Norman Invasion of Ulster.
Finally my tour group took a walk up
the gentle slopes of Slieve Patrick, the
views of the landscape of the area are
stunning, and we also saw the tallest
statue of Saint Patrick in the world.
Until the next time its Goodbye and
God Bless from the Hills of Sligo
32
The Harp - MARCH 2015
James McKeefry with
Irene, Tina and Tom
John and Carol with
Tom Forde and Tom Kelly
Lorna Torr and Pearl Fisher
with George and Laura Hicks
McKeefry
Music Festival
Irene & Tom, to name but a
few, that have taken to the
The McKeefry Music Festival stage and entertain the crowds
has hosted a number of great and The Harp popped along
artists at the Charnwood In- with a camera recently.
door Bowls Club in LoughborFor more information about
ough recently.
the Festival or to see up and
Tr Dallas, Sean Wilson, Blake coming dances and diary dates
& Brazil, Curtis Magee and visit: www.mimf.co.uk.
Pictures by Vince
Ireland’s longest running play heads to Coventry
come back many times to take in the
two-hour drama that unfolds within
the walls of Madge Molloy’s humble
cottage.
By Siobhan Gorman
‘gormless to the gossip’ and an interesting story-line the play has been
selling out theatres all over the country for three years now with no sign
of dwindling audiences. In fact nothing could be further from the truth.
With reviews that compare the work
to that of the great John B it’s little
wonder the play is one of the success
stories of Irish theatre.
1960’s rural Ireland was an interesting place. People lived on small farms
and the social life generally centres
round dances, ceilis and rambling
houses. Conversation was the main
source of entertainment and a play
called It’s the Real McCoy – which
comes to the Albany Theatre, Coventry in March – has cleverly depicted this period of rural Ireland in Written by Mayo-based radio presenter Tommy Marren, this produca unique and comic way.
tion is now the longest running amaIt’s the Real McCoy is full-blown ru- teur production in the country with
almost 200 performances across
ral comedy at its best.
Ireland, the UK and America. What
Packed with old Irish sayings, colour- is unique is the fact that punters
ful characters that range from the return more than once. In fact they
Now in her mid-sixties Madge has
lived over forty-years of her life
wondering why her husband Tom
– whom she was married to for just
five months – disappeared without
trace or reason. She was left carrying her only child at the time and
having reared her daughter on her
small holding she has little time for
men in general. However, the arrival
of a new curate to the parish is about
to unleash a whole series of events
that Madge never expects. The plot
thickens by the minute and the decibels of laughter increased dramatically throughout the production.
Whilst It’s the Real McCoy resonates strongly with those who best
remember the 1960’s the reputation
this play has earned has seen the age
profile spread dramatically over the
past year. Perhaps there are resemblances to Fr. Ted that has attracted a
slightly younger audience of late but
there is something about this play
that ‘sucks you in’ and keeps you intrigued right through to the very last
line of the play itself.
The one-liners are hilarious. Old
Irish sayings like ‘what’s in the dog always comes out in the pup’, ‘the cock
can crow but it’s the hen that delivers the goods’ and ‘a squeaky bicycle
always gets the grease’ set the tone
for the night ahead. Madge keeps
her wedding picture turned back to
front on the wall to remind her how
lucky she was to ‘see the back of him’.
However, deep down nothing could
be further than the truth and although it’s a truly comic production
we get to see the softer side of Madge
that leads to a powerful and dramatic
scene that could potentially lead to a
happy ending – or could it?
With Ireland’s two nosiest neighbours, a gormless postman, a nervous curate, a husband with a story
to tell and two love stories It’s the
Real McCoy is a play that you will
definitely remember for a long time
to come. The writer promises almost
300 laughs in two hours. One thing
is for certain and that is that theatre
audiences are buzzing when the cast
take their bow. That says it all.
See It’s The Real McCoy at the Albany Theatre, Coventry on Friday
March 20th and Saturday March 21st
at 8 pm. See www.albanytheatre.
co.uk or call 02476 998964.
COMPETITION
win two
tickets to
watch It’s
The Real
McCoy
To be in with a chance to win two
tickets to watch It’s The Real McCoy at the Albany Theatre in Coventry, simply answer the following
question and send it along with your
name, and number and choice of
night to [email protected]. Who wrote the play ‘It’s
The Real Mc Coy?’
Competition closes on 18th of
March- Terms and conditions apply and tickets are non-refundable.
Good luck!
33
The Harp - MARCH 2015
ANNUAL Fundraising EVENT for LIFE
from the games were donated to
LIFE, a pro-life charity in the UK,
which aims to uphold respect for
human life from conception until
natural death.
The charity oﬀers care and practical housing support for anyone
facing a crisis pregnancy, suﬀering the loss of a baby or coping
after an abortion. It also provides
young people with information
By Siobhan Gorman
and aims to inspire them to think
times exciting 25 cards games were for themselves and make informed
played throughout the evening, decisions on such things as rela-
An annual card game in memory people enjoyed a lovely buﬀet and
of Roscommon born brothers
met up with friends old and new.
Steve and Tom McDermott took
The card game is an annual event
place recently in the Great Barr
organised by Colum Conway and
Social Club, with people coming
some friends, with players comfrom Ireland and Manchester as
peting for the Steve and Tom Mcwell as from around the local area.
Dermott Memorial Shield, who
tionships, sexual health and abortion.
Gerry Ryan was the eventual winner and the much-coveted Shield
was presented to him by members
of Steve and Tom’s family at the
end of a great evening enjoyed by
A number of relaxing and some- both lived in the area. Proceeds many people.
34
The Harp - MARCH 2015
entertainment
By Mark McCabe
Happy St Patrick’s month from Birmingham Irish band, The Father
Teds. There’s plenty of music happening throughout this month as everybody seems to want an Irish band for
their themed night!
The Birmingham St Patrick’s Parade
will be taking place in Digbeth on
Sunday 15th March and we’re delighted to announce we’ll be playing a
gig at South & City college in Digbeth
(just across the road from the Irish
centre). For those who haven’t joined
us there the last two years, it’s a great
music venue with plenty of room (and
bars), which welcomes people of all
ages to come and enjoy an afternoon
on music straight after the parade.
Our good friends ‘Routes’ will be joining us this year, a 3-piece young Irish
group with amazing voices. Music
will be starting after the parade and of
course it’s free entry!
Speaking of the St Patrick’s Parade, as
most of you now know Birmingham
City Council have ceased to provide
any funding for the event so it’s up to
the Birmingham Irish to join together
to raise £20,000+ so that the 2016
parade (and other future parades)
will go ahead. Friday 20th February
saw the local Irish bands give their
services for free to play a fund raiser
in the Irish Centre, it sold out weeks
before the gig and was an amazing
night raising £10,000 in just one eve-
Teds talk
ning! What a start to the fund raising, hopefully other Irish businesses
(especially those who benefit from
the parade) will now follow suit by
giving their time to raise some much
needed funds, it would be terrible for
Birmingham to lose it’s parade after
so many years of being a success and
one of the biggest in the world.
