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The Harp - APRIL 2015
ISSN 2053-5420
APRIL 2015 - £1
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
website: www.theharpnews.com
ST. PATRICK’S DAY FESTIVAL
PICTURE SPECIAL PAGES 20-28
World champion
Irish dancer and
Riverdance star, Ciara Sexton pictured
with Pierce O’Reilly,
CEO Irish TV
Radio and TV personality Bob Brolly
launched Irish TV with a two-hour live show
from the Irish Centre in Birmingham
Irish TV launched
live in Birmingham
By Brendan Farrell
Irish TV, Ireland’s first International TV
channel was launched in Birmingham
with a two-hour live extravaganza of
chat, music, song and dance-broadcast
from the Leinster Suite at Birmingham
Irish Centre.
CONTINUED ON PAGE 3
MORE...LOCALNEWS•INTERVIEWS•FEATURES•IRISHHISTORY•OUTANDABOUT•MUSIC•SPORT Bekindtotheenvironment:pleasepassmeontoafriend
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The Harp - APRIL 2015
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The Harp - APRIL 2015
Make up time before the new
show goes on air-Bob Brolly
with Diana Stoencheva from the
‘Make Up Centre’ in Birmingham
The Lord Mayor of Birmingham,Cllr Shafique Shah, Pierce
O’Reilly, CEO Irish TV, Bob Brolly, Dennis Meagher, Premier
Metals in Coventry, and David Armstrong. Wasps, based at the
Ricoh Arena in Coventry. The Olympic torch in the picture represents the fact that during the recent Olympics, all the torches
were made by Dennis’ firm in Coventry
Katie McPhilimey who will
be hosting the new Irish TV
‘Midlands Live’ programme
Carole Scanlon with her Irish
dancers who took part in the show
Ireland’s first international TV
channel launched in birmingham
...from page 1
The largest of the Irish Centre’s function suites had been converted into an
impressive TV studio, complete with
chat show and entertainment stages,
and additional capacity for a 200 seated invited audience.
The show also launched a new Midlands base for Irish TV which will be
headed up by well-known radio and
TV personality Bob Brolly.
Well used to fronting TV shows, Bob’s
relaxed
interview
style soon had his
chat show guests
at ease. Representatives from the
Irish community in
Birmingham
and
others areas of the
Midlands chatted to
Bob including Sister Sabina from Sifa
-Fireside, Kildare born Dennis Meagher, whose firm designed the recent
Olympic torch, Irish dance teacher
Carole Scanlon and John Fitzgerald of
Minstrel Music. Malachi Cush, Irish TV’s Head of
Broadcasting said, “We are constantly
pushing the broadcasting boundaries
here of Irish TV and I’m sure they will
have been very impressed with what
they saw on their screens on March
26th.”
Speaking about Irish TV’s new office,
based at the Irish Centre in Birmingham, Bob Brolly said, “Irish TV’s Midlands base will open up a whole new
audience for the channel, as well as
ensuring the Irish in this region can
become more connected with home by
telling their own stories of what’s happening in the Irish
scene in the UK and
also following what’s
happening
back
home in Ireland.” We are constantly
pushing the
broadcasting
boundaries here
of Irish TV
The Birmingham Irish Pipes and
Drums band opened the show and
the Lord Mayor of Birmingham,Cllr
Shafique Shah, whose grandmother
came from Dublin welcomed the TV
audience to Birmingham.
Irish dance, music and song included
the Scanlon School of Irish dance,
Riverdance star and World Champion
Irish dance Ciara Sexton, The Father
Teds and many more.
Within a short time Irish TV’s global
audience began to tweet their delight
with the new show and towards the
end the ‘tweets’ reached one of the
highest levels ever recorded.
Irish TV will officially launch two
new shows from the
Midlands region.The
first is a magazine
style half-hour programme, ‘Midlands
Live,’ which will feature mostly Irish
related stories from across the Midlands. This show, which will air within
the next two weeks, will be hosted
by Katie McPhilimey who has Donegal and Galway roots-Katie is already
well known in the region as managing
editor of the luxury lifestyle magazine
‘Live 24 Seven’. Bob Brolly will also be
appearing in this show from time to
time.
Due to go on air within the next
month is a 12-part series called ‘Brolly
and Friends’, a one hour lively chat
show with Bob and guests.
The new Irish TV office at the Irish
Centre in Birmingham will also be
fully operational within the next few
weeks.
Bob Brolly`s launch show is repeated
on Easter Sunday at 1pm on Sky 191
and Freesat 400.
4
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Solihull schoolgirl crowned a
British kickboxing champion
By Gabriel Filan
Aimee O’Malley
A Solihull schoolgirl is celebrating after becoming a British
kickboxing champion.
Aimee O’Malley, aged 11, took
the title at the World Association of Kickboxing (WACO)
British Championship in the
‘minus 37 kilos continuous
kickboxing’ category in Kings
Heath.
Aimee’s achievement is all the
more remarkable as she only
took up the sport two years ago.
And the Solihull Junior School
pupil is no stranger to success.
Four months ago she won the
International Sport Kickboxing
Association (ISKA) English National Championships.
Not one to rest on her laurels,
Aimee, who lives in Sutton
Coldfield, now has her sights set
on the Top Ten British Championship in May taking place at
Birmingham’s NIA.
spired by a former military man
who taught her the importance
of being super fit and healthy in
both mind and body.
A top three placing at that event
will see her land a place in the
World Championship, which
takes place in Edinburgh in November.
“She loves her sport and is also
keen on hockey, netball, running and climbing.”
In the meantime Aimee also
hopes to get her black belt in
the martial art in July.
Speaking about her recent
achievement, Aimee said: “I was
absolutely thrilled with my win.
“I’ve been training really hard
three days a week for this and
it’s so exciting to have won.”
Aimee’s mum Sian added: “Aimee took up kickboxing when
she was eight after being in
Mark Penney, head of Solihull School Junior School, also
praised Aimee’s endeavours.
He said: “We are immensely
proud of Aimee’s achievement.
“She’s a tremendous young athlete and has worked extremely
hard for her success, setting a
fine example to others.
“Solihull School is well known
for its sporting prowess and Aimee’s amazing achievement has
greatly enhanced that reputation.”
Birmingham dance academy set to
perform at the Royal Albert Hall
Members of the Smooth Moves Dance Academy will be dancing
at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Easter Saturday
By Gabriel Filan
Talented dancers from the Smooth
Moves Dance Academy will be taking to the stage at the Royal Albert
Hall in London on Easter Saturday.
A total of 59 dancers, aged from six
to 25, will be dancing a five-minute
‘Bish Bosh Bollywood Mega Mix’
routine as part of the Mardi Gras
Stars in the Round show.
The Smooth Moves dancers have
been getting together on a regular
basis to rehearse at the Fox Hollies
Forum in Acocks Green for the big
event.
Rosie Graham, principal of the
dance school which is based in
Acocks Green and Sheldon, said:
“Their confidence and commitment has been phenomenal, particularly as they have only been dancing for a short period of time. “This will be a very special day for
all my pupils and parents and I wish
them all the luck in the world.”
5
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Dublin
entrepreneur
shortlisted
for awards
Other titles won by
Ravinol Chambers (centre)
include Key Person of Influence Partnership Award
By Gabriel Filan
A Birmingham film production company founded by a Dublin-born entrepreneur has been shortlisted in
two key UK award programmes.
Digbeth-based Be Inspired Films says
it is delighted to have been shortlisted in both awards, with three potential gongs to collect. The company, founded by Ravinol
Chambers, has been nominated in
both the TV/Video/Audio Production (Under 40 Staﬀ) and Sponsorship (Under 40 Staﬀ) categories in
the RAR Awards 2015. cluding Deutsche Bank, the General
Medical Council and the Cabinet Office, but has a particular connection
to the charity and social enterprise
sector. In addition to producing films and
animations for a range of charities,
government agencies and CSR departments, Be Inspired Film’s training arm VideoKnowHow oﬀers lowpriced coaching for organisations to
help them make their own marketing
videos in-house. The winners of the Better Society
Awards 2015 will be announced on
May 14 in Mayfair, London. Rather than being chosen by judges,
finalists and winners of the RAR
marketing awards are selected based
on their client satisfaction ratings,
covering aspects including creativity,
client service, eﬀectiveness and strategic thinking. Be Inspired Films also handles the
filming and live internet streaming
of events, including last year’s Imagining the Future of Medicine at the
Royal Albert Hall, the London Irish
Art event held in Westminster and
regular TEDx events.
Mr Chambers and the Be Inspired
Films team will discover if they have
won at a ceremony on Grosvenor
Square, London on April 22.
“We’re really excited to have been
nominated in three categories across
two awards programmes so far this
year, especially as they cover both
our creative film production work
and our support for the third sector,”
said Mr Chambers, who worked for
charities in India and Africa before
setting up his film business.
Following on from the RAR Awards
will be the inaugural Better Society
Awards, in which Be Inspired Films is
up for the Communications Agency
of the Year prize. Launched by Charity Times, the
awards recognise commercial enterprises that go the extra mile to support the charity sector and help create a better society. Be Inspired Films has an enviable
portfolio of corporate clients in-
“It’s great to be recognised in these
fields and to represent Birmingham
too.”
Mr Chambers also won the Key Person of Influence Partnership Award
at the end of last year, adding to Be
Inspired Films’s trophy cabinet. 6
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Belgian’s VLM Airlines to take on
Birmingham to Waterford air route
Birmingham Airport’s CEO Paul
Kehoe added: “This new four-times
weekly service between Birmingham and Waterford is a welcome
addition to our existing network of
flights to Ireland.
With these new
scheduled flights
we are continuing
to focus on business
and leisure travellers, providing them
with fast, practical
connections
between the cities
By Gabriel Filan
Belgian regional carrier VLM Airlines is to take on the Birmingham
to Waterford air route - one of seven due to be axed by budget airline
Flybe.
Waterford was one of two Irish
routes set to be discontinued by
Flybe, the other being Ireland West
(Knock) but uncertainty remains
over the future of that service.
As yet no other airline has stepped
in to take it over with the Flybe service finishing last month.
VLM Airlines will start its Waterford service from April 27 with
flights four times a week on Mondays, Wednesday, Fridays and Sundays.
The airline said the BirminghamWaterford service would complement its Waterford-London Luton
route, which starts on the same day.
The development represents good
news for Birmingham Airport, following an announcement by Flybe
at the beginning of February that it
was axeing seven services.
The shock move meant the airport
lost five destinations from its roster - Norwegian capital Oslo, Porto,
Toulouse, Ireland West and Waterford.
Flybe is also scrapping its routes to
Hamburg and Perpignan from Birmingham, although flights to those
cities are available with other operators.
Arthur White, CEO of VLM Airlines said: “Adding the WaterfordBirmingham route to our expanding network is another example of
VLM listening to what passengers
want.
“Due to the strong links between
the two regions and the choice offered to passengers, allowing them
to return the same day, we’re confident this new route will prove to be
very popular with the business and
leisure market.”
Flybe pledged there would be no
job losses as a result of the changes
it announced and said it was also
introducing two new routes to Biarritz and Corsica.
“With these new scheduled flights
we are continuing to focus on business and leisure travellers, providing them with fast, practical connections between the cities.”
At the time a spokesperson for the
airport said it was in discussions
with other airlines in a bid to continue services to the five destinations aﬀected by the Flybe move.
The news was welcomed by both
Waterford and Birmingham airports.
She said: “We are continually discussing routes with partner airlines
and hope to be able to fill Flybe’s
cancelled routes.”
This new four-times
weekly service
between Birmingham
and Waterford is a
welcome addition to
our existing
network of flights
to Ireland
Desmond O’Flynn, CEO of Waterford Airport said: “We are delighted
that VLM will continue the highly
successful Birmingham service
which has operated at the airport
for many years.
“The provision of this service will
further enhance VLM’s arrival at
Waterford and reinforce its presence in the airport’s surrounding
catchment in the south east of Ireland.”
Bosses at Ireland West Airport will
be keen to see the route to Birmingham continue.
It has been a staple on the airport’s
timetable since it opened and is
popular with the many people with
west of Ireland connections in the
Midlands.
The route is also promoted to Irish
leisure travellers.
On its website the airport says:
“Sample all that the wonderful
city of Birmingham has to oﬀer - a
world class cultural scene, superb
shopping, top attractions, fantastic nightlife, major international
events and access to some of England’s most beautiful countryside.”
Midlanders wishing to travel to Ireland West can still avail of a four
times a week Ryanair Service from
East Midlands Airport.
7
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Birmingham school named
as National Winner in Pupil
Premium Awards 2015
Parkfield Primary School in Saltley,
Birmingham, recently had cause to
celebrate after being named as the
national winning primary school of
the Pupil Premium Awards 2015.
The Community School was
awarded £100,000 from the prize
funds, which will only further aid
the school to get the best from its
pupils and continue to thrive as an
educational environment within
the community.
Early years teacher Aimee Neild,
backed the schools ethics and
said, “ We believe that every child
should feel safe, happy and confident, achieving successfully within
a vibrant and stimulating learning
community.”
Winners of the Pupil Premium
Awards, which recognise individual
schools’ success at improving the
attainment and education for disadvantaged communities, were announced on March 25.
Ever vigilant on pupils and their
education, Headteacher Hazel
Pulley said, “We lay great emphasis on attendance and punctuality
highlighting that when a pupil is
not in school they miss out on key
learning opportunities and very
quickly fall behind and possibly lose
friends.”
Including Parkfield Community
School, Deputy Prime Minister
Nick Clegg also handed out prizes
and congratulated three other
national winners under various
separate categories: Infant and KS3
winners: Belle Vue Infant School
Hampshire. Special Schools and
Alternative Provision: Queensmill
School Hammersmith and Fulham
London and for the Secondary
Schools with published KS4 results:
Charter Academy in Portsmouth.
The Headteacher’s words only further backs up figures as the school
is regularly achieving above the national average of attendance.
For more information visit: www.
parkfield.bham.sch.uk. www.pupilpremiumawards.co.uk.
Parkfield Primary School in Birmingham was recently
announced as KS2 National Winners of the Pupil Premium
Awards 2015. Pictured is Deputy Head David Williams
with Headteacher Hazel Pulley and Assistant Head Louise
Stapleford
8
The Harp - APRIL 2015
News from the Birmingham
Irish Pipes and Drums
with great pride that we marched
down the many streets playing the
tunes that we have practiced so
hard over the previous six months.
By Bill Grigg
On behalf of the Birmingham Irish
Pipes and Drums, I would like to say
a huge well done to all the organisers of the four diﬀerent St Patrick’s
Day Parades that we had the privilege of playing at this year: March 8,
(Huddersfield). March 14, (Sandwell
and Derby), and Birmingham on
the 15th March.
St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated the
world over and I was delighted that
the B.I.P.D. band was involved and
we enjoyed it immensely. The band
members and I were caught up in
the festival fever too; along with
many crowds that attended various events, we were equally enamored with the mass of colour, fun,
pride and the cacophony of sound
that emanates from the marching
bands, the musicians, the chugging
engines of tractors, the distinct rattling of the mopeds, the
We really enjoyed both weekends
and the great camaraderie amongst
us was great fun; from the ‘oﬀ’ to
the finish, we enjoyed ourselves all
the way round at all of the parades.
roar of Harley Davidsons and the
floats that blare out their horns as
they follow the routes. The Parade’s
were truly a sight to behold.
Furthermore we were really excited to lead these four Parades
around their routes and to be the
first marching band that the waiting crowd hears from the distance,
slowly getting louder and louder as
the parade gets near…
From the skirl of the pipes from up
to 12 pipers, (a big sound), the beat
of the bass drum accompanied by
the tenors and side drums, to generous applause, cheering, clapping,
flag waving and whistle blowing,
we marched forward feeling very
honoured.
