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The Harp - FEBRUARY 20141
ISSN 2053-5420
FEBRUARY 2014 - £1
BIRMINGHAM
Irish BUSINESSMAN
retains
pOSITION
By Gabriel Filan
The son of Irish immigrants from Mayo
and Cavan has retained his prominent
placing in a list of the Midlands’ wealthiest people.
TURN TO page
3 FOR THE
FULL STORY
website: www.theharpnews.com
Success for St Paul’s
School for Girls with
second glamourous
Gala Ball
see centre pages for exclusive pictures
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Bright sparks Apollo donate
TV to local hospital charity
A Handsworth electrical store
will be helping to relax worried
relatives by donating a TV to the
Sandwell and West Birmingham
Hospitals (SWBH) Charity.
Editor
Siobhán Mohan 07970 051020
[email protected]
Consultant Editor
Carl Chinn, MBE
Sports Editor
All it took was one email from
the head of fundraising at
the SWBH Charity and Steve
Lloyd, manager of Apollo Birmingham, didn’t hesitate in offering a brand new TV and wall
bracket.
Aidan Begley
[email protected]
Advertising manager
Barbara McDougall on: 07794 059888
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Grigg, Daniel O’Connor, Leanne Nelson,
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Eaton, Pam Norfolk
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Maxine Davies (left) and Becky O’Dwyer from the CCU at City
Hospital, holding the donated TV
Next edition out on:
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due to popular demand
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The TV will now be installed in
the relatives’ room at the Critical Care Unit at Birmingham’s
City Hospital. Many of the patients on the unit are in a serious condition and fighting for
their lives, and the TV will help
friends and family through what
can be a very stressful time.
Carly Jones, Head of Fundraising for the SWBH Charity said:
“We’re so grateful for this generous donation from Apollo.
“Our relatives’ room on the
Critical Care Unit gives families
some respite and the TV can often provide a short ‘escape’. To
have been donated a brand new
TV is such a huge help to the
ward and to the visiting relatives
who use that room. We can’t
thank Apollo enough.”
The SWBH Charity funds additional facilities to enhance the
experience of patients and their
families across the SWBH Trust
area. If you’d like to support the
work of the charity, get in touch
with the fundraising team on
0121 507 5196 or email [email protected].
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BIRMINGHAM IRISH
BUSINESSMAN
RETAINS RICH
LIST POSITION
...from page 1
He was joint 12th with property
magnate Caspar McDonald-Hall,
both of whom are estimated to
have accrued fortunes of around
£450 million.
The Birmingham Post said Tony
Gallagher and his Warwick-based
company got through the downturn better than many in the construction business and that he was
now reaping the rewards.
Through his Gallagher Estates and
Gallagher Developments companies, Tony Gallagher has spent
more than three decades accumulating land and property assets
ranging from retail parks, housing
plots and industrial sites.
The result is a vast land bank under development, with planning
consent or as an investment. His
companies own more than 35,000
building plots throughout the UK,
as well as a large retail park investment portfolio.
These, combined with substantial
cash resources and no borrowings
saw Tony Gallagher and his Warwick-based company emerge from
the downturn in a strong position.
Valuable land and property assets
in the UK and Europe mean that
the 62-year-old entrepreneur is
able to buy, develop and sell when
the market is right.
While he has been selling in recent years, he still has a retail park
portfolio of nearly three million sq
ft spread across sites in England,
Scotland and Wales.
The two divisions of Tony Gallagher’s company are developing a
wide range of business, retail and
residential projects. Gallagher Estates and Gallagher Developments
are involved in schemes across the
UK and the company has worked
Solihull Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) has published its vision for the future
of urgent care services in the
borough and wants to know
what people think.
The Clinical Commissioning
Group is planning to centralise
existing urgent care services
on the Solihull Hospital site. Dr Patrick Brooke, chief officer
of the CCG said: “As part of
our plans all urgent care services will be brought together
under one roof, with one front
door and one reception. The
services will be joined together
to work around the needs of
the individual.”
Tony Gallagher was placed equal
12th in the Birmingham Post Rich
List, the annual barometer of
wealth in the region.
Tony Gallagher is one of the sons
of Irish construction entrepreneur
JJ Gallagher, who left his home in
Killasser, near Swinford, in County
Mayo in the wake of World War
Two and made Birmingham, and
later Solihull, his home. He went
on to build up a highly successful
construction empire in his name.
Can you help to improve
Urgent Care in Solihull?
Tony Gallagher
with more than 50 local authorities
on development and regeneration
projects.
Urban
regeneration
projects
are underway in Manchester,
Northampton and Warwick, to
name but a few, while urban extension schemes are being developed
in Cambridge, Bristol and Milton
Keynes.
Gallagher signboards are currently
up on a huge variety of projects
from small developments to entire
towns.
In Northampton, a mixed-use urban village has sprung up near the
centre of the town and another
flagship development from Gallagher Developments is the Warwick
Gates Business Park.
His Gallagher Estates has built two
sustainable new towns in Wixams,
Bedfordshire and in Northstowe,
Cambridge.
These two projects form just part
of the portfolio of developments
across the country.
There are also spade-ready residential plots in Ashby and Birmingham, while Gallagher Developments has more than six million
square feet of land with commercial development planning consent.
Gallagher UK continues to be one
of the most successful privatelyowned commercial and residential
property development and investment companies in the UK. Tony
Gallagher is owner and chairman.
* To see the Birmingham
Post Rich List visit www.
birminghampost.co.uk
Under the plans the urgent
care services which are currently available on the Solihull
Hospital site will continue and
there will still be a walk in service for urgent primary care.
The plans for urgent care have
four themes:
• Single “joined up” service - all
urgent care services to be un-
der one roof, with one front
door one reception desk and
all joined together
• Safer “less confusing” service
- this will be a new service and
will need a new name to better
describe what it does
• Saves walk in service – we are
proposing to extend opening
hours for walk in services
worked with the CCG to develop these proposals. We now
want to test our plans with a
wider population and I hope
you will feel able to be involved
and tell us what you think.”
The consultation runs until 09
April 14. Road show dates
• Sustainable “long term” urgent care service at Solihull
Hospital
Wednesday 12th February –
Westley Hotel, Acocks Green
6pm-8pm
Solihull CCG now wants to
hear what local people think
about their plans. It is holding a series of road shows
and inviting members of the
public to drop in to find out
more. Details of these events
will be published in advance.
Come and meet some of the
urgent care team including local Doctors and healthcare experts.
Wednesday 26th February –
Arden Hall, 2pm-5pm
Dr Anand Chitnis, chair of
the CCG said: “I would like
to thank the many local patients and clinicians who have
Monday 3rd March – Solihull
Library venue booked 2pm-5pm
(time TBC)
Wednesday 19th March – The
Bridge, Shirley venue booked
9am-1pm (time TBC)
For more information log on to:
http://www.solihullccg.nhs.
uk/get-involved/urgent-carereview-solihull.
4
Waterboys set to
headline Moseley
Folk Festival
included their biggest hit The
Whole Of The Moon. After the recruitment of Irish
fiddle maestro Steve Wickham,
the band created their millionselling Fisherman’s Blues album, on which Scott’s original
and unusual songwriting was
merged with older musics –
country, trad, blues and gospel
– to electrifying effect. Since then The Waterboys have
continued to make genre-busting records and have matured
into one of the world’s finest
live acts.
Mike Scott from the Waterboys
Their 2011 album An Appointment With Mr Yeats, a collection of lyrics by Ireland’s
By April Stoneman
greatest poet turned into conThe Waterboys have been contemporary rock songs, was rapfirmed as the headline act at this turously received by critics and
audiences alike. year’s Moseley Folk Festival.
Formed 30 years ago by Mike
Scott, the band became famous
for their powerful live performances and majestic alternative
rock albums such as A Pagan
Place and This Is The Sea, which
In 2012 Scott’s memoir Adventures Of A Waterboy was published to similar acclaim.
In 2013, to celebrate both the
25th anniversary of their classic album Fisherman’s Blues,
and the October 2013 release of
EMI’s 7 CD set Fisherman’s Box,
The Waterboys announced a 13date tour of Britain and Ireland
which sold out immediately.
The line-up saw Scott reuniting with Steve Wickham, along
with Fisherman’s Blues band
members Anto Thistlethwaite
and Trevor Hutchinson for the
first time since 1990 to rave reviews.
A festival spokesman said: “We
are over the moon - ‘the whole
of the moon’ - to announce that
The Waterboys will be headlining Moseley Folk Festival on
August 31 2014.
“This is a band that we have
been wanting to book since we
started the festival back in 2006
so we’re beyond happy. We hope
prospective festival-goers are
too.
“Its an honour to have them
and it will be a beautiful way to
bring this year’s Moseley Folk
Festival to a raucous close.”
Sandwell’s St. Patrick’s Day Celebration
boast exciting new venue
Sandwell Irish Society is pleased to
announce that they have secured a
new venue for the 12th St. Patrick’s
Day Celebration that they have organised in the borough.
This year’s event will take place on
Saturday 22nd March from 10am
till 3pm, at the brand-new state of
the art Sandwell College in the centre of West Bromwich. This is next
door to the Metro, it is across the
road from the bus station, the town
centre indoor and outdoor markets and is about a 2 minute walk
from The Public, which has been
the home of the event for the past
5 years. Sadly, The Public closed
last November and is currently undergoing refurbishment to re-open
as additional Sixth Form space for
Sandwell College in September. Sandwell Irish Society staff and volunteers are already busy with plans
for the event, which they hope will
be attended by even more people
than in previous years. There will
be 5 hours of traditional Irish and
other music, singing, dancing and
poetry to enjoy as well as a host of
other activities for you and a great
day is promised.
Siobhan Gorman, Manager of the
Society said “We are delighted that
the Senior Management Team at
Sandwell College has offered us the
opportunity to use their fantastic
building and facilities and know
that we can count on their assistance with all the preparations. We would like to acknowledge the
great support we have enjoyed for
our event from all staff at The Public over the last five years and sincerely thank them for their support
in the past.” As you can imagine, willing volunteers are always needed to do many
jobs leading up to the Celebration
as well as on the day – and every
little helps! So if you can help in
any way or would like to find out
more information, please contact
Siobhan at Sandwell Irish Society
on 0121 553 4402, mobile 0777 391
7073 or email her: [email protected] - she will be
pleased to hear from you!
Westlife’s Shane
Filan goes solo
By Gabriel Filan
Westlife may be no more but
singer Shane Filan is back on the
road, with a solo tour that stops
off in Birmingham at Symphony
Hall on February 21.
Shane, from Sligo, has bounced
back from a much publicised
bankruptcy. It came on the back
of investing in property in Ireland in the boom times, a move
which turned sour when the
economic crash came.
Speaking ahead of his visit to
Birmingham Shane joked that he
might need a stool as he would
be singing all the songs himself
this time round.
It’s a tongue in cheek reference
to the fact the stools were familiar Westlife stage props.
On the subject of Westlife, Shane
has assured fans he will be performing some of the boyband’s
numbers but he will also be
branching out and showcasing
material he has written himself.
It features on his new debut album You and Me.
Writing songs was not a part of
the Westlife handbook, the band
having their hits written for
them, though they also enjoyed
success with a number of famous covers like I Have A Dream
and Uptown Girl.
Shane said he enjoyed the support of his record company who
encouraged him to have a go at
writing his own material.
“They said ‘just go and see what
you can do, how you get on’.
“The first session I had ended up
being my first single, Everything
to Me, so we got off to a good
start.
“I never knew I could write songs
like that. It is something I found
33 years into my life and that is
a huge bonus, to be able to sit
down in a room and come out of
it with a song that could change
your life that day.”
Shane was reportedly £18 million in debt when the property
development company he had
built up with his brother Finbarr
collapsed.
Reflecting on it Shane admits it
was a shock to the system, particularly as he thought property
was the safest thing he could invest his hard-earned money in.
“It was funny. I was kind of quite
careful with money, I didn’t like
spending it too much.”
“I was just unlucky. Back then it
was just common sense to put it
into property. Nobody saw the
whole world falling apart three
or four years ago, it was impossible. Countries went bankrupt,
it wasn’t just people.”
Shane says when it all comes
down to it the experience has
taught him about the important things in life, particularly
his family – his wife Gillian and
three children. The family now
live in Cobham, Surrey.
“Money didn’t make me happy,”
said Shane. “My family does. My
songs do.
“I am still alive, I have got my
wife, I have got a great marriage,
got three healthy children and
I have got me voice, so let’s just
start again here.
* Shane Filan’s debut
album You and Me is out
now .
6
Tributes paid to
renowned journalist
By Gabriel Filan
Tributes have been paid to renowned Midland journalist John
Connor, who died in a car accident.
Mr Connor, aged 75, died in an
horrific accident on the M4 as he
travelled home following an international car launch on January 16.
The accident, involving his Nissan
Qashqai and two lorries, happened
near Slough, Berkshire.
One of the lorry drivers was arrested on suspicion of causing death by
dangerous driving and later bailed.
Mr Connor, who was proud of his
Irish roots, worked on a variety of
publications across the Midlands,
including the Birmingham Post,
Solihull News and Emerald Times.
His death has stunned friends and
former colleagues who have been
paying tribute.
Birmingham Post editor Stacey
Barnfield said: “I’m so sorry to hear
about John’s death. He was an extremely popular figure in the regional press and my first editor
when I started out in newspapers.
“John made a massive influence on
the direction of my career through
his guidance and support in those
early days and this is something I’ll
always be grateful for. My thoughts
are with his family and friends.”
Following his retirement in 2003,
he continued to work as a freelance
contributor to Trinity Mirror’s motoring provider Driving Force.
And former Coventry Telegraph
editor Darren Parkin described Mr
Connor as “one of the greats of regional newspapers”.
He had been attending a Nissan car
launch in Madrid and flown back to
London’s Heathrow Airport on the
afternoon of January 16. Mr Connor was driving home to Dorridge
in Solihull when the accident happened at 3.10pm.
He said: “He wasn’t just a motoring journalist, he’d also served as a
remarkably good editor on the Solihull News.
“He handed me four sides of A4
with written instructions on how
to run the paper when I took over
from him in 1998.
“It genuinely included details of
what each member of staff liked
to drink when he took them to the
pub at lunchtime.”
Mr Connor became the Solihull
News editor in 1996. He was a former sub-editor on the Birmingham
Post and during a lengthy career
with the Birmingham Post & Mail
was also executive editor of Midland Weekly Newspapers.
Chris Russon, chief motoring
writer of Driving Force Media
said: “Motoring was a passion of
John’s and even in his retirement
from mainstream journalism he
remained a regular contributor to
Driving Force which supplies motoring editorial content to Trinity
Mirror titles.
“As such, his reports featured in
newspapers across the country and
not just in the Midlands.
Prior to joining the Post & Mail he
had worked as a press officer for
British Leyland as well as for an
automotive industry magazine. He
also spent time in one of the British
Army’s tank regiments.
“He was one of the most knowledgeable motoring writers in the
UK and his loss will be felt deeply
not only by the Driving Force team
but across the motoring industry as
a whole.”
Mr Connor was for many years the
membership secretary of the Midland Group of Motoring Writers.
Mr Connor’s wife Veronica died in
April 2013. He is survived by his son
Michael, daughter Clair, two granddaughters and a grandson.
The group’s chairman Ian Donaldson said: “John Connor was one of
a rare breed who never said a harsh
word about anyone. He was a true
gentleman, always happy to help a
colleague and always on hand with
a smile and time for a natter. We
have lost an ‘old school’ journalist
and ‘old school’ gent.”
Thames Valley Police said a 55-yearold lorry driver from West Yorkshire, had been bailed until March
13.
Mr Connor’s funeral will be held
at 11am on Wednesday February
12 at St George and St Teresa’s RC
Church in Dorridge.