We’re looking forward to another sell
out concert happening at the Gar-
For more info about the band, please visit
www.thefatherteds.co.uk or to book us email
[email protected] or call 07931 504405
rick theatre in Lichfield on Saturday
7th March. The night is in memory
of musician Mike Stanley who sadly
passed away from Cancer. The band
has a connection to Mike and his wife
Yvonne as Ian and myself played in
a band with them around 22 years
ago- Shenanigans. The night will be
a celebration of Irish music with performances from Drowsy Maggie, The
Hurling Boys, The Reel Note and ourselves. There will also be a special per-
formance as Shenanigans with Mike’s
two young sons joining us on stage to
play Guitar and Drums, it promises to
be a memorable night. Unfortunately
there’s no tickets remaining but keep
an eye on our Facebook page for photos and videos from the night in the
coming weeks.
The Father Teds will be back at Birmingham Irish Centre on Saturday
28th March for more craic in the
Connaught Bar (free entry) it’s always
a great night so get there early as we’ll
be on stage about 9.30pm. If you can’t
make it, why not purchase our latest
CD ‘Hear Much Say Little’ from our
website www.thefatherteds.co.uk for
just £5, some might say it’s a bargain!
There’s always lots of things going on
so visit our Facebook or Twitter pages to keep in touch, hope to see you
soon, Mark
35
The Harp - MARCH 2015
musicreviews by Charles Patrick
For further information on these artists call 07896 575307
Artist:
John Hogan
Artist: Caitlin
Title: Infamous Angel
Artist website: www.irishmusic.co.uk
Title
Back To Basics
matured and she handles all of the
songs very well.
Artist website:
irishmusic.co.uk
John has been a popular figure on
the Irish and Country scene since
he recorded his first hit single
Brown Eyes in 1987. He is not only
an excellent singer but is also a
great songwriter and many of his
songs have been covered by other
singers of the same genre. He is
also an accomplished guitarist.
This album is very aptly titled as he
strips the music back to an acoustic sound which features some
great guitar picking and highlights
what a fine voice he has. There are
thirteen excellent tracks, three of
which, My Feelings For You, Turn
Back The Years and Side Of the
Road are his own compositions.
include, In My Father’s House,
Blowing In The Wind, It Keeps
Right On A Hurtin’, Gypsy Woman
and John Denver’s Sunshine On
my Shoulder. There are thirteen
Songs which were made popular tracks in total with the other five
by other artists and feature here being; Dad, Paper Rosie, God’s
Acres, A Song For All Lovers and
Always By My Side, which is my favourite track.
I thoroughly enjoyed this album
and I must applaud John for doing
something a bit diﬀerent but very
special.
Music Packs
There are several double or triple
CD packs available at the moment
by some of the biggest names on
the Irish and Country scene. These
packs, for me, have their pros and
cons. The pros would be that for
those people who like the singer, but
may not have bought much of their
music, this gives an opportunity to
buy some of their most popular releases at a more aﬀordable price.
The cons for me would be the real
fans would already have most of the
songs on oﬀer.
Some of these packs available at the
moment-
Artist: Big Tom
Title: The Ultimate Collection, Vol 1. Double CD.
Tom, as most of you will be aware,
would be considered by many as the
Godfather of Irish Country. This
pack has two CDs each containing
twenty of his most popular releases.
CD 1 includes- The Same Way You en Roses, This Moment Is Mine, IreCame In, Mama’s Roses, Gentle land, I’ll Fly Away and Let The World
Mother, I Love You Still, An Irish Keep On Turning.
Nurse, Four Country Roads, Four
Strong Winds and My Donegal
Shore.
CD 2 includes among others- Back
To Castleblaney, If Tear Drops Were
Pennies, Five Thousand Miles From
Sligo, Tubercurry, Carroll County
Accident Old Log Cabin, Teach Your
Children, Nobody’s Darling But
Mine and Forgiving You Was Easy.
Artist: Patrick Feeney
Title: The Collection- 3
CD Set
Artist website: www.
sharpemusicireland.com
This latest release from this lovely
Laois lady has thirteen great tracks,
in my opinion this is the best album she has done so far. There is a
good mix of tempo’s and ballads and
many to suit the dancing crowds.
Personally
My favourites are: Bright Blue Rose
(of which she does a terrific version)
Men of Worth, to which she gives a
very catchy beat, and a good cover
of the title track Infamous Angel.
Other songs featured are Sweetheart Darling Of Mine, Praying For
Me, Come My Little Son, Living In
These Troubled Times, Cheating
Fire, Erins Lovely Shore and Streets
Of Promise.
Joe Moore duets with her on the
catchy You Ain’t Dolly and I really
liked her treatment of the old classic, After The Ball Is Over.
This is another album I really enjoyed and would definitely recomPersonally, I think her voice has mend to anyone else to have a listen.
Artist: Billy McFarland
Title: Memories of Gold - Available on both CD & DVD
Artist website: www.billymcfarland.com
Billy has been a popular figure on
the Irish music scene for over sixty
years, since he first appeared with
his showband, The Students. He is
an excellent trumpet player and a
fine vocalist.
He is still going strong today and
regulary plays in clubs.
This latest release has nineteen
great tracks with are a good mix of
instrumentals featuring his wonderful trumpet playing and also contains some great songs.
Artist: Robert Mizzell
Title: Pure Country – The
Essential Collection Dolphin Records - 2 CD
Set
This is basically a ‘best of collection’
and it features fifty of Patrick’s most
This is essentially a greatest hit’s
popular tracks.
collection from the Louisiana man.
CD1 has seventeen songs including There are two CDs each with eighDreaming Of You, My Own Sligo teen tracks of his most popular muHome, Behind Closed Doors, Livin’ sic.
Life Lovin’ You, When A Heart Will
Fall, A Moon Over Ireland, Every- CD 1 contains Louisiana Saturday
thing A Man Could Ever Need and Night, I Swear, Home, Say You Love
The Green Fields Of Anthenry.
Me, Mama Courtney, Next To You
Next To Me, The Race Is On and
CD2 features Lady Of Knock, Walk Lovin’ Her Was Easier, among othThrough This World With Me, She’s ers.
Sweet She’s Kind and She’s Mine.
Billy Bayou, Culfadda, The Streets CD 2: Has eighteen great tracks inOf Heaven, Cavan Girl and Lisdoon- cluding- Two Way’s To Fall, Who’s
varna.
Gonna Dance With Sally Ann, I Love
A Rainy Night, Cajun Dance, If ToCD 3 has among its tunes Caladonia, morrow Never Comes, She’s All Lady
My Old Home Town Gurteen, Elev- and One Last Chance.
Title: The Irish Music Lounge
Artist website: www.irishmusic.co.uk
This a compilation of tunes by some Girl, Blue Kilkenny Eyes and Carof Ireland’s most popular entertain- melita.
ers which has been put together by
CD2 features songs such as In My
popular Irish DJ Gerry Byrne.
Fathers House, A Slosh Medley,
Eighteen Yellow Roses, a Don WilThere are two CDs and a DVD.
liams medley, Rosa Rio and St.
The artists featured are favourites Anne’s Reel.
including Kenny Paul, Phillip EngThe DVD has thirteen popular
lish, Caitlin, John Hogan, Mary Duﬀ,
video tracks including- Flower of
Billy McFarland, Shaun Loughrey, Scotland- Caitlan, Take Me DancTony Wall, Frank Nelson, Pat Jordan ing- Phillip English, Lovely Laoisand Jason McGilligan, and there are Pat Jordan, The Black Sheep- Shaun
also a couple of comedy sketches Loughery, High On A Hill Top Edfrom Lee Roy James.
die Gallagher, Now Is The HourMary Duﬀ,
CD1- has twenty tracks including
Daddy and Me, Red is the Rose, In all the pack contains a few hours
of very pleasant listening.