As we passed the crowds, our
sounds dissipated and was naturally overtaken by the rest of the
parade that followed, but it filled us
in general after playing most pipe
bands just want to relax but all the
bands that have ever played in The
Birmingham St Patrick’s Day Parade have really enjoyed the Massed
March afterwards and never miss it!
Also, this year for the first time in
the Parade’s nineteen-year history,
once the B.I.P.D. had finished and
before the Massed Bands took place,
I had the opportunity to go back to
the parade route and watch a lot of
the other displays go past. It was
brilliant and it struck me that without the huge commitment and hard
work ethic of a few dedicated volunteers at each of these parades, they
would never happen.
However a special event for us to
be involved in was the Massed Pipe
Band, which takes place at the end
of Birmingham’s St Patrick’s Day
Parade. At the end of the Parade all
of the pipe bands gather together
to play in unity and march down
to the Irish Centre. This year we
played The Dawning of The Day
and Minstrel Boy. We then halted
before counter marching back to
The Spotted Dog with ‘Greenhills’
and ‘Battles O’er.
The Birmingham Irish Pipes and
Drums realise that the Parade’s future is in doubt and this year played
for no fee. We will do whatever we
can to support the Parade as the
band was born out of the Parade.
That said, without the Parade, I
would probably be have been sat in
front of the TV that day, missing all
of that colour, noise and pride and
would have missed out on chance
meetings of friends both old and
new.
I would personally like to thank all
the bands for taking part because
http://birminghamirishpipesanddrums.co.uk/the-band
9
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Andrew Porter (Sanlam), Mary Kaye (SGHM),
Sarah Nash (SGHM) and Sat Plaha (BDO)
Local business marks
St. Patrick’s Day with
breakfast event
Left: Claire Darley (SGHM)
and Lisa Footes (IFA)
Right: Zahra Pabani (SGHM), David
Neale (Beckford James) and Louise McCabe (St Phillips Chambers)
By Gabriel Filan
Birmingham-based law firm
SGH Martineau marked St
Patrick’s Day on March 17
with a celebratory business
breakfast event.
The law firm, based in Colmore Square, has more than
a few Irish connections among them partner Mary
Kaye who hails from Limerick.
Ms Kaye recently served as
president of Birmingham
Law Society.
The law firm’s St Patrick’s
celebration has become an
annual event in the Birmingham corporate calendar and
was as well attended as always.
A spokesman for the firm
said: “What better way to
start the day of festivities
than with Guinness, a bacon
roll and live Celtic music.”
SGH Martineau recently
announced it was involved
in merger talks with fellow
Birmingham-based law firm
Shakespeares.
If the firms merge it would
see the creation of a UK
top 50 law firm employing
around 900 staﬀ.
A joint statement issued by
the firms said: “Each firm excels in distinct sectors with
little overlap, making a neat
fit between the two.
“There is real synergy in the
two firms and an expectation
that prospects and clients
across the UK and globally
will find any merged firm a
compelling oﬀering.”
Simon Redhead (Wealth Solutions UK), Lesley Davis
(SGHM), Lorna Payne (SGHM), Stephen Atkinson
(SGHM) and Matthew Field (Rathbone Brothers)
10
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Property developer
submits office
planning application
An artist’s impression of Three Snowhill, looking towards
Colmore business district and Colmore Row, with One and
Two Snowhill and Colmore Gate at the rear
An artist’s impression of Three Snowhill
looking along the A38 leaving the city with
St Chad’s Cathedral in the background
By Gabriel Filan
leisure and retail space, and ancillary parking spaces over four floors.
Irish property developer Ballymore
has submitted a detailed planning
application for the Three Snowhill
office development in Birmingham
city centre.
Dublin-based Ballymore previously
secured outline consent for Three
Snowhill in 2013. The site will complete the Snowhill
development in Birmingham, creating a city centre estate comprising nearly one million sq ft of premium office space to rival London.
The announcement was made at
the recent global real estate show
MIPIM in France, following a presentation about the Snow Hill Masterplan on the Greater Birmingham
stand.
We were encouraged
to push ahead with
the scheme after
securing the letting
of the last available space in Two
Snowhill to HS2
Three Snowhill is a 400,000 sq ft
statement building for the Colmore
Business District area – the business, professional and financial services hub for Birmingham. The scheme will oﬀer 360,000 sq
ft of grade A offices over 16 storeys,
complemented with 40,000 sq ft of
Ballymore’s project director for
Snowhill, Richard Probert, said:
“This is the right time to move forward with Three Snowhill. “We were encouraged to push
ahead with the scheme after securing the letting of the last available
space in Two Snowhill to HS2, and
seeing the launch of the Snow Hill
Masterplan – which demonstrates
the ambition and strategic vision
needed to enhance and grow Birmingham city centre’s valuable
business district. “The masterplan aims to attract more investment, business
and people into the city – and we
are aiming to capitalise on these
plans with the delivery of Three
Snowhill.”
The announcement follows the unveiling of the city’s 20-year Snow
Hill Masterplan by Birmingham
City Council and the Colmore
Business District. Covering the Snow Hill and Colmore areas of the city, it provides
a framework to create 10,000 new
jobs, generate over 200,000 sq m of
new office space, and boost the local economy by over £600 million
each year.
The masterplan includes the improvement of transport links such
as the redevelopment of Snow Hill
station, along with the transformation of the A38 to create a new ur-
ban boulevard and the creation of a
new urban neighbourhood that includes 4,000 new residential units.
The masterplan
aims to attract
more investment,
business and people
into the city
Sir Albert Bore, leader of Birmingham City Council, said: “Ballymore’s news shows that the bold
thinking behind the Snow Hill
Masterplan is already helping to
deliver new schemes for Birmingham’s expanding business community. “Investment into Birmingham is
gaining momentum. Despite a
number of major schemes completing this year – such as New Street
Station and Grand Central – we
have several others on the horizon,
including Paradise and Arena Central, which will continue to transform our city.”
More businesses are flocking to
what is now dubbed the Greater
Birmingham and than ever before.
The region secured 95 foreign direct investment projects in 2013/14,
the highest on record and more
than any other English area. Birmingham also welcomed more
start-ups than any other city in
2014, according to StartUp Britain
– a total of 18,000 new businesses.
11
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Two year jail sentence
for rogue trader
The surveyor branded the chimney repointing as among “the worst workmanship he had ever seen” and said a competent builder would have only charged
around £350.
By Gabriel Filan
A rogue trader who charged a Birmingham pensioner exorbitant fees for repairs
labelled “the worst ever seen” by an expert has been jailed for two years.
DC Mark Delaney from Solihull Police
CID, said: “It was the classic rogue trader
scam - cold-calling elderly residents they
deem more susceptible to their patter
and who they can convince into handing
over large sums of money.
At first Daniel Fitzpatrick denied that he
had duped his victim, but he later admitted fraud and was sentenced to the term
of imprisonment at Birmingham Crown
Court.
Fitzpatrick cold-called a 73-year-old in
Kingshurst in September last year, masquerading as a tradesman who had spotted loose tiles on the roof of their property.
He also claimed an upstairs bay window
was damaged and the next day added
chimney re-pointing to the list of repairs.
The 42-year-old demanded £500 upfront
to pay for scaﬀolding and three days later
handed over a bill totalling £2,500 which
was settled by the pensioner from his life
savings.
Fitzpatrick, who had previously been
jailed for a similar oﬀence and was out of
prison on licence, appeared at the OAP’s
door a number of months later saying
follow-up repairs needed to be done. But
the suspicious pensioner called the police.
Detectives arrested Fitzpatrick at his
home in Elmdon Lane, Marston Green,
and instructed a surveyor to check out
the building work he had carried out.
“His victim did the right thing in reporting his suspicions to police and, when
he appeared again to try and get even
more money, we got patrol officers on
the scene quickly to intercept his van and
take his details.
“This wasn’t just a case of poor building
work. Fitzpatrick conned a vulnerable
man out of a hefty chunk of his savings
for work experts rated as dreadful and, if
anything, had done more damage than
good.”
44 Pages in Full Colour
with news sport, entertainment and your
community pictures every month
12
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Team JTH get
fit for 2015
John Taylor Hospice in Birmingham
has signed up more than 100 fundraisers – including around 30 of
the hospice’s own staﬀ – to several
diﬀerent fundraising challenges in
2015. Supporters of the hospice will
be jumping, running, cycling and
even keeping silent in a bid to raise
funds.
“There’s a real buzz around #teamjth at the moment, with more people joining every week,” said Liz
Wood, community investment ambassador. “May’s
skydive day was so
popular that we’ve
booked
another
day at the airfield
for June 6. It’s very
much a case of
the more the merrier, so we’re urging people to get in
touch.”
also supporting a number of sponsored silences on a rolling basis – so
there’s always something going on.”
Donning her running shoes and
taking part in the colour extravaganza that is the Color Run is hospice sister Katie Roberts.
She said: “The idea behind the Color Run is that people can just have
some fun without taking the race
too seriously. You’re fine to walk
it, if you like. A lot of people dance
along as they go – it’s quite a party
atmosphere.”
There’s a real buzz
around #teamjth at
the moment, with
more people joining
every week
Housekeeper at the hospice, Amanda Phelan, recently completed a
sponsored silence to raise funds for
John Taylor Hospice.
“We’re appealing for more people to
follow her lead and join #teamjth,”
continued Liz.
“If you’re free on April 11 there are
still a few places left for the Wolf
Run, as well as for this year’s Ben
Nevis trek on June 19 to 21. In August we’ve got teams entering the
Color Run and a coast-to-coast cycle, followed by the Great Birmingham Run in October. We’re
Katie will face the
5k route with her
colleagues from the
hospice’s In-Patient
Unit team.
“We’ll just make
our way around the
course at our own
pace – while getting covered in bursts of powdered
paint,” said Katie. “It’s all in the
name of John Taylor Hospice and
I can’t think of a more fun way to
raise funds.”
The 15 strong team hopes to raise
at least £1,000 between them. John
Taylor Hospice is encouraging people to contact their Community Investment Crew to discuss how they
can take part in the event which
takes place at the NEC on August 15.
Also running in 2015 will be Cathy
Ackroyd, Pip Zvinis and Beth Robinson, part of the JTH Community
Palliative Care Team, who are taking part in April’s Wolf Run.
Katie Roberts (front right) and colleagues
at John Taylor Hospice
Leading by example, John Taylor
Hospice CEO Kate Phipps will be
taking part in a sponsored skydive
along with Steve Davison, Jed Jerwood, Elaine Harrison, and Angela
Dearn who work across various
teams within clinical operations.
Kate said: “The generosity and
kindness of local people is so inspiring. Year after year, friends, families
and supporters of the hospice take
part in a number of challenges.
Their hard work makes the work
we do possible and enables us to
make every moment matter.
“I will be dropping 120ft a second by
skydiving, but first I must drop 3lbs
a week to meet the height/weight
requirements to jump.” “Inspired by Connect – one of the
companies whose staﬀ support us
– who achieved this feat in 2014, I
have set at target to raise £14,000.
That will fund John Taylor Hospice
for one day.
“The best way I know of saying
thank you to all our supporters and
our staﬀ is by taking part myself.”
Visit www.johntaylorhospice.org.
uk to find out more about #teamjth
and how you can get involved.
13
The Harp - APRIL 2015
New head of Father
Hudson’s Society
appointed
Archbishop Bernard Longley, president of the society said: “Andy
Quinn’s appointment as CEO is
very good news for Father Hudson’s
Society and for the Archdiocese of
Birmingham. By Gabriel Filan
Andy Quinn has been appointed as
the new head of Father Hudson’s
Society, having worked for the society for the last ten years, latterly as
its head of community projects and
development.
“He brings a proven commitment
to the many fruitful partnerships
and projects through which Father
Hudson’s Society works together
with parishes and Catholic organisations across the archdiocese. He succeeds Tim Bradford who will
retire at Easter after almost 20 years
at the society, the last four of which
were as its CEO, developing a new
vision for its social action work.
Father Hudson’s Society is the social care agency of the Catholic
Archdiocese of Birmingham providing residential care and day care for
adults with disabilities and those
suﬀering from the frailty of old age
or dementia at its site in Coleshill,
North Warwickshire, from where
it also operates fostering and adoption support services. Away from Coleshill it oﬀers family support in over 30 schools from
Stoke on Trent to Oxford, and
working in collaboration with others has projects around the Diocese
Tim Bradford
involved in working with asylum
seekers, women in the criminal justice system or on the streets, lonely
and isolated older people and community children and family support. It employs over 250 staﬀ and is supported by numerous volunteers.
“I know that he will encourage
these projects to continue to reach
in service of the wider community.
“At the same time, I am immensely
grateful for all that Tim Bradford
Andy Quinn
has done to further the church’s
mission during his years at Father
Hudson’s Society and I thank him
especially for the leadership that he
has given as CEO in recent years. next CEO of Father Hudson’s Society. I have worked with him over
“I assure him of my prayers and best the last ten years and know his deep
wishes for the future.”
commitment to Catholic social acMr Bradford said: “I am delighted tion and to the work of Father Hudthat Andy has been appointed the son’s. New album release:
The Lights of El Paso
By Tom Quinn
After forty-four years living in the UK, I returned to my
native Mayo in July of 2014 and just released a new album titled The Lights of El Paso.
The new CD has twelve tracks, six of which was recorded in the USA and the remainder at Blue Whale Studio’s
in Birmingham UK and has two songs I penned myself;
the title track, The Lights of El Paso and the Rose of
Carramore.
The official CD Launch is on the 18th of April at Julians
of Midfield, here in Mayo. MC for the night will be the
one and only Michael Commins.
The main band is all the way from Galway; Jimmy
Hynes and the Crusaders with guests like Michael Fox
from Midwest Radio, Peter Wall and Carmel Quinn, all
the way from London Tony Tequila, and special Guest
Mr Kevin Pendergast it looks set to be a great night.
The proceeds of this Album will go to towards the Roisin Tansey Trust Fund; Roisin is a little girl who after
a serious illness is now paralyzed and confined to a
wheelchair.
chase by request in the UK, just call 00353 871278389
and if you are in Mayo next month say hello and come
to the launch!
I hope you all like my new CD and it is available to pur-
http://www.roisintanseyfund.com.
“He has great energy and will work
hard to continue the development
of the agency whilst maintaining
the quality of its services to beneficiaries of which it is rightly proud.”
14
The Harp - APRIL 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
What do you think Irishness means to
people in the West Midlands? Tell us
your story in The Harp.
I wish to thank Catherine Dwyer (nee.
Stone), also known as Kitty, for sharing some of her memories of a rural
childhood in county Westmeath.
Kitty was born in 1932 and grew up on
the family farm at Lurgan near Moate.
She recalled going to school along the
Ballycumber Road:
“On my first day at school I remember
I was given a penny by my father to
buy sweets and another penny from
an uncle. But when we got to school
a nun came round with a collection plate and asked us to donate all
our pennies to ‘the babies in Africa’.
I remember that we used to walk to
school with our cousins.”
Kitty also told me about the tradition
amongst local farmers on market day
whereby a farmer would pay a ‘luck
penny’ to a customer who bought one
of his sheep or cattle. It was a gesture
of gratitude towards the buyer by
wishing him good luck for purchasing the livestock. She recalled the big
markets which took place down at
Ballinasloe, a town a few miles away
from Moate and Athlone in County
Galway famous for its horse fair.
“All of the windows in Ballinasloe had
brass bars on the windows to stop the
cows horns breaking the windows.