Enterprise Zone helps drive
forward development
Fifteen million pounds of funding
to help drive development across
the Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone was announced at
cabinet last month (January 20).
The Birmingham City Centre Enterprise Zone consists of 26 sites
identified and has the potential
over the next 25 years to deliver
1.3m square metres of development and create 40,000 jobs
within key industries, such as
financial services, digital media
and creative industries.
In July 2012, Birmingham City
Council approved a £128m investment plan to kickstart the EZ
with specific allocations for the
redevelopment of Paradise Circus
and the extension of the Midland
Metro.
Included in the plan was £15m
for a site development and access
fund.
If approved, this will provide
grants and loans to developers
who have been struggling to access finance.
It is hoped this will build on the
progress with the Zone, which is
forecast to create 2,500 jobs by
2015 with a number of key developments already underway.
Councillor Tahir Ali, cabinet
member for development, jobs
and skills, said: “Birmingham
quite rightly has a reputation as a
city of enterprise and innovation,
offering opportunities for business and employment.
“We’re committed to promoting
economic growth but to do this
we need to do all we can to help
businesses overcome some of the
barriers to finance which will in
turn encourage private sector investment and generate additional
business rates.”
Chris Webster, GBSLEP Board
Director with responsibility for
the Enterprise Zone, said: “Already at sites including Arena
Central, the Beorma Quarter and
at Snow Hill we can see tangible
progress being made with the EZ
as well as important projects in
the pipeline.
“But we realise there are sites that
may require support to get them
off the ground given the challenges we know developers face
in getting finance.
“In quite a short space of time, we
hope to be able to get this work
up and running so that we can
see further progress before very
long.”
A call will be made for expressions
of interest with grants managed
by the city council and loans by
Finance Birmingham.
The access fund with contribute
to the overall enterprise zone by
helping to increase commercial
space, attracting inward investment and creating new job opportunities.
Ban on smoking in cars move welcomed
Birmingham health chiefs have
welcomed the news that a ban on
smoking in cars carrying children
has moved a step closer after a
House of Lords vote last month.
MPs will now be given a free vote
on an amendment to the children
and families bill – proposed by
Birmingham peer Lord Hunt of
Kings Heath - that would make it
an offence for a driver to ‘fail to
prevent smoking in the vehicle
when a child or children are present’.
The move is backed by Birmingham City Council Cabinet Member for Health and Wellbeing,
Cllr Steve Bedser, who said: “This
is a significant step forward and
the Lords deserve real credit for
ignoring the pro-tobacco lobby
and putting the needs of children
first.
generation from the insidious
clutches of the tobacco industry
and must act now.”
“Hopefully the Government can
now take a similar brave step
and introduce plain packaging as
quickly as possible.
Director of Public Health, Dr
Adrian Phillips added: “The protobacco lobby claims this is a
debate about freedom, but what
about the freedom of children to
travel in a smoke-free environment?
“We have a major game-changing
opportunity to protect the next
“Of course adults should be free
to make their own choices but
not if those choices present a major health risk to children.
“Children exposed to secondhand
smoke are at increased risk of a
wide range of conditions, including respiratory illnesses, meningitis and asthma.”
8
Post office armed
robber jailed
A 42-year-old man who attempted to rob a post office
in Handsworth has been sentenced to six years and eight
months after he had pleaded
guilty at an earlier hearing to
attempted robbery and possessing an imitation firearm. On 29 August 2013, Gurjit
Singh and another male, who
has not yet been identified, entered a post office on Rookery
Road, Handsworth and demanded money from the clerk.
The post office staff immediately activated the panic alarm
which resulted in the two
robbers leaving the premises
empty handed and fleeing the
scene in the defendant’s father’s Audi A4. The police, assisted by CCTV
footage and witness statements, located the getaway car
to a property on Friary Road,
Handsworth Wood where
Singh was arrested by armed
police.
Martin Lindop, Sector Crown
Prosecutor from West Midlands Crown Prosecution
Service, said, “Armed with an
imitation firearm, Gurjit Singh
and his companion attempted
to rob a post office in broad
daylight with customers and
members of the public, which
included children, present.
“Their actions that day clearly
demonstrated that they had
little regard for anybody and
were solely intent on getting
hold of the money from the
post office.
“However, due to the fast actions of the post office staff in
pressing the panic alarm, their
plan was foiled and they fled
the scene empty handed. “Within 40 minutes of the
crime being committed, Singh
was located at his family home
and was arrested. He would
later plead guilty to his involvement in the attempted
robbery.
“Anybody who uses any form
of firearm in the West Midlands, like Singh did, are putting themselves at risk of harm
but also innocent members
of the public. Those who are
caught using such weapons
will be robustly dealt with by
the criminal justice system.”
Birmingham St Patrick’s Festival
announces dates and theme
“We feel this years theme, Irish
Myths and Legends, will appeal to everyone on some level,
whether they have grown up
hearing the stories, or are now
reading them to their own
children, people of all ages can
relate to it.
the VIP launch event are £10
“We are really looking forward
to seeing it all come to life on
the day and continuing to celebrate the positive effect the
Irish have had in Birmingham.
The parade could not happen
without the support of the
community which is why we
are always in need of volunteers and fundraising events to
support it.”
ways a fun and rewarding ex-
The Birmingham St Patrick’s
celebration will begin with a
VIP launch event on Friday
The Birmingham St Patrick’s Festival committee are pleased to announce
7th March. A VIP drinks recepthat this year’s parade will be taking place on Sunday 16th March 2014.
tion will take place at The Old
Crown pub in Digbeth at 7pm
With the planning for the an- This year the parade organisers the hearts of many across the and attendees will be invited
nual festival well underway, are looking forward to work- country.
to enjoy a sit down meal at The
the theme for this year’s event ing closely with communities
Old Library in The Custard
will be ‘Irish Myths and Leg- and organisations across the Anne Tighe, Director of the
ends’. As is tradition, the pa- UK’s second city to celebrate Birmingham St Patrick’s Fes- Factory, Digbeth. Tickets for
rade will take place from 12pm Irish culture, customs and her- tival board explains this year’s
theme and what atthroughout the spiritual home itage. Spectators
tendees can expect for
of the Irish in Birmingham,
St Patrick’s Day 2014:
Digbeth, with a variety of events tak“We are very exing place throughcited for this years
out
the
week
celebrations. Each
leading up to the
and every year we
parade.
hope to grow and
build on the previCelebrating St Patous achievements,
rick’s Day has a long
which is only poshistory in Birmingsible thanks to
ham and the parade
the
continuing
is now recognised as
support from the
the third biggest in
community. We are
the world. The iconic
c a n also very thankful for the supfestival is organised
expect to see well-known port from Birmingham City
by volunteers from the
Irish community in Birming- characters and themes from Council, the Irish ESP grant,
ham and it is expected that Irish Myths and Legends, in- South and City College Birmore than 85,000 people will cluding The Children of Lir mingham and the invaluable
visit the city to take part in the and The Pot of Gold - stories partnership with Irish in Bircelebratory event.
that will hold a place in
mingham.
ham St Patrick’s Parade and
and available from Anne Tighe.
Please contact 07887870919
or email annetighe@hotmail.
co.uk.
Being involved in such an important calendar event is alperience and the success of the
festival depends on the support
from volunteers. There are a
variety of opportunities to get
involved this year and submissions are now open for volunteers on the day, floats, bands
and artists; anyone wishing to
take part in this years BirmingFestival are encouraged to collect a copy of the Submissions
and Volunteers form from Irish
In Birmingham. Alternatively,
forms are available for download from www.stpatricksbirmingham.com or please call
Anne Tighe on 07887870919.
10
Pictured left to
right are Tim Merrifield, Andy Bille
and Dave Cressey
from Keane Brands
“Aiden Byrne is the youngest
ever chef to be awarded a Michelin star - a lot of people will
know him from Masterchef.
Brum design company aides
Manchester restaurant
By Gabriel Filan
A Birmingham interior design
and branding business is endeavouring to help Manchester
emulate the culinary excellence
of the Second City as it attempts
to secure its first Michelin Star
for more than 20 years.
Keane Brands was founded by
second generation Irishman
Aidan Keane and is now an internationally-renowned business. The company started out
with Aidan and just a few recruits and now employs more
than 50 people in Birmingham,
London and Dubai.
Despite its claims to rival Birmingham’s ‘Second City’ status,
Manchester lags behind when
it comes to fine dining, with no
Michelin-starred restaurants to
boast of.
Birmingham meanwhile has
four in the shape of Purnell’s,
Turners, Simpsons and Adam’s
but now Keane Brands is using
its expertise to help Manchester
House follow in their footsteps.
The £3 million restaurant in the
Spinningfields area of the city,
which opened last September,
“Aiden has been awarded Michelin stars in the past but chefs
don’t take them with them - they
stay with the restaurant.
“We worked with them to create this new dining experience
called Manchester House and
wanted to approach the project
quite differently to how other
agencies would.
“There are lots of fine dining
is striving for perfection under venues in Manchester but we
wanted to create something difchef Aiden Byrne.
ferent with a bit of an edge.”
Keane Brands is responsible for
Manchester House’s design and The end result is a restaurant
that is very different to many
branding and the restaurant’s
people’s perceptions of a tradiquest for a coveted Michelin tional fine dining establishment,
star will be charted in a BBC TV as Mr Cressey explained.
documentary this year.
“We created something in a
The documentary, Chase For A scheme that was very industrial
Star, will see Manchester House and very stripped back - I guess
and rival restaurant The French indicative of the industrial hisgo head to head in a bid to be- tory of the city for us.
come Manchester’s first restaurant to land a Michelin star for “It was important to capture that
and create a dining experience
more than 20 years.
that felt dramatically different
The irony of the fact a Birming- to anything else that was in
ham firm is helping a Manches- Manchester. Things that people
ter one is not lost on Keane would want to talk about, couBrands’ account director Dave pled with a food offer that will
Cressey, who is based in the hopefully earn it the Michelin
firm’s Bow Street office in Bir- star it deserves.
mingham city centre, but he “It is very rare you will see a fine
said it is a project they were de- dining destination with no ceillighted to be involved in.
ing and when you walk into the
“We were approached by a com- restaurant you walk past the
chefs’ cooking area. For us that
pany called Living Ventures,
was important to capture the
which operates a number of theatre and intrigue of it all.
venues across the UK, and told
about their vision of creating “That is pretty unique for a fine
Manchester’s first Michelin- dining experience to be in the
starred restaurant in 20 years,” middle of it seeing the chefs doing their thing.”
he said.
Patrick Coyne
Building the secret tunnels under
Birmingham
Secrets of constructing
underground tunnel
network beneath
Birmingham revealed
By Gabriel Filan
“People were nervous and weapons
were being stockpiled.
An Irishman who helped to build
a network of secret underground
tunnels traversing Birmingham –
created to provide a safe sanctuary
in the event of a nuclear strike - has
spoken about his involvement in
creating them.
“The Russians said they would give
us a three minute warning and that
would give the councillors and MPs
enough time to run to safety from
the council house to one of the
shafts we were building.”
Patrick Coyne, one of the men who
built the Cold War bunkers deep
below the streets of the Second City
has told how it took more than 60
men working 12 hour shifts four
years to complete the network of
tunnels.
“We started work in around 1953
and ended four years later,” said
Patrick. “We worked 12 hours for
five days a week in the four tunnels
with about 15 men in each tunnel.
“In the beginning we didn’t know
what the tunnels were going to be
used for and couldn’t tell anyone
what we did or where we worked.
“But then they started moving a lot
of equipment in and we realised it
was a nuclear shelter.
Originally from Galway, Patrick,
who is now 80, moved to Birmingham to find work,
To work on the tunnels, six workers would be lowered down hidden
shafts in a bucket attached to a
crane.
Patrick revealed the descent itself
was terrifying and the conditions
underground took some getting
used to.
“While at work I broke my wrist
and at the time I had the option of
another job or I had to go back to
Ireland.
“So they made me a banksman in
which I controlled the crane driver.
“After three months I went back
into the tunnels to drive a battery
loco. There were no fumes so it was
better working conditions.”
“But if there had been a cave in,
we’d have all been killed.
“Ultimately only one guy was killed.
It happened in the big chamber. It’s
like a church with two floors. A big
lump came out of the ceiling and
struck him.
“They were nearly all Irish workers
but the supervisors were from London and had lots of experience.”
“Five minutes to get down or 150
foot at 50 miles an hour - you’d
leave the bucket shaking,” he said.
The tunnels extend from the Jewellery Quarter to Southside and far
beyond and are built 150 feet below
the surface.
“I was driving a diesel loco and as
there were lots of fumes we would
come to the surface with black noses.
After spending four years working
in the tunnels Patrick went on to
work as a welding engineer for IMI,
where he enjoyed a 38-year career.
12
Presenting
the cheque(back row)
John Doody,
Pat O’Neil,
Chris Grimes
and Pat Doyle
(front): Mary
Doody, Mary
Fealy Aoife
Madden, Eddie Falahee
Eamon
Sheehy and
Michael Collins
Generous donation
from Birmingham
Limerick Association
Eddie Falahee and friends
Pat and Sandra Doyle with Tony and Corry Shriane By Vince
Birmingham Limerick Association presented a cheque
in excess of £3,000 to the Fowler Syndrome Group, last
month. The very generous donation was raised via various activities within the association recently.
Mary and John Doody with Aoife
Madden and Kate and Mick Green The Harp - FEBRUARY 201413
Happy Birthday Teresa!
Jim Mohan R.I.P.
Jim led a varied working life including many years at NSU Carburettors
in Erdington and for a time he also
taught floral arrangement and art at
a college in Hodge Hill.
Jim Mohan taking part in one
of the Birmingham St. Patrick’s
- Parades-his theme was setting
off to Lisdoonvarna in County
Clare
By Brendan Farrell
As we went to press, The Harp received the sad news of the death of
Jim Mohan, one of the great stalwarts
of the Irish community in Birmingham.
Jim, a native of Tydavnet, County
Monaghan, passed away at his home
in the city after a long battle with
illness-his great friend of more than
30 years, fellow Monaghan man Willie Finnegan was with him when he
passed away.
Jim was one of the key members of
the Birmingham Monaghan Association and over the years held various
committee positions including secretary and chairman.
This artist then came to the fore
each year during the Birmingham St
Patrick’s Parade with Jim and Willie
Finnegan creating award winning
floats-all with Irish themes including
Knock Shrine, Blarney Castle, and the
Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin, the latter complete with a free-flowing river
Liffey!
Jim was also a talented Irish Set Dancer, and for a long time was part of the
St. Anne’s Set Dance team, originally
taught by Brian McDaid.
Any spare time for Jim was spent in
his beloved allotment near his home
where he grew a huge variety of vegetables and flowers.
Willie Finnegan said, “Jim was one
of the greatest ever ambassadors
for Monaghan. He travelled widely
promoting his county; even as far as
Prince Edward Island in Canada, we
shall never see his like again.”
Jim is survived by his two sons Nick
and Damien plus extended family,
No funeral arrangements had been
made as we went to press.
May he Rest in Peace.
By Vince
Teresa Bradley celebrated her 50th birthday
with family and friends at Our lady of Lourdes
Club recently.
The birthday girl is pictured here with her
family as the celebrations commenced.
14
A plea for a volunteer
By Irish in Birmingham
Volunteering is extremely rewarding, well that’s what our
volunteers are telling us at Irish
in Birmingham and we can
confirm it’s a two-way thing.
We have a minibus that we
need a volunteer driver for, on
a Thursday and Friday picking up clients from 10am from
across the city and dropping
client’s home again at approx.
2pm. The driver would need a
D1 on their licence, and have
a DPS check, but we will take
care of that. In return we have
a minibus that you can loan for
a donation for wear and tear so
if you’re a charity that would
appreciate the use of a minibus
for the odd day trip and you
hold all the relevant paperwork
we are happy to oblige.