Conway’s 3, Blue Boy, Tipperary
36
The Harp - MARCH 2015
reader’s letters
Dear Editor,
I would like to inform your readers
that the Haemochromatosis West
Midlands support group will be
holding their Spring 2015 meeting
on Saturday 25th April, 10.30am12.30/1pm.
Many thanks,
Kieran Lynch
Via email
The meeting will be held at our
usual venue of St Nicolas Centre,
Kings Norton, but it will be in a
diﬀerent meeting room called The
Small Hall, which is on the ground
floor near the café.
Hi Siobhán,
As usual everyone is very welcome,
including long-term members of
the group and first time attendees.
Our meetings are very informal and
friendly so do come along and feel
comfortable to join in as much or as
little as you wish.
We will be holding a raffle for a bit
of fun, so if you have suitable items
that would make a prize that would
be useful. It would also be helpful
if people who intend to come could
let us know in advance, using the
contact details below, as it helps to
have an idea of numbers for room
set up etc. Just thought I would drop you a line
to let you know how the Charity
Disco in support of the MNDA went
on Friday 27th February at the Irish
Centre.
The night was a great success with
some great raffle prizes donated by
Boots, Solihull, Asda Small Heath,
Cadburys, Cineworld, Solihull and
The Beauty Room, Quinton. We
also have a hand signed Manchester United Football donated by the
Manchester United Foundation
which will be auctioned at a later
date. My father, Charles Begley, orignally
of Bruree, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, was diagnosed with MND last
year and travalled with my mother
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
12
10
13
16
11
14
17
15
18
19
20
21
22
25
26
30
Provided by Jim Stokes
27
23
28
24
29
Just for fun!
Beryl from Manchester to attend the
event. I would like to thank everyone who
supported the event by attending or
donating both raffle prizes and cash
donations. So far we have raised
around £700 and hope to raise more
with the auctioning of the football
and any more ad-hoc donations
that come in via the justgiving
page: www.justgiving.com/CherylAiken/
Check out the next edition of The
Harp for pictures of this event- Siobhan
Dear Editor,
Owing to a late cancellation, The
Holy Show Band has become available for the Saturday prior to St
Patrick’s Day (March 14). Anyone interested in booking the band should
call Martin on 07939 408174’.
ACROSS
1. Chill sonic male. (anag.) The big fella, born
Woodfield, Clonakilty, West Cork, 1890-1922.
(7,7)
8. Learn about Antrim port, the gateway to the
Glens of Antrim. (5)
9. Tear cap in bits in sudden terror. (5)
11. “Only --- my dear, Could love you for
yourself alone and not your yellow hair.”
Yeats (3)
12. Take Dublin Area Rapid Transport return
before queen goes south to the businessmen. (7)
14. Back in Doonbeg riding, lament over ridge.
(5)
16. School let Joan find out about leader of the
inter-party Government in 1948. (4,1,8)
19. Melt senior nut. (anag.) High point of the
Blackstairs, straddling the Carlow - Wexford border. (5,8)
21. Alter alter, but not now. (5)
23. Polishes again and fends off the friendly
approach. (7)
25. A Roman Catholic curve. (3)
27. I leave Soviet in uproar and get signs of
approval. (5)
29. Point out the piebald pony. (5)
30. Flash Noel’s bond around and hear these at
St. Anne’s Church in Cork City made famous
by Father Prout. (5,2,7)
2) Which local singer/songwriter has an album out called Songs of Exile, Love
& Dissent?
3) What weight level is Birmingham
Irish boxer Matthew Macklin?
4) What sport does Irish man Peter Lawrie play?
5) What was the score of the recent Six Nations
rugby match between Ireland and England?
Word Search
This month’s word search features 15 names and things associated with Irish myths and legends. Can you
find them? Remember that the words can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal and run in any direction. As usual
...good luck with your search everyone.
Best wishes,
Cheryl Aiken
Via email
Thank you,
Enda Mullen
Via email
1) Which city is selling more Aston Villa replica shirts than Birmingham?
1. Dublin
2. Rich McMahon
3. Middleweight
4. Golf
5. 19-9 to Ireland
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haemochromatosiswm.org.uk. The Midlands
Quiz with the
Irish Spin!
BANBA
BANSHEE
BLACK NUN
CUCHULAINN
DAGDA’S HARP
FINN MACCOOL
FINVOLA
FIRBOLG
LEPRECHAUN
LIR
MACHA
OSSIAN
PODREEN MARE
POOKA
SHEERIE
P
R
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A
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A
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Z
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A
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B O P B A
A L O V N
A G D O G
K I R L F
I A E H B
C H E A C
X A N A X
H B M O P
A N A S N
N M R S I
A N E N V
R B O L G
N U N K C
N
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Quiz and Word search by Pete Millington
Editor of the Spaghetti Gazetti website. For more trivia and local news on
heritage and culture visit my website at: www.spaghettigazetti.com
DOWN
1. Wall tomb mainly demolished in Clare town famous for its Summer School in
traditional music. (8,6)
2. An arc around Galway coastal resort near St. Mac Dara’s Island. (5)
3. For the chop in tax equity. (3)
4. But is the agency either central or intelligent? (1.1.1)
5. It’s clear that University College comes into the top. (5)
6. Scold repetitively in Dublin again. (3)
7. E.g. throw down set in bits in neat Longford village on the Dublin-Sligo road with
strong literary connections. (14)
9. A page’s seats are overturned in Waterford Harbour village with a ferry to Ballyhack in Wexford. (7,4)
10. Went onwards meandering to Down town at the entry to the Ards Peninsula. (11)
13. The two of them do take you in apparently. (3)
15. Liner fit for a king?
16. Ma’s sister comes after first of June for a pleasure trip. (5)
17. “He can’t think without his ---” Becket - Waiting for Godot. (3)
18. “As unlucky as the thirteenth bonham on a twelve --- sow.” Irish Proverb (3)
20. Large bird hidden in Sneem undergrowth. (3)
22. Prise up and make merry.(5)
24. Fad about an area of Donegal to the north of Portsalon between Mulroy and
Lough Swilly. (5)
26. Mr. Bianconi’s legacy to the Irish nation that is seen after a century. (1.1.1.)
28. Mischievous sprite seen in Cashel fairy tale. (3)
29. “It is a magnificent but painful hippopotamus resolved at any cost, even at the
cost of its dignity, upon picking up a --- which has got into the corner of its den.” H.G.
Wells - Boon (3)
The Harp
Crossword
FEBRUARY
2015
solution
37
The Harp - MARCH 2015
20th
Wedding
Anniversary
family announcements
Kathy and Hughie Millington enjoyed their wedding
anniversary recently.
Many happy return’s from
The Harp Team x
Well Done!
To Aine-May and OrlaRose Mulcrow, at the
Carey Academy Feis in
Birmingham,
From their proud grandmother Margaret Oakley
(nee Coyle) from Cavan.
Also special thank you
to everyone at the Carey
Academy.
If you would like
to have your
family
announcement
featured in the
next edition of
the Harp, please
email office@
theharpnews.
com for more
information
Happy
Birthday
Mary!
Mary Walsh celebrated her
birthday recently with her
husband Colm, family and
friends at the Irish Centre,
Birmingham.