But the window bars were also useful in the winter when the pavements
were icy, as people could go along the
street hanging onto the bars to stop
them sliding over”.
Every few years the farm house at
Lurgan would have its thatch roof repaired and Kitty remembered how her
father would bring in the thatchers:
“They would use long lengths of corn
bolted down by hazel branches. Everything was self-sufficient and the
men would be using locally grown
corn and hazel branches from my father’s land. The thatcher would work
for long hours till dark and then my
mother would invite him in for supper. I remember him sitting by the fire
playing his accordion.”
“People would entertain themselves
at home in those days as we had no
television, a lot of people played musical instruments. Father never went to
the pub, he would just have a few bottles of Guinness at Christmas. Some
men went to the pub in town on their
bikes but my father would only drink
beer with a customer who bought his
livestock at market.”
“Life was very simple. We did have a
wind-up gramophone and the radio
had a battery which had to be charged
up at the motor garage in Moate. So it
was listened to sparingly—mainly for
news and shows with Irish and Scottish music.”
She told me more about the self-sufficient ways of their life at Lurgan:
“Everything would be used and recycled. The flour sacks were made of
cotton and could be cleaned and cut
to make bed sheets. Four sacks would
be stitched together to make a sheet.”
“The children all had jobs before and
after school. My sister Nan did the
milking, my other sister Liz and I
would round up the geese and clear
out the pigs.”
One of Kitty’s jobs was to go into
Moate to get an empty sweet jar from
one of the
local shops. The large
jar was for her mother to fill with eggs
to take to market:
“I remember going to this shop and
asking if they had any empty sweet
jars for my mother. I had to go upstairs and knock on the door of a
room where there were four men
playing cards with a huge jug of whisky (four bottles would be poured into
a big jug). I could smell the whiskey
fumes. A man took me to get a jar and
by mistake he gave me one containing
sweets still stuck together. Liz, Nan
and I had a feast and there were still
some left to take home. Mother then
cleaned the jar for the eggs for market”.
Back in the late 1930s and 1940s when
Kitty was growing up in the rural Irish
Midlands, there were no social services or benefit system for people who
became disabled or destitute in old
age. Kitty recalls that it was not uncommon to see older people walking
around the countryside begging for
food from the local farms.
She recalled a lady named Maggie,
who was a frequent visitor to Lurgan:
“Maggie lived in a little one bedroomed house in Moate. She called
regularly for food at Lurgan. My
mother was always very generous in
feeding her. It was a common thing
and people on the farms always
obliged. I remember she wore old
fashioned clothes, a head scarf and a
big dress and apron with large pockets. My mother might give her ribs of
meat to take home and someone else
gave her turf.”
“Neighbours would always share
things. If a sheep got its head stuck in
a fence and broke her neck, it would
be cut up and hung upside down.
Then shared between neighbours.
Turf cutting was also a big job for
farmers who would help one another
to cut it by hand. You had to get it out
of the ground and build a pile of turf
to dry out. Then you had to go back
and turn each piece of turf individually to properly dry out so that the core
was solid and dry. Farmers had to be
disciplined and plan their lives well.
They had to invest in new lambs and
seed. Everything had to be used, every
part of a sheep or a lamb. Mutton tasted best. Geese were given grain to get
rid of the flavour of grass before sale.
We made our own bread and jams”.
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]
15
The Harp - APRIL 2015
By Paul Mobberley
Year 5 pupils from Chase View Primary School organised a bring and buy
sale to raise money for the schools’
Comic Relief fundraising eﬀorts.
Preparation for the event began more
than a week before with the children
designing posters and making appeals
for donations. Many of the class also
did some baking at home to make
cakes and biscuits to sell.With donations of toys, books, comics, DVDs
and more besides the class allocated
themselves jobs, sorted and priced the
goods and set up the hall in preparation for the
event. There were also a variety of
games for children to try their luck
and and two staﬀ members from the
nearby Dominoes Pizza branch came
along to sell pizzas, cookies and cakes,
helped by three Year 5 pupils.
Once all was ready the other classes
converged on the hall, money in
hands and snapped up all the bargains
both to take home and eat there and
then. With the few remaining items
sold to parents at home time.
The way the pupils from Year 5 went
about organising the event was extremely impressive. They showed
themselves to be organised, sensible
and mature and had a lot of fun at the
same time.
This was part of a series of events at
school for the Comic Relief appeal
which also included a whole school
talent show; with a variety of excellent singing, dancing, gymnastics,
magic and sports skills on show, class
and staﬀ Comic relief sweepstakes
and a decorate your face day. The Year 5 bring and buy sale raised
in excess of £200 on it’s own and
when combined with the other events
Chase View has raised over £600 for
this year’s Red Nose appeal. 16
The Harp - APRIL 2015
The Irish of the
West Midlands
by Carl Chinn
Birmingham and
Athenry: the Bond
The powerful and moving song, ‘Low Lie The Fields of
Athenry’ has almost become another Irish national anthem, sung as it is so passionately at Republic of Ireland
soccer matches and elsewhere when Irish people meet to
support their sporting heroes or to have the craic.
But Athenry should be known not
only for the haunting and poignant
words of a song that tells both of
oppression and the determination
not to be overcome by oppression.
It should also be known for the important role it has played in Irish
history; for the fact that it is one of
the finest medieval walled towns in
Ireland and as such has been recognised as a Heritage Town; and
because it has a deep bond with the who fought in the French wars beCity of Birmingham.
tween 1340 and 1356.
If you go into Saint Martin’s, the
parish church of Birmingham, three
tombs lie to the left of the high altar. They belong to members of the
de Bermingham family, lords of the
manor of Birmingham who took
their name from their property. One
of the monuments is that of Sir Fulk
de Bermingham, a noted soldier
He was not the only fierce warrior in
his family, for de Berminghams were
prominent in the Norman invasion
of Ireland, and particularly in the
forcible taking of land in Connacht.
The founder of the Irish family of
Bermingham was Robert. He was
the son of the Peter de Bermingham
The ruins of Saint Mary’s Church in
Athenry, behind which is the former
Church of Ireland church and in which
now is the local heritage centre.
Athenry Castle is in the background.
who started Birmingham’s rise as
a major town through beginning a
market in the Bull Ring in 1166. It is
interesting to note that the Irish de
Berminghams could also be called
Fitz Piers, son of Peter – the Gaelic
equivalent of which is Mac Feorais
and from which is derived the name
Corish.It seems that Robert de Bermingham was one of the knights
who followed Strongbow to Ireland
in 1170 and his son became the lord
of Tethmoy in Oﬀaly and Dunmore
in Galway.
Norman lords Richard de Burgo and
Richard de Bermingham, known as
Richard of the Battles. Against them
were the Irish of Connacht led by
their king, Felim O’Connor. A decisive victory went to the Normans,
after which Richard de Bermingham
erected town walls around Athenry.
During the turbulent times of the
later sixteenth century Athenry
was attacked twice by the Clanricards, descendants of the de Burgos
(Burkes), and in 1597 it was sacked by
the forces of Red Hugh O’Donnell.
The damage was so great that the
town never really recovered – and
yet because of this attack Athenry
was little changed thereafter so that
now it is one of the best examples of
a medieval town in Ireland.
A grandson of Robert also became
lord of Athenry, arguably the premier barony of Ireland. He was
Meiler and was in possession of his
Galway lands probably from at least
1241 when he founded Athenry’s
Dominican friary. Three years later,
Meiler was granted the right to hold Athenry boasts its medieval castle,
in his town both a weekly market parish church, Dominican Priory,
Market Cross and street plan - all
and a yearly eight-day fair.
within its town walls. It also has two
Fifteen miles east of Galway City, medieval bridges across its river,
Athenry is in Irish, Baile Átha an Rí the Clarin; the remnants of a pre– the ford of the kings - and it stands reformation church dedicated to St.
on an ancient and important meet- Bridget; and a holy well known as
ing point of routes across Ireland Our Lady’s Well.
both north-south and east-west. In
the twentieth century, this signifi- There is an important and exciting
cant location was recognised when local history exhibition in town’s
Athenry became the main east-west Arts and Heritage Centre, close to
and north-south junction in Ire- the market cross, and visitors can
learn more about the locality at The
land’s railway network.
Fields of Athenry Thatched HeriIt was Meiler de Bermingham who tage Cottage.
built the imposing castle of Athenry,
which was entered by an external This is a recreated traditional Irish
wooden staircase leading to a deco- cottage, bringing to life a time when
rated doorway in the east wall at people gathered together in such
first floor level. Becoming a three- homes. Friends and neighbours can
storey tower, it was put up close to listen to a seanachai (story-teller)
the north-western part of the sur- or to the music from a travelling
rounding curtain-wall. The rest of fiddler or piper. Tea and scones are
the wall is protected by towers at its served daily and there is traditional
north-east and south-east corners, music and dance on Wednesday and
whilst the south-western corner Saturday nights.
was fortified by the gate.
Today there are no de Berminghams in the City of Birmingham,
but the name Bermingham remains
common in and around Athenry. Is
it not time to acknowledge the powerful bond between Birmingham
and Athenry and to set up a town
twinning scheme between the two
places and thus give a focus to the
In August 1316, Athenry was the site importance of the Irish to the ecoof one of the most crucial battles in nomic, social and cultural well beIrish history. On one side were the ing of Birmingham?
With no windows at the second
floor level, the castle would have
been cold and dark and in the fifteenth century the de Berminghams
moved out into the comfort of a
town house near Athenry’s market
cross in the square. 17
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ithappenedin by Liam Smith
april
April 3rd
ratory of Cambridge University ;
physicist Ernest Thomas Walton, of
Dungarvan, Co.Waterford, alongside fellow scientist John Cockcroft,
created scientific history by becoming the first to split the atom. In 1951,
nineteen years after that historic
day, Walton and Cockcroft were
jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in
Physics. Professor Ernest Walton
who became the first Irish person to
receive this award for science died
in 1995 at the age of ninety-one.
On this day in 1846, the death was
announced in Dublin of blind street
singer Michael Moran, known affectionately throughout Dublin as
‘Zozimus’. Born in 1794 in the Liberties of Dublin, ‘Zozimus’ became
the most popular street entertainer
of all with renditions of ballads
such as, ‘St Patrick was a Gentleman’; ‘The Life of St Mary of Egypt’;
and ‘The Finding of Moses’. In ‘The
Celtic Twilight’ published in 1893,
W.B.Yeats enshrined ‘Zozimus’ in
Dublin folk history when he aﬀectionately described him as ‘the last On this day in 1941, the city of Belfast came under fierce attack from
gleeman’.
the German Luftwaﬀe in one of the
most devastating raids on a British
city during World War 2. The attack on the city left over 1,000 dead
On this day in 1932 while conduct- and made nearly 100,000 homeless.
ing research at the Cavendish Labo- With fires
April 16th
April 14th
Sandwell celebrate
St. Patrick’s Day
at the Embassy
of Ireland
Sandwell Irish Society was
pleased to receive an invitation
from the Ambassador of Ireland,
Mr. Daniel Mulhall and his wife
Greta Mulhall to attend the Embassy of Ireland in London for a
St. Patrick’s Day Celebration last
month.
Ms. Heather Humphreys TD,
Minister for Arts, Heritage and
the Gaeltacht was also in attendance. The Minister spoke of the
large number of iconic buildings
and monuments around the
world that were “Going Green”
for St. Patrick’s Day and asked
everyone to join in the fun of
bringing a little bit of Ireland
to their workplace by turning it
“green” for the day.
The event took place the night
before the Society’s St. Patrick’s
Day Celebration in Sandwell –
and needless to say those who
attended were somewhat tired
after a late night on the Friday
and an early start the next day!
Chair of Sandwell Irish Society Mrs. Betty Hynes and Mrs.
Siobhan Gorman, Manager, attended the event and had the
opportunity to meet up with
colleagues from other Irish
community charities and organisations from around the UK as
well representatives from many
Irish companies and businesses.
Siobhan Gorman said, “We
had a lovely evening and heard
speeches from the Ambassador
and the Minister, who posed for
a photo with us. It was a great
opportunity to chat with lots of
friends over a drink and some
tasty Irish food.”
raging out of control, Eamon de Valera ordered Fire services from Dublin, Dundalk and Drogheda to cross
the border and head for Belfast. For
three days the neutral Republic of
Ireland unofficially entered WW2 as
its fire-fighters joined their northern compatriots battling to control
fires throughout the city.
April 22nd
O’Rahilly’ was largely responsible
for the landing of German arms at
Howth in July 1914. In the insurrection of 1916, ‘The O’Rahilly’ took up
a position in the G.P.O.. After the
evacuation of the blazing building,
‘The O’Rahilly’ lost his life while
leading a charge against a British
barricade in nearby Moore Street.
His treasured possession, his De
Dion-Bouton car, which not only
conveyed arms and supplies to the
rebels during the rising; but also
formed a rebel barricade; helped to
form Hill 16 terrace in Croke Park
after being buried alongside rubble
from Sackville Street.
Born on this day in 1875 in Ballylongford, Co.Kerry, was Michael
Joseph O’Rahilly, more popularly
known in Nationalist circles as ‘The
O’Rahilly’. A journalist and a language enthusiast, ‘The O’Rahilly’
became a leading member of the
Gaelic League, and later a founding
member of the Irish Volunteers. As On this day in 1916 in Liberty Hall,
Director of Arms within the organ- Dublin, the final preparations for
isation, ‘The
the Easter Rising were put in place
April 23rd
with the signing of the Proclamation by Tom Clarke, Sean McDiarmada, Padraig Pearse, James
Connolly, Eamon Ceantt, Thomas
McDonagh and Joseph Plunkett.
The Proclamation printed in Liberty Hall would be read outside the
G.P.O. at noon the following day;
Easter Monday.
April 29th
On this day in 1916, in Parnell Street,
Dublin, Padraig Pearse, Chairman
of the Provisional Government of
the Irish Republic, surrendered unconditionally to Brigadier General
Lowe, Commander of the British
forces, and brought to an end the
week long conflict known as the
Easter Rising. The rising which
began at noon on Easter Monday,
claimed the lives of 550 people and
left over 2000 wounded.
18
The Harp - APRIL 2015
CELEBRATING
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY IN
SANDWELL
By Brendan Farrell
Once again, Mayo born Siobhan
Gorman and her dedicated team
from Sandwell Irish Society came
up trumps when they organised this
year’s pre-St. Patrick’s Day celebrations at Central Sixth Sandwell College (formerly known as The Public).
Five hours of non-stop Irish music,
song and dance kept the large attendance of all ages entertained.
and Drums
Irish Pipes
g
Birmingham
ar ’s openin
ye
is
th
ed
Band launch
ch
wi
om
Br
t
event in Wes
Guests included MaryMcCarthy
from the Embassy of Ireland, local
MP Tom Watson and a line up of local dignitaries.
Pictured left: Clare Costello kept the
young folk entertained painting Irish
Celtic designs-pictured with Clare are Orla
and Thomas Mulkeen and Liam and Sean
Breen
Siobhan Gores, Mary McCarthy and
Terri Lynk, Betty Hyn
Bromwich.
st
We
in
s
tion
bra
year’s cele
man pictured at this
Manager of
is
n
bha
Sio
and
ir
ty is Cha
Terri is Secretary, Bet
l Attaché at the
. Mary is the Cultura
Sandwell Irish Society
don
Lon
Embassy of Ireland in
Dancers from the Murphy Brennan Acade
my
19
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Right: Maurice Long, the man who bangs the
big drum with the Birmingham Irish Pipes and
Drums bands now has three generations of his
family in the band, in addition to Maurice, there
is daughter Paula and grandson Andrew
Gorman
Siobhan llr Tom
C
to
g
st
chattin
P for We
Watson,M East
h
ic
w
Brom
Gord Siobhan
at
egarty an
H
gs
el
in
m
th
ar
C
irit of
into the sp ar ’s celebraman get
ye
is
th
of
ing
the open
wich. Car
est Brom
al and
tions in W
in Doneg
s
ot
ro
h
is
Ir
s
ha
el
m
on
Roscomm
Irish traditio
nal musicia
South Birm
ns from th
ingham br
e
anch of Co
mhaltas
Birmingham based Kerryman Sir Bob Dowling is one of this
country’s best known experts in the various fields of education.