Contact Yvonne on 0121 604
6111, and come along and volunteer; it is so much more than
just giving your time.
The Voice of the
Harp Radio Show
announced
Full of news, sport,
entertainment and your community
pictures every month
The host and the voice of Acoustic1 and The Harp’s St. Patrick’s Day
Special Radio Show: Pat Breslin
As March 17th speeds towards us the new relationship between The Harp and Acoustic1 Radio
strengthens and our first ever radio show gets ever
closer.
If you yourself are an Irish musician living in Birmingham or you know someone who is and would
like to be involved in this exciting special project,
then please do contact Acoustic1 Radio with your
details and submit your track(s) that you’d like to
have considered for the show.
Acoustic1 are proud to announce that they’ve recruited Pat Breslin to be the voice of ‘The Harp’s St.
Patrick’s Day Special,’ which will be broadcast exclusively on Acoustic1 Radio.
You can send it and your details via E-mail to:
[email protected] - or send a CD
and letter via post to:
Pat Breslin not only brings his smooth Irish tones
with him but he is so well respected in the Irish community of Birmingham not to mention the vibrant
music scene of England’s second city.
The Harp Radio Show: St Patrick’s Special
The Harp (Midlands)
17 Glenavon Road
Kings Heath
Birmingham
B14 5DD
By David Hudson
The team behind Acoustic1 have known Pat Breslin
for nearly ten years on and off having worked together more than once when Gary and David were
involved in the hugely successful ‘New Grey Whistle
Test’ that had the interest of ITV Local.
Pat will provide the credibility that Gary and David
of Acoustic1 knew this project needed if it was to be
taken seriously and hopefully this first special programme will be the first of many between us at The
Harp and Acoustic1 Radio.
We are looking for upbeat Irish tracks that
are fitting for our proudest of all Irish feast
days so please submit your entry by Friday
21st February 2014 and we will contact you
with further details. Thank you and good luck!
L to R Bernie Mortlock, Pat Loughrey, cafe Manager Sue, Brendan Grogan, Caroline Loughrey, Rosaleen Grogan, Nora Gethen
(Chair Person, Sandwell Irish Society) and cafe staff member Pat
Celebration
meal in
Sandwell Valley
Sandwell Irish Society’s annual
party was held this year in the
Park Farm cafe, set in the beautiful countryside in Sandwell Valley, where Club Eireann members usually enjoy a healthy lunch
after their regular Irish Health
Walks.
Siobhan Gorman, Manager of the
Society, said, “Our thanks to everyone who joined us for an enjoyable get-together and special
thanks to Sue and her team Pat,
Tom Falvey and
Chris Paterson
Helen, Vicky, Joy and Allan for
looking after us so well. We had a
brilliant time and enjoyed an excellent 4 course meal, with some
lively songs and music from Club
Eireann members”.
For more details of the Society’s
other activities and work, please
contact Siobhan on 0121 553 4402
or email sandwellirishsociety@
yahoo.co.uk – she will be pleased
to hear from you.
Molly Falvey, Steve
and Karen Godwin
John and Sally
Cowman
Maureen and
Patrick Finn
16
Gathering Your
Stories Through
The Harp
Pete Millington has launched a new family and community history
feature in The Harp with an invitation to get involved online.
By PETE MILLINGTON
In the last edition of The Harp
we started to tell the story of Joan
Lawlor whose parents eloped to
Birmingham from Dublin in 1938.
As German bombs started to fall
onto the streets of Birmingham
during the Second World War,
Joan’s mother decided to return to
her family in Ireland with her two
small children.
Joan in 1953 proudly wearing her Birmingham City scarf
to reach her. Looking back now, I
feel this was the start of my growing up quickly. Even from such an
early age my mother relied on me
heavily. We collected Aunty Myra,
as she was known. Just to digress,
she would always use Evening of
Paris perfume and, being conscious
of her appearance, visited the hairdresser every week. Whenever the
perfume bottles were almost empty
she would pass them on to me.”
By 1947 the Lawlor family of Berkeley Square had increased in numbers, with the addition of brothers
Brian and Dennis, to 6 children and
2 adults. Joan’s father James worked
hard at the BSA factory in Small
Heath but she recalls that he was
typical of many working class Irish
men of that era and spent as much
of his wages on beer, smoking and
betting as he brought home to feed
and clothe the family. Joan’s mother on the other hand was perhaps
“Our return must have been a pe- also typical of working class Irish
riod approaching the end of the women and constantly went the
war, as I do not remember hearing extra mile to hold things together.
bombing on our return to Birmingham. The family were however still “There is no point in me guessing
being issued with gas masks, black at how much Dad gave her each
ones for the parents and red Mick- week, but it was a lot less than he
ey Mouse pattern for the children. spent on drink at the Little Bull.
In a quiet moment, she would talk
“My father had found us a house to me about it and say, “How does
in Small Heath with a very distin- he think I can manage on so little
guished address, number 1 Berkeley money?” In order to have food for
Square on Coventry Road.
Un- the table, especially from Monday
fortunately from the day my poor onwards, we would first pay a visit
pawnshop. The pledge
mother walked over the doorstep to the
she detested it and, as time went would be a parcel of my father’s
by, she had every reason to hate clothes, since he was the only one
it. Quality of life had deteriorated, with clothing of any value. My poor
things became difficult for mother mother would be praying he would
and our family became more im- not need his best suit during the
poverished.
With around 1,852 tons of bombs
dropped on Birmingham between
1940 and 1943, it was the third most
heavily bombed city in the United
Kingdom, behind only London and
Liverpool. Even so, their escape to
Dublin did not last long and with
mixed feelings Mrs Lawlor came
back to Birmingham to face both
the wrath of the Luftwaffe and the
prospect of poverty without her
family network.
“On a very snowy Sunday, on January 16th 1944, the twins were born.
My new sisters Patricia and Elizabeth or as they were always called,
Pat and Betty. At the age of 5 years,
I remember I had to guide my father to a friend of my mother who,
in case of an emergency, had promised to be with her at the birth. My
mother’s friend would assist the
midwife. This lady’s name was Myra
Thomas and yes she was a Welsh
lady. Myra lived about a mile away
and my father had no idea how
week, which thank
goodness
he never did. He would only dress
decently at weekends.
“Father enjoyed a flutter on the
horses and would always have a
daily bet. He would leave this for
my mother to deliver to the bookie.
The bookie stood outside his own
house with hands in pockets, innocently whistling away. It was
illegal in those times to run a betting shop or bet on horses away
from the racecourse. To place a bet
you walked past the bookie and
slipped a piece of paper, in which
money had been wrapped up, into
his hands. On the paper was written the name of your chosen horse,
the amount of the wager and of
course the personal ID of the punter. It was usually left for me to deliver the bet into the hands of the
runner but more often than not
mother was so desperate she kept
the wager and spent it on food for
the family instead. The amount
of the bet I remember was always
2/6 or a half crown, as it was then
called. In those times a half crown
bought a lot of essentials. It was a
risk she was prepared to take and
she prayed all day that the horse
would lose. She would say “please
fall and break a leg”, thankfully the
poor horse never broke a leg but
someone from above was always
watching over her, and made the
horse go slower, she got away with
it every time.”
In the next edition, more of Joan
Lawlor’s memories of the life of an
Irish family in Birmingham and the
childhood trauma of being evicted. What do you think Irishness means to people in the West Midlands? Tell us your story in The Harp.
Readers are invited to join our Facebook page and visit our blog:
Visit the blog at http://harp-gathering.blogspot.co.uk/
Join our Facebook group at
http://www.facebook.com/groups/420135884725856/
Please send your stories and photos to Pete Millington at
[email protected].
Mystery family
mementoes
handed into
Acorns
charity shop
Staff at an Acorns Children’s
Hospice shop are trying to find
the rightful owner of a shoebox
containing photos dating back
to World War One.
It’s thought the box was given
to the Castle Bromwich shop
by mistake as it was handed in
with a number of other shoeboxes which contained donations of footwear.
Inside the box are approximately 50 black & white photos
dating from the early 20th century to the 1950s. There are few
clues as to whom they belong except a letter, two memorial
cards, a rent book dated 1958
and an employment reference.
Various items found inside
shoebox handed in at shop
snaps and individual portraits.
There are a few clues to the
original owner. One is an employment reference for a servant and chauffeur called William Cater who left service at
a country house in Herefordshire called Bodenham Manor.
A second letter states that in
the 1940s the country house
was bought by the Birmingham
Society for Invalid & Nervous
children and became a residential school.
The box was received by Rachael Quinney, deputy manager of the Castle Bromwich
shop. She said: “A lady donated
a number of shoeboxes and we
think this one was given in by
mistake. The box contains decades of family memories and
we really want to find a relative
who will treasure these me- Another clue is a rent book dating back to 1958 for Beaumont
mentoes.
Road, Bournville which was
“We rely heavily on our sup- issued to a tenant also called
porters to provide us with William Cater. The rental
much-needed stock. Donating agent company’s name is Walgood quality items to be sold in ters, Wynn & Co of Colmore
our shops is an easy way to sup- Chambers, 5 Newhall Street,
port our vital work with local Birmingham.
children and young people who
are life limited or life threat- Finally there is a memorial card
ened. We encourage people to for a Clara Gibbs who, it states,
drop their unwanted items into died aged 84 in 1944 and was
any of our shops however this interred in the family grave at
‘donation’ was one that took us Lodge Hill cemetery.
by surprise.”
Anyone who can help find the
The photos in the box in- rightful owner of the shoebox
clude wedding shots featuring and its contents should get in
grooms wearing First World touch with Acorns on 01564
War-era uniforms, holiday 825000.
18
Two of the four main festival organisers; Dan Green and
Ciaran Clifford with Festival secretary Ted Sheehan’
Birmingham set
to see its first
traditional Irish
music festival
sic Festival. It is to be staged over a
three-day weekend in the latter part
‘The Trip to Birmingham Trad- of November 2014. The festival is to
Fest’ is set to be the UK’s newest be held in the Irish Quarter of the
and distinct Traditional Irish Mu- city (Digbeth) and is to exhibit a co-
Images by Sean O’Shaughnessy
‘Bob Brolly, Dan Green, Ciaran Clifford,
Pat Murphy Wright & Ted Sheehan’
to promote an awareness of Traditional Irish music here in the second
city. We’ve started this festival from
scratch and every day is a learning
curve, it’s a great experience and
there is an astounding amount of
interest developing.”
lourful celebration of Irish culture,
bringing together sessions, concerts, workshops and ceili’s. The festival is named after a reel composed
in the 1960’s by flute player, Josie
McDermott.
With two of the venues for the
TradFest now confirmed for the first
The festival is planned and organyear of the festival; these being the
ised by four young Birmingham
musicians whose aim it is to appeal Leinster Suite of Irish Centre Birto a variety of different audiences mingham and Molloy’s Ceol Castle
from the city’s Irish community in Moseley, the festival is beginning
youth, right through to the older to take shape and engage a huge
generations, whilst embracing a interest amongst Trad fans right
diverse range of different cultural across the UK. The full line up of
backgrounds. The festival plans to artists will be confirmed by the end
draw on widely acclaimed artists of May 2014.
from across the UK and Ireland, giving the festival an exciting brand of Another of the festival organisers
sounds that will appeal to a variety Dan Green said, “We are confident
of people. The TradFest aims to link that in creating a celebration of this
up ‘the old’ and ‘the new’ up and tradition through performance, sescoming musicians, produced on the
sions and dance, we can achieve the
Birmingham Trad scene.
recognition that this art rightfully
Ciaran Clifford, one of the festival deserves. Apart from the Pat Molloy
organisers said, “The vision of the summer school in July, Birmingham
holds no other festival of this sort.”
festival is to reinvigorate and
The festival is a not for profit organisation, therefore the committee are
relying heavily on obtaining funding and sponsorship to enable the
festival to take place. To get things
underway, there will be an official
launch night on Saturday 15th February at the Birmingham Irish Centre. Two of Birmingham’s young
emerging Irish Traditional Bands,
Lampa & Fian, will take to the stage
along with World Champion Irish
Dancer Declan McHale and a number of other guest musicians and
dancers from across the UK. Admission £5.00 which includes hot
food sponsored by the Irish Centre
Birmingham enabling all of the evening’s proceeds to go towards the
funding of TradFest.
For further information visit
www.birminghamtradfest.co.uk
or www.facebook.com/birminghamtradfest. To reserve tickets
for the Launch please call the
Irish Centre Birmingham on 0121
622 2314 or email [email protected].
ithappenedin by Liam Smith
February
February 2nd
On this day in 1951, Eamon de
Valera travelled to Newry as guest
of honour at the Gaelic League’s
silver jubilee celebrations held at
Newry Town Hall. Twenty seven
years had elapsed since his arrest
in the town in 1924 for contravening an exclusion order banning
him from the six counties.
February 3rd
On this day in 1896, the death
was announced of Jane Francesca
Wilde, wife of the noted medical and literary figure, Sir William Wilde, and mother of the
celebrated writer Oscar Wilde.
Born in Co.Wexford in 1826, Jane
Wilde, an ardent supporter of
Irish nationalism, became a regular contributor to ‘The Nation’
newspaper, writing poetry under
the pseudonym of ‘Speranza’ . Although the literary talents she and
her husband possessed were widely recognised, they could never
equal the brilliant literary skill of
their famous son Oscar.
February 18th
Born on this day in 1799 in
Co.Carlow was civil engineer,
William Dargan. Known as the father of Irish railways, Dargan not
only constructed over 8oo miles of
track throughout Ireland but was
also responsible for the world’s
first commuter line, the Dublin
to Kingstown Harbour Railway,
opened in December 1838. This
highly acclaimed project was succeeded by other great projects
such as the Ulster Railway and
Great Southern Railway. Dargan’s
work was not just confined to
railway, but also canal and highway construction. William Dargan died in 1867 and was buried
in Glasnevin Cemetery, Dublin. A
statue commemorating Ireland’s
greatest engineer stands on the
lawn outside Dublin’s National
Gallery.
Also on this day in 1964 the death
was announced of writer Maurice
Walsh. Born in 1879 in the village
of Ballydonoghue, near Listowel,
Co.Kerry, Maurice Walsh is now
recognised as one of Ireland’s finest short-story writers. His shortstory ‘Green Rushes’ published in
1933 in the New York ‘Saturday
Evening Post’, was to become one
of Hollywood’s greatest productions after its adaptation under
the title of ‘The Quiet Man’. The
Oscar winning blockbuster starring a host of Hollywood favou-
rites including John Wayne and
Maureen O’Hara earned Maurice
Walsh the prestigious ‘American
Screen Writers Guild Award’.
February 20th
wood Benn, Liberal member for
Leith, verbally attacked Sir Hamer
Greenwood, the Chief Secretary
for Ireland, saying it was he who
was responsible for the outrages
of the Black and Tans, “these men
came to him to replenish their
bandoliers and for another tin
of petrol, and he should answer
these charges here and now as one
day he will have to answer them at
the throne of justice”.
On this day in 1785, the world
famous Dunsink Astronomical Observatory in Castleknock,
Co.Dublin opened for the study of
astronomy and physical sciences.
The observatory erected at a cost
of £3000 by Trinity College, still
functions today, specialising in
the investigation of the effects of It was on this day in 1965, that
the remains of Roger Casement
the sun on the earth.
arrived in Dublin for re-burial in
Glasnevin Cemetery, after removal from Pentonville Prison, London. Sir Roger Casement, Civil
On this day in 1921, in a heated servant and Irish Nationalist, was
debate in the House of Com- hanged in August 1916 after being
mons, Captain William Wedge- found guilty of treason.