38
The Harp - MARCH 2015
fancyfootwork with Leanne Nelson
Caoimhe Devlin Under
11 SRMCB Champion
Alliyah O’Hare Under
12 Scanlon Champion
Khloe Bradley, SRMCB
Champion
Carmen McAleer,
Clann McCaul Under 9
Champion
Girls Ciara and Sinead
Under 14 backstage
Ciaran Coyle - Scanlon
Under 14 Boys
Champion
Nicole McConway
- SRMCB Under 14
Champion
Mairead Trainor - Trainor Under 15 Champion
Lauren Clarke, Realta
Under 16 Champion
Louise Fennessey,
Brooks Under 17
Champion
Gavin Shevlin, SRMCB
Under 18 Champion
Codie Sheils, SRMCB
Under 20 Champion
Senior Champion Brendan
Mullane, Chicago
GATES OF DERRY
CHAMPIONSHIPS
On 30th January, Scoil Rince
McConomy Bradley ran their
second Gates of Derry Championships. Due to the huge
success of the year before the
Championship
competitions
were ran over two days, with
the graded competitions taking
place two weeks earlier.
The event returned to The
White Horse Hotel, situated
in easy reach of Derry airport
which allowed competitors
from England, Scotland and
further afield the opportunity to
compete. The esteemed panel was made
up of adjudicators, including
ex-Lord of the Dance stars Sarah Clark and Niall Holly, along
with Jackie O’Leary Fanning,
originally from Dublin but now
lives in Canada with her family. Christine Ayres travelled
from Australia ahead of the All
Scotland Championships which
were held a week later, and took
the place of the fourth adjudicator.
The prizes and perpetual trophies were fantastic with a Parade of Champions held on both
days to showcase the talent of
the top 3 winners in each age
group.
Rosetta, her daughter Elan, and
their teaching colleague Matthew Ferry took the time to
thank all for their support and
confirmed they look forward to
welcoming them all back next
year.
39
The Harp - MARCH 2015
After working hard as a referee for years
now I am delighted to announce that I passed
my licence on becoming a professional referee
for both the Malta Commission and The WBU,
World Boxing Union.
Starting off as MC for The ABA, I also passed
my course and licence to become an ABA
Ringside Judge/Referee.
While coaching for the Small Heath Boxing
Club I also passed my licences in the Kickboxing sport and became a referee/Judge and MC
for WKA, ISKA B.L.C.C AND W.R.S.A world ring
sport association.
To now step it up and be even further involved
in boxing is a dream come true and one I will be
focusing a lot of time on.
THOMAS CHRISTOPHER McEVOY
26th December 1939-28th January 2015 R.I.P.
Tommy was born in Church Street,
Cabra Dublin on Boxing Day 1939.
His parents Mary and Patrick had
five children with Tommy being the
eldest.
Until next month, Jason
BURNS FACES
FIGUEROA IN
TEXAS
SHOWDOWN
Ricky Burns will face Omar
Figueroa in San Antonio, Texas
on May 9, live on Sky Sports.
Burns makes his American debut in the clash of the two former World champions as the
Coatbridge star looks to claim
a huge win that would move
back into title contention and
in sight of becoming a threetime World ruler.
The 31 year old travels to Texas
to meet Figueroa, the unbeaten 25 year old vacated his WBC
Lightweight title in November,
stopping Daniel Estrada in
nine rounds in August in Los
Angeles in his second successful defence.
Burns’ clash with Figueroa
is part of a bumper night of
action for fight fans on Sky
Sports, with Frankie Gavin
facing Chris van Heerden for
the IBF International Welterweight title in Birmingham
that day on a card that also features Matthew Macklin, Sam
Eggington and Kal and Gamal
Yafai, while in the States the
bout forms part of the exciting
new Premier Boxing Champions series on CBS.
“This is a wonderful opportunity for Ricky,” said promoter
Eddie Hearn. “I’ve always felt
that Burns vs. Figueroa would
be a fight of the year contender
and now it’s made. Ricky is so
motivated for this fight, it’s
live on CBS in the States, Sky
Sports in the UK; it doesn’t get
much bigger.
One of Birmingham’s most well
known Irish characters and old time
boxer, Tommy McEvoy sadly passed
away recently, he was 76.
Well-known in the boxing community of both Ireland and in the Midlands, Tommy was considered by
most as one of the top five toughest
fighters Birmingham and Dublin ever
seen in the ring.
He had a chin made out of pure stone
and was that game, he would have
fought a bull had it entered a china
shop while Tommy was having a cup
of Barry’s.
Hundreds filled the Holy Souls
church last month to say a found but
sad farwell to their friend, a boxing
icon and teacher of the sport.
From the oﬀ Tommy was a sporting
mad boy and was renowned in Dublin for his swimming; from diving
oﬀ ‘Broom Bridge’ to copying Johnny
Weissmuller’s Tarzan across the local
Loch. Tommy soon walked into the
doors of the Avona ABC and wasn’t
long making his mark with his gloves.
Among many achievements, he won
the All Ireland Jnr title and was lined
up to fill the Olympic squad however
Tommy never took his boxing career
any further than with the ABAs. He
never turned professional, but he
should have done.
“No showers, no mirrors, not even
a ring. It was so basic, the mice paid
rent.”
Yet over the years it became the Gym
of Champions. Kieron & Paddy Benson trained there along with Paddy,
Tommy and Vino Lynch. “It was a safe
haven and we all looked after each
other. Tommy was way better than us
and yet never basked in its glory. We
all trained hard and always left the
gym, hungry for more.
“Tommy was a teacher of the sport at
all times. Often we would see Tommy
teaching others little moves and how
to keep their guard up. We would all
shout at him to come on, but Tommy
would reply back, carry on I’ll catch
you up.”
Tommy became a 9st champion while
boxing in Dublin 1955. In 1956 he won
at 8st 7lbs and in the same year he became the National youth champion
at 8st 7lbs & also became the Leinster
Jnr champion. He won the National
Featherweight champion title in 1958,
Midlands Featherweight in 1960 and
in 1964, he got to be a finalist and became the ABA finalist lightweight.
Tommy even boxed at Wembley in his
childhood and Sean still has his winning cup.
Tommy, in his day, even boxed George
O’Neil, who later turned professional
and became Midlands’s champion.
When they boxed at the Austin Club,
Tommy broke O’Neil’s jaw stopping
him in the 3rd.
At the tender age of 17, Tommy along
with life time friend Sean Keenan,
left Dublin’s shore and headed for
the UK. Both headed to Birmingham
and both after finding digs, walked
into the Ladywood boxing club with
Coach Frank O’Sullivan and the late
Brendan Bresslin.
In later life, after boxing in the ABAs
he concentrated on his family and
personal life. Working doors and doing the rounds at local shows from
his home in Acocks Green.
Sean Keenan told the Harp paper
Tommy had it in him to go all the
way. “We arrived in the Ladywood
gym a few weeks after getting here. It
had nothing at all except a couple of
punch bags and broken windows.
Tommy left a legacy behind with
Midlands boxing and whatever he
does up there in Heaven, he will be so
missed down here on earth.
Hometown favourite faces South African on May 9
Frankie Gavin will challenge Chris van
Heerden for the IBF International Welterweight title clash on May 9 at the
Barclaycard Arena in Birmingham, live
on Sky Sports.
Gavin will headline in the second city
in Matchroom Sport’s first major show
there for 13 years and his first fight in the
city since September 2010, and his meeting with the South African visitor will
follow an appearance on the undercard
of IBF World ruler Kell Brook’s first title
defence in Sheffield on March 28 as the
Birmingham star chases a future showdown with ‘The Special One’.