Over many years, before his retirement, Sir Bob has taken many
schools out of special measures and turned them into centres
of excellence. One such school was George Dixon in Birmingham where Bob spent ten years. He received a Knighthood in
2002. Keeping his Irish roots going strong, Bob is pictured with
grandaughters Kitty and Roisin Shaw, pupils with the Murphy
Brennan Academy
bers
tee mem
Commit t this year’s
a
sts
and gue
est
ons in W
celebrati
h
Bromwic
8yr old Cait
Rozak from the
Murphy- Brennan Academy of
Irish dance was
taking part in
the celebrations.
Cait’s mum Angela was also an
Irish dancer with
Birmingham
based Sylvia
Muphy
20
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
FESTIVAL
LAUNCH
Anne Tigh
e, Chair of
St Patrick’s
pictured w
ith the Lead
Festival bo
ard
er of Birmin
cil, Sir Albe
gham City
rt Bore and
Counhis wife Vi
ctoria
r of the
neral Manage
, Regional Ge
family
gh
s
hi
na
th
Do
wi
Mc
k
ed
Dere
pictur
ren Conor,
ls group (left)
ild
te
ch
Ho
eir
ld
th
na
McDo
fe Clara,
Mary (both
is Derek’s wi
d
re
an
n
he
d
rti
de
Ma
-inclu
parents
a
phie, Derek’s
mum Dympn
Cian and So
in) and Clara’s
bl
Du
m
fro
over
Dancers from the Sylvia Murphy Brennan Academy showed
off their Irish dance skills to the
attendance during the Festival
launch evening
By Brendan Farrell
The MacDonald Burlington Hotel
in Birmingham hosted two prestigious events at the start of Birmingham’s St. Patrick’s Festival week.
The first event was the launch of
the Festival, with an evening of fine
wine, good food, Irish music and
dance.
Included in the VIP’s was the Lord
Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Shafique
Shah, the Leader of Birmingham
City Council, Sir Albert Bore and his
wife Victoria and Claire Brosnan,
Press Secretary from the Embassy of
Ireland in London.
surprisePatrick) caught by
le
Len Cale (alias St
her daughter Michel
and
t
cot
Au
e
rni
Be
with
Ian Hall from Elo
nex Outdoor Me
dia with Ann Py
Irish Ferries(righ
e from
t) and her friend
Caroline Byrne
21
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
d
e) picture n
(Len Cal
in
St Patrick founder Carl Ch
Harp
e Kay
if
w
with the
rn
o
ublin-b
and his D
The Grigg family, well kno
wn for their
huge support of things Irish
in Birmingham and elsewhere over
the years,and in
particular the Birmingham
Irish Pipes and
Drums Band-pictured here
- Bill Grigg, his
wife Laura and sons Oran
(left) and Joel
Pictured above: Anne
Tighe, Chair of the Festival, presents a bouquet
to Clara McDonagh, wife
of the MacDonald Hotel
groups regional manager,
Derek McDonagh-Clara
was about to celebrate
her birthday shortly after
the festival launch
greeted
l launch were
ing the Festiva and violin music
rp
Guests attend
ha
l
na
tio
th girls
vely tradi
a Britten. Bo
with some lo
in BirWas and Helen
b
a
pu
ng
g
Ka
Do
by
d
Spotte
-played
John and
heard at the
d
d
an
an
sb
en
hu
se
r
and he
can be
by Anne Tighe
chair of the
hardworking
mingham run
course is the
of
ne
An
.
ily
fam
ittee
stival comm
St Patrick’s Fe
22
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY BREAKFAST
WITH THE
IRISH POST
For a great many years, Irish traditional music teachers John and Carmel
Burke have provided soft Irish airs as guests arrive for the annual Irish Post
breakfast. The fact that John had recently reached the `Big 50` gave Bob Brolly
the opportunity to let everybody know that part of John’s birthday surprise,
organised in secret by Carmel, was a trip to Ireland including a visit to watch the
Ireland v England Rugby match in Dublin, where of course Ireland won the day
The Lord Mayor
and Lady Mayo
ress of Birmingham, Cllr Sh
afique Shah and
his wife Sadia
with Siobhan Br
eatnach, Editor
of The Irish Post
and London base
d businessman
Andy Rogers
ds
St.Edwar
uddy, PP
Audley,
McGillic
a
n
is
io
en
F
D
h
r
F
k wit
Selly Par
Post
he Irish
parish in
ditor of T
E
al
n
io
Reg
Foursome who nee
d little introductio
n to the
Irish community in
the city- Sisters The
resa,
Sabina, Imelda and
their great friend
Kitty Reilly
23
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
By Brendan Farrell
The morning following the festival
launch saw the ever popular Irish
Post traditional breakfast and this
year was rather special as the newspaper celebrated its 45th year of
publication in Britain.
Claire Brosna
n,
Press secretar
y at the
Embassy of Ire
land in
London,speakin
g at
the breakfast
Again, the Lord Mayor attended,
this time accompanied by his wife
Sadia,the Lady Mayoress,also present was the aforementioned Claire
Brosnan from the Embassy and Jack
Dromey,the MP for Erdington.
As usual, Derryman Bob Brolly
hosted the breakfast event, adding
his own touch of humour and wit to
the proceedings
All in all, a great start of the St Patrick’s Festival week.
Pictured above: Jack
Dromey, MP for Erdington
with the Lord Mayor and
Lady Mayoress of Birmingham, Cllr Shafique Shah and
his wife Sadia
Pictured below: Three great
stalwarts of the Irish Community in
Birmingham- Ita McKenna, Margaret
Coogan and Bridie McGrath
Pictured above:
Cavanman Mick
McGarvey, President
of St Patrick’s Club
in Leamington Spa
pictured with his
daughter Christine
who is very much involved in the running
of the weekly Tuesday Luncheon Club at
St.Patrick’s
mmunications
Media, PR and Co
asMaggie Roche,
for girls in Edgb
ol
ho
Sc
s
ul’
Pa
d in the
Manager at St.
m BBC TV base
fro
n
ga
Bo
a
es
ton with Ter
ny years,Teresa
y centre. For ma
Mailbox in the cit
gely popular
hu
the
ducer for
was the series pro
mme
gra
pro
file
try
un
BBC TV Co
Pictured above: Businessmen Noel Sweeney and Pat
McGeever with their colleague Michael Sweeney
Pictured left: Father Bob!
Popular BBC radio presenter
and entertainer Bob Brolly’s joke
about wondering what it was like
to priest almost came to fruition when Fr Denis McGillicuddy
donated his collar to Bob for a
short time. Heavens Above!
24
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
BIRMINGHAM
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE 2015
Maurice Malone, (pictured, centre) CEO, Birmingham
Irish Association and his team had this eye-catching
float in the parade and the words certainly sum up the
Irish contribution to Birmingham
Denis
Neenan from
Erin go Brag
h
GAA Club
with Jack
Dromey, MP
for Erdington
old
ther, 9 yr
e cold wea a smile for
Despite th
ed
ag
an
nted
tleton m
Evie Cas
e is a tale hool
camera-sh
n Sc
The Harp
e Scanlo
th
ith
w
er
Irish danc
camera
on turns his
Liam Tomlins
apher
gr
oto
ph
rp
on The Ha
Pictured right: Bob Brolly, all set to
broadcast this year’s parade to BBC
Radio WM listeners
25
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
By Brendan Farrell
Grey skies and freezing cold winds
was probably the main factor in a
drop of attendance to an estimated
60,000 at this year’s Birmingham St.
Patrick’s Parade.
Despite the gloomy weather those
who watched the parade and those
who took part did not let grey skies
dampen the party atmosphere.
This year’s parade was the last to
be funded by Birmingham City
Council, in line with cuts to other
outdoor events across the city-but
the Irish community are determined that next year’s parade will
go ahead, and with that in mind numerous fund-raising events have already taken place and will continue
throughout the year.
The theme of this year’s parade was
the Irish contribution to Birmingham’s development over the years.
Below: Galwayman
Tommy Morrisey made sure
that The Harp featured in
the parade- he is pictured
here with two young
helpers-Oliver and Dominic
Gilhooley
work by
er-all the hard
r
It’s nearly ov
stival and he
hair of the Fe
,C
ls
he
Tig
ne
An
the final detai
ks
ec
ch
e
sh
hed by
committee, as
a close-watc
to
s
aw
dr
e
as the parad
ah
lr Shafique Sh
Lord Mayor Cl
e
Despit tly
cen
been re ed
rg
discha pios
from h
owing
ll
fo
tal,
,
surgery
major
ie MulQueen made
ll
vey sti would
he
sure s is
th
attend
parade
s
year’
Kiera Nally,
from 11 yr old
Scanlon
A lovely smile
ers from the
nc
da
h
Iris
one of the
ingham
rm
Bi
in
ol
Scho
The Harp’s
owner Peter
Mohan gave the
VIP treatment to
Sister Sabina,
Sister Theresa
and Kitty Reilly a trip in a Bentley
around the
parade route
ner
l ban
lourfu
eir co
w
Wicklo
ith th
folk w
Frank Fe
Associa eney (right) pict
tio
ur
annivers n float -with this ed with friends
on
ary of th
year ’s th
e birth of
eme bein the Sligo
the Irish
g
poet W.B the 150th
.Yeats
eir
ith th
folk w
Cavan nner
a
b
county
r Irish
me of he
ht) with so de
anlon (rig
ra
Sc
pa
e
e
ol
th
ar
in
C
part
who took
dancers
Pictured above: Not sure how Mayo businessman Pat McGeever
managed to get into the picture with this colourful group of dancers-but
maybe being the recipient of a International Mayo Person of the Year
award for his charity fund raising had something to do with it!
an
Peter Moh
lle
with Miche
o was
Aucott wh
look
helping to
and
ia
after med
e open
VIP’s on th
top bus
26
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PICTURE
SPECIAL
Pictures by Brendan Farrell and Brendan Lowe
27
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
28
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ST. PATRICK’S
DAY PARADE AND
FESTIVAL 2015
29
The Harp - APRIL 2015
SPG Goes
Green!
Eleanor Dowd, with Dr Casserly
and Elizabeth Martin
Celebrations for
SPG Girls as they
win prestigious
university places
The Sunday Times has ranked King’s as the
6th most difficult UK University to gain
admission to. Admission to King’s is extremely competitive and courses are heavily oversubscribed. Elizabeth is hoping to
specialize within the medical industry.
Identical twin sisters Eleanor and Matilda
Dowd, whose roots lie in Co. Roscommon,
have double cause for celebration as both
have been awarded places at two of the
World’s top Universities.
2014 ranking of undergraduate programs,
Forbes magazine ranked Swarthmore as
third in the nation. Eleanor will be awarded fees of $63,000 per year to complete her
degree.
Matilda has been oﬀered a place at Trinity
College Cambridge to read Human, Social
and Political Science and hopes to go on
and work in the field of Global Health. Eleanor meanwhile has been oﬀered a place
at the prestigious Swarthmore College in
Pennsylvania USA and hopes to specialise in environmental engineering. In its
The St Paul’s school for Girls students
have played Soft ball for Great Britain and She is oﬀ to the States for the summer after gaining a place at Camp America.
between them have 27 A* - A GCSEs.
Another Y13 Student, Elizabeth Martin has
just learned that she has been awarded a
place at Kings College London to read
Pharmacy and complete a Master’s degree.
Dr. Casserly Head teacher at St Paul’s expressed her pride in all three girls and said
how very proud she and everyone at St
Paul’s are.
St Paul’s school for Girls once again were given the
honour of carrying the 32 County Flags at the 2015
St Patrick’s parade in Birmingham on Sunday 15th
March.
Our Head Dr Casserly also led the parade with
several other Stalwarts where she represented the
teaching profession. The theme this year was the
Irish contribution to Birmingham. It was a very
chilly overcast Sunday morning when we arrived
in Digbeth with our St Paul’s float, which depicted
our respect for all professions but in particular the
construction industry, musicians, Holy Orders and
the medical profession. Our girls all had a fantastic
experience on the day.
Our grateful thanks to Mahoney’s who supplied
our float, our magnificent driver John Mulry and
to Tom from Anton Scaﬀolding who was a tremendous help to our school. We couldn’t have done it
without you all.
Thank you
A big thank you to all parents, teachers and pupils who supported the SPG Irish Night at St Pauls
School for Girls. The music was fantastic thanks to
the Hurling Boys, and our SPG Irish dancers gave us
a spectacular display! Irish soda bread and banana
cake supplied by our wonderful PTFA went down a
storm as well!
30
The Harp - APRIL 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 have seen a house I
would like to buy but I
have been informed that
it is going to be sold by
tender. What does this
mean?
Melanie
Ward End
Do the tax people
ever tell the benefits
people what you have
earned?
William
Garrets Green
Dear William
The DWP (Department of
Works and Pensions) will use
‘Real Time Information’ (RTI)
from HMRC (Her Majesty’s
Revenue and Customs) so to
identify cases where claimants have either failed to declare, or have under-declared,
their income from earnings or
from non-state pensions. RTI
is a new system for collecting
Pay As You Earn (PAYE) tax
information from employers
and pension providers, who
are now required to provide
HMRC with income details
immediately after each payment they make.
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 Melanie,
Some estate agents have introduced a practice of selling
a property by a tender process.
Buyers view the property at
an open day and submit oﬀers
through sealed bids.
Usually as part of the process, the buyer agrees with
the agent to pay the agent’s
commission fee. The seller is
charged a small marketing fee
or no fee. The sale by tender
process is not illegal but can
be confusing for both the buyer and seller if an agent is not
clear about the process. There
dear rosie
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.
are pros and cons for both the
seller and buyer if they decide
to use the tender process.
The Property Ombudsman
(TPO) has produced useful
guidance on the sale by tender
process which is available on
its website at www.tpos.co.uk.
An agent must follow the guidance produced by the TPO.
If the seller or buyer believes
an agent is not following the
guidance, they should contact
the TPO.
rosie
they can match it with their
benefit records.
The DWP estimates that they
will identify 300,000 overpayments as a result of this initiative, of which more than
200,000 are expected to relate
to Housing Benefit only cases.
If you’re found to have received a benefit overpayment
because you haven’t provided
your full income details to the
DWP, or to the local authority
in the case of Housing Benefit, the DWP or local authority will take action to recover
the overpayment from you.
They may also decide to start
a criminal investigation for
fraud.
The rules about how you can
use your pension savings in
retirement are changing in
April. If you’re close to retirement age, next year you’ll be
able to get free guidance to
This exercise is expected to help you understand what you
run between September 2014 can do with your pension pot
and April 2015. During this when you retire.
time, HMRC will pass on Real
Time Information about earn- Citizens Advice will be oﬀerings and pensions to the DWP ing free face-to-face guidance
and local authorities, so that sessions.
We’ll explain to you:
-the diﬀerent pension types
and how they work
-your options for what you
can do with your pension pot
dear rosie
My son and his girlfriend are expecting their first child. Can he take time
oﬀ to go with her to the hospital when she has scans?