February 23rd
February 21st
20
The Irish of the
West Midlands
by Carl Chinn
From Dublin
to Brum
My family the Chinns have lived in the Kings Heath, Moseley and Sparkbrook areas of
Birmingham for over 200 years. Before that we can trace our line directly back from
father and son to a Henry Chin, the name was spelled with just one ‘n’ at that time, who
was living in the village of Rowington in 1646.
It seems that the family was well
established there in the Forest of
Arden as we have a reference to a
Ralph Chinn in a document from
the twelfth century. For almost
a thousand years, then, we have
been rooted in north Warwickshire and for most of that time
have married into other local families.
We always knew that on my
Mom’s side that we had Irish blood
through my Great Granny Wood,
who was born on the Curragh
Camp in Kildare and whose mother was an Irishwomen whom we
believed was called Lilian Clancy;
although I have since found that
she was actually called Elizabeth
Lillian Crenley.
By contrast on the Chinn side we
were unaware of any Irish connections until the late 1970s. After
visiting his mother shortly before
she died my Uncle Bernard, Dad’s
older brother, had told us that she
had said that she was of Irish descent.
In fact my grandmother, Maisy
Derrick, was the great granddaughter of a James Derrick, an
Irishman who settled in Bilston
and then Wolverhampton from
at least 1841 – and his wife, Eliza
Hennesy, had arrived in the Black
Country even earlier, in the mid1820s.
James and Eliza were amongst the
pioneers of the Irish migration to
the west midlands and as a historian and family researcher I would
have been overjoyed to hear their
account of their arduous journey
from Ireland over the sea to Liverpool and then to Birmingham.
That is impossible, but over the
next few months it will be possible
to read the compelling account of
Honorary Alderman Matt Redmond on his move from Dublin
to our city – and of his he made
his mark here. It is an account that
many Irish Brummies will identify
with and empathise with. Matt
takes up his story:
the way home if it was rubbing
on your leg, then you would get
burns on your leg because of the
acid spillage from the battery.
The area where we lived was nicknamed “Monto“, it was at onetime between 1860s - 1920s a red
light district in Dublin, the capital
of Ireland. It was immortalised as
“Nighttown” in the “Circe” chapI was born in Railway Street Dub- ter of James Joyce’s famous work,
lin in 1936, the sanitations and Ulysses.
housing conditions at that time
were appalling, in 1913, the dread- You could say that the area was
ful living conditions were de- famous in many ways. Everyone
scribed at that time as the worst got on with each other, and no
in Europe. We were moved out of one locked their front door, chilRailway Street when I was about dren could play out in the street
three years old just around the all day long without any fear from
corner to Corporation Buildings, strangers, except the local Garda
one room that was about 12 foot (copper) who would give you a clip
square as your living and sleep- around the ear if he caught you
ing accommodation and a toilet/ playing ball in the street. We all
kitchen, so small that you could thought we were well off, or so we
thought, because we all had the
not move in it properly.
same, that was nothing.
From time to time, as I got older
my Mam would send me to go get I was a pupil at Rutland Street Pro
a bale or two of straw, as all other Cathedral School, known as the
families living in cramped condi- red brick slaughter house, The
tions had to do. My Mam would school was dubbed and known by
then get some material from the this name by pupils of the school
market, make what she called a due to the corporal punishment
“tick” - stuff all the straw into it, that was doled out by some of the
and sew it up. That’s was what we teachers, we all got slaughtered,
three boys slept on for a mattress hence the nickname. There was
on the floor. You would wake up in many a time that I was belted with
the morning with red blood spots the cane, sometimes for no apparall over your legs and body, itching ent reason. I was also belted with
where the hoppers from the straw the cane for mitching from school,
had bitten you and sucked your as well as a few digs in the ribs and
often a sly smack between the legs
blood during the night.
that left one in agony.
The only luxury we had was a radio with a lead /acid type battery Some of the teachers were sadisin. I often had to take it to the ra- tic and I had one of them. I well
dio shop to get it re-charged, and remember that my older brother
the next day had to collect it, on once came up to the school and
Patrick, John and
Matt Redmond.
threatened to duff up the teacher one, and sold newspapers on the
about the corporal punishment streets of Dublin from about 8
years of age to the day my Mam
dished out.
passed away, as did my older
However, there was no need for brother, my younger brother also
him to have bothered, because followed later to do the same.
I had enough of the beatings,
my Mam never done that to her We had no choice but to try earnchildren, don’t see why a sadistic ing a crust to help our Mam out
teacher should. I just would not to feed us, because our dad went
go to school, as a result, I had to over to Lancashire around 1940,
appear in juvenile court at the age presumably to get work and forgot
of 11 years, the judge was of the his way back home. He rarely sent
mind to send me to Artane indus- any money home to help my Mam
feed us. It was the NSPCC who
trial for boys.
forced him into paying £1.10s - 10
I got off because I was a member shillings for each child, which is
of the famous Belvedere newsboys 50p each child in to-day’s money,
club and they had vouched for my it did not last long and the paygood behaviour by writing a let- ments dried up.
ter to the judge. The judge said to
me that he did not want to see me He soon forgot that he had a loveagain; otherwise, I would go away ly wife and three dependent sons,
to industrial school until I was 18 never to go back home to see his
years old, a daunting prospect to wife and family, other than when
have hanging over your head. I our dear Mam passed away on 7th
then had to make an effort to go January 1950 at the young age of
39 years, just 9 days after my 13th
to school.
birthday.
I went straight from school,
when I did attend, that was two More from Matt Redmond next
days, and one of them was a wet month.
22
Ron Rhodes, Dawn Casserly and Marie Reece. Marie is Assistant School Support Manager for the local
authority and is a great friend to all at St Paul’s
Allan and Christina Beirne
with Dawn Casserly (right)
Linda Arnold Morgan, Mary Byers
and Breda Casserly
14 yr old Francesca Newey is a pupil in Year 9 at St
Paul’s. Playing the Celtic Harp, Francesca provided
some lovely background music as the guests arrived
at the Pauline Ball
Kitty Reilly, Sister Dympna, Sister Sabina,Sister
Theresa and Canon Pat Browne
Section of the attendance on the night
Twins Marisa and Nicola Mele with Pamela Jaen
(centre) are pupils at St Paul`s. Nicola is actually 2
minutes older than Marisa
Head of St Paul’s School, Dawn Casserly with Maggie Roche, who has now joined the team at the school
as Media, PR and Communications Manager
Margaret Sutherland, Caroline Wright, Diana
Thomas and Sister Hillary
Pupils Clara McDermott and Molly Hanley
Former St Paul’s pupils Susan
McGrath and Maggie Drury
Teaching staff join in the Hymn to St.Paul
Dr Dawn Casserly presents St Paul’s School
‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ to Head of RE,
Margaret Czepiel who has been teaching at the
school for the past 30 years
The Pauline
Ball, 2014
Words and pictures-Brendan Farrell
The Leinster Suite at the Irish Centre in Digbeth was the
venue for this year’s gala Pauline Ball, organised by St
Paul’s School for Girls in Edgbaston.
Last year the event was first launched at the same venue
-the brainchild of the Head of St Paul’s School, Dawn
Casserly, a very popular member of the city’s Irish community and who incidentally is a former pupil at the
school.
The Gala event is held in January to celebrate the conversion of St Paul the Apostle, which falls on January 25th
each year and of course St Paul is the school’s patron.
went to Margaret Czepiel, Head of RE at St Paul’s; a
lovely lady loved by all, who has spent more than three
decades at the school.
Dawn paid a special tribute to Irish Centre manager
Shaun Preece and his team for the excellent food and
wine-plus the fabulous setting which added to the atmosphere.
A new member of the team at St Paul’s is Maggie Roche,
a lady who needs no introduction to Harp readers or
indeed the Irish community in this country-her former roles included nine years with Stena Line. Maggie
is now Media, PR and Communications Manager at St
Paul’s.
St Paul’s School for Girls with almost 1000 pupils is consistently rated as one of the very best of it’s kind in this
country; a great tribute to Dawn and the amazing team
who supports her.
The Pauline Ball was an evening of fine food, music, song
and dance as pupils from the school show cased their
many talents on stage and dance floor. One of the highlights of the evening was the presentation ceremony: The
school’s Lifetime Achievement Award which this year
Noel and Queenie Mulvey, Fr Seamus Hetherton,
Mary and Paddy Rochford and Mary and Colm Walsh
Helping out with the all important raffle on the night-PA at St Paul’s, Sheila
Pellow, a lady who is always on hand to
help out media folk, including myselfshe also makes a lovely cup of tea
Katherine Foy, Michelle and Joe Argue, Jocelyn
Kelly and Eileen Schofield
Two stalwarts of the Irish community
in Sandwell-Siobhan Gorman from
Sandwell Irish Society and her husband
Harry.
24
Music helps educate Birmingham’s children on road safety
thanks to innovative project
Recent road safety figures* suggest
that almost 200 children were injured or killed on our regional roads
each year and, whilst this figure is
in decline, it illustrates the need to
continue educating young people
about safe road use. A project created by DBS Law and brought to
life as a concert by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in
2013 did just this and, thanks to its road safety education. It was an
unprecedented success - is back by extension to a project which DBS
Law were already working on in
popular demand.
schools but it was felt that there
Clock on to Safety the innovative was a need to reenergize the idea
concert from DBS Law and the to appeal to a larger audience.
CBSO got off to a tremendous start This resulted in a quirky conin 2013 when it first welcomed in cert at CBSO Centre featuring
excess of 2000 Key Stage two pu- catchy tunes in order to demonpils to see a brand new concept in strate safe road use in a fun and
memorable way. In February,
thousands of children will once
again have the chance to interact with some of the world’s top
musicians armed with bells and
horns and donning high visibility jackets, taking to the stage (via
a Zebra Crossing and a road) for
a performance featuring original
songs and music.
Birmingham Clock on to Safety
concerts take place at CBSO
Centre on Wednesday 12 - Friday 14 February for KS2 pupils
only. Schools Places are limited
and can be booked through Paul
Dasilva from City Council Smarter Choices team - 0121 675 6516 /
[email protected].
uk.
road casualties involving children
are down which is almost certainly down to the Council’s Smarter
Choices team that overseas road
safety education in the city and
organisations like DBS Law and
the CBSO who are getting safer
road use messages out there these are most certainly bearing
fruit. Ultimately, through this
partnership, we want every child
to see this concert with the aim
of reducing injuries and fatalities
on our roads to the only tolerable
level, zero!”
musical experiences for young
people as the 2013 recipient of
the Salomon Award. It shows that
whilst these concerts support key
learning and safety they are also
created to the highest of standards.”
Clock on to Safety concerts
take place at CBSO Centre on
Wednesday 12 - Friday 14 February for KS3 pupils only. Schools
Places are limited and can be
booked through Paul Dasilva
from Birmingham City Council
Smarter Choices team - 0121 675
Stephen Maddock, Chief Execu- 6516 / Paul.Dasilva@birmingham.
tive of the CBSO said: “This proj- gov.uk.
ect has been an unprecedented
success thanks to the vision and *figures released by Birmingsupport of DBS Law and the creative input from members of the ham City Council Smarter
CBSO. As a charity, the support Choices Team that show, since
from business and individuals 2000, when there were 502
is paramount to the work that
child pedestrian casualties
we do. DBS Law, through their
very individual support has really in road traffic collisions,
made a difference, and we have the figures have been coming
certainly had a lot of fun along
down every year (but one),
the way.
“What’s more, the projects creDBS law CEO Rob Bhol said: “We ator, violinist Catherine Arlidge,
are really proud of what we’ve recently won national acclaim for
achieved so far. It’s great news that her work in creating concerts and
and in 2012 there were only
191 child pedestrian casualties (2013 figures will be
available in March).
Special Irish Award for Birmingham Teacher
Keith Farr of Hillstone School,
Shard End, Birmingham, received
a special award for his services
to Irish Culture from Comhaltas
Ceoltoiri Eireann, the international organisation that fosters
all aspects of the traditional arts
of Ireland.
Keith is a member of the Hurling
Boys music group and has developed an interest for the music
and song of Ireland. Although
Keith is not Irish, he has gained
a great insight into Irish culture
by performing with the Hurling
Boys. Keith is pictured here (centre) with the leader of the Hurling Boys Pat Brennan (right) and
Comhaltas President Vince Jordan, who presented the award at
Hillstone School. The three musicians entertained the students
at the school assembly.
Research Project Calling on Public
to Contribute Family Letters
Ireland’s First Crowd-Sourced Public
Humanities Project to Capture Ordinary
Life At Time of Easter Rising
Researchers at Trinity College
Dublin are calling for the help
of Birmingham’s Irish. Have you
ever come across a long lost love
letter written by your grandfather hidden away in the attic? Or
even a letter about the weather
in New Ross from when your
great-grandmother went home
for a visit? If this letter is written
between 1 November 1915 and 31
October 1916 you may be able to
help us.
We are asking members of the
public to upload old family letters and photographs to a new
digital archive as part of this
ambitious project to recreate ordinary life in Ireland around the
time of the Easter Rising of 1916.
The Letters of 1916 project is the
first public humanities project
in Ireland. Its goal is to create
a crowd-sourced digital collection of letters written around
the time of the Easter Rising.
The project includes letters held
at institutions (in Ireland and
abroad), alongside those in private collections.
The collection will include letters by private individuals, soldiers, and officials: be they letters that comment on the Easter
Rising, literature and art, the
Great War, politics, business,
or ordinary life and will lead to
the creation of an online archive
of letters created by the public for the public, which will be
launched in 2016.
At vital part of Irish history is
the story of the people who went
overseas for adventure or a better life and we want to ensure
that the story of Irish emigrants
is included in this project. With a
large population of Irish or people of Irish descent, who knows
how many letters Birmingham
could uncover and how many
forgotten stories will once again
be brought to light.
archive by public institutions,
including, the National Library
of Ireland, the National Archives
of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin and University College Dublin as well as the Medical Missionaries of Mary.
the last remnants of the lives of
those who have passed themselves into history – as well as
join us in tracking down obscure
references in letters or locations
“Allowing letters from personal
in photographs.”
collections to be read alongside
official letters and letters con- The project was launched on
tributed by institutions will add Friday September 27th, 2013 at
new perspectives to the events 6pm at Discover Research Night,
of the period and allow us to unwhen researchers at Trinity Colderstand what it was like to live
lege Dublin and the Royal Irish
an ordinary life through what
were extraordinary times,” ex- Academy invited the public to
plains Dr Susan Schreibman, come and experience research
Associate Professor in Digital in action. Members of the pubHumanities in the School of
English and the project’s Principal Investigator.
“Through these letters we will
bring to life to the written word,
the last words, the unspoken
words and the forgotten words
of ordinary people during this
formative period in Irish history.
Alltoo often our emphasis is on
the grand narrative focusing on
key political figures. But as we
approach the centenary of the
Easter Rising we want to try to
get a sense of how ordinary people coped with one of the most
disruptive periods in contemporary Irish history – from loved
ones serving in the British Army
and Dublin itself becoming a
theatre of war, to the business
of state carried out by Government.”
“It is these personal stories of
hardship and love, great loss and
great strength, which tend to be
lost in traditional historical accounts. This project is reclaiming these lives for our generation and generations to come,
allowing their stories to be heard
alongside those that we are more
familiar with. Digital humanities projects like this one open
up the research process, giving
People can also get involved in everybody the opportunity to
uncovering hidden stories by be a researcher. We are inviting
transcribing some of the 700 let- the public to help us transcribe
ters already contributed to the
these precious letters – perhaps
lic brought family letters to the
Trinity Long Room Hub to photograph and learned about how
digital collections are created
and got hands-on experience
of digitisation, transcribing and
digital humanities methodologies. Researchers and archivists
were also on hand to answer
questions about how best to preserve old letters.
