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Note: this is an ARCHIVED section of the site.
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· WHOLE NEW LOOK SITE ::
(Nov 08, 2007)
· Cains Liverpool Irish Festival 2007 Oct 17 - Nov 4::
(Oct 05, 2007)
· North London Comhaltas branch need help ::
(Oct 05, 2007)
· Annual General Meetings of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann branches / Information ::
(Oct 05, 2007)
· Heaven Rejoiced As Parkhead Erupted ::
(Oct 05, 2007)
· Outrage as vandals trash memorial to bothy fire victims ::
(Sep 29, 2007)
· The Jacquelyn Hynes Music Collective in Hammersmith ::
(Sep 26, 2007)
· Irish Short Courses at London Met ::
(Sep 26, 2007)
· major history conference on the manchester martyrs ::
(Sep 26, 2007)
· Candid Jazz Festival, London 30th Oct - 4th Nov ::
(Sep 26, 2007)
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 Topic: History, Migration And Identity
The new items published under this topic are as follows.
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See all
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Posted by: IIB TEAM on Saturday, September 29, 2007 - 08:17 PM |
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Outrage asVandals trash memorial to bothy fire victims
By John Carey
There has been outrage in Scotland this week as a plaque marking the death of 10 young Irish men in a bothy fire was destroyed by vandals in a sickening attack just days after being unveiled.The memorial, to mark the 70th anniversary of the tragedy, was smashed last Tuesday night.
Flowers and wreaths which were left by families of the victims visiting from Co Mayo were also trashed.
The thoughtless act has been condemned by all involved in the memorial event that took place in Eastside, Kirkintilloch, just over a week ago.
Provost Alex Hannah, who welcomed visitors to the commemorative ceremony, said: "I am shocked and dismayed at this blatant act of destruction.
"It is terrible that anyone would want to damage this commemorative plaque. I would encourage anyone who witnessed this vandalism or knows who may have carried out this act to contact the police.
"The partners in the project are currently considering how the damage can be repaired and how this can be funded, but it is impossible to repair the damage to the feelings of the people who travelled all the way from Ireland for the commemoration of this tragedy."
The Gaelic League, who part-funded the memorial, were also shocked to hear of the destruction.
Gráinne Crothers, Irish language and cultural development officer for the organisation, said: "Can you imagine the effect on the community if, God forbid, today in 2007, 10 young men were to die in a fire in Kirkintilloch?
"I have no doubt the entire community and country would be united in shock and grief at the terrible tragedy.
"I find it utterly sickening that 70 years after the death of these
young Achill men, anyone could unashamedly destroy a memorial plaque dedicated to their short lives."
Campsie and Kirkintilloch North councillors Charles Kennedy and David Ritchie both insist that the plaque should be replaced immediately.
Councillor Kennedy said: "I am really angry that this desecration should take place - it is no better than desecrating a grave.
"I would say that it has got nothing to do with sectarianism, but rather just a badness that is eating away at the core of society.
"We must now replace the plaque. It doesn't matter how many times we have to replace it - we can never give in to the vandals."
Councillor Ritchie added: "We must make a statement and replace the plaque as soon as possible."
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Posted by: IIB TEAM on Wednesday, September 26, 2007 - 08:26 PM |
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Manchester Martyrs conference in Salford
A major history conference will take place at the Working Class Movement Library in Salford on Saturday 24th November which will look back at the events in November 1867 when three Irishmen were hanged in public outside Salford prison, convicted of the murder of police Sergeant Brett during the rescue of two Fenian prisoners from a prison van on Hyde Road, manchester.
The men maintained their innocence to the grim end and became known as the Manchester Martyrs. It was one of the most controversial judicial and political episodes in the fraught and sometimes bloody relationship between Britain and Ireland. This conference will explore the political and historical resonances of the episode and the diverse ways in which the men have been remembered over the past 140 years.
The conference is entitled The Bold Fenian Men”: Remembering the Manchester Martyrs and has been organised jointly by the Working Class Movement Library and Dr Christine Kinealy. It has been sponsored by DION fund through the Irish Embassy in Britain and the University of Central Lancashire.
Conference Chair: Bernadette Hyland
Speakers: Christine Kinealy, Eileen Murphy, Michael Herbert, Tristram Hunt and Roger Swift. Songs from Bernie Murphy
Bernadette Hyland is a former national Chair of the Irish in Britain Representation Group and has been active in Irish campaigns on miscarriages of justice and in support of prisoners.
Christine Kinealy is a Professor of History at the University of Central Lancashire and Drew University, USA. She has written on Irish history, specialising in the history of the Famine.
Eileen Murphy is a playwright and theatre director. Her work includes two plays on the Manchester Martyrs.
Bernie Murphy is a singer from Manchester and is active in campaigns in support of asylum seekers.
Michael Herbert is the author of The Wearing of the Green: a Political History of the Irish in Manchester.
Tristram Hunt is a lecturer in history at Queen Mary, University of London. He recently presented a TV series on Protestantism and is writing a biography of Frederick Engels.
Roger Swift is a Professor of history and has written extensively on the Irish in Britain.
Entrance to the conference is free. Attendance should be pre-booked. A sandwich lunch will be provided for which tickets costing £6 must be bought in advance Please send a cheque made payable to Working Class Movement Library to WCML, 51 The Crescent, Salford M5 4WX. Further details: 0161 736 3601 or email enquiries@wcml.org.uk
More information; www.wcml.org.uk
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Posted by: IIB TEAM on Thursday, September 06, 2007 - 08:56 PM |
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A major new film about the Irish in Britain is due for imminent release, following a preview screening for the Aisling Project - a project which helped inspired director Tom Collins to makee the film in the first place.