Gerard
Ward End
rosie
From 1 October 2014, if you’re the
husband or partner of a pregnant
woman, you will be able to accompany her to up to two ante-natal
appointments. You will also be
entitled to do so if you’re surrogate parents who meet the conditions for, and intend to apply for,
a parental order for the child born
through a surrogacy arrangement.
You will be able to take unpaid
leave for up to two of the woman’s
ante-natal appointments, with a
maximum of 6 hours and 30 minutes for each appointment. This
right applies to employees from
the first day of their employment
and to some agency workers.
dear rosie
My son lives in Ireland and is unemployed, married with three children
and getting Jobseeker’s Allowance. He would like to get back to work. I
have heard there is a new payment to help with this situation?
Janis
Highgate
-what’s tax-free and what’s
not.
This is part of the pension
changes which includes setting up a free and impartial
service set up by government.
You’ll also be able to get guidance over the phone from The
Pensions Advisory Service or
online through the GOV.UK
website.
CAB will let you know as soon
as we can about how and
when to access the guidance.
In the meantime, you can get
information about pensions
from the following:
On CAB Advice guide – Pensions- The Pensions Advisory
Service at www.pensionsadvisoryservice.org.uk - an independent service which provides free information and
guidance on all pension matters.
rosie
Dear Janis,
The Back to Work Family Dividend (BTWFD) gives financial
support to people with children
who were getting jobseeker’s or
one-parent family payments and
who either take up employment,
increase their hours of employment or become self-employed.
The scheme is not yet operational
but applications for the scheme
are being accepted from 5 January
2015. No payments will be made
until April 2015 and all eligible
claims will be backdated to the
date of application.
If you qualify for the scheme you
will get a weekly payment for up
to 2 years. You will be paid the
equivalent of any Increases for
Qualified Children that were being paid on your jobseeker or oneparent family payment (up to a
maximum of 4 children) for the
first year in employment. Half of
that amount will be paid weekly
for the second year.
You can combine time on a jobseeker’s payment with time spent
on education, training or employment schemes to meet the eligibility requirements.
To qualify, you and all members of
your family (including your adult
dependant) must sign oﬀ all social
welfare payments. The Back to
Work Family Dividend cannot be
paid with any other primary social
welfare payment – with the exception of Child Benefit, Domiciliary
Care Allowance and Family Income Supplement (FIS). The Back
to Work Family Dividend is not
taken into account in the means
test for FIS.
31
The Harp - APRIL 2015
spotlight
on...
by Sheila Fitzgerald
MURIEL O’CONNOR
THE GIFTED LIMERICK
SONGSTRESS WHO LOVES TO SING
The City of the Tribes has produced many fine
musicians over the years, and Limerick’s Muriel
O Connor can proudly take her place as one of
the finest to emerge from the historic city on
the Shannon.
to it’s knees in 2008. However, Muriel had
through hard work and her innate talent solidified her place on the map of Irish entertainment and while many other entertainers have
disappeared from the scene, she continues to
work steadily;
Muriel is an incredibly popular artist both on
the dancing circuit and also in her numerous “While the music business is now very diﬀerent
theatre and concert appearances up and down I am lucky enough to be involved in a thriving
the country.
market which is the dancing circuit. These are
wonderful gigs up and down the country meetShe got her first taste of music as a child in ing and entertaining people of all ages who love
her parents Pub in Limerick City where she to dance,” Muriel said, “People are far more disremarked that “Many of the wonderful and cerning now than years ago. They know good
colourful characters who were our customers entertainment and will not accept less which, I
were also fine singers with repertoires from feel, has raised the standard greatly.
diﬀerent genres which explains my very wide
taste in music.
“As well as the dancing circuit I am lucky
enough to enjoy working in concert, as well
“I must credit my parents for my introduction as my long term residency in the fantastic
to the stage,” she continued, “I was frequently Glen Eagle Hotel in Killarney with ‘The Muriel
given the task of entertaining at our own Pub”. O’Connor Show”. However, she was also simultaneously working on the larger stages in the city performing
in Pantomime and Musical Comedy where she
worked with many gifted artists such as the
legendary Tom and Pascal. So, ultimately, it
was no surprise that the talented young Limerick lass would ultimately take to the stage and
quickly build up a strong fan base which has
remained consistent throughout Ireland and
beyond.
“I had two dreams in life and was lucky enough
to achieve both,” Muriel said. One, of course,
was her hugely successful music career. However, many of her fans may not be aware that
this astute young woman also enjoyed a successful career with Aer Lingus for many years;
“Funnily enough there are many similarities
between both careers, with our National Airline I had to be made up and dressed up as if
for the stage. I always wore the uniform with
great pride and of course they were beautifully
designed by some of our top fashion gurus.
“As a people person the job was perfect for me
and I loved every minute of my time there. I
was also lucky enough to meet many famous
people through the course of my time there”. But ‘times they are a changing,’ like the song
says, and the music industry has taken quite a
battering over the past decade, especially since
the financial crash which saw Ireland brought
The Limerick songstress has of course made
her mark on Radio both nationally and internationally with a series of top notch recordings
since early on in her career;
“There have been a number of Albums over the
years and I am currently working on a new one
that will contain my last three singles as well
as songs that I have made my own at the live
shows. I love to sing live and have always found
the studio to be intimidating as there is no audience, but that has improved greatly in the last
year with a new studio and production team. It
is a joy to work on videos and I love the process
of working to the camera”.
Muriel O Connor. The Limerick
songstress who loves to sing
classical, trad, jazz, and of course country, and
this new sound has opened new doors for me
as a performer. Fran also produces my recordings and this is vital as he knows my audience
and what it is I am trying to achieve musically,”
she added. To wind down Muriel loves to read, watch TV:
“I even enjoy the odd glass of red when I’m not
working, but don’t tell anyone!” she added with
a smile. Needless to say, listening to music is
also one of her passions, and she cites Tammy
While Muriel O’Connor is a household name Wynette and George Jones among her favouall over Ireland, she has also made her mark rite artists.
performing gigs in the UK and USA. In recent
years, due to musical commitments at home in And a final word from this hard working lady;
Ireland she has not been able to work abroad
but plans are afoot for a series of international “I believe that I am one of the very lucky people
gigs in 2016.
who can honestly say that I would do it all again
and change nothing. I have met many wonderMuriel has recently made musical changes, ful people along the way who have brought me
joining forces with Keyboard player and Record partially on my journey and they all remain
Producer Fran Curry who has extensive knowl- my dear friends. As for the future, I can’t wait
edge of the music business having played with for the next stage of my career and all that’s to
many top names including The Bards, Louise come in Muriel’s World!”
Morrissey, and Trudi Lalor; “We worked extremely well with each other right from the Readers can check out Muriel’s new Single
start,” Muriel said, “His playing is influenced by ‘These are the Precious Years’ on YouTube. While the music business is now
very different I am lucky enough
to be involved in a thriving
market which is the dancing circuit
I had two
dreams in
life and
was lucky
enough to
achieve
both
Muriel O Connor & Fran Curry
are a hugely popular duo on the
Irish music circuit
32
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Charity disco raises funds for
Motor Neurone Disease Association
Cheryl Aiken’s father, Charles Begley was
diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease last
year and she decided to host a fundraising
disco to raise much- needed funds for the
Association which has helped her family
greatly.
The disco at the Irish Centre, Birmingham
on 27th of February was a great success and
raised £785 for the organisation.
Cheryl said, “My father, Charles Begley,
originally of Bruree, Kilmallock, Co. Limerick, was diagnosed with MND last year
and I wanted to give back and support the
MNDA.”
Along with a disco, there was a raffle with
prizes donated by: Asda Small Heath, Boots
Solihull, Cadbury’s Birmingham, Cineworld
Solihull and The Beauty Room in Harborne.
Cheryl continued, “We also received lots of
donations from individuals and ww would
like to thank everyone who either donated
or supported the event in whatever way.
Orgainiser of the fundraising event in aid of
Motor Neurone Disease charity: Cheryl Aiken
- Inset: Beryl and Charles Begley: Charles was
diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease and
his daughter Cheryl held a fund raising event
to raise funds for the MNDA Charity
“There was also a donation from The Manchester United Foundation of a signed football which was supposed to be auctioned but
it was felt on the evening that the fundraising potential of the football could be better
reached by auctioning it in Manchester. It
will auctioned at St. Kentigern’s Social Club,
in Fallowfield on a date to still be arranged.
Speaking of the event Cheryl added, “It was
a great night and I can’t thank the Irish Centre’s Manager Shaun Preece enough, he gave
us use of the room for free and both him and
all of the staﬀ couldn’t help us enough.”
www.mndassociation.org
St Patrick’s Day
celebrations in
Redditch
Pictures by Vince
s put on a great
Young Irish dancer
in Redditch
wd
cro
the
for
display
Not missing out on the St Patrick’s Day celebrations, St Benedicts Club in Redditch
hosted and evening of music and dance last
month.
Entertainment was provided by Irene and
Tom and guests were treated to an Irish
dance display from pupils from Our lady
Of Mount Carmel School and St, Bedes
School of Irish Dance. All of the dancers
were trained by Aoifa Woodcock, a member of the Carey Dance Academy and they
made their teacher extremely proud!
Daga with Kizzy
Germain,
Kath and friend
s
33
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Chris Looney with Pat and Marion Mullen, Bridie O’Toole, Marie Donoghue, Gillian
Brennan (standing)- Paddy Brennan, Festy
O’Toole, Barney Donoghue and Bill Looney
Solihull Catenians celebrate
St Patrick’s Day IN STYLE
Pictures by Vince
Members of the Solihull Catenians Circle and friends celebrated St Patrick’s Day in style
at the Village Hall in Shirley, last
month.
Music and entertainment was
provided by Irene and Tom and
two special birthdays were also
celebrated; both Gino Ferrara
and Paddy Brennan received
cakes to mark the occasion.
Birthday boys! Gino Ferrara
and Paddy Brennan
Incoming President Paddy
Brennan presented Sheila
Marfleet, wife of the outgoing
President Rex Marfleet with a
bouquet of flowers to thank her
for her support during the year
34
The Harp - APRIL 2015
entertainment
By Mark McCabe
Thanks to everyone who came out
to join us for a busy March month,
one of the highlights being a great
party on parade day in Digbeth’s
South & City College!
This was the third year we’ve played
there after the fantastic Birmingham St Patrick’s day parade and the
venue pulled out all the stops and
provide great technical staﬀ for the
day to make sure it’s a great audio
and visual show which really adds to
the atmosphere. The show was also
streamed live on the internet for
those who couldn’t make it to Birmingham, thanks to Nils, Grant and
the rest of the crew at the college for
looking after us, fine job again boys
and girls.
Another highlight of March was a
variety concert at the Garrick Theatre Lichfield in memory of singer/
songwriter Mike Stanley who Ian
and I used to play with in the 1990’s
in Irish folk band Shenanigans. The
show featured The Hurling Boys,
Drowsy Maggie, The Reel Note and
The Father Teds but the last act of
the night was a special performance
by Shenanigans led by Mike’s wife
Yvonne and also joined by their
sons Adam on Guitar and Joe on
Drums. A very moving set as it’s
the first time those songs we performed without Mike but Yvonne
and the lads did an amazing job! It
was a pleasure to be a part of it and
together a traditional music band
who knows we may even all get the
chance to play together again for to perform on the show and ‘Boxanother special event in the future. trad’ was formed. Birmingham has
a wealth of musical talent so I deThe end of March saw a live Irish cided to call on some of the lads
TV show in Birmingham to celefrom local groups Lampa, Fian,
brate the launch of a new weekly TV
series highlighting the best of Irish Cairde and the Ciaran Cliﬀord band
culture from around the Midlands to form the 6 piece trad band ‘Boxtrad’. We had a great time doing it
of the UK. I was asked to put
Teds talk
Keep in touch with where the band are playing by visiting the website www.thefatherteds.co.uk or get in touch with any enquiries by emailing thefatherteds@
hotmail.co.uk or call 07931 504405.
and got such a buzz performing on
the live TV show which was aired
around the world, who knows, Boxtrad might even make another public performance in the near future!
For anybody who missed the live
two hour show, it’ll be aired again
on Sunday April 5th at 1pm on Irish
TV which can be found on Sky TV
Mick Flavin announces
short UK Tour
Mick Flavin and his band are really
excited to be heading to the UK for
a short tour over the Easter. This
will be the first of a number of trips
to this part of the world for 2015.
Mick is a great Ambassador for Irish
Country Music with his unique
country voice. His name and music
is known all over the world thus the
reason he has survived in the business for the past 28 years.
In the UK Mick has a legion of fans,
most of them he knows on a first
name basis. His shows are packed
with pure country music so a great
nights entertainment is always assured. Mick also has a very strong
band of talented musicians behind
him thus adding to the quality of
the show.
A new single is about to be realesed
and a new DVD is also nearly completed.
On any given night Mick will sing
some of his greatest hits like Old
School Yard, Home To Donegal, I
Love Ireland, The County of Mayo,
together with some from his latest
album “The Fields Of Home”.
For that special Easter treat for
yourself and your friends get
TRAVELLIN’ TO FLAVIN at one of
the following venues:
On Friday April 3rd (Good Friday)
Mick & his band will be at BAR 32
Luton - 114 - 134 Midland Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU2 0BL 01582
722 227
Saturday 4th Conway’s 3, 2-3 Holmestall Parade, Burnt Oak, Edgware,
Middlesex HA8 5HX +44 (0)7910
167 352.
Sunday 5th (Easter Sunday) The
Holy Name Club, Great Barr, Birmingham. (In aid of Church Roof
Restoration Fund): 0121 357 1351.
Mick said, “We hope you will enjoy
the show and would love to hear
your comments on [email protected].”
191 or Freesat 400 and can also be
watched on the Irish TV website.
It’s a little bit in advance but The
Father Teds are heading to a new
venue on Friday 5th June, Halesowen Athletic Club. Tickets are
on sale now on our website www.
thefatherteds.co.uk at £6 each and
availability is limited so please don’t
leave it too late if you’re thinking of
coming. While you’re on the website a reminder that you can still
purchase our latest CD album for
just £5. You can keep up to date
with all the gigs and news about the
band on Facebook and Twitter or
to book us please email [email protected] or call 07931
504405.
35
The Harp - APRIL 2015
musicreviews by Charles Patrick
For further information on these artists call 07896 575307
Artist: Davitt Country Band
Title: Good Old Country Songs - Independent Release
Artist website: www.davittcountryband.com
Artist:
Janey Kirk
Title
Favourite Memory of
Mine - Double CD pack
Artist website:
Irishmusic.co.uk
This is the second CD from this hugely talented six-piece family band. They are Joe
and Tommy Davitt and their sons, Nathan,
Thomas, Niall and Derek.
Country and Western singer Janey
was born in Scotland and from a very
early age she has been entertaining crowds with her fabulous voice,
so much so that by the time she left
school she already had a loyal fan following.
She has a wonderful country voice
and this two CD pack containing
fourteen tracks on each CD demonstrates her versatility as she handles
the ballads and up-tempo tunes with the other tracks are: I Am Back, A
equal ease.
Little Bit Country A Little Bit Rock
‘n’ Roll and If My Pillow Could Talk.
CD1 has among its tracks well known
tunes such as, Another Somebody CD 2 has tracks like; Sweetheart
Done Somebody Wrong Song, Moth- Darlin’ Of Mine, Senor, One More
er of Mine, Island Of Dreams, Don’t Night, Club Land Singer, Big Boned
Forget to Remember Me, Peace in Gal, If You Want Me, Silver Wings
the Valley and Penny Arcade. Among and Golden Rings, Too Hot To Han-
There are twelve excellent tracks, most of
which will be popular with Irish and Country Dance fans everywhere. Songs like Log
On The Fire, Beautiful Aﬀair, Jive Jive Jive,
I’ll Be There For You (Friends theme tune)
Rose Garden, Good Old Country Songs and
a showband medley which features amongst
dle, What Did Love Ever Do To You,
Pancho and Lefty and Peace And
Comfort. Although I must admit I
didn’t know too much about Janey
beforehand, I thoroughly enjoyed
listening to this pack.
wwwjaneykirk.com.