The Letters of 1916: Creating
History project is being carried
out by students on Trinity Col-
lege’s M.Phil. in Digital Humanities and Culture. Previous work
by the students undertaking this
M.Phil. group includes the Mary
Martin Diary project – a digitised diary offering a candid insight into life for families of Irish
soldiers during World War I.
www.letters1916.ie.
Email: editors1916@
gmail.com.
26
Matt Henry who
dueted with Emma
Lee Sheperd (13)
Emily Lamb with
Head teacher Dr
Dawn Casserly
Personal and academic
excellence built on faith
and tradition at St Paul’s
In September 2012 Dr. Dawn Casserly, an old girl of St Paul’s, the only
Catholic girls school in Birmingham, took over as head teacher. Dr.
Casserly is only the seventh head
teacher in the school’s 106-year tradition.
St Paul’s recent OFSTED report said
that she ‘provides strong leadership
and a clear vision for the school as
well as high expectations of all staff
and students.’
St Paul’s girls are proud to be part of
the school and agree that: ‘Once a St
Paul’s girl always a St Paul’s girl!’ and
the community of St Paul’s stretches
literally throughout the world.
The academic success at St Paul’s is
outstanding; with girls’ attainment
being “well above average by the end
of Year 11” according to OFSTED in
May 2013. They added; ‘outstanding teaching is evident in both key
stages and the sixth form.’ Pupils
have gone on to Cambridge to read
Chemical engineering; Oxford to
read English, as well as many red
brick universities to study such subjects as Law, Medicine, Pharmacy
and Teacher Training.
Additionally, OFSTED reported
that, ‘behaviour around the school
and in lessons is impeccable plus
students’ attitudes to learning are
highly positive.’
OFSTED was amazed at the overwhelming, positive support of
parents for the school, where 100
per cent of parents described their
daughter as happy, safe and well
looked after at the school. Learning is fun at St Paul’s and girls enjoy
their lessons. There is also a wide
range of clubs and extra-curricular activities which have included
horse-riding, golf, gymnastics, karate, sailing, food club, hairdressing
and Mandarin.
In November, St Paul’s launched its
very own radio station – ‘SPG Radio’
within school and it was launched
by Matt Henry – Finalist in the BBC
1 production The Voice! Incidentally
Matt Henry returned to perform
a Christmas concert for Year 8 & 9
just before Christmas. The concert
began with a beautiful rendition of
Silent Night and ended with Matt
performing a duet with one of our
talented Yr. 10 students, singing
Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas. St Paul’s were lucky to be the
only school he performed at in the
whole of the UK, and it was a wonderful experience for all the girls.
St Paul’s also has its own newspaper,
which the girls are involved in editing and printing. It details all the
latest news internally and externally
and keeps us all up to date on what’s
going on. It has so far sold out every
edition!!
St Paul’s School for Girls firmly believes in the importance of education outside the classroom and there
are a large number of trips planned
every year, including a recent visit
to the Holy city of Rome, which was
attended by 114 pupils & teachers.
There is also a planned trip to New
York taking place later this year for
pupils, plus numerous other departmental educational trips planned
for all Years.
The school has also achieved outstanding sporting success and is
Birmingham champions for Year 7,
8 and 11 basketball, Year 7 and 8 netball and football, and is the Catholic
Partnership swimming champions.
In a recent English Schools Athletics
meet (round 1) the school emphatically won the competition, coming
first in 10 out of 12 events, with seven girls being chosen to represent
the West Midlands. A year 10 pupil
has just been recognised as the fastest Under 17 sprinter in West Midlands and she is only 15! One of the
younger pupils is ranked Number
1 Under 14 tennis at national level,
another pupil is 9th nationally for
the Long jump and two other pupils
are in the top 5 nationally for tennis.
As well as work and play, St Paul’s
girls are encouraged to develop a
sense of service to others and the
community, participating in a range
of community and fund raising ventures.
The motto for all girls is: I am a St
Paul’s Girl, there is nothing I cannot Last year the pupils raised in excess
achieve, and this is certainly true of of £15,000 for charity and recently
raised in excess of £2000 for the
the sports department!
Philippine disaster. Leadership is
developed at all levels in the school,
with Senior Prefects, young leaders,
junior and senior prefects, academic
and personal mentors and Year 10
guardian angels. Many clubs and activities for younger pupils are led by
older girls.
Girls make excellent progress at St
Paul’s and enjoy their education.
The school is immensely proud of
its pupils and celebrates their personal successes, as well as their academic attainment in the many fields
in which they excel.
St Paul’s also offers a dedicated bus
service operated by “The Evergreen
Bus Company” for pupils, serving
3 areas & covering routes such as
Rubery, Rednal, Longbridge, Northfield, Selly Oak, Yardley, Stetchford,
Castle Bromwich, Acocks Green,
Erdington & Great Barr to name just
a few! This long held tradition of
girls travelling from all over the city
to be educated at St Paul’s school for
Girls dates back 106 years and is still
going strong today.
Happy Birthday
Michelle!
On Saturday 18th January, Michelle
Dowling celebrated her 40th birthday
at Casey Joe’s bar in Acocks Green.
The party theme was GAA jerseys as Michelle is a big supporter of Sean McDermott’s GAC and a great night was had
by all!
Here are some snaps of the event:
28
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 bank with Natwest, and before Christmas I could not use
my debit card to buy presents
and my mortgage was not
paid. How do I get my bank to
compensate for a very stressful
Christmas?
Michael,
Kings Heath
rosie
Dear Michael,
Many NatWest, RBS and Ulster Bank customers have
been hit by a computer banking problem on 2 December,
one of the busiest shopping
days in the run up to Christmas.
Customers were unable to
use credit and debit cards and
there were also problems with
online and telephone banking.
Hello, my name is Rosie; I am an advice and information worker at the Irish in
Birmingham Centre at St Anne’s in Birmingham. My background includes Citizens
Advice Bureau, NHS Direct and housing support work and debt advice. My current
employers, IWIC provide support and advice on a wide range of issues including
welfare benefits, Irish pensions, homecare, housing, debt, alcohol and drug misuse,
consumer problems, returning to Ireland etc. What I don’t know, I will research on
your behalf and I will do my best to keep you informed and empowered.
Do you have any questions or issues that
require answers or advice?
It is said that a problem shared is a problem halved and I aim to help with some valuable advice and information. Your confidentiality is respected and all material will be
presented in a way that does not compromise your privacy.
The problem also affected some
direct debits and standing orders. In addition, some customers reported money disappearing
from their accounts.
The RBS Group, which owns
these banks, says the IT problem
has now been fixed but some
customers continued to experience problems into the following
day.
The RBS Group has said it will
compensate any customers who
have been left out of pocket as a
result, including refunding any
fees customers have incurred.
If you bank with NatWest, RBS
or the Ulster Bank, check if there
are any problems with your account balance or with any charges you may have incurred due to
the IT problems.
dear rosie
• 0800 151 0405 (RBS)
• 0800 046 5486 (Ulster).
Keep a record of how you’ve been
affected – just in case you need to
make a formal complaint later on
- for example default charges and
interest on credit cards if you
had to use one to pay for goods,
services, or withdraw money. Put
it in writing to your bank and
keep a copy.
Follow each stage of the complaints process. The bank must
investigate your complaint and
give you a clear answer within
eight weeks.
If the bank doesn’t send you a
response within eight weeks or
you are still unhappy, you may be
able to complain to the Financial
Ombudsman Service.
rosie
your consent
I am struggling to pay
my energy bills but I get
very confused when I
try to select a cheaper
supplier.
• carry out actions in a fair, honest,
transparent, appropriate and professional manner
• if you’re on a fixed term tariff, you’ll
get 42-49 days before the end of the
tariff to decide if you From 31 December 2013 suppliers:
The energy regulator, Ofgenm
is bringing in changes to make it
easier, clearer and fairer for you
to get the best deal when you buy
electricity and gas.
dear rosie
07794 059888
• 0800 151 0404 (NatWest)
You should be able to find details
of the complaints procedure in
your branch or on their website.
If you can’t find information
about the complaints procedure,
ask them to send it to you.
From 26 August 2013 suppliers must:
John,
Nechells
To enquire phone Barbara at The Harp on:
You can do this by either visiting your local branch, contacting
your bank through their website
or by calling the following freephone numbers:
If you find you’re left permanently out-of-pocket because of
the computer problems and your
bank won’t offer any further
help, you can make a complaint,
using their internal complaints
procedure.
Dear Rosie,
Is there a simple way
to find the best energy
deal?
Book your companies
advertising with us
If you have been affected, contact
your bank as soon as possible and
ask them to put things right.
• give information which is complete,
accurate, not misleading and in plain
language. The important information must be made the most obvious
• make sure it’s easy for you to contact them, and act promptly and
courteously to put things right when
a mistake is made.
From 22 October 2013:
• suppliers won’t be allowed to increase prices or make other changes
to fixed rate tariffs (except for tracker
tariffs where rates vary or structured
price increases that have been set out
in advance)
• suppliers won’t be able to roll you
onto a fixed term contract without
By 30 June 2014, if you’re still on a
tariff that’s no longer available, you
must be transferred to the cheapest
main From 31 March 2014, suppliers
will have to give you personalised information about the cheapest tariff
for you. This must be on every statement and bill you get.
rosie
Dear Rosie,
Dear Shelagh,
My friend spent time in
an institution as a child.
She has given up work
because she is very ill
with depression and anxiety and is struggling to
pay the bills for her flat. Is
there any help for her?
Caranua is an independent State
Body set up to help people who,
as children, experienced abuse in
institutions in Ireland and have received settlements, Redress Board
or Court awards. Caranua aims to
offer support, information, advice
and advocacy to survivors living
in Ireland and in other parts of
the world. The support provided
will be tailored to the needs and
circumstances of each person and
Shelagh,
Northfield
• will offer no more than four core
tariffs for you to choose from when
buying gas and no more than four
when buying electricity. Discounts
will still be possible if you buy online
or have a dual fuel account.
includes help with health, housing
and education issues.
Caranua is now accepting applications for assistance.
Only people who have received
Redress Board or equivalent court
awards are eligible for assistance.
You can make an application to
Caranua online or by post using
the application form available on
their website www.caranua.ie or
call on Freephone 0808 234 1303
(from the UK).
spotlight
on...
by Sheila Fitzgerald
Mike Denver
celebrates eleven years as one of the
top entertainers in Ireland
One of the major success stories on the Irish
Country Music Scene, Mike Denver can be justifiably proud of his catalogue of achievements
since he debuted on the professional scene
back in 2003. As well as playing to full houses
throughout the country, Mike has been busy in
the Studio with twelve Albums and four DVDs
to his credit.
recent releases include The Day of my Return,
a lively ballad which featured renowned accordion virtuoso Liam O’Connor who toured
the world with Michael Flatley of Riverdance
Fame.
An up-tempo version of Sylvia’s Mother, the Dr.
Hook classic was popular with dancers and radio listeners as was My Darling Kathleen.
Mike was born in Portumna, Co. Galway, and
gained invaluable experience in the music in- Mike is no stranger to national TV - he’s been a
dustry through gigging in his mother’s band regular guest on the Late Late Show, and Glór
Tíre, as well as appearing on Up for the Match,
from around the age of sixteen.
the Miriam O Callaghan Show, Podge and RodGrowing up in a house full of music, fostered ge, and Seoige and O Shea.
a love in him for the Country songs of that era
and he cites American Star Garth Brookes as a Some of the greats of the Irish music scene inmajor influence, as well as home grown talents spired the young Mike Denver - Daniel O Donnell, Foster & Allen, and Declan Nerney were
Foster & Allen and Declan Nerney.
his heroes while across the pond in the USA
Mike joined a local Wedding Group for a few where country music is a religion, the great
years but got his big break when his Manager George Jones was top of the list for Mike and
Willie Carty suggested he put his own Band to- he subsequently got the opportunity to record
gether which was launched at the Park House a single with George, which he cites as one of
Hotel in Edgeworthstown in January, 2003, the highlights of his career.
eleven years ago this month.
From the outset, the young Mike was a hit with
the Irish punters, his winning mix of youth,
humour, and great voice ensured they took the
new arrival on the scene to their hearts where
he has remained ever since.
A debut album showcased his voice to DJs on
Radio Stations nationwide and beyond, and
Wings to Fly which included favourites such as
You’re My Best Friend, It’s a Dream Come True,
and Cry, Cry, Cry, further fuelled the passion
for Mike’s music.
A further eleven Albums have continued to cement his success leading to consistent airplay
and regular TV appearances. The full listing of
albums are as follows; Love to Live, Messenger
Boy, Christmas Country, Galway Boy, Seasons
in the Sun, Got a Funny Feeling, Thank God
for the Radio, Tradition, Vintage Country, The
Live Show, and the latest; There’s Only One.
His four DVDs meanwhile are The Essential
Galway Boy, Christmas Country, Live in Concert, and Let’s Dance - The Live Show. More
A major highlight in his personal life was of
course his marriage to Elizabeth who he met
when she brought her Mum to one of his
gigs. The couple wed in 2012 at Keadue, Co.
Roscommon and held their reception at Kilronan Castle.
In over a decade in show business Mike has received countless awards including
Mike Denver is celebrating
11 years as one of the top
entertainers in Ireland
Vocalist of the year for 2013 in The Country
Music Entertainment Awards Show in associa- beauty spots, or enjoy some shopping, it’s the
tion with the Sunday World Newspaper at the ideal mix of music and fun.
Mullingar Park Hotel.
Mike got 2014 off to a flying start with the anMike is delighted to have won this Award for nouncement of a series of Concerts with enterthe 2nd year in a row and is already looking for- tainers Sandy Kelly who will perform the hits
of Patsy Cline, and Marc Roberts who will sing
ward to 2014 awards show.
John Denver material. A new Single Jesus on
Mike Denver annual music holidays are becom- the Jailhouse Floor, and a new Album There’s
ing increasingly popular with Irish and English Only One.
audiences. Destinations include the USA and
Spain with up to 600 fans heading off abroad At the beginning of his eleventh year at the pinto these venues to enjoy a week of music with nacle of the Irish Country scene, Mike is sure
Mike, his Band, and some guest artists. With to continue to delight his legion of fans with
music and dancing each night of the trip and great recordings and electrifying live shows goplenty of time during the day to check out local ing into the future.
From the outset, the young Mike was
a hit with the Irish punters, WITH his
winning mix of youth, humour and
great voice
A major
highlight
in his
personal
life was
of course
his marriage to
Elizabeth
30
Sandwell’s Fr.
Bourke celebrates
his 90th birthday
L to R Tipperary natives
Margaret McCabe, Fr. Bourke
and Mary Carew
Fr. Bourke
cutting his cake
Bert Orrock and
Julie Hayes
Fr. Tim Bourke, the parish priest of two churches
in West Bromwich, Holy Cross in Stone Cross and
St. Joseph’s in Yew Tree Estate, celebrated his 90th
birthday recently with two special masses in the
parish, one of them concelebrated by Bishop David
McGough.
A special lunch was held afterwards at The Terrace
Restaurant in Brownhills, which was attended by
the Bishop, Fr. David Lacy from Sutton Coldfield
and a large number of parishioners and friends.
His niece Mary from Dublin and nephew John
from Tipperary were surprise guests at the event.
Roy and Pat Husted
Fr. Bourke, a native of Co. Tipperary, has been the
parish priest serving both churches for over 45
years and celebrated the 65th anniversary of his
ordination in July last year. Many people acknowledge this fantastic personal achievement and wonderful gift for the church – and he still continues to
serve the people of his parish with great dedication.
Siobhan Gorman, Manager of Sandwell Irish Society said, “Fr. Bourke, who is well known around the
Midlands area, is a great fan of Gaelic football and
hurling and frequently attends matches and celebrates mass at Páirc na hEireann in Birmingham
for GAA friends and families. We wish him all the
best for the future”.