Van Heerden has beaten British opposition before having defeated Matthew
Hatton in March 2013 in his then-hometown of Johannesburg, defending his
IBO World title for the second time in
the process. The 27 year old now fights
out of California and picked up the belt
he defends against ‘Funtime’ in Birmingham in January , knowing a victory on
foreign soil would see him burst into
World title contention in the lucrative
147lb division.
“It’s a massive fight for me and a huge
one for my first big night in Birmingham,” said Gavin. “Fighting in Birmingham means so much to me and now I am
going to do so in a massive fight as the
headliner of a great bill. It’s time to get
my profile up, get happy, get winning,
looking good again and getting on the
path to a World title.”
World rated Middleweight Matthew
Macklin boxes in Birmingham for the
first time in almost five years as he looks
to bounce back from defeat to Jorge
Sebastian Heiland, unbeaten Super Flyweight sensation Kal Yafai will be in title
action on the card and his brother Gamal
will continue his rise in the pro ranks
while all-action Stourbridge youngster
Sam Eggington will be hoping for a major title bout on the bill should he beat
Shayne Singleton in Hull on March 7.
Tickets are on sale at 9am (February
18) to Matchroom Fight Pass members
priced at £40, £60 and £100 and £150 VIP
from www.matchroomboxing.com.
Tickets go on general sale from 9am
(February 19) with tickets priced £40,
£60 and £100 from www.barclaycardarena.co.uk and VIP tickets priced at £150
exclusively available from www.matchroomboxing.com.
WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB - WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB - WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB - WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB - WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB - WBC WOMENS BOXING CLUB
40
The Harp - MARCH 2015
At this stage, Ireland were well on
top and playing a patient, calm retention game. England coughed
up another penalty for oﬀside, but
Sexton failed to nail the kick, instead pulling the shot to the left
– his first missed place kick of the
championship.
Ireland continued to press and attempted to unlock the English midfield, but the wall of white stood
firm until referee Craig Joubert
blew it up for half-time.
The second half began the same as
the first: Ireland on top. But England’s high defence and excellent
line speed continued to repel Ireland and they were pushed back to
the English 10m line.
RBS Six Nations Review
Victory over England
keeps Ireland’s Grand
Slam hopes on track
By LARRY COONEY
It was billed as the potential championship decider but Ireland’s 19-9
victory over England still leaves Joe
Schmidt’s team on course to retain
their title. However an impressive
20-13 victory by Wales over France
in Paris now puts the Dragons right
back in championship contention
and sets up a possible three-way
championship fight if Ireland fail to
overcome Warren Gatland’s team
in the Millennium Stadium on Saturday week 14 March.
But the smart money will now be
on the holders and only unbeaten
team in this year’s championship
and on recent from alone Ireland
have nothing to fear travelling
to one of their favourite hunting
grounds. And despite a disappointing day for the fancied England
team their manager Stuart Lancaster has not ruled out his team’s
championship chances but it will
take a massive favour from Wales
to maintain England’s hopes after
they were defeated by Ireland last
Sunday for the first time since 2011.
Henshaw comes of age as
Sexton inspires another
momentous victory
Jonathan Sexton inspired the
holders’ 10th successive victory by
producing a masterclass in game
management, while his half-back
partner Conor Murray also flourished behind an Irish pack that
played with furious intent throughout.
Robbie Henshaw’s 53rd minute try
and four penalties from Johnny
Sexton kept Ireland ahead of an
English side that registered just
two penalties and a drop goal from
from George Ford.
Ireland’s latest victory equals their
longest-ever winning run, set back
in 2002/2003. The meniuin green
dominated for large swathes of the
game and had 59% of the possession with the pack also oﬀering a
solid platform from the set-piece
and breakdown.
While England managed seven
clean breaks to Ireland’s one, they
simply couldn’t find a way to pierce
the Irish try line. It was Ireland who
looked sharper, and when they got
their big chance they took it. Conor
Murray box-kicked to the corner
for man-of-the-match Henshaw
to chase, and the Connacht man
out-jumped fullback Alex Goode to
claim the ball and touch down in
the right corner, which Sexton converted. That moment of brilliance
proved the diﬀerence between the
teams.
their own 22 with a combination of
Garryowens and piercing runs.
This should have been rewarded
with a try as Ireland created a
one-man overlap on the left wing;
however, the chance went a begging as they instead went narrow
with Rory Best being held up over
the line. But from the same spell of
attack England were again pinged
on the deck and Sexton slotted another easy three points.
England finally settled as the
clocked ticked towards 10 minutes.
After multiple-phase retention in
the Ireland half, Ford dropped into
the pocket to calmly stroke over a
drop-goal and halve the deficit.
They continued to grind away at
Ireland and were rewarded with a
penalty as Jordi Murphy failed to
roll away in the tackle. However,
from just inside the Ireland half,
Ford pulled his eﬀort on goal to the
left of the sticks.
Early kicking battle
Sean O’Brien’s day came to an end
after 25 minutes. He carried into
contact and suﬀered a knock that
caused him to wobble and collapse
to the ground - not unlike a prize
fighter floored by a left hook. He
was clearly in no fit condition to
continue and was called ashore,
replaced by Tommy O’Donnell at
open-side.
First blood went to Ireland in the
third minute as England infringed
at the breakdown and Sexton stood
up to nail the spot kick from inside the opposition half. Ireland
dominated the opening skirmishes,
pushing the Red Rose back into
The loss of their most dynamic ball
carrier didn’t halt Ireland’s momentum and they pushed England back
into their own half, forcing the
white shirts to play the ball on the
deck. Sexton took his opportunity
to slot his third penalty of the day.
Ireland march on undefeated in
this year’s championship; next up
a very tough away assignment to
Wales on 14 March.
Rob Kearney attempted a drop-goal
from that distance with his team retreating, but the eﬀort whistled left
and wide. But moments later, almost from the exact same spot on
the pitch, second row Dave Atwood
was pinged for entering the side of
the ruck, and a composed Sexton
efficiently landed another three
points from the tee.
Irish pressure
The patience and probing continued from the home team and with
it they got their just rewards. The
men in green went through seven
phases, pounding England in their
own 22, before Murray box-kicked
towards the right touchline where
Henshaw outjumped Goode to
the breaking ball in the 53rd minute. The Athlone man displayed
a dexterity akin to a young Brian
O’Driscoll to touch down just inside the whitewash.
Sexton, from the tramlines, was supremely accurate with the conversion. And all of a sudden England
were in huge trouble, trailing by 16
and needing to score next to stay in
the tie.
Ireland: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe,
Jared Payne, Robbie Henshaw, Simon
Zebo; Johnny Sexton, Conor Murray;
Jack McGrath, Rory Best, Mike Ross;
Devin Toner, Paul O’Connell (captain);
Peter O’Mahony, Sean O’Brien, Jordi
Murphy.
Replacements: Tommy O’Donnell for
Sean O’Brien on 25, Ian Madigan for
Sexton on 54, Marty Moore for Ross on
57, Cian Heay for McGrath on 58, Iain
Henderson for Toner on 65, Felix Jones
for Payne on 70, Sean Cronin for Best
on 73.
England: Alex Goode; Anthony Watson,
Jonathan Joseph, Luther Burrell, Jack
Nowell; Geroge Ford, Ben Youngs; Joe
Marler, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole; Dave
They were given hope when Sexton
was forced from the field with what
appeared to be a hamstring injury.