Artist:
Light Over There
Title
Five track EP - Available
on download only
For me the songs are reminiscent of
many earlier Fleetwood Mac oﬀerings and Aileen’s voice sounds superb for such a young woman.
This collection of tracks has a very
unusual tale behind the songs. Rex
Haberman is a veteran American
rocker best known for his recent
work with his band The War Poets.
Aileen Henderson is an eighteenyear-old singer/guitarist/songwriter
who was born in Dumfries, Scotland,
but was brought up and now lives
with her family in Galway.
She began listening to classic country and rock music at an early age
and enjoyed the sounds of artists like
Elvis and Dolly Parton. In her teens
she used her talents to make videos,
which became very popular after she
put them online. In June 2014, quite
by chance the two met on Twitter
and soon discovered their mutual
The tracks featured are Where
Memories Live, which deals with
senile Dementia and it’s eﬀect on
families of suﬀerers, She Cries to
You, is about loneliness and calling out for help, I Ain’t That Bad is
a great country rock track which is a
duet; I love this song and I think if
it was made available it would have a
good chance of success in the charts.
Solitude Gratitude is another great
country rock track which highlights
dealing with a chronic illness. Mountain Song is a great tune with wonderful vocals about fighting against
life’s injustices.
interest in making music. They then
started connecting via email and
then they started to write songs together. In a short space of time they
had completed five songs, which were
ready to be recorded. Soon a band of
well-established Nashville musicians
was put together. Rex’s music and his
vocals were recorded in Wisconsin
and Aileen’s vocals were recorded in
Judging by these oﬀerings Aileen has
Galway.
a big future ahead of her in the muBy this time they were ready to call sic business. These tracks are surely
proof that with today’s technology
in five times Grammy Award wineven distance cannot stand in the
ning mixer, Joe Baldridge and then
way of making great music.
the songs were mastered by another
five times Grammy Award winner The songs are available for download
Richard Dodd. The end result is a on both CDbaby and iTunes and
wonderful mixture of Americana and there are videos available on Youcountry rock sounds.
Tube.
There is also Without You and it includes versions of more popular songs such as Batchelor
Boy, A White Sports Coat and Behind Closed
Doors. There is also an Irish Medley, which is
sure to have hands clapping and feet tapping.
The band is already massively popular on the
Irish and dance scene and this CD is sure to
gain them many more fans.
Artist: Ally Harron and Marian Curry
Title: Perfect Harmony - Available on CD or DVD
Artist website: www.allyharron.com
Ally and Marion, who are both accomplished solo performers in their own
right, got together as stage partners a
few years ago and now enjoy a fair measure of success as a country and Irish
duo.
Ally is an accomplished guitarist and
as well as being a fine vocalist, he has
perfected the art of Yodelling. Marian has a great voice and although they
both sound great individually, it’s on the
duets that this combination of voices
works really well.
This latest oﬀering has twelve super
tracks and features solo performances
Some of the songs deal with social issues, which aﬀect many people.
others, Proud Mary.
from both of them plus many duets.
The tracks include, It’s An Old Love
Thing, Marian’s Rose, Perfect Harmony,
I Cry Everytime I Leave Ireland (which
did well for Marian, when promoted as
a single) Ain’t Gonna Kick Old Buck,
The Woman Is Mine, Ain’t That A Lovin’
Shame, Size Seven Round, The Pieces
Are Coming Together, This Old Heart,
Thirty Days In Twenty Years and Two
Story House.
I am sure that this oﬀering will be a welcome addition to the collections of their
every increasing army of fans.
Artist: Logue and McCool
Title: Something Special - Double CD pack
Artist website: Irishmusic.co.uk
Logue and McCool were one of Ire-
wheelchair since.
Their love of music brought them together and their wonderful rich sounding voices won them many fans, not
only in Ireland and the UK but as far a
field as America and Australia. They also
often appeared on some of the biggest
country music festivals including the
Wembley Country Music Festival.
CD1 is the release from a few years ago,
Unconditional Love. This disc has sixteen great songs of which my favourites
are; Beautiful Time, Lovin’ Arms, If It
Was Easy, Wake Up, This Old Heartache, Maybe Next Time, You’ve Got Her
Eyes and Halfway To Paradise.
land’s most popular country and dance
acts for many years, although both were
seriously handicapped from a very early
age, they never let it stop them having
very successful music careers. Chris
Logue developed cancer, which spread
to both eyes and was blind from the
age of two. Pat McCool suﬀered Polio
as a child and has been confined to a
CD2 has fourteen tracks which are like
a ‘best of collection,’ including This Is
Where The Cowboy Rides Away, Ghost
Story, Diana, Shelly’s Winter Love, I’m
Beginning To Forget You, Gene Autrey
My Hero, Maggie and Isle Of Innisfree.
I always did like their music and this
pack superbly highlights their talents.
36
The Harp - APRIL 2015
reader’s letters
While me and my family enjoyed
yet another great parade day in
Birmingham, I feel I must comment on the report in the press
of dwindling numbers of the
general public to the parade. Yes
the weather wasn’t as good as it
has been in the previous few years,
and this might account for not as
many people turning up, but I feel
the prices in some establishments
was far too hiked up this year.
The reports of a pint of lager costing £5 or a pint of Guinness costing £4.50 must have sent a lot of
people back to their locals instead
of staying in Digbeth.
I understand that landlords have
to make a living, and this also
goes for the street vendors selling
various St. Patrick’s Day items, but
most people only have a limited
amount of money to spend these
days.
The parade in Birmingham is
visited by thousands of people
from the west Midlands, not just
tourists from other regions, this is
not London where tourists most
But on a positive note, well done
to the organisers of the parade,
and all those who took part, your
hard work shone through.
Mr B. Shavlett
Wolverhampton
sent by email
2
3
Dear Editor,
We thoroughly enjoyed watching
Bob Brolly’s Live Irish Show. It
had a great mix of characters and
entertainment from start to finish
and was a refreshing change from
the usual soaps etc. on oﬀer in our
house!
So well done Bob and Irish TV;
we look forward to seeing much
more.
5
6
10
11
7
12. Clams up about the doldrums. (5)
13. I’d replace lick in Wicklow for her in Mallow I do wonder. (5)
14. I’ve no confusion about the minister plenipotentiary in Skibbereen voicing concern. (5)
17
15. Tee, then inn. (anag.) Just before the score, after golf? (10)
19
19. By union ball. (anag.) in Kerry town seaside town with a bathing strand fronting the main street. (11)
20
21
22
25
23
20. Glen in rare turmoil, like an old dog with a new trick?
24. Pulls hard on behalf of the American cousins? (5)
26. Perceived a lot of cattle, apparently in the Ardmore area. (5)
26
28
4. Oh, a dog runs around in offshore Mayo village near Keel under
Croaghaun Mountain. (6)
10.The linden tree is a mile over. (4)
16
24
And on that bombshell…
9. On being included in the north east for nothing. (4)
12
14
18
I have a few ideas and thoughts
of Jeremy myself now but won’t
become part of this charade. I
will not support any of his future
ventures but I will pass him on this
small Irish toast/quote: ‘Here’s to
your wife and girlfriend: may they
never meet!’
1. Ally baby. (anag.) Small Monaghan market town near the trout
lake of Lough Major. (8)
13
15
2) Irish Day kicks of the Cheltenham Festival at which Midlands racecourse?
ACROSS
8
9
As a retired mechanic I enjoy all
sorts of shows on television, radio
and in magazines to do with vehicles, engines and alike. I was just
as surprised as most to learn that
one of my favourite presenters,
Jeremy Clarkson had an outburst
over a steak dinner, which was
rather embarrassing for him.
Anon
Via email
Mr Sampson
Leamington Spa
4
Dear Editor,
Then it came out that he had
physically abused his producer,
which is intolerable and finally I
learnt that he also racially abused
the Irish man in question branding
him with something I thought was
left in the 1960s.
Crossword
1
Just for fun!
1) In which local sports ground did the inaugural City of
Birmingham Dance Championships take place in February 2015?
27
29
28. Eastern Italian fascist leader will bring out an inference. (5)
30
29. Wary about crooked description. (4)
30. Cleaner in Lahinch arrangement. (4)
31
Provided by Jim Stokes
32
31. Ed and Luke get together in Meath village in the the Nanny
River valley with an unusual pillar cross. (6)
32. No sir, rag is returned in Fermanagh border village at the
eastern end of Lough Melvin. (8)
3) What was the name of Tommy Marren’s play
about rural Irish life which was performed
in Coventry in March?
1. Edgbaston cricket
ground
2. Warwick Racecourse
3. The Real McCoy
4. 1996
5. Three Counties
Showground, Malvern
Dear Editor,
likely out number local people and
are unlikely to return on a regular
basis. This is a local area supported
by locals, who I am afraid some,
like my family will think twice
about attending next year.
The Midlands
Quiz with the
Irish Spin!
4) In what year was the St Patrick’s Day
Parade relaunched in Birmingham?
5) Where in the Midlands did the Tractor World
Show take place in March 2015?
Word Search
This month’s word search features 15 names of Irish counties. 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.
CARLOW
CAVAN
DERRY
DONEGAL
GALWAY
KERRY
LAOIS
LIMERICK
LONGFORD
MAYO
OFFALY
ROSCOMMON
SLIGO
TYRONE
WEXFORD
D
C
R
O
K
I
K
L
N
N
R
I
M
D
E
G
B
C
R
F
A
A
C
W
N
Z
O
W
R
A
S
E
X
O
N
V
L
O
C
L
N
V
R
L
L
O
I
D
I
A
M
V
O
A
G
E
Y
W
C
S
M
B
S
M
B
N
R
Z
L
T
A
A
E
L
N
D
O
N
G
T
A
K
E
R
R
Y
J
I
F
C
M
F
I
L
F
B
I
L
E
H
M
G
S
M
O
E
X
A
C
N
O
V
P
Z
G
O
Y
R
L
W
K
M
D
W
E
X
F
O
R
D
D
O
N
E
G
A
L
R
E
V
H
M
U
E W
X F
O Y
R L
D A
T F
Y F
R O
O V
N X
E J
L K
I O
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. Musicians are playing in Cork town on the river of the same name
near Castle Bernard. (6)
2. Kind of fast to be made in springtime before Easter. (6)
3. A British police organisation is not a bit basic. (4)
5. Where the potter’s chalk is at the very right time. (2,3)
6. A lion luv, goes wild and is washed up by the river bed. (8)
7. Silo path is another way to Limerick village named after house
established there by Knights in 1215. (8)
8. Churchyard tree for the second person apparently. (3)
10. “Do you believe in the ---- to come? - Mine was always that.”
Beckett (4)
11. Bullet women. (anag.) Small Galway town on the road between
Tuam and Athlone. (11)
16. “I don’t want to ---- grammar, I want to ---- like a lady.” Shaw. (4)
17. Seaside feature that is included in P.R. (4)
18. Bay heard about in Wicklow seaside feature rising from the sea a
few miles north of Greystones. (4,5)
19. Bail a nun out every six months. (8)
21. Breezy in Dromahair yesterday. (4)
22. Chest I turned over causes irritation. (6)
23. Right a wrong in Kilkenny village with a fine racecourse and a
castle sacked by Cromwell in 1650. (6)
25. Part of play set back in Enniskillen ecstatically received.(5)
26. Put this on top in Bansha today. (3)
27. First class artist comes back for the operatic rendering. (4)
The Harp
Crossword
MARCH
2015
solution
37
The Harp - APRIL 2015
family announcements
Barbara
McDougall
Your family, friends, colleagues and everyone involved
with The Harp wanted to say,
“Hi Ya Lovehave a great
birthday!”
It’s your special day and you
deserve a treat,
So leave down your briefcase
and put up your feet.
Relax for a while, as tomorrow
can wait,
But we want a slice of your
Birthday Cake!
Have a great one Our Babs!
Love and best wishes,
From us all
xxxxxxxx
Michael
Joseph
Dunne
Patsy
O’Brien
(Mick)
Late of Yardley
Second anniversary 26th
April 2015
Always in our thought
and in our hearts,
What we’d give to
hear your voice,
And sit and talk
to you a while,
No morning dawns,
no evening falls without a
thought of you.
Missing you is a heartache
that never goes away.
Rest In Peace Mick,
Your loving wife,
children, grandchildren,
great grandchildren and all
of the Dunne family xxx
Mass on the 26th of April,
9.30 at Corpus Christy,
Stetchford.
7th Anniversary
From all your friends
in Birmingham xxx
Anniversary mass Sunday
26th of April at Ss Mary’s
and John’s 11am.
All welcome.
Missing People
A family member of Dennis
Geoghegan is seeking some information about him. He was
last known to be in Birmingham area of Moseley. He was
born between 1939 - 1941. If
anyone
has
information
please contact Helen Ludlow
at Irish in Birmingham on
0121 604 6111 or email helenl@
b i r m i n g h a m i r i s h . o r g .u k .
Enter the text you wish printed below:
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38
The Harp - APRIL 2015
fancyfootwork with Leanne Nelson
SCANLON
FEIS 2015
On the 7th March Carole and Patricia Scanlon welcomed competitors, teachers, family and friends
to the annual Scanlon Feis which
once again returned to Arch Bishop Ilsley Catholic School in Acocks Green.
This year saw unprecedented entries from Ireland and Scotland
with competitors from every
region of England representing
in the run up to the World Irish
Dancing Championships held
during Easter in Montreal, Canada.
The adjudicating panel was made
up of long established and newly
qualified adjudicators including
Maeve Rankin from Co. Down
who passed her examinations in
Manchester during 2014, when
asked was she looking forward to
the weekend she commented, “I
was delighted to be invited to adjudicate such a world renowned
Feis. Scanlon Feis is one always
referred to in the highest regard
for the standard of dancing and
the hospitality, everyone is so
friendly, the Midlands is a fantastic region”.
Maeve’s sentiments were clearly
shared over the weekend; the
dancing was spectacular with
many teachers making the trip
Ella McCarthy - Ceim
Oir, Under 10 Champion
Caoimhe Devlin - SRMCB - Under 11 Champion
Orlaith Bradley
- De Barra - Under 14
Champion
Alliyah O’Hare - Scanlon - Under 12 Champion
Jodi Millar -Haughey
McAuley Under 15
Champion
Ruadh Kinsella - Turley
Duggan - Under 13
Champion
Callum O’Neill - Carey
Under 13 Champion
Ciara Dickson - Caroline Greene Under 18
Champion
John Whitehurst -Carey Under 16 Champion
Alliyah O’Hare Parade
of Champions
Ladies Parade
of Champions
from Ireland with their dancers
including competitors from the
Munster and Ulster regions.
The ‘Scanlon Points Cup’ is always the talking point of the Feis,
dedicated to the memory of John
Scanlon, the dancing school who
accumulates the most points
across all competitions over the
weekend wins, the Carey Academy were the reigning champions
for 2014.
This year saw lots of dancers from
the Midlands region partaking
in their first Feis, with the teachers eyes certainly on the prize, all
hoping the valuable top 3 points
would go towards their totals!
Although there was much change
in the leader board over the weekend, the joy on Carole Scanlon’s
face was clear for all to see when
she proudly announced after the
Parade of Champions on the Sunday evening that her father’s cup
in his memory was coming home
to the Scanlon School for 2015!