Chrissie Wright with Mrs.
Hayfield and David Smith
celticcuisine
Smoked
Haddock Broth
Serves 4
Preparation and cooking time:
60 minutes
Method:
Ingredients
2. Add the artichoke hearts and the cannellini
• 1 x 500g can vegetable broth
• 1/2-pint vegetable stock
• 1 x 390g can artichoke hearts, drained
• and rinsed in cold water
• 1 x 300g can cannellini beans, drained.
• 175g/7oz smoked haddock fillet,
• skinned and cubed
• Black pepper
• 150ml 1/4-pint double cream
• 2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
1. Pour the vegetable broth into a large saucepan
along with the vegetable stock. Bring to the boil
and simmer gently.
beans and simmer for a further 3 minutes. Add the
smoked haddock and continue to simmer the broth
for 5 minutes.
3. Season with black pepper. Add the cream and
parsley and heat through.
4. Serve immediately.
For further recipe ideas contact Canned Food UK on 0800
243364 or visit www.cannedfood.co.uk
Nutritional value per serving:
Calories: 335 | Protein: 16g | Carbohydrates: 25 g | Fat: 20 g | Fibre: 6 g
32
bookreviews by Pam Norfolk
Title: Hunger Strike Margaret Thatcher’s
Battle with the IRA,
1980-1981
By: Thomas Hennessey
Price: £19.99
Publisher: Irish
Academic Press
Hunger Strike reveals new details of the
secret backchannel between MI6 and the
IRA, reinforces assertions that there was a
potential deal to end the strike sooner and
shows that Margaret Thatcher was not
only briefed, but oversaw, the detail of the
communications.
the scene for the final confrontation tralian and Canadian troops in the
with the British Government in 1981.
height of battle, or from the heartbro-
The H Block prison crisis was the first serious test of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership
ahead of the Falklands War and miners’
strike and would prove to be a defining
moment in her premiership.
Hennessey also addresses the controversial issues surrounding the hunger strike,
in particular whether there was a deal
on the table that could have ended the
strike in July 1981 and whether it was accepted by the prisoners in the H-Blocks.
Hunger Strike is the first title to fully
combine the numerous strands of records
and research about the events in 1980-81,
events which would irrevocably change
the long and complicated relationship between Britain and Ireland.
The hunger strikes of 1980-81 were a confrontation between Mrs Thatcher and the
iron will of Irish republican prisoners in
the H-Blocks of Long Kesh in an attempt
to break the British policy of criminalising
paramilitary prisoners.
The prisoners’ ultimate demand, to be
granted a special category status that distinguished them from other prisoners, led
to two hunger strikes. The first, in 1980,
ended without success for the prisoners
and the second, led by Bobby Sands, resulted in ten prisoners starving themselves
to death.
Drawing extensively on newly declassified
British government documents, Thomas
Hennessey undertakes a forensic examination of the Republican hunger strikes of
1980-81 which transfixed Irish and British
public and personal opinion.
The consequences of the hunger strikes
changed Irish politics and British-Irish
relations forever, beginning the long path
to eventual peace with the signing of the
Good Friday Agreement in 1998.
Hennessey explores the origins and evolution of the prisons dispute, leading up to
the first hunger strike of 1980, and setting
ken wives and sweethearts left behind
Mrs Thatcher’s personal role in the hunger strikes is analysed in detail, including – there lies a truly human portrait of
her clashes with Charles Haughey and love and war.
Garret FitzGerald.
Hunger Strike is the definitive account
of one of the seminal events in modern
Irish history.
Title: Love Letters of
the Great War
By: Mandy Kirkby
Price: £9.99
Publisher: Macmillan
From the private papers of Winston
Churchill to the tender notes of an
unknown Tommy in the trenches,
Love Letters of the Great War brings
together some of the most romantic
correspondence ever written. Some
of the letters collected here are eloquent declarations of love and longing, others contain wrenching accounts of fear, jealousy and betrayal
and many share sweet dreams of
home. But in all the correspondence
– whether from British, American,
French, German, Russian, Aus-
Title: A Cat, a Hat and a
Piece of String
By: Joanne Harris
Price: £7.99
Publisher: Black Swan
It takes a wicked and powerful imagination to conjure up stories like
Chocolat, the best-selling book which
was turned into an equally seductive
film, so expect something deliciously
different in Harris’s new collection
of short stories. Stories featuring the
everyday jostle with tales of the unexpected so that at one point we are
visiting a house where it is Christmas
all year round and the next we are
worrying about a young girl in the
Congo who rides the rapids to entertain foreign visitors and earn a crust
of bread. Each short story is preceded
by a brief introduction from Harris,
allowing readers a fascinating insight
into the sources of her inspiration and
the psychology behind the characters’
thinking and actions.
atthemovies by Pam Norfolk
Title: The Wolf of Wall Stre
Running time: 179 mins
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
Rating: 18
Scorsese’s exuberant journey through the
wild excesses of 1990s Wall Street stockbroker
Jordan Belfort sees an all-star cast on tip-top
form, not least a swaggering Leonardo DiCaprio stealing the show as the testosteronefuelled conman. Belfort was the Long Island
penny stockbroker jailed for defrauding investors in a massive securities scam involving widespread Wall Street corruption. With
the help of his partner Donny Azoff, played
by Jonah Hill as a creepy Billy Bunter figure,
Belfort’s brokerage firm Stratford-Oakmont
quickly grows from small time to big time. But
as their status in the trading community increases, so too does the amount of substances
they abuse, and their lies. The zeal and commitment of DiCaprio’s performance produces
some hilarious physical comedy, not least
when drug consumption leaves him virtually
paralysed and he drags his limp body across
the porch of a country club hotel, crawling
and slithering his way towards the door of his
gleaming Lamborghini. Look out for cameo
performances from Matthew McConaughey
as Belfort’s first mentor Mark Hanna and Joanna Lumley as an aunt through marriage
who isn’t as nearly prim and proper as she appears.
Title: American Hustle
Running time: 138 mins
Director: David O. Russell
Cast: Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper
Rating: 15
David O. Russell’s Seventies-set romp has
already picked up a handful of Golden
Globes with Amy Adams winning best actress in a musical or comedy for her role
as the scheming partner to a con-man
played by Christian Bale while Jennifer
Lawrence took best supporting actress as
his wife. Russell’s fast-paced crime caper
takes us on a thrill ride through the 1970s
FBI sting operation known as Abscam, following a conman forced to assist the feds
in snaring corrupt public officials. In this
fictionalised account of what was a famous scandal, Bradley Cooper stars as FBI
agent Richie DiMaso who enlists con artist
Irving Rosenfeld (Christian Bale) and his
partner Sydney Prosser (Amy Adams) to
help him uncover a tangled web of crime
and track down the mobsters and corrupt politicians behind it. And there’s the
added fun of watching Bale, with his horrendously hilarious 70s comb-over, trying
to keep his young wife Rosalyn (Jennifer
Lawrence) and their son happy. All is just
slightly off key but, in the grand scheme,
the puzzle pieces come together and make
an entertaining big picture.
travel
Guinness
Storehouse
Boating on The
Shannon
Tourists Flocked to
Ireland for The Gathering
By Brendan Mulvey
On Friday Morning January 24th I
attended the trade only part of the
Holiday World Show at Dublin’s
Royal Showground in Ballsbridge.
The show provides a unique opportunity for the consumers to meet,
network, negotiate, conduct business and stay abreast with the latest
developments in the travel industry.
The show brings together hundreds
of exhibitors from all over the world
and also provides face-to-face information for both trade and public
visitors. This year the numbers attending the trade event were well
up on last year however quite a few
of the regular tourist destination
representatives were missing from
the show. I also noted that many
exhibitors had taken smaller display
stands than in previous years which
are an indication of a money saving
exercise.
The Gathering
The 2013 Gathering was a great success with almost 5000 Gathering
events taking place all over the 26
Counties.
The Gathering was to attract
325,000 additional visitors to Ireland, generating 170 Million Euro in
tourism revenue.
To mobilise citizens, communities
and businesses to work collectively
through a structured engagement
programme.
To promote pride in Ireland and to
raise the profile and standing of the
creased by 20.5%, with numbers of a travel magazine in the United
from the European Union up by States.
To create a platform for on-going 5.1% and visits from Britain up by
Readers of Virtuoso life took part
and lasting engagement with Ire- 3.3%.
in a travel dreams survey to reveal
land’s Diaspora. Here is a breakC E O of Tourism Ireland Mr Niall their ideal travel destination. Ausdown of the groups taking part.
Gibbons “Welcomed the increase tralia, Italy and New Zealand took
29% were family get togethers, 26% in visitor’s numbers especially from the top three places in the survey
were community events, 10% cul- the United States; He particularly and Ireland in fourth place, last year
ture events, 9% corporate events welcomed the growth in visitors Ireland was ninth in the same surand and the other 26% was made up from the United States surpassing vey.
of sports, heritage, school and spe- the best ever year in 2007.
The Virtuoso is by invitation only
cial interest events. Originally the
plan of The Gathering was to attract Tourism is Ireland’s largest indig- network of 330 travel agents and
2500 events; however it doubled the enous industry, responsible for over specialising in luxury travel, and the
expectations of the organisers. Now 4% of G N P and employing 200,000 network’s magazine is published six
times a year and is delivered to affluthe gathering is over Failte Ireland people.
ent travelers and top clients of the
will be doing all they can to support
At the start of the year hoteliers and Virtuoso travel agents.
tourism businesses to build on the
travel agents had great confidence
success and keep their market share that it was going to be a good year Readers of the Conde Nast Traveland sustain employment. They will for tourism, the advance bookings ler Magazine voted Kilkenny as the
also continue to identify opportuni- in particular from the U S A was ninth friendliest city in the world
ties to get the most of the countries proof that the American market was this year, Dublin was in twelfth
inherent appeal to provide more on the upspring.
place and Cork in twentieth posicompelling reasons for more visition.
tors to come in the future.
The sector had a massive boost from
the Gathering, this was the largest Just one other European city made
I would like to share with you some tourism initiative undertaken by the to top twenty, Edinburgh was in
facts and figures and developments State. The Global Traveller listed eighteenth
that are taking place in the tourism Ireland as its best tourism destinasector in Ireland.
tion, with the Gathering named as a Position. The readers of the magazine had special praise for Kilkenny’s
must see event for this year.
clean air and great lively traditional
A high profile listing in Fodor’s pubs.
Travel Go List of the top 25 places
to visit in 2013 cited the Gathering
Visitors to Ireland increased by al- as one of the main reasons to visit
most 7.6%, May, June and July were this year”.
very good months, the total number
The Guinness Storehouse in Dubof visitors to Ireland in that period
lin attracted over 1 Million paying
was 2,084,600 which was an overall
visitors. Knock Shrine in County
increase 146,800 compared to the
Mayo attracted 1.6 Million pilgrims
same period last year.
Ireland has been voted fourth in a and tourists. On August 15th well
Traffic from North America in- list of dream destinations by readers over Twenty Thousand came to the
country internationally.
Tourism Performance in
2013
Most Visited Places in
2013
Ireland among Dream
Destinations
shrine to take part in the ceremonies on Our Lady’s Feast day.
Derry City which was “City of Culture 2013” attracted massive crowds
to the various events taking place.
The organisers hoped the City of
Culture would do for the city what
the Olympics did for London. The
city staved off massive competition
from Birmingham, Norwich and
Sheffield to take the prestigious City
of Culture mantle, the plan was to
attract a million visitors and generate a £100 million; however the attendances and revenue generated
well exceeded their expectations.
Two events in particular brought
in massive crowds, The All Ireland
Fleadh in August brought lovers of
Irish music from all over the world
and the pageant on the River Foyle
to celebrate the return of St Colmcille, a warrior monk who is said to
have founded the city. The pageant
designer was Frank Cottrell who designed the London Olympic opening ceremony and thousands came
to witness a truly spectacular performance.
Due to the fine weather cruising
holidays on the Shannon increased
with all the boat charter companies
delighted with the extra business.
Finally its nice to see tourism improving in Ireland, Many people
depend on the tourists so lets hope
2014 will be another outstanding
year for tourism.
Until the next time its Goodbye and
God Bless from The Hills of Sligo.
34
entertainment
By Mark McCabe
Welcome to the February ‘Teds Talk’
with Birmingham Irish Band, The Father Teds.
People sometimes ask us what kind of
gigs do we play? Everything and anything over the last 18 years from Festivals to 80th Birthdays, Weddings to
pubs so just get in touch if you have
any occasion that you’d like us to be
part of and we’ll try to help. We’re
currently working on some new additions to add to the set list and also to
be ready for the public gigs we have in
March.
On Saturday 1st March there’s an Irish
Music variety night at the Crescent
Theatre just off Broad St in Birmingham, it’s going to be a very similar
night to the very successful Mick Hipkiss evening last year in Birmingham
Town Hall. Tickets are £17 each and
are available from the theatre on 0121
643 5858. Other acts on the evening
include The Hurling Boys, The Reel
Note, Drowsy Maggie and Routes
who are a young 3 piece acoustic
group. It’s only a small selection of the
musical talent that is in Birmingham
but I’m sure there’ll be something for
everyone in the concert.
The St Patrick’s Day Parade is on Sunday 16th March this year and we’re
happy to announce that we’ll be performing again at South & City College
auditorium in Digbeth. The auditorium is only a small part of the college
but it holds around 600
Teds talk
people. It is a fantastic performance
space with a state of the art sound
and lighting system and people of all
ages are welcome; entry is free and of
course there are a few bars!
Friends of ours, The Motorcity String
band will be playing support to us on
the day, a great 4 piece up- tempo
Bluegrass hootin’ tootin’ band will get
the place jumping and
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.
there might even be another surprise
act to be announced shortly!
We’ll then be back in Digbeth at Birmingham Irish Centre on Saturday
29th March, always a great night
there and it’s free entry, thanks to everybody who came to celebrate New
Years Eve there with us, although it
seems like ages ago already!
We recently recorded a video to accompany our original song, ‘Those
Digbeth Days’,it’s up on YouTube if
you fancy a look. The song is taken
from our latest album, which is available from us at gigs but also from
Minstrel Music or to download from
iTunes and Amazon. It contains some
original songs and tunes alongside a
few familiar tracks that we’ve been
performing live for a while.
The Irish music lessons are going
strong every Tuesday evening at Birmingham Irish Centre, there are lessons on Button and Piano Accordion,
Whistle, Bodhran, Fiddle and Tenor
Banjo to people aged 7 to 70 so everybody is welcome. Just turn up on a
Tuesday at 7.30pm with your instrument and we’ll be happy to help you
learn.
Anniversary concert for the Beatles
returns due to popular demand
By Gabriel Filan
A special concert in 2013, which marked the
50th anniversary of a legendary Irish promoter bringing the Beatles to Birmingham for
the first time, proved such a success a repeat
performance is happening again in February.
The Beatles festival in Kings Heath is returning for a second time on February 16 after
proving a resounding hit with fans of the Fab
Four first time around.
It will mark the 51st anniversary of the band’s
famous Ritz Ballroom concert, in Kings
Heath.
It took place on February 15 1963 and was the
Beatles’ first-ever appearance in Birmingham.
They were due to arrive a month earlier but
a blizzard stopped them from making the 11mile journey to Kings Heath from The Plaza
in Old Hill. Both venues were owned by the
legendary Pa and Ma Regan.
At around that time the Beatles had been the
fourth support band on a tour by Helen Shapiro.
But that all changed after Please, Please Me
reached number one.
cians wanting to play their favourite Beatles’
songs”, said Bob.
When the Merseyside mop tops did finally
make it to Kings Heath, Beatlemania was taking off big time and it is said Paul McCartney,
John Lennon and Ringo Starr were only able
to enter the ballroom by climbing up a ladder
from Milford Place.