He was replaced by Ian Madigan.
That momentum change allowed
England strike next as they forced
Ireland into giving a penalty away
on the deck and Ford stroked over
the place kick.
The away team’s hopes were further stoked when Ford added another penalty and Ireland were
once more pressed back.
With Jared Payne forced from the
field due to injury, Ireland reshuffled the backline, bringing Tommy
Bowe into second centre and using replacement Felix Jones on the
right wing. The home team were
hugely under the cosh in the final
ten as their habit of retreating into
their shells in the final quarter surfaced again.
Despite that their defence was a
thing of beauty and their structures
were rock solid, repelling wave after wave of English attack.
The visiting team needed a touch of
magic in midfield, but they couldn’t
find it, instead bulldozing forward
in an all too predictable manner.
The fact that a last-minute try for
winger Jack Nowell was disallowed
for a forward pass in the build-up
summed up their day: mountains
of eﬀort but crumbs of reward.
Wales and Scotland await
So it’s a case of three down and two
to go before Ireland can finish the
job and claim their second Grand
Slam in six years. But it’s too soon
to take an eye oﬀ the ball as another serious test in the Principality
awaits. Wales are still a formidable
team and have improved since their
loss to England but Scotland are
sure to be aﬀected by another shattering defeat by Italy.
Attwood, George Kruis; James Haskell,
Chris Robshaw (captain), Billy Vunipola.
Replacements: Tom Youngs for Hartley
on 53, Tom Croft for James Haskell on
61, Mako Vunipola for Marler on 65,
Nick Easter for Atwood on 67, Richard
Wigglesworth for Youngs on 67, Billy
Twelvetrees for Joseph on 67.
Ireland’s remaining Six Nations
Fixtures
Saturday March 14th
Round 4 – Wales – Millenium Stadium,
Cardiff, 2.30pm
Saturday March 21st
Round 5 – Scotland – Murrayfield,
Edinburgh, 2.30pm
41
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Allianz National Hurling
Cillian O’Connor – The Mayo sharp-shooter was
in great form against Monaghan and could be key in
Mayo’s league campaign.
League Review
Dublin
upstage
holders and
Crucial rounds for finalists
Allianz National Football
League Review
all four Divisions
By Larry Cooney
After a two-week interlude the Allianz
Football League resumed last weekend.
The month of March therefore looks
certain to sort out the ‘men from the
boys’ in terms of further progress and
will also be seen as the defining month
for the competition ahead of the final
round on Easter Sunday April 5th. But as so often has been the case in so
many previous years league form might
not necessarily reflect true championship form later in the year in the months
of May/June July. Early league form can
also be quite misleading and with five
more rounds to be played there is still
everything to play for even for the seven
teams who have yet to record a victory. Many would not have predicted that
holders Dublin would lose two out their
opening three games in Division 1 while
who would have believed that Kildare
would lose their opening three games
including one against surprise leaders
Westmeath after three rounds.
negal who have also settled well under
new manager Neil Gallagher.
Division 3
Derry – Derry and Monaghan could
make the drop. Oak-Leafers could be
sucked into a relegation dog-fight. But
the Ulstermen also look forward to the
return of All-Ireland Club (SFC) finalists Slaughtneil’s representatives. However despite a very promising display in
Omagh in their draw against Tyrone
last year’s losing finalists Derry are now
rooted to the basement. But it’s still far
too soon to say who will drop down.
Armagh and Fermanagh – Ulster counties lead the way. Armagh and Fermanagh are two of three counties over the
four Divisions who have 100% records.
But while Armagh always looked out of
place in Division 3 few could have predicted that manager and Down native
Pete McGrath would be joining Kieran
McGeeney’s men at the top of the Division after three rounds.
Division 2
Division 1
Galway – Tribesmen look set to be
among promotion contenders. With
the return of the impressive representatives from All-Ireland Club (SFC)
finalists for the later rounds Galway
are well placed to push for a return to
Division 1 after winning their opening
two rounds. New manager and former
Galway player Kevin Walsh has settled
on well and on current form the men in
maroon could really put it up to Mayo
in this year’s championship.
Kerry – Normal service resumed in the
Kingdom. Kerry welcomed back Kieran
Donaghy and his Austin Stacks team
mates for the visit of Dublin to Killarney for their third round clash. And it
was clash that did not disappoint with
Dublin going under by two points after
a very competitive encounter. Dublin
also welcomed back their St.Vincent’s
representatives after the All-Ireland
Club (SFC) holders were recently relieved of their title by Galway’s Corofin.
Westmeath – Cribbin stops the decline.
What a diﬀerence a year and a new
manager makes! Kildare native Tom
Cribbin has also made a promising start
in the Lake County with two wins in his
first three games. And since their only
defeat was to Galway there is no doubt
that Westmeath’s alarming decline has
now been addressed. But neighbours
Meath will be keen to test their progress
in Navan in the fourth round.
Mayo – Mayo re-energised. Mayo also
recovered from the hiccup of their
surprise home defeat to Tyrone with
a resounding victory over Monaghan
also in MacHale Park. The Connacht
champions upstaged All-Ireland champions Kerry in the opening round and
with Killian O’Connor back in top form
Mayo are top of the table on points difference. But more importantly the new
joint-managers have settled in rapidly
to propel Mayo among the league contenders.
Down – Mournemen among promotion contenders. Victories over Kildare
and Cavan have given Down a satisfactory start and they could challenge Galway for the top spot.
Cork – Donegal end promising start. A
great start for Cork ended with a narrow defeat by Donegal in Ballybofey in
the third round. Consequently the Rebels now share the top of the Division
with three other teams including Do-
Kildare and Laois – Leinster counties continue to slump. Poor starts for
Kildare and Laois have left both Leinster teams in a precarious position
and close to the relegation trap-door.
Laois followers will be very concerned
with their team’s continuing slump in
form under the management of Tomas
O’Flatharta. But after a good O’Byrne
Cup campaign the current poor league
form of Kildare has taken everyone by
surprise including their frustrated manager Jason Ryan.
But there’s lots of football to be played
yet and the positions will inevitably
change over the remaining rounds. After kicking twenty-two points against
Sligo in the last round Clare could be
the surprise packets in the Division but
it also looks like the Yeats County and
Wexford might be heading for the drop.
After a promising start in Armagh it
looks like promoted Tipperary may
have to wait another year before they
contemplate any progress up the Divisions after they slumped to a four-point
defeat by Fermanagh in Enniskillen in
the third round. Meanwhile Limerick
and Louth look good for a mid-table
finish.
Division 4
Longford and Oﬀaly – Leinster promotion contenders. After being relegated
last year it looks like both Longford and
Oﬀaly are set for an early return to Division 3. Oﬀaly are the third county with
a 100% record and are making steady
progress under new manager Pat Flanagan. Their third round twelve-point
point victory over Wicklow in Aughrim
was particularly impressive.
Carlow – Improving Barrowsiders. But
it is Carlow, also with new manager
Turlough O’Brien, who have made the
most meteoric progress in the Division.
Beginning with an impressive draw in
Belfast against Antrim the Barrowsiders
have since recorded two victories over
London and Waterford at Dungarvan.