With many dancers from the region heading to Montreal for the
World Irish Dancing Championships Carole concluded the event
with special thanks and wishing
all competitors the best of luck
when they travel to Canada.
39
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Welcome to the April edition
dear readers, I hope you all
enjoyed the Parade Festival and
all surrounding events last
month, we certainly did!
I am glad to announce that
The Women’s Boxing Club (WBC)
is up and running in the Irish
quarter and I will bring more
news next month of how you can
get involved.
Until then, be good!
Jason
TOP TALENT YARDE SIGNS
WITH FRANK WARREN
GAVIN FACES
CRUNCH IBF
CLASH AGAINST
VAN HEERDEN IN
BIRMINGHAM
Exciting and hard-hitting lightheavyweight talent Anthony Yarde
has signed with promoter Frank
Warren.
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.
All-action Yarde believes that his
explosive style was always suited
to the professional code and is excited to now join the paid-ranks
and starts his dream of becoming a
world champion.
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.
The 23-year-old amateur standout
won the Haringey Box Cup tournament in 2013, winning all his fights
by knockout and ended his career
in a vest and headguard with 12
wins and 11 stoppages.
Yarde wasn’t only a hit in the boxing ring, he showed great potential
on the athletics track in the 100m,
200m sprints and shot put under
GB Olympic legend Tessa Sanderson, but the thrill of the boxing ring
ensured that he kept his gloves on.
The Ilford ace will be trained and
managed by Tundi Ajayi, head of
Staminaforsale UK Management,
at East London’s world famous boxing gym The Peacock and the date
of his pro-debut will be announced
shortly.
“I’m very happy and grateful to start
my professional career under Frank
Warren and with Tundi training
me, I believe that I’ve got the best
team to take me to the very top of
the sport,” Said Yarde.
“I’m not going to make big boasts
about becoming a world champion
in X amounts of fights, my dream,
like any fighter is to become a world
champion and that’s what I’m in
this sport to achieve and I know
that I’ve got the talent to do that,
but I’ve got the best people around
me to guide me and I’ve now got to
do my part in the ring,”
“I’ve had a short but exciting time
in the amateurs and I always believed the professional side of
things is where I belong. I believe
that I can liven things up in the
light-heavyweight division, I’ve got
the flair and the KO punch that my
fans love and will attract new fans.
“I’m an exciting fighter, I love going for the knockout and bringing
excitement. I’m fast, I’ve got speed,
great movement and power, it’s all
there, but I know that I’ve got a lot
to learn in the professionals and
with Tundi’s guiding experience I
can reach the top.”
Warren said, “I’m delighted to welcome Anthony to my organisation. I’ve had very good reports on him
and from the fights I’ve seen of him
he looks like a very powerful and
hard-hitting raw talent and is welcome addition to the light-heavyweight division.”
Ajayi added, “Anthony is an exceptional talent and I believe that
with Frank’s promotional expertise
and my guidance he can achieve
his goals in boxing. He’s got the
talent there, that’s unquestioned,
he’s dedicated to his training, he
lives the life of a fighter and has the
raw hunger and desire to become a
champion.”
MITCHELL, SELBY AND JOSHUA FIRST
NAMED FOR O2 SUPER SHOW
Kevin Mitchell and Lee Selby will fight for
World titles at The O2 on May 30, with Anthony Joshua MBE taking on Kevin Johnson
on a massive night for British boxing.
Popular Londoner Mitchell take on threeweight World Champion Jorge Linares for
the Venezuelan’s WBC Lightweight crown
following his standout performance at the
same venue in January, with a punch-perfect eight-round stoppage win over Daniel
Estrada to land the shot at Linares, who
knocked out Javier Prieto in December in
Tokyo to land the vacant crown.
Slick Welsh stylist Selby tackles IBF World
Featherweight king Evgeny Gradovich in
the Russian’s fifth defence of his title, with
Selby also returning to the scene of his last
The show marks a year since Carl Froch
knocked out George Groves on a spectacular occasion at Wembley Stadium that
Joshua and Mitchell also appeared on, and
promoter Eddie Hearn is promising another
memorable night in London – with more
great fights to be added soon.
liver shots for Kevin and Lee in the UK and
they have every chance of becoming World
champions on May 30. Linares is an incredible fighter, a three-weight World ruler, but
Kevin has been exceptional with us and
I truly believe he is going to do it. Lee has
been virtually punch-perfect over the last
few years but now it’s his moment against
one of the best fighters in the division in
Gradovich. Kevin is a big step for Anthony
Joshua and signifies his first real challenge
in the pro ranks, he brings personality and
attitude as well as plenty of ring craft - I’m
buzzing for this show already and fans can
expect plenty of other major announcements for the card.”
“This is a huge night for British boxing
and today’s announcement is just the beginning,” said Hearn. “I’m delighted to de-
Tickets are set to go on sale at the end of
next week – a further announcement on
prices and on-sale dates will be made soon.
win, a dominant nine-round stoppage of
Australian Joel Brunker.
Heavyweight sensation Joshua faces ‘Kingpin’ Johnson in their rescheduled encounter
as the Olympic gold medal hero returns to
action in Newcastle on April 4 ahead of this
crunch clash with the former World title
challenger.
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 - APRIL 2015
close as the width of an upright in a
‘Hawk-Eye’ decision!
Played at 100mph from the beginning
to the end, it will go down as one of
the great Test matches.
Magic Moment
Wales holding out Irish
assault
Although the final round day obscures
much of what went before, the Welsh
defensive eﬀort in repelling Ireland’s
attack during a second-half spell in
the Millennium Stadium was a sight
no one who saw it will ever forget.
The roar that greeted Johnny Sexton
going oﬀ his feet after more than 50
phases was incredible. But although
Ireland’s Grand Slam dream was left
in tatters Joe Schmidt’s men learned
a great deal
ew
2015 RBS Six Nations Revi
Ireland claim first
back-to-back title
since 1949
By Larry Cooney
Ireland successfully defended their
Six Nations title after an unforgettable final round on Saturday 21 March.
It was surely a Six Nations finale that
will never be forgotten by all those
who watched all three very contrasting games.
And although Ireland had seemingly
done enough after their thirty-point
victory over Scotland soon just after 4.15pm the team, now attired in
their suits, had to wait another three
hours for the Twickenham result before their trophy presentation on the
Murrayfield pitch later that evening.
Although things move on quickly in
rugby and with attention now turning to the final stages of the European
Cup competitions this weekend and
the World Cup this autumn all there
is left in this year’s Six Nations competition is the usual tidying up of the
various awards and accolades. And
less than a week after lifting the RBS
6 Nations trophy Ireland captain Paul
O’Connell has been awarded the RBS
Player of the Championship. Securing over 26% of the public vote the
Ireland number 5 received the backing of 18,842 fans.
Wales’s Alun-Wyn Jones came in second with 19% of the vote, a nod to his
heroic performance in the Welsh win
against Ireland in Cardiﬀ. The race
for 3rd place was a hotly contested
aﬀair with just 0.9% of the votes
separating Ireland’s rising star Robbie Henshaw (3rd with 7750 votes).
On hearing the result Paul O’Connell,
who made his 101st appearance during the Championship commented:
“I’m delighted to receive the RBS
Player of the Championship Trophy.
When you see the names that have
gone before, you realise what a great
honour it is. I’m very grateful for all
the supporters who voted for me”.
Tournament begins with EnglandWales World Cup dress-rehearsal
The tournament began with an epic
slugfest between Wales and England
in Cardiﬀ and while the other teams
failed to match that level at times,
Ireland’s journey towards first Grand
Slam disappointment and then title
glory was certainly one to remember. But the real irony before the final round drama was how ‘poor’ this
year’s competition had been according to the pundits and rugby analysts.
The turgid nature of the present game
had brought severe criticism from
around the world before the final
round’s explosion of colour, while the
spectre of concussion loomed over
the event from first game to last. But
soon it will be time look towards the
World Cup and the realistic dream of
Ireland reaching the latter stages for
the first time, something this team is
more than capable of, but first it is appropriate to reflect on how this year’s
Six Nations competition unfolded
and ultimately led to Ireland successfully defending their title for only the
second time in their history.
Best player
Paul O’Connell
Despite his advancing years, Ireland’s
captain fantastic played every minute
of every game and even got better by
the week! Had he not finished on the
losing side of that epic encounter in
Cardiﬀ, then he’d have won the manof-the-match and only Sean O’Brien’s
Must do better
Ireland’s lineout
With the collective motoring so well,
there were few individuals who let
themselves down but Ireland won’t
be happy with the way their lineout
accuracy fell away towards the end
of the tournament. Simon Easterby
and Paul O’Connell won’t be happy
that theirs was the least eﬀective lineout in the tournament and this area
of play certainly needs improvement
ahead of the World Cup.
Best Coach
Joe Schmidt
Tackle of the tournament
Jamie Roberts on Tommy
Bowe
Although Jamie Heaslip’s tackle
on Stuart Hogg in Murrayfield
might well have been a championship winning one Jamie Roberts’
eﬀort to deny Bowe in Cardiﬀ on
the previous week was incredible.
The Racing Metro centre had bought
Ireland’s decoy run, but managed to
re-adjust his feet quickly and snag
the Ulster and Lions winger who was
clear through for a try that would
have changed the course of the competition.
Best newcomer
Jonathan Joseph (England)
brilliance in Edinburgh denied him
the prize against Scotland.
Robbie Henshaw gets the Irish
award, but on a tournament scale
the hot-stepping Bath centre made
a remarkable entry to the tournament, finishing as the Six Nations
top try scorer at the first attempt.
Before the rest of the teams caught
the bug, England were the best attacking force thanks largely to their
impressive new face who is a product
of the London Irish Academy manThat his ball-carrying eﬀectiveness aged then by Conor O’Shea.
increased by the week should be encouraging for Ireland’s World Cup
hopes also, while his presence and
leadership add huge value and are
quite simply crucial. Although he has
already hinted on retiring on a high
after the World Cup the legendary Athlone man Robbie Henshaw takes
Munster second-row should not be the gong for his brilliant try against
expected to make a decision before England despite all the fireworks
of rugby’s final day Super Saturday.
the tournament.
Calling Conor Murray’s attention to
the possibility of a chip over the top,
Play of the tournament
Robbie Henshaw try
against England
Best game
Round 5 - England 55
France 35 – 21 March
he had it all to do as he contested with
Alex Goode, but physically dominated
the full-back, before showing intelligence and skill to ground the ball.
Although many questioned Joe
Schmidt’s tactics in the aftermath of
the Welsh defeat, the Ireland supremo’s winning record speaks for itself
and his team’s ability to adapt to each
and every occasion makes them the
hardest to beat out there. Even Wales
needed an era-best performance to
beat Ireland by seven after taking a
twelve-point lead after just thirteen
minutes.
What might have been
Ireland’s lost Grand Slam
This Irish team had the capability
of winning a first Grand Slam since
2009. But the team’s courage and
character culminating in the final
round 40-10 championship clinching victory over Scotland has helped
ease their pain and erase the memory
of Cardiﬀ. But that’s history now and
they will have learned valuable lessons from their only blemish in this
year’s Six Nations competition.
World Cup prospects
Could be Ireland’s year!
Ireland, England and Wales can all
look forward with real optimism,
with Schmidt’s side facing the more
favourable draw. Ireland’s pool rivals
France and Italy are in varying levels
of disarray which will provide some
reasons for optimism.
e Cup Preview
Challeng
On a day when rugby completely tore
European Champions and
up the script, the sight of England
and France slugging it out for 80-plus
minutes at the end of eight weeks
of action was quite surreal, yet also
magnificent. It was indeed rugby’s answer to last year’s Tipperary-Kilkenny
drawn All-Ireland hurling final –
quite breathless to watch but aways
Another big weekend of European kick-oﬀ.
absorbing.
rugby beckons with Leinster the only
Meanwhile in the Challenge Cup
The French came oﬀ the pitch talking
Irish interest in this year’s knock-out
about the heart they’d shown despite
Connacht travel to the West Country
stages
of
the
inaugural
Champions
conceding more than a half-century
to take on Gloucester at Kingsholm
of points, while England threw every- Cup. They host English Premiership
twenty hours earlier for an attractive
thing at chasing the total Ireland had side Bath in one of the top quarterquarter-final. And on Sunday afterset them, but were left to regret their
poor discipline, open defence and a final pairings in the Aviva Stadium noon London Irish entertain Edinsecond-half lineout collapse. It was as this Saturday afternoon with a 3.15 burgh at the Madejski Stadium at 5.45.
Leinster, Connacht and London
Irish maintain interest in Europe
41
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Porterfield championing
Irish cricket cause
By Aidan Begley
Ireland Cricket captain William Porterfield, is using the success of the national
team in the Cricket World Cup to ensure
they don’t miss out on a spot in the competition in 2019.
The International Cricket Council (ICC)
have reduced the amount of teams who
will compete in the next tournament from
14 teams down to 10. The top eight teams
in the ICC One Day International rankings would automatically qualify, with the
bottom two nations battling it out with
the leading associate nations (including
Ireland) for the final two berths.
This change has been implemented to
streamline the competition as well as ensuring the most competitive teams take
part in the tournament, which is being
held in England next time round.
There’s a certain irony in the idea that the
reduction in associate teams will improve
the tournament. Countries like Afghanistan, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates have been involved in some fantastic
edge-of-your-seat contests in the group
section, with only victory for co-hosts
New Zealand against South Africa in the
semi-final showing any form of excitement in the knock-out stages.
Unfortunately for Ireland, their campaign
didn’t make it to these games after being
eliminated at the end of the group stages,
but they left the competition with their
heads held high after more than holding
their own on the global stage, winning
even more fans and plaudits during their
journey.
Their qualification for the knockout stages was reliant on the boys in green defeating Pakistan in their final group game – a
feat they’d previously managed back in the
2007 World Cup – due to the way that the
table stood before the fixture.
Heavy defeats to South Africa and India
saw Ireland’s run rate take a big hit, which
meant that the West Indies – who Ireland
had already defeated in the tournament
– sat above them in the table. Only victory would get Ireland through to the last
eight.
Unfortunately it was a step too far and despite batting first, Ireland were all out for
237 at the end of their 50 overs. Captain
Porterfield had earlier made 107, but his
wicket triggered a slide which led to the
team giving away wickets at regular intervals. Pakistan reached their target with 23
balls to spare thanks to Sarfraz Ahmed’s
unbeaten 101.
Since returning back to Ireland after the
competition, Porterfield has been very
vocal in ensuring people are aware how
unfair they feel the new World Cup qualification is – especially as they are regarded
as the leading associate cricket nation,
which is the step below being a Test playing team.
teams. Even if we’d won every single game
we played, we still can’t break in - so that’s
what we’re up against.”
Porterfield worries that the World Cup
will become a ‘members only’ club and
with associate members not awarded
many fixtures against Test playing nations, there’s a fear that the progress of
Cricket could go backwards, rather than
forwards – this despite the fact Ireland
defeated more Test playing nations in this
World Cup than England did.
Thirty-year-old Porterfield fears not just
for Ireland’s future, but that of many aspiring nations.
Porterfield said: “It’s a decision that not
only I but a lot of other people completely
disagree with. If you look at any other
sport around the world, they’re looking to
expand and develop. The way the ICC are
going... they don’t seem to be doing that
really.
“Cutting teams is not the way forward. It’s
only full members, pretty much, they’re
giving the opportunities to - it may as well
be a members’ cup, as opposed to a World
Cup. People want to see associate nations
like Ireland making the knockout stages
of the tournament. That’s what everyone
wants to see. Nobody wants to see the favourites just go out there and dominate a
competition. I think how we’ve done, and
what we’ve shown over the last few years,
merits a place at the World Cup. But the
ICC just seem to be shutting doors in your
face really.