“When the band originally appeared at the
Ritz Ballroom they were just starting out and
mainly performed covers of other musicians’
songs.
“There aren’t going to be any tribute bands
for a number of reasons, mainly because
when most of the groups like The Beatles
played at the Ritz, they were up-and-coming
and did covers.
George Harrison apparently arrived late by
taxi, ended up surrounded by screaming fans
and had to be rescued from the cab.
It is also rumoured that Irishman Pa Regan,
who ran four venues run in the 1950s and
60s, told The Beatles to ‘turn that racket
down’ while they were rehearsing.
Pa was also notorious for getting the names
of musicians wrong and is said to have introduced John and Paul as Sean and Peter.
Bob Prew and Ken Whittaker, organisers of
King’s Heath Walk Of Fame, have already
lined up local musicians to take part in the
51st anniversary concert. And they have been
asking for people to join them in tribute to
the Beatles by dusting off their favourite
Ken and Bob are pictured outside
the now derelict building on York Rd,
Kings Heath, Birmingham that used
to house the Ritz nightclub/ballroom
tracks and taking part in a Come Vinyl With
Me session at Fletchers Bar in York Road.
“We already have a great line-up of top local musicians who will be performing but we
still want to include some more young musi-
“And it was only later on that they introduced
their own songs. We don’t want people impersonating The Beatles.”
Beatles Fest takes place on Sunday, February
16, from 3pm to 6pm, at Fletchers Bar.
One of the acts on the day will be The Eggmen, a band put together specially for the occasion that features some members of popular Birmingham Celtic rock combo the Holy
Show Band.
musicreviews by Charles Patrick
For further information on these artists call 07896 575307
Artist:
Damien Dempsey
Artist: Kodaline
Title: In A Perfect World - Sony 88765442802
Artist website: www.kodaline.com
Title
It’s all Good- The Best
Of - Clear Records IRL080
the name to Kodaline in 2011 and in 2012 the
line up was completed when bass player Jason
Boland joined them.
Artist website:
www.damiendempsey.
com
I must say that I loved this album from the
moment I heard some of the tracks. I can’t
pay the band a higher compliment than to say
they remind me in many ways of Coldplay.
This new album is a celebration of
Damien’s career to date, which includes six top ten albums over a
period of fifteen years. The double
CD pack features 29 tracks in all.
Included are fan favourites such as,
Sing All Your Tears Away, Let Us
All Sing, It’s All Good, Colony, AllMighty Love, Bustin’ Outta Here and
his no.1 Christmas single The Auld
Triangle which featured a duet with
Glen Hansard. Also included are two
brand new tracks Happy Days and St.
Patrick’s Brave Brigade.
Irish charts at no.3 and it only enhanced his growing reputation as
My own particular favourites apart one of Ireland’s most important
from these are Kilburn Stroll, Chris singers of his generation. His songs
and Stevie, Kelly from Killan and reflect his upbringing in a working
Your Pretty Smile.
class area of Dublin and paint picDamien has come along way since tures of real people and real places.
his debut album that was released in They are gritty yet contemplative.
2000 when his unique voice brought
He can be likened to that other Dubhim to the attention of many big
names in the music industry includ- lin hero, Luke Kelly and classed with
all-time Irish greats such as Christy
ing Sinead O’Connor.
Moore, Ronnie Drew and Andy IrHe released a follow-up album Seize vine. His concerts are renowned for
The Day and from that he picked up his army of fans immersing themmany awards and started touring selves in the atmosphere he creates
internationally. However it wasn’t and singing every word as they join
until 2005 and the release of his no.1 in with their idol.
album, Shots and then the follow-up
release of To Hell or Barbados, which Among awards he has won are severreached no.2 in the Irish charts that al prestigious Meteor Awards including Best Irish Male. He has also rehe really came to prominence.
ceived critical acclaim from the likes
His most recent album Almighty of Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Bill
Love released in 2012 entered the Board and the Sunday Times.
He has played support for prominent acts like Bob Dylon, Sinead
O’Connor and Bruce Springsteen.
2013 was an incredible year for him,
which included selling out Sydney
Opera House on St Patrick’s Day followed by a headlining tour there. He
also toured the US for the first time
in five years playing several major
gigs, which included a sell-out at the
Bowery Ballroom in New York. He
toured Australia again in November
and then returned to Ireland for a
headlining tour in December, which
included his legendary show at Vicar
Street.
There are eleven fabulous songs on the
CD- all original tunes written by the band
and it features great vocals and harmonies
as all five members of the band share the
microphone. The only girl in the set-up
Faye O’Rourke has a terrific voice, as do all
four males. Many of the tunes are driven
by the bass and drum but there are also
some softer more melodic songs that feature brilliant harmonies.
My own favourite tracks are Harper Lee,
Big Red Dragon, Red and Blue, The Kitchen Floor, The John Wayne, Them and
Goodbye Blue Monday, but there are no
bad tracks on this CD.
This is a terrific debut offering and they
are another band I look forward to hearing
a lot more of.
This was definitely one of my albums of the
year for 2013 and it is a fabulous debut offering from the band. I look forward to hearing
more from them.
Artist: André Rieu
Artist website: www.andrerieu.com
into a world famous touring act. Globally there are a major attraction and are
as big as many rock and pop bands in
certain countries.
He will be playing some major venues in UK this month to promote
this release. Unfortunately none of
these are local but if you get a chance
to go to any of the venues a memorable evening is guaranteed.
Released in August 2013, this is the debut album from an Irish five-piece band I
hadn’t heard of before but I am sure that
we are going to hear a lot more about them
in the future.
Artist: Little Green Cars
Title: Absolute Zero - Universal
Artist website: www.littlegreencars.co.uk
Steve Garrigan and Mark Prendergast who
both live in Swords have know each other
for years and through their interest in music
they decided to get together and form a band.
They were then joined by Vinny May who
also lives in Dublin. Under the name of 21Demands they recorded a single in 2007 titled
Give Me A Minute, which became the first
independently released track to achieve the
feat of topping the Irish charts. They changed
All eleven fabulous tracks were penned by the
band members themselves and feature great
vocals and wonderful use of the instruments.
This is the type of album where everyone will
have their own favourite tracks, mine are:
Love Like This, Brand New Day, After The
Fall, Big Bad World, Way Back When and
Talk. The other tracks are All I Want, High
Hopes, All Comes Down, Pray and One Day.
Many of these songs have featured on major
TV series’ such as Vampire Diaries, where All I
Want was heard on episode ten in season five.
Dutch man André is a leading violinist
who formed this orchestra which is famous for its waltz’s. The lush arrangements and rich sound have turned them
In the rush to get CDs released for the
Christmas market, unfortunately some
get overlooked for review.
Two 0f these albums which would appeal to younger family members were;
The Wanted Word of Mouth- this is a
great pop album from a very good boyband. I must admit I was pleasantly surprised! There are fourteen excellent pop
songs, many written by the band members themselves. For me the stand out
tracks are the very catchy We Own The
Night, Walk Like Rihanna, Love Sewn,
Everybody Knows and Show Me Love
(America) which is a terrific song. Unfortunately for their many fans the band
have announced that they are splitting
up in the near future. It’s a shame really
as I consider them to be better than most
of the boybands on the scene. www.thewantedmusic.com.
Leona Lewis - Christmas With Love on
For starting out in 1987 with 12 members a concert can now feature anything
from 80 to 150 musicians. As well as
waltzs they play a range of classical folk
and popular music. This pack contains
a CD and a DVD of the performance.
With over four hours of entertainment
in total it is great value. Tunes on offer
include a range of musical classics such
as Music Of The Night, On My Own,
La Vie En Rose, Arrivaderci, Ode To Joy,
Beautiful Blue Danube and six ABBA
classics. This is wonderful music for
when you simply want to lie back and
relax.
Sony Records:Yes Christmas has passed
but I like this album so much I continue to play it. It features ten great songs
mainly consisting of Christmas favourites sung in her own style and includes
her recent hit single One More Sleep.
Many of the tunes have a big ‘Phil Spector like’ backing sound. These include I
Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday,
Winter Wonderland and Christmas
Baby Please Come Home.
However on the slower numbers such
as Silent Night and O’ Holy Night her
wonderful voice is more apparent and
on Ave Maria she truly excels. It is one of
the best versions of this song that I have
heard and I must admit the notes she
was reaching took me by surprise. Buy
this now when you can possibly get it at
post-Christmas prices and have it ready
for the next festive season, and Easter
and in fact just enjoy it all year round!
www.leonalewismusic.com.
36
reader’s letters
Just for fun!
The Midlands
Quiz with the
Irish Spin!
Dear Editor,
Dear Siobhan,
Lyric corner - Raglan Road
1) How many counties in Ireland start with the letter ‘W’?
I have just seen such a sad sight on a
social networking site of a dog that was
used for bait in a dog fighting ring. This
message is just to remind people, if you
have a dog that you can no longer care
for, please do not advertise it as free to a
good home.
I have just heard that everyone’s favourite
mammy, Mrs Brown will be hitting our
screens with a movie this summer.
By Luke Kelly based on a poem by Patrick
Kavanagh
2) Which county has the Irish name Ard Mhacha?
Any genuine pet lover will not mind paying to welcome a new addition to their
family.
Yes, she didn’t get it right every time but I
am sure that this was half of the point to
be proven (aside from the comedy value)
in every show and even along with the
bad language (which I found was used in
terms of comedy not profanity) there was
always a lesson for poor Agnes. Not only
did she learn her lesson but so did the audience too as with each episode we were
with her on the very same rollercoaster,
all of the way.
I have recently heard about a white van
that drives around the Kings Heath area,
and picks up any type of terrier that is
out alone, these dogs are then used as
bait in dog fighting rings.
Please do not let your dogs out unattended.
Our little four legged friends trust us to
take care of them, please don’t let them
down.
I know this show has divided opinions
around the globe but hats off to Brendan
O’Carroll and his family for what they
have achieved and I for one cannot wait
to see what treats are in store for his loyal
audience and more importantly what can
possibly happen to Agnes Brown next.
From a revolving Christmas tree and a
blind Internet date to hosting granddad’s
‘pretend funeral’ and keeping the family
together through thick and thin, the
brown family have been on such a journey; I wonder what could ever be next?
Long live Mrs Brown I say!
Concerned,
Please keep us posted…
M Shirley, Via email
B. Wetfeld. Birmingham
Crossword
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
18
16
19
20
21
22
23
24
Provided by Jim Stokes
17
On Grafton Street in November,
We tripped lightly along the ledge
Of a deep ravine where can be seen
The worst of passions pledged.
The Queen of Hearts still baking tarts
And I not making hay,
Well I loved too much; by such and such
Is happiness thrown away.
I gave her the gifts of the mind.
I gave her the secret sign
That’s known to all the artists who have
Known true Gods of Sound and Time.
With word and tint I did not stint.
I gave her reams of poems to say
With her own dark hair and her own
name there
Like the clouds over fields of May.
On a quiet street where old ghosts meet,
I see her walking now away from me,
So hurriedly. My reason must allow,
For I have wooed, not as I should
A creature made of clay.
When the angel woos the clay, he’ll lose
His wings at the dawn of the day.
ACROSS
1. Or find chiller. (anag.) Stepchildren of Aoife whom
she turned into Swans on Lough Derravaragh.
(8,2,3)
8. Protection found in popular Mourne location. (6)
9. Pout face up until refreshment appears. (3,2,3)
10. Fry air? No, but reduce its pressure. (6)
12. Get up on hind legs about per can order. (6)
13. Impulses scrambled the last of the Carrickfergus
letters. (5)
14. Then avoid by cute diversion around engineering
work carrying the Dublin - Belfast rail line over
Drogheda. (3,5,7)
19. Tree falls over after a century on Mediterranean
island. (5)
20. Threw in at the Gaelic game? (6)
21. Make a quick grab for ants all over the small
church. (6)
22. Stretch little Leonard starts, then finishes after
note. (8)
23. Salty pool covered up back in Portnoo gallery. (6)
24. Sweet stew clan. (anag.) Limerick market town
with a Knights Templars castle built in 1184. (9,4)
3) In which province is Limerick?
1. Four – Waterford,
Wexford, Wicklow and
Westmeath
2. Armagh
3. Munster
4. Laois was Queen’s
and Offaly was King’s
5. Ulster
And make sure that you get the new
owners name and address and if possible
go and check out the new home before
making the decision to entrust your dog
to them.
Whilst her antics and perception of family is something to be laughed at, what
I enjoyed most was that with each and
every episode there was always a moral
point to learn.
On Raglan Road on an Autumn Day,
I saw her first and knew
That her dark hair would weave a snare
That I may one day rue.
I saw the danger, yet I walked
Along the enchanted way
And I said let grief be a falling leaf
At the dawning of the day.
4) Which Irish counties were once known as
Queen’s and King’s counties?
5) In which province is Tyrone?
Word Search
Carrying on the theme of Irish counties, here’s a word search containing 16 for you to try to find. Remember
that the words can be vertical, horizontal or diagonal and run in any direction. As usual ...good luck with your
search everyone.
ANTRIM
DONEGAL
DOWN
DUBLIN
FERMANAGH
GALWAY
KILDARE
KILKENNY
LAOIS
LEITRIM
LONGFORD
LOUTH
MAYO
MEATH
ROSCOMMON
SLIGO
E
G
A
L
B
U
D
O
W
N
K
I
F
L
E
I
T
R
I
M
K
I
L
W
E
R
O
U
B
D
O
N
D
A
R
E
R
L
O
N
I
L
B
U
D
V
L
Y
M
Z
D
S
G
M
O
L
G
O
X
D
A
O
N
M
C
F
Z
U
I
M
N
S
N
F
O
Y
A
O
O
A
T
E
M
E
A
T
H
N
I
N
M
R
Y
H
R
W
G
R
N
R
S
C
S
M
D
O
Q
A
H
A
A
G
T
O
O
A
O
A
X
S
D
S
L
Q
L
D
R
M
G
N
N
S
I
L
O
G
U
Y
W
M
I
H
O
T
S
L
I
G
O
K
E
N
A
S
M
A
R
D
O
K
I
L
K
E
N
N
Y
I
L
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
2. Oh, lure me in disorder for Bill first proposed and lost by
Gladstone in 1885 and passed in 1912. (4,4)
3. “Hail fellow, well met. All ----- and wet: Find out, if you can,
Who’s master, who’s man.” Swift. (5) 4. Storeys one knocks to
the ground. (6)
5. Recite with a singing voice to nine others in Rosses Point one
time. (6)
6. Hour train call. (anag.) Kerry mountain popularly ascended
through the Hag’s Glen and up the Devil’s Ladder to the peak at
3,314 feet. (13)
7. Jests shame pen. (anag.) Irish writer and poet (1880-1950) who
wrote ‘The Crock of Gold’ . (5,8)
9. Owners latch up in neat Mayo village on the Sligo border. (11)
11. You must see the faithful dog in Glengarriff, I do insist. (4)
12. Ripe conversion of fairy on Greek roundabout. (4)
15. Squirrel’s home back in the American garden in pretty
Ardmore. (4)
16. Last word in mean fashion. (4)
17. Greasy sun out over U.C. (8)
18. E.g. rang up Sligo village underneath Ben Bulben on the
Bundoran road opposite Inishmurray Island. (6)
19. “This goat-footed bard, this half-human visitor to our age
from the hag-ridden magic and enchanted woods of -----antiquity.” Baron Keynes - (describing Lloyd George) (6)
21. Soothe in the meandering vales. (5)
The Harp
Crossword
JANUARY
2014
solution
Michael McAvinney
Second anniversary on
5th of March 2014
Formerly of Derrygonnelly Co. Fermanagh
Anniversary mass will take place at Our Lady of
Lourdes, Trittiford Road, Yardley Wood at 9am on
Sunday March 2 2014.