London – Exiles still await a victory. After impressive performances against Offaly and Carlow Pail Coggins’ team were
most disappointing against Longford in
third round. Although the conditions
did not help the Exiles their heavy defeat to Jack Sheedy’s promotion-chasing
team will have seriously undermined
their confidence. But there are possible
points to be picked up yet by London
possibly against Leitrim and Waterford.
Division 1A
Division 2A
After just two rounds it is a re-energised and unbeaten Dublin who are the
talk of the hurling world. Under new
manager and Cork goal-keeping legend
Ger Cunningham the Sky Blues have
proved that there is life after Anthony
Daly with victories over Tipperary and
Kilkenny in the opening rounds. They
now welcome Cork to Croke Park as
part of Spring Double-Header with
Tyrone involved in main football event
next weekend.
Carlow and Kerry look set to battle it
out for promotion
After a deserved twelve-point victory
over Tipperary in Parnell Park, Dublin
travelled to Kilkenny on the following
week where they hit twenty-five points
as they played the Noresiders oﬀ the
Nowlan Park pitch. Three second-half
Kilkenny goals gave a false reflection
of their five-point victory over the AllIreland champions who still have the
Ballyhale players involved in the AllIreland Club (SHC) final to return.
Last year’s losing finalists Tipperary recovered well after their Dublin defeat
to see oﬀ Galway in the second round.
The Tribesmen had defeated Clare in
the opening round and after another
loss in Pairc Ui Rinn the Banner face
a ‘must-win’ match against Tipperary
in Ennis this Sunday. But it’s still all to
play for inn a very competitive group.
Division 1B
Opening round draw could thwart
Limerick’s promotion hopes again
Unbeaten Wexford look set to join
Limerick and Waterford in a three-way
promotion fight. Limerick still have
the Kilmallock players to return after
the All-Ireland Club (SHC) final on St.
Patrick’s Day. Laois look set for the relegation play-oﬀ against Division 2 A
winners.
A surprise defeat for Westmeath in
Derry has left Carlow, Kerry and Derry
best placed to battle it out for the title
and a place in the Promotion Play-Oﬀ .
Wicklow and London look set to battle
it out for the drop to Division 2B.
Division 2B
Shock Meath defeat could pave the way
for Kildare promotion
A heavy defeat by Kildare in Trim for
Meath has left unbeaten Kildare in a
strong position for a quick return to
the Division 2A. The Christy Ring Cup
holders were very impressive against
a Meath team who recovered well in
the second round in Castlebar against
Mayo. Donegal and Armagh and Mayo
could be involved in a three-way relegation fight.
Division 3A
Roscommon have it all to do to get promoted
Although Roscommon had been hoping for return to Division 2B it looks
like Ulster’s Monaghan and Tyrone
may yet have a say. But Fermanagh look
set to drop down again to the basement
Division.
Division 3B
Longford could thwart Warwickshire’s
promotion hopes
Longford, Sligo and Leitrim are Warwickshire’s opponents in this Division.
Now without the Fullen Gaels players
for the second consecutive season the
Exiles will be hard pressed to make it
out of the Division with Lory Meagher
Cup holders Longford favourites for
promotion.
All-Ireland Senior Club Championship Finals
This year’s All-Ireland Club (SFC) final
between Galway’s Corofin and Slaughtneil from Derry has a real novel look
about it. It will therefore be extremely
difficult to predict a winner after both
finalists impressed in their semi-final
victories. The Derrymen required
extra-time before seeing oﬀ Kieran
Donaghy-powered Austin Stacks from
Tralee and really impressed in a thrilling encounter in Portloise. But any
team who can account for the hold-
ers as Corofin did against a formidable St. Vincent’s team from Dublin
must be considered slight favourites.
The hurling decider between Limerick’s Kilmallock and Ballyhale Shamrocks is equally intriguing. The game
may also have even greater significance
if it should prove to be Kilkenny legend
Henry Shefflin’s ‘swan-song’. It’s anyone’s game but after their impressive
victory in the Munster final it could
well be Kilmallock’s year.
42
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Ireland bowling over the
critics at World Cup
By Aidan Begley
Historically, Ireland are very
much used to playing the part of
the underdog in sport. There’s
only really Rugby Union where
the strength and depth of the
game in Ireland will see the boys
in green pegged as favourites in
the vast majority of games (save
for ties against Australia, New
Zealand and South Africa).
If you look at their pedigree in
Cricket, invariably, it’ll be ties
against the lesser lights of the
sport where they might take the
favourites tag, where the likes of
Afghanistan, Netherlands, Scotland now see Ireland as a scalp in
World Cricket.
Ireland, however, are never one
to let reputation and form get in
the way of a shock and they’ve already been making waves in the
Cricket World Cup, with a sensational four-wicket victory over
the West Indies in their opening
game of the competition.
The Windies looked like they’d
posted a formidable target after
Lendl Simmons – the nephew
of Ireland’s West Indian Head
Coach, Phil Simmons – scored
102 runs and shared a partnership
of 154 with Darren Sammy (89) as
they recovered from 87-5 to post
304-7.
But Ireland pack a punch in their
batting line-up and a number of
key partnerships put them in a
great position to claim victory.
Captain Will Porterfield and Paul
Stirling scored 71 and Stirling (92)
then shared a stand of 106 with
Ed Joyce who plundered 84 runs
himself.
Niall O’Brien added 79 not out
as Ireland eased to victory with
25 balls left, securing them their
fourth World Cup win over a Test
playing team. These previous
victories were over Pakistan and
Bangladesh in the 2007 World
Cup, and the famous victory over
England in the 2011 tournament.
It’s no surprise that Ireland didn’t
baulk at the total posted by the
West Indies. In Cricket World
Cup history, there have been
five run chases in excess of 300
and Ireland have been involved
in three of them, so
the boys in green
are
evidently
very much fans
of the chase
and are confident they’ve
enough
firepower
in
their
batting
line-up to
achieve this,
which they did
over the
West Indies.
Speaking after
the game,
Captain
Porterfield
h e a p e d
praise
on
both
the
batting
and
bowling attacks,
saying it was a real
team
eﬀort that ended up securing
such a fantastic victory in Ireland’s opening game.
He said: “As we’ve seen, the pitch
was a very good pitch. It was very
hard to take wickets on. So I think
the way the lads stuck at it up
front and picked up those wickets
there made it slightly harder for
them. And that’s not the biggest
ground especially with the wind.
So I thought the lads stuck to
their job well and set it up for the
batters really
“We posted some big partnerships for the first three wickets. They came at us after a few
overs pretty aggressively, and the
way the lads stuck at it and kept
scoring was great. Obviously, we
knew there was a lot more in the
tank from what we had been doing. But as I said before, the way
we prepared in the nets and how
we’ve gone about things, not just
on the cricket pitch but mentally
as well, and how we’ve prepared
has been great, so it’s nice to get
the rewards on day one.”
Porterfield also took
the op-
“We’ve played nine one-day internationals against the top
eight teams in the last four years
so we’ve had very little practice
against opposition of that quality
in the run-up to the World Cup.
It’s fantastic for the lads to win
against a team like West Indies and
it’s right
up there
w i t h
our best
achievements in the
50-over one-day game.”
Ireland made sure they backed up
their victory over the West Indies with a nerve-wracking
narrow two wicket victory
over
the
United
A r a b
Emirates
in Brisbane
in their second game.
portunity
to
showcase
how
Ireland can play
against the Test
playing nations,
which he is hopeful
can be more often as Ireland are
still pushing their case to be offered Test status.