“The last four years between World Cups,
we’ve played nine games against top-10
“It’s almost getting to the stage of ‘What’s
the point?’ for a lot of the teams. If you
keep closing the door, they can’t get on to
the world stage. I’d like to know what the
ICC’s vision for the game is. It’s not just
Ireland here - we’re talking about a global
game.
“This is the International Cricket Council.
If the vision for the game is to shrink it
and make as much money for the top few
nations as possible, then come out and say
that. It’s frustrating when we keep doing
everything that’s asked of us by the ICC,
and then they keep slapping you in the
face with decisions like this.”
The Warwickshire left-handed batsman
will be able to focus on his pending season
with the Bears starting this month, but
he certainly won’t be dropping Ireland’s
cause during the new domestic campaign.
“We’ve shown what we can do. The ICC
can’t say that they are having fewer teams
to make the World Cup shorter, because
the next tournament is longer than this
one. I’d love to think that we haven’t
played our last World Cup game. I’m sure
the ICC are hoping everything blows over
and they don’t hear much from us, then
it’s easy to sweep under the carpet.”
Ireland have the opportunity to earn Test
status via the 2017 Intercontinental Cup,
but Porterfield says his team need more
one-day internationals against top sides
before thinking about playing the longer
form of the game.
“Yes, it’s something we want and the pathway is there, but we need to play the volume of fixtures before we get to that stage.
We have six weeks until the next game, a
one-oﬀ fixture against England. It’s great
that we’ve got that fixture, but it’s a big gap.
Those are the gaps that need to be filled before we build for Test status.
“We’ve beaten two Test nations and played
some very good cricket. We’re disappointed. We came in with high hopes because
we believe we can beat anyone. When we
sit and reflect, we can be very happy with
what we have achieved.”
The end of the tournament saw Ireland
Head Coach, Phil Simmons leave his role
to take up a similar position with the West
Indies, his home country.
The Trinidadian has signed a three-year
contract and he will take up his new role
immediately, meaning he will be at the
helm for the West Indies ahead of their
Test series against England which begins
later this month.
Simmons had been in charge of Ireland
since 2007 and during his tenure, led Ireland to six successive global ICC tournaments as well as helping Ireland win 11 associate competitions whilst in charge.
Announcing his departure, Simmons, 51,
said: “I’ll always be eternally grateful for the
opportunity given to me by Cricket Ireland.
It was a very difficult decision to leave but
I couldn’t turn down the opportunity to
coach my home team.
“I will cherish my eight wonderful years
in the Ireland role. The wins in the World
Cups over full members were all special as
we showed the world just what Irish cricket
is capable of.”
The search for the new Head Coach has already begun and Cricket Ireland would like
to make an appointment ahead of Ireland’s
One Day International in Malahide on 8th
May.
42
The Harp - APRIL 2015
Cork’s Patrick Horgan: The Cork forward
has been hitting some big scores as the
Rebels bid for a place in the league final
against in-form Dublin.
Review - Hurling
Allianz National Leagues
Exciting league climax provides
a perfect championship prelude
BY LARRY COONEY
Wide open contest for
Kilkenny’s crown
Four teams remain in the hunt for
HL Division 1 honours with last
year’s beaten finalists Tipperary
now evens to lift the silverware for
a record 20th time. The Premier
County will now play Waterford
in the semi-finals following their
win over Oﬀaly last Sunday in Tullamore.
Waterford, who defeated Galway,
are the outsiders of the remaining
four teams but have shortened into
13/2 from 9/1 to win their third title.
Cork will play Dublin in the other
semi-final and the Rebels are now
9/4 from 11/4 to get their hands on
the trophy for a 15th time.
Dublin, who last lifted the trophy in
2011, had a convincing 12 point win
over Limerick last Saturday night
and are on oﬀer at 9/2 from 8/1. On
form Tipperary are therefore slight
favourites despite being without
their talismanic full forward Sea-
mus Callanan who is suspended for
that semi-final game against Waterford.
After a point separated their Munster rivals Cork in their last encounter it is not surprising to hear
that the Rebels are Tipperary’s
nearest rivals in the betting at 9/4
but currently it’s all one way traffic as punters continue to support
Tipperary to go one better this year
than in 2013 and 2014 and lift the
NHL trophy.
Meanwhile holders Kilkenny narrowly retained their league status at the expense of Clare after
an epic relegation play-oﬀ victory
by a single point. But after losing
their Division 1 B relegation playoﬀ against Laois, Antrim must beat
Division 2A winners (Westmeath or
Kerry) if they are to play Division 1
hurling next season. The Division
1 semi-finals are scheduled in an
attractive Nowlan Park ‘doubleheader’ for 19 April. The Division 1
final is scheduled for the May Bank
Holiday weekend – Sunday 3 May.
Competitive finals also expected in
lower hurling league divisions
Division 2A – Westmeath
will be wary of Kerry
backlash
Form teams Kerry and Westmeath
contest this year’s Division 2A final in Limerick on 5 April with
the Kingdom hoping to repeat last
year’s success but make up for the
disappointment of missing out on
promotion after a defeat by Oﬀaly
in Thurles.
Kerry have been inconsistent at
times and even recorded a heavy
defeat by their opponents in the
earlier rounds but it will be much
closer in Limerick this Saturday afternoon. Meanwhile Wicklow have
been relegated after just one season
in Division 2A.
Division 2B – Improving
Meath will have revenge
in mind against Kildare
After contesting the last two finals
Meath were fancied to be among
the contenders to progress to Division 2A. But a heavy shock home
defeat by Kildare in opening round
immediately put the Royals on the
back-foot.
where they could get the better of
their great Ulster rivals. Roscommon were expected to be dominant
team in this Division but were surprisingly beaten by Monaghan.
However Michael Ennis’ team have
recovered well and have qualified
for this Saturday’s final in Mullingar on points diﬀerence against
Down in the previous round. With
the exception of Meath’s opening
round capitulation in Trim there
is never much between these two
great rivals and that should be the
case in Mullingar this Saturday afternoon.
Fermanagh make a swift return to
Division 3B after another disappointing season with Division 3B
finalsists Longford and Warwickshire hoping to replace them.
Meanwhile Donegal and Mayo will
play-oﬀ to avoid relegation. Whoever loses that game will face the
Division 3A winners for a place in
next year’s Division 2B.
Division 3A – Wide open
contest between Tyrone
and Monaghan
For the second consecutive season
Tyrone are bidding for promotion and are in the kind of form
Division 3B – Warwickshire have it all to do
against Longford
Only four teams contested this
year’s Division 3B league with
Longford emerging unbeaten. The
Lory Meagher Cup holders will
start favourites against Warwickshire in this Saturday afternoon’s
final in Ashbourne following their
recent victory over the Exiles. The
same two teams met in the memorable 2013 Lory Meagher Cup final
but Longford have since them recorded two victories over the Exiles
who will need to produce another
top performance if they are to bring
the silverware across the pond.
43
The Harp - APRIL 2015
GAA Fixtures
In-form Monaghan
host the Dubs this
Sunday while Armagh
are already promoted to
Division 2.
Sat, April 4th
Allianz NHL Finals
Division 2A – Kerry v Westmeath in
Limerick, 3.00pm
Division 2B – Kildare v Meath in Mullingar, 3.00pm
Division 3A – Tyrone v Monaghan in
Keady, 3.00pm
Division 3B – Longford v Warwickshire
in Ashbourne 3.00pm
Allianz FL Division 4
ball
nal Leagues Review - Foot
Leitrim v Waterford, Pairc Sean Mac
Allianz Natio
Diarmada, 3pm
Super Easter
Sunday
Connacht U21FC final
Roscommon v Galway, Tuam Stadium,
6pm
Sunday, April 5th
Allianz FL Division 1
Mayo v Donegal, MacHale Park, 3pm
Derry v Cork, Celtic Park, 3pm
Monaghan v Dublin, Clones, 3pm
BY LARRY COONEY
Division 1
Monaghan’s odds for FL Division 1
honours has been slashed following
last Sunday’s sensational win over
Kerry. The Farney County, who
currently lie in second place in the
table, are now 6/1 from 14/1 to win
the title for a second time having
last lifted the silverware in 1985.
Malachy O’Rourke’s side now face
Dublin in the final round at Clones
this Sunday with the 2013 All-Ireland champions currently 15/8 to
retain their crown. Table toppers
Cork are now 9/4 from 11/4 to win
the Irish National Insurance Cup
for a ninth time. Dublin remain on
course to retain the National Football League but this Sunday’s match
against Monaghan in Clones will be
tough following Monaghan’s defeat
of Kerry in Tralee last Sunday.
On current form Cork at their current price of 9/4 had odds as big as
13/2 prior to the League commencing back in January but are now
holding a two point lead at the top
of Division 1, Cork may well put a
strong challenge up to Dublin to
win the Division 1 this year. Mayo’s
hopes have also faded after an unlucky defeat in Cork last weekend.
Outright Betting
Dublin 15/8
Cork 9/4
Mayo 6/1
Monaghan 6/1
Donegal 10/1
Kerry 11/1
Division 2
Four teams battling for
two coveted places
Division 2 is just as competitive
as Division 1 but only two places are available for four teams.
Meath caused a real upset against
Down last Saturday night which
has seen the Royals shorten into 3/1
from 12/1 for Division 2 success.
Despite remaining top of Division
2, Down have been eased out to
7/4 from 11/10 with Cavan now 9/2
from 14/1. It’s all to play for in the
final round with Kildare Laois and
Westmeath battling it for the relegation two places.
Outright Betting
Down 7/4
Roscommon 2/1
Meath 3/1
Cavan 9/2
Division 3
An Ulster promotion
‘double’ for Armagh and
Fermanagh
Promoted Fermanagh and Armagh are both locked together on
11 points with Fermanagh holding
the upper hand on aggregate. The
Ernesiders are 5/2 to win Division
3 with Armagh now 2/7 from 1/3.
Wexford have been relegated to Di-
vision 4 but it’s uncertain who will
join them from Limerick or Louth.
Outright Betting
Armagh 2/7
Fermanagh 5/2
Division 4
Looks like being a Longford-Offaly double promotion
Following their latest win over
Oﬀaly, Longford are now guaranteed Division 3 football next
year. The Midlanders now lie
top of Division 4 with eleven
points and are now 8/11 from
Evens to win Division 4 outright.
But it also looks like Oﬀaly will
join them in Division 3 next year.
Pat Flanagan’s men look much
more likely than Antrim to make a
swift return to Division 3 and will
have home advantage this Sunday
in what is now a ‘winner-take-all’
game for promotion
It’s been another disappointing
league campaign for London who
picked up their only point so far after a thrilling draw with Waterford
last Sunday in Ruislip. Paul Coggins
men have suﬀered from inconsistency which they hope to put right
ahead of their Connacht championship clash with Roscommon in
Ruislip at the end of May.
Outright Betting
Longford 8/11
Offaly 2/1
Antrim 4/1
Tyrone v Kerry, Healy Park, 3pm
Allianz FL Division 2
Westmeath v Roscommon, Cusack Park,
3pm
Down v Laois, Pairc Esler, 3pm
Hurling Division 2B (Loser of (Donegal
and Mayo) v Division 3 champions –
(Tyrone or Monaghan)
Sunday, 19 April
Allianz NHL Division 1 semifinals – Nowlan Park, Kilkenny
Tipperary v Waterford, 4.00pm
Cork v Dublin, 2.00pm
Saturday 25 April
Allianz NFL Finals
Division 3
Division 4
Sunday, 26 April
Allianz NFL Finals
Division 1
Division 2
Saturday 2 May
All-Ireland U21 Football
Final
Christy Ring Cup – R1
Meath v Wicklow
Derry v Mayo
London v Kildare
Kerry v Down
Galway v Kildare, Tuam Stadium, 3pm
Meath v Cavan, Pairc Tailteann, 3pm
Allianz FL Division 3
Sligo v Armagh, Markievicz Park, 3pm
Louth v Limerick, Drogheda, 3pm
Nicky Rackard Cup – R1
Monaghan v Longford
Donegal v Tyrone
Fingal v Roscommon
Armagh v Louth
Clare v Fermanagh, Cusack Park, 3pm
Tipperary v Wexford, Clonmel, 3pm
Lory Meagher Cup – R1
Allianz FL Division 4
Fermanagh v Warwickshire
Leitrim v Sligo
Lancashire bye
Wicklow v London, Blessington, 2pm
Carlow v Longford, Netwatch Cullen
Park, 2pm
Offaly v Antrim, O’Connor Park, 3pm
Sunday, 12 April
Allianz NFL Semi-Finals
Division 1 – (1st v 4th ) (2nd v 3rd)
Hurling Promotion PlayOffs:
Division 1B loser Antrim v Division 2
champions Kerry or Westmeath)
Sunday, 3 May
Allianz NHL - Division 1
final
Leinster (SHC) Championship RoundRobin - R1
Mullingar – Westmeath v Carlow
Ballycastle v Antrim v Laois
Connacht (SFC) Preliminary Round
New York v Galway, Gaelic Park, New
York
44
The Harp - APRIL 2015
ISBN 977-2-05354-200-4
04
9 772053 542004
Shane Long
celebrates his
equaliser
er
Euro 2016 Group D Qualifi
Long shot keeps
Ireland’s hopes alive
By Larry Cooney
Ireland 1 - Poland 1
The Republic of Ireland had to
rely on a last gasp dramatic equaliser against Poland at the Aviva
Stadium last Sunday (29th) evening. But substitute Shane Long’s
priceless injury-time strike against
his Southampton teammate and
Polish goalkeeper Fabianski prevented a second consecutive defeat in the competition against
the Group D leaders and maintain their qualification hopes.
However Poland still lead Germany
and Scotland by a point but Long’s
eﬀort keeps Ireland in the hunt a
further two points behind. Ireland
were first to threaten when manof-the-match Wes Hoolahan took
advantage of a quickly taken freekick to surge towards Lukasz Fabianski’s goal, but scuﬀed his shot
wide.
Ireland soon on the backfoot
But with Grzegorz Krychowiak
prompting the Poles they started
to dominate and went ahead with
their first eﬀort on target after
26 minutes. Robbie Brady dallied
on the ball and Slawomir Peszko
pounced to dispossess him, surge
past Marc Wilson and smash an unstoppable left-foot shot across Shay
Given and inside the far post.
Given was handed a surprise comeback appearance after his post Euro
2012 international retirement. But
Hoolahan was given the responsibility of creating his team’s scoring
opportunities with his trademark
midfield artistery while Robbie
Brady lined out at left back in a very
attacking line-out.
Brady was unlucky when his deflected 52nd-minute cross looped
over Fabianski and came back oﬀ
the inside of the post. However the
introduction of second-half impact
subs James McClean and striker
Shane Long helped save Ireland
from what looked like a second
consecutive defeat and possible
elimination from the competition.
Ireland manager Martin O’Neill
brought on Long nine minutes
from time and he proved the saviour as he forced the ball home in
the last minute after Hoolahan had
headed on a Brady corner into the
Southampton striker’s path for an
equaliser that could have a huge
bearing on the team’s hopes for
Euro 2016 qualification.
Afterwards Martin O’Neill admitted that Ireland must now beat
Scotland in their next qualifying
match in the Aviva Stadium on 13
June. Six day before that Ireland
face England at the same venue and
with the recent announcement of
the end of his international exile,
Aston Villa’s 2014 Ireland U21 Player of the Year award winner Jack
Grealish could be set to make his
senior debut.