Collins states: " I can honestly say the work of the Aisling Project motivated me to make Kings. I had seen the Irish men and woman about the streets of London and felt that I had to do or say something. I was so impressed at what Aisling set out to do. Frankly, I was not brave enough to go and say that I would help, so being involved in film I thought maybe I could make a film. Originally, I was going to make a documentary but no TV station would support me so I thought, I got to make it bigger and different, something that cannot be ignored. I saw Jimmy Murphy’s play, The kings of the Kilburn High Road in the Tricycle on Kilburn High Rd. The best possible place to see it. It was a very moving experience; it was as if the audience where in tune with the actors. "
And according to This Is London, this top budget film is heading out to make quite a noise at the prestigious Cannes festival:"Irish film-maker Tom Collins has turned it into a £2.5 million project starring Colm Meaney, best known for playing Miles O'Brien in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Deep Space Nine.
In Kings, Meaney plays Joe, one of six men who come to London looking for work in the Seventies.
Thirty years later the men are reunited for the funeral of a friend who has died in tragic circumstances.
Collins, who grew up in Donegal, said the story of what happened to Irishmen who left home to seek their fortune in England was one he knew well from his youth.
He said: "Our aim was to make a ' foreign' film in England because I'm no longer sure England as we knew it exists.
"Our characters still talk in Irish in an attempt to accentuate their personal and national bond and their language is, to them, their last act of solidarity.
"This is an untold story of immigration and loneliness which continues today with migrants from Lithuania, Poland and China."
The director said it was an "amazing night" when he saw Kings Of The Kilburn High Road at the Tricycle, as what he saw on stage mirrored the lives of so many people in the audience.
"It's surprisingly universal," he said. "It's a little aspect of London life that is often forgotten; I hope people are interested."
Meaney said he was attracted to Kings because he was fascinated by the idea of a bilingual feature film - even though he was probably the least-proficient Gaelic speaker in the cast.
"It was a challenge for me but one that I was delighted to have a go at," he said. "
The film is being shown in a special preview for Aisling in Dublin on Sept 18th - and Collins hopes that the showing will help to open a new debate about the often hidden history of the Irish in Britain.
More info here:
http://www.aisling.org.uk/html/tom_collins.php
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/film/article-23395889-details/Tale+of+Irish+in+London+to+be+shown+at+Cannes/article.do
http://www.irishfilmboard.ie/news.php?id=564
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Posted by: IIB TEAM on Monday, July 30, 2007 - 06:30 AM |
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The undulating unforgiving hill's of Cork that lovely warm spring morning
were alive with the sound of....me trying to catch me breath before I passed
out! I was on me way to me late grandmother's house down Spangle Hill way to
see me auntie and me uncle's and anyone else who happened to be passing
through Farrenree from the family.
Me real reason for penning this piece is that, as I walked up and down roads
and terraces of the north-side trying to put anchors on me feet to stop them
from breaking into a coronary inducing trot down another effing hill,
everyone I passed on the way said: "Good morning boy, How's it going?, Howya
doing boy?", etc, etc. Not one person, after looking at me gasping and
hanging on to lamp-posts for dear life trying to get me breath, said,"Yer
looking really well boy". I wonder why?.
Even on the bus in to the city people were talking to me with out a care of
who I was or where I came from. Just gossip, which I'm a big fan of, or
making small talk to find out my thoughts on the days weather, Cork's
upcoming marathon or the big new swanky liner that had docked in to Cobh for
the holiday, anything at all really.
I was completely taken aback by the friendliness and the matter of fact way
that most Corkonians indulged in conversation in that lovely accent they
have without caring who was listening or what they might be thinking. One
lady who sat next to me on the bus, happened to ask how long I'd been
waiting for the bus to come along, then said "Your not from these parts are
you boy?". She after catching my accent, within minutes told me that she'd a
brother over in London near where I work. And so one of the most enjoyable
twenty minute journeys I've ever experienced followed.
One has be prepared to drop your guard, jump in with both feet and really
get the feel of a new city, indulge in the customs of it's people otherwise
the whole point of being in another country and having the exciting chance
of meeting it's inhabitants is surely and sadly going to be missed, isn't
it?.
The reason that I ask this question is that I'm from London as I said, a
city where a person could travel about on it's public services for a whole
day and not talk to anyone bar the beggars. If you were stupid enough to
show out to somebody, smile or say hello, there's good chance that men with
a white van and a straight-jacket would be waiting at the next stop to cart
you away!
I couldn't help but think back to years ago, when the first wild geese of
the diaspora flew the nest and arrived here in England where people can be
very cold toward strangers, and wonder how the Irish people who were used to
having a bit of a chat, natter, gossip in the street, call it what you will,
must have felt leaving that feeling of a close community sprit far behind
them when they got off the boat in a strange foreign land?.
My whole perception of people, since that recent trip to Cork, has changed
and made me realize that life is much too short not to enjoy the company of
complete strangers whoever they may be. Why I've even started to lighten up
as me dad (a Cork man himself and a time served gossip) says and started
talking to commuters on the London underground, when they ask me for
directions or a friendly little chat without yet I might add..... managing
to get myself arrested by the men with the white van and the
straight-jackets!
peace
kev
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Posted by: IIB TEAM on Wednesday, July 18, 2007 - 09:14 PM |
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by Joseph Lavelle
The village of Jarrow had only a few Catholics in the year1821. One was an Irish widow, and there were three others, two married to each other, and one single. By 1856, a priest by the surname of Kelly came to celebrate Mass for the people. By then the general population had risen to 3,500. I am told there was a church to hold 600 hundred built in The High Street by 1860. The general poulation had then risen to more than 6000, so the village by then was classed as a town.
It had a proud history in Mediaeval times because of Saint Bede, whose latin history of the English speaking peoples is still on sale in translation.
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