He said: “It would be nice to have
more fixtures like this outside of
the four-year World Cup cycle,
but we’ll grasp any opportunity to
play a top eight nation with both
hands. Cricket seems to be the
only sport in which labels like ‘Associate’ are used, rather than just
having a straightforward ranking
system. It’s frustrating but it is
what it is.
This time it
was Kevin Wilson who provided a
vital 80 runs to help Ireland
chase down the UAE’s total
of 278 with just four balls to
spare in a real edge-of-yourseat encounter as Ireland
just about managed to sneak
home to victory.
Perhaps it was the come down
after the West Indies game, but
Ireland never really got firing in
this tie, drawing on all their experience in order to grind away
at the target posted by the UAE,
something that Irish batsman
Kevin O’Brien reflected on after
the game.
O’Brien said: “If we had lost, it
would have been a real kick in
the teeth. We can play a lot better
and we will. It was not our most
accomplished performance - we
were a bit scrappy all round. UAE
batted really well and we got out
of jail. We didn’t play well but it is
two points. In the end fitness and
a bit of professionalism from ourselves showed.”
The ethos of not playing well but
getting the victory is something
that Captain Will Porterfield also
reflected upon as Ireland kept up
their 100% record in the competition so far.
Porterfield said: “A win is a win.
There was a lot of euphoria over
the West Indies game, and that
was great. But within the games,
it’s some of the best feelings I’ve
had in terms of it’s cool, calm,
collected feeling right throughout the chase, and that’s what
we were after and how we play
our cricket, and we were still out
there in the last 20 overs (against
UAE), even though the rate was
getting up over 10s at one point
or getting close to 10s.
“That’s a great feeling to have
within the changing rooms, that
you’ve got 100 percent backing
from in there, and lads are calling
what’s going to happen before it
happens on the pitch, and that’s
a great place to be in my opinion, for a dressing room to be. I’m
happy with both wins and how
we’ve gone about them.”
Ireland now progress onto their
remaining fixtures which include
extremely tough games against
some big hitters in the one day
game, South Africa (3rd March),
India (10th March) and Pakistan
(15th March).
In between these games, Ireland
face a crucial fixture against Zimbabwe on 7th March where a victory could aid their progress into
the knockout stages of the tournament, but that could well be
dependent on other results going
their way.
Either way, so far Ireland are giving an extremely good account
of themselves and who knows,
with a bit of luck their journey
may continue on for other week
or two.
43
The Harp - MARCH 2015
Former Ulsterman looking to
propel Worcester into final
Former Ulster hooker Niall Annett will be looking to put an
end to Leinster A’s British & Irish
Cup run when the Irish side face
Worcester Warriors at Sixways
Stadium on Friday 13 March.
The 23-year-old has become an
ever-present for his new side,
making over a dozen appearances
this season in Warriors’ impressive 22-game winning run from
September to March.
But he knows this month’s semifinal against the Cup holders is
going to be a difficult hurdle for
his side to jump.
He said: “I’ve played against
Leinster throughout age-group
level with Ulster and at ‘A’ Level
as well. They are always a tough
team to come up against.
“They’ve got such a huge pool of
COMPETITION
Win 4 free tickets to
Warriors v Leinster A in
British & Irish Cup semi-final
players to choose from in Ireland
so they obviously put a massive
emphasis on young players getting opportunities to play for the
‘A’ side in this tournament.
“They play with a high tempo
while they are very aggressive at
the breakdown and set-piece so
they’ll be very dangerous.”
Warriors’ unbeaten record includes seven wins out of seven in
the Cup, having already defeated
Irish opposition twice in Munster
A. And Annett, who has been on
the winning end of most of his
previous clashes with Leinster A
while with Ulster, is hoping the
trend will continue.
He added: “Whenever I faced
Leinster A with Ulster we had a
really good record. Hopefully that
record continues with Warriors
and we can go all the way.
By Tom Vale
Former Ulster
hooker- Niall Annett
“Leinster always travel well so
hopefully a big crowd turns out
and we can put on a good show.”
Tickets are available for the game
by visiting warriors.co.uk or calling 01905 459309.
How do you fancy watching Leinster A take on Worcester Warriors in
some Friday night rugby?!
On March 13, reigning champions
Leinster will battle Dean Ryan’s
Warriors who will be looking to put
an end to the Irish side’s hopes of a
third consecutive trophy.
For a chance to win tickets to the
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44
The Harp - MARCH 2015
ISBN 977-2-05354-200-4
03
9 772053 542004
2015 RBS Six Nations Rugby Ch
ampionship
Paulie’s
World Cup
Swansong?
Ireland captain Paul O’Connell: The Limerick-born Irish rugby
legend could call time on his playing career later this year.
By Larry Cooney
Just over eighteen months since
the retirement of Brian O’Driscoll
it looks as if Ireland’s rugby captain
Paul O’Connell might also call time
on a glittering playing career at the
end of this year’s World Cup campaign. As Ireland celebrated a deserved ten-point victory over England in last Sunday’s Six Nations
third round clash, the Ireland captain dropped his biggest hint so far
that this may well be his final year
in the green shirt that he has wore
with such distinction since his senior international debut against
Wales in 2002.
Although he did everything he
could to avoid upstaging Ireland’s
outstanding 19-9 victory over England there is no doubt that last
Sunday might well have been Paul
O’Connell’s final Six Nations appearance at the Aviva Stadium.
And as his young son Paddy escorted him oﬀ the pitch and down
the tunnel it was also noticeable
that both Eoin Reddan and Ronan
O’Gara both reached out for his
hands to congratulate him in what
might well have been a symbolic
‘swansong’ hand-shake for the Irish
rugby legend. Speculation that af-
ter the World Cup the career of the
35-year-old will take the inevitable
turn seemed reinforced. He wasn’t
about to deny it. Just the timing is
at question.
Speculation that after the World
Cup the career of the 35-year-old
will take the inevitable turn seemed
reinforced. He wasn’t about to deny
it. Just the timing is at question.
But it looks as if the answer to the
question on O’Connell’s possible
retirement will have to wait until
at least October as Ireland now prepare for their most important visit
to Cardiﬀ since their unforgettable
Grand Slam-clinching performance
in 2009.
Six Nations and World Cup a
big focus
“Eh, it could have been,” said the
Irish captain. “I just don’t know
yet. I’m undecided. As I said I really
want to play in the World Cup and
be the best shape I can there and I’ll
see after that.”
With England not due back for a
Six Nations match for two years –
although they will play a friendly
against Ireland before the World
Cup – Sunday was O’Connell’s fi-
nal memory of Six Nations games
against England in Dublin.
“Yeah, yeah it probably is,” he said.
“There’s no point codding myself
too much . . . Yeah I’d say that’s
probably my last home Six Nations
match against England.
“I just genuinely haven’t decided
what to do yet. I really enjoy the
playing at the moment in the set
up we have in Ireland but I’m conscious that we have very good second-rows as well.
“They’re coming through and as
I say the World Cup is a big focus
for me and I want to go there in the
best shape as I can. That’ll be decision time for me.”
But the Ireland captain predicted
the hardest test for Grand Slam glory will come in Wales in a fortnight.
“It’s probably going to be our hardest day of the championship, away
from home is obviously harder,” O’Connell said after Ireland
equalled their record of 10 consecutive wins.
“They’ve put themselves in with a
chance with a big win over in Paris
so it’s going to be incredibly difficult.”