A place in my heart is yours alone,
A piece of my love no one can own,
Deep in my heart your memory is kept,
Of a husband I love and never forget.
Love and miss you always
Your ever loving wife, Kath xxxx
John (Sean) Dineen
In loving memory of John (Sean)
Dineen 9th Anniversary
The years are passing quietly,
But still we don’t forget,
The Hearts that loved you dearly,
Are the ones that don’t forget.
Missed so much, God Bless,
Margaret, Caroline, Sally and grandchildren
Helen Farrell
Third Anniversary
Passed away, February 11th 2011.
My body is gone but I’m always near,
I’m everything you see, feel and hear,
My spirit is free but I`ll never depart,
As long as you keep me alive in your heart.
In Loving memory
Brendan, Theresa, Marie and family.
Brian Kelly
Roskeen Co. Tyrone and Hall Green
16th anniversary on 8th February
A beloved husband dad, granddad and great granddad. So greatly missed. We cannot stop the hands of time or bring the old days
back but loving thoughts and memories will keep us
close together, Loving wife Margaret and family. R.I.P.
Michael Patrick
Drennan
1st Anniversary 16th Feb 2014
God saw you getting tired and a cure was not to be
So He put his arms around you and whispered come to me.
A golden heart stopped beating hard working hands now rest
God broke my heart to prove to me He only takes the best.
R.I.P
A wonderful husband, Dad, Grandad
Sadly missed, never forgotten
Your loving wife Rose, daughter Joanne,
son-in-law Michael & grandchildren XX Roisin Coyle
5th Anniversary
Quinton, Birmingham, late of Mullahoran, Cavan
who died on 17th February 2009
Our thoughts are ever with you though you
have passed away and those who loved you
dearly are thinking of you to-day
Love Bridie, Margaret, Kathleen & Mary and all
the family R.I.P
Mary
O’Connor
In loving memory of my
wife Mary Kings Heath &
Mt Temple Ireland. Michael
Keenan
In loving memory of
Michael, Northfield B’ham
who died 27th February
2009
Loved by husband Michael, son
Philip, grandchildren Amy, Erin
& Dominic, great grandchildren
Fintan & Seth.
R.I.P The hands of time keep turning,
five years have passed away
but in our hearts and memories
You are with us everyday
10th Anniversary Mass at St.
Anne, Bradford St., on Saturday
15th February at 1.00pm Your loving wife Maureen, son
David, brother Andy, sister Eileen,
& Families 38
fancyfootwork with Leanne Nelson
North East
of England
Championships
On the 18th January, Barbara
Slater welcomed competitors
from all over England, Ireland,
Scotland and Australia to one of
the first championships of the
year, which returned to Newcastle.
A panel of esteemed adjudicators from England and Ireland
made up the panel with Colm
Keogh, Martin Daly and Gerry
Conlon played live throughout
the day for all dancers. Children
as young as four competed in
the grade competitions which
saw fantastic entries from both
newly formed and established
schools within the local area.
Barbara also is proud to award
every year, not only the top
placed winning competitor but
also acknowledges the highest placed ‘local dancer’ in each
Nadine Martin
- Doherty, Senior Ladies
Champion
Holly Duffy - Travis
Duffy Under 12
Ella Owens - Under 10
Champion, Ceim Oir
Hannah Hunt - Doherty
Under 11 Champion
Molly McAdam - Kelly
Hendry Under 12 local
champion
Lucy Richardson Under 10 Local Champion
Isobel Fairclough Kent Academy Under 11
runner up
Under 13 Orlaith Bradley, De Barra- Ulster
Sophia Martin - Kelly
Hendry, Under 8 Champion
Chloe Cardwell - Reid
McKernon -Ulster
Ellie O’Sullivan - Maguire O’Shea Under 17
Champion
Preliminary Champion
from Ceim Oir, London
Ciara Loughran- King
Under 16 Champion
championship category where
the child is acknowledged for
their contribution to the North
East of England region; a fitting touch for a championships
steeped in tradition.
A number of Ceili teams also
took to the stage in preparation
for the forthcoming All Scotland
Championships, which are to be
held in Glasgow at the end of
the month.
To conclude the fantastic day of
dancing, all winners of the Preliminary and Open Championships were welcomed onstage
for a special Parade of Champions for 2014, dancers from Ireland, Scotland and the English
Regions all shared successes
at the North East of England
Championships.
Niamh Neale- Doherty
Petri Under 14 Champion
Welcome to the February
edition of my Boxing page!
George Groves will be in Brum
this month and I am looking
forward to having a chat
with him and find out, what’s
going on with him and Carl
Froch, as per usual I will
keep you posted. Do you have a
boxing story or an interview
you would like to see? Get in
touch!
‘Dazzling’ Darren Barker has announced his retirement from boxing.
The popular Londoner topped the
World in 2013 when he climbed off the
canvas to rip the IBF belt from Daniel
Geale in Atlantic City. Barker’s glorious
night crowned his professional achievements adding the top honour to British,
European and Commonwealth titles
and his Commonwealth Games triumph in 2002.
Barker defended his title against Felix
Sturm in Stuttgart in December, but
his old hip injuries flared up during the
contest and the 31 year old has taken the
decision to bow out from the sport –
and dedicated his success to his family,
friends, fans and his late brother, Gary.
“I’m so proud and happy at what I’ve
achieved when I won my first national
title as a kid I could have retired a happy
boy then so to have won all the major
titles possible for me I’m a very, very
happy man,” said Barker. “I did this all
for my brother Gary – we did it mate!
I’m now looking forward to sitting back
and being a keen fan and wishing all my
fellow countrymen all the best in their
careers.
“I would like to thank my family for
their support, without them none of
what I achieved would have been possible. My fantastic friends and all the
fans that brought tickets to my fights
and travelled the country and world
supporting me I really appreciate it and
thank you.
“Tony Sims – he constantly got the best
out of me and he’s more than a fantas-
DARREN BARKER
RETIRES FROM BOXING
tic trainer, he’s a mentor and very good
friend. Eddie Hearn and the rest of the
guys at Matchroom Sport for getting
me the big fights and elevating me to
another level and ultimately getting
me the fight that helped me realising
a dream and I’ve also met some friends
for life there.”
Barker’s promoter Hearn led the tributes to the first fighter he signed in
Matchroom Sport’s return to becoming
a powerhouse in boxing.
“It is with both sadness and joy that
Darren Barker announces his retirement from the sport today,” said Hearn.
“Darren has been an exemplary role
model for any young fighter and a wonderful ambassador for boxing having
won the Southern Area, British, Commonwealth, European and IBF World
middleweight titles in a career spanning
nine years. “The sport of boxing is in Darren’s
blood. He learnt his trade at the World
renowned Repton club, where his Father Terry captured the ABA flyweight
title and his brother Gary, who some say
was the one of the best young talents
the country had ever seen, also donned
the green and gold vest.
“Darren has overcome many adversities
in his career. The greatest the loss of his
brother Gary at just 19 but a series of
career-threatening injuries have made
Darren’s journey even more remarkable
and no-one will ever forget that magical night in Atlantic City on August 17th
2013, when Darren realised his dream
by capturing the IBF World middle-
weight title against Daniel Geale.
“Unable to run in his preparation for
that fight, Darren adapted his training
and summoned the most incredible
amount of mental desire to win. I will
never forget Michael Buffer’s words
‘and the new’, a moment that made us
all so proud but no one more than his
late brother Gary. I feel that night took
a piece of Darren’s soul and whilst in
his preparation for the Sturm fight he
showed the same amount of intensity
and desire, the damage on his body
and numerous operations meant that
he was unable to give Felix the fight he
needed to defend his title.
“After the changing room tears, a visit to
the hospital for treatment to his hip and
the disappointment of losing his World
title, Darren’s family and friends made
their way back to the hotel. We shared
a beer and just by looking in his eyes I
knew it was all over but Darren Barker
was at peace, the struggle was over but
he had achieved all he ever wanted.
“For me personally, Darren was my first
ever signing as a promoter. His trainer
and perhaps the most influential man
of his career Tony Sims convinced me
to return to the sport and Darren would
be the beginning of Matchroom’s resurgence. After re-capturing the European
title and suffering a string of further
injuries, we manufactured a shot at
WBC Middleweight champion Sergio
Martinez. Even back then, Darren and
the team never knew when the last fight
would be so and opportunity like this
was golden and despite the loss, Darren
was outstanding and showed his ability
to compete at elite World level. It was
an experience that I feel played a huge
part in him becoming a World Champion.
“After the Martinez fight came more
injuries and a second hip operation and
his return to the ring was set for nearly
a year later against Simone Rotolo, September 7 2012 at the Alexandra Palace.
He looked as well as I’d ever seen him
and with just two weeks to go, tore a bicep in a freak sparring incident and had
to pull out of the fight-It looked like the
final straw. Darren told the team and
his family that that was it, he couldn’t
take any more and he was set to retire
from the sport. Tony and I tried relentlessly to convince him not to, knowing
that the demons of an unfulfilled dream
would be tough to bear.
“When we got Darren back in the ring
that December against Kerry Hope,
he was a different animal. More determined than ever, a more aggressive style
that lead to impressive stoppages over
Hope and Rotolo just a few months later. Darren and Tony called for the Geale
fight and we delivered, the rest as they
say is history.
“That night in Atlantic City was for me,
as many of us, one of the greatest of my
life but what makes me happier is that
Darren can leave the sport in peace. He
can retire financially secure ready to
spend time with his fiancé Gemma, his
daughter Scarlett and his brilliant family knowing that he achieved the greatest dream of all and no-one can ever
take that away from him.
“There’s only one ‘Dazzling’ Darren
Barker.”
TYSON FURY TO MAKE HIS BOXNATION DEBUT
One of Britain’s best known heavyweights Tyson Fury has signed a
deal to appear LIVE and EXCLUSIVE on BoxNation! Fury will line
up on a booming British bill on February 15th topped by Finchley hitman Dereck Chisora, who faces Andriy Rudenko, while Chisora and
Fury look set for a massive domestic
showdown this summer.
Tyson’s cousin Hughie Fury also
makes his BoxNation debut on the
bill as Romford’sTony Conquest faces a Vacant Commonwealth Cruiserweight title bout against Daniel
Ammann, 11-0 Frank Buglioni defends his WBO European SuperMiddleweight title for the first
time against Gaetano Nespro and
14-0 Bradley Skeete contests the Vacant WBA Intercontinental Welterweight title against Vivian Harris on
a stacked card LIVE from London’s
Copper Box Arena.
‘Saint’ George
Groves is
coming to
Birmingham
This time last year, the name
George Groves was not a name
most fight fans took notice
of; however just over three
months ago, the currant reigning British, Commonwealth
and WBA Intercontinental
Super-Middleweight stepped
into the ring against World
Champion Carl Froch and
changed people’s perception.
Groves pushed forward in the
first round and landed a terrific right hand, which nearly
sealed his fate as World Champion. However Froch got up
after a count and went on to
win in the 9th round when
referee Howard Foster stopped
the fight.
Born in West London in March
1988, the 20 pro fight boxer
with 19 wins 1 loss under his
belt will be sitting down with
Midlands Fight fans on the 21st
of this month to tell his side of
the story and hopefully inform
fans of the chances of a rematch against the Nottingham
World Champion.
Also appearing with George
will be his trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick and he too will be at
hand to answer questions
about what’s on the horizon
for his fighter this year.
The night is a www.boxfrog.
com promotion and George
Groves will be just one name
on the bill of former World
and Title champions visiting
the area.
Tickets for this boxing event
being held at The Holiday Inn
Hotel, Queensway, Birmingham City Centre are priced at
£50.00, £75.00 and £100.
A three- course meal and personal photo with the champion can be offered on the night.
All information can be obtained at www.boxfrog.com or
Ken on 07976 842383.
www.boxingshowwithjasonlowe.com • www.boxingshowwithjasonlowe.com • www.boxingshowwithjasonlowe.com
40
ever been and hardly a season goes
by when another world class player
emerges for them. The same can be
said for Scotland who always appear to be tough and dogged but
have a tendancy to be slow starters.
Brian O’Driscoll’s
last season: Ireland
will be making a special effort for Brian
O’Driscoll’s last
season.
But credit where credit is due despite Ireland’s amazingly successful
record in European Club rugby the
Ireland team has never lacked bravery. But the team just needs to be
smarter because that clinching try
by the All Blacks should have been
stopped several times.
Improving discipline
However discipline is also a big
problem and leads to the concession of soft penalties on the floor.
But now that the team is lead by a
Kiwi coach there is very likelihood
that Ireland will become cuter in
pressure situations.
Coach Joe Schmidt is hailed by
many observers as being an excellent appointment for the country.
Had he pulled off the All Blacks
coup he would have heaped even
more pressure and expectation on
himself and he knows that victories
in the opening two home games are
a ‘must’ if Ireland are to make any
serious impression in this year’s Six
Nations tournament.
But while Sean O’Brien’s unavailability is huge blow it is also an
opportunity for Chris Henry and
Tommy O’Donnell to make an impression. However if the team does
need to look for a lift it need look
no further than the form of Cian
Healy since his return from injury
and there is also the fact that the
squad’s strength in depth is also improving as well as the form of the
Mike Ruddock’s U20.
eview
2014 Rugby Six Nations pr
Unfancied Ireland
can profit from
wide-open tournament
By LARRY COONEY
Ireland’s success in this year’s Six
Nations looks set to be decided
in their two home games against
Scotland and Wales in the opening week of the tournament. But
even the opening round results
have proved that luck may also play
a key role in deciding the destination of this year’s championship.
Although tradition always appears
to favour France in the season following a Lions Tours, it is very difficult to overlook the prospects of
England after their very unlucky
two-point defeat in Paris. And it is
also quite likely that holders Wales
will be much more focused when
they visit the Aviva Stadium this
Saturday February 8.
which is why Ireland’s Herculean
performance against the All Blacks
must not be a misleading form
guide about their Six Nations prospects.
England capable of bouncing
back
Moral Irish victories are considered
by some to be some sort of national
weakness, like the drink. There is a
tendancy to disagree with the cynics that when the team’s mentality
is channeled positively Ireland can
match any team in the world.
The France-England thriller is really what the Six Nations is all about
and on another day an unfancied
Italy might also have been celebrating another famous ‘scalp’ after
their narrow defeat by the holders
at the Millennium Stadium. This
competition now almost customary throws up a shock every year
Although Italy have never impressed at European Cup level they
are now a far more formidable international force than they have
Ireland
manager: Joe
Schmidt will
be hoping to
launch Ireland’s Six Nations campaign
with two home
victories in the
opening week.
There are some very good players coming through and on the
horizon, but what about Brian
O’Driscoll and Gordon D’Arcy’s
longevity and their service to the
green jersey. But will these two truly magnificent centres of excellence
last the five games?
Memorable Swansong for BOD
So Ireland really have something
of a point to prove especially in
their opening two games. And who
knows if they do gain the momentum of back-to-back home victories
then they have every reason to go
to Twickenham as genuine Triple
Crown contenders. Although few
might admit Ireland are still certainly a side with genuine title-winning credentials.
As usual, Ireland appear to hold the
aces this time around. The breakdown, now more so than ever, is
the front-line, trench warfare of
elite rugby. In all their home nations games it’s usually a ding-dong
battle, and the team that emerges
with the most clean, quick ball,
turnovers or penalties takes great
strides towards winning the game.
And Ireland are usually the masters
of this area and even without the
influence of Sean O’Brien - Chris
Henry, Peter O’Mahony and even
Rory Best are perennial nuisances
for their opposition around the ru
ck.
The set-piece, scrummage in particular, is another battleground
that can go a long way to deciding
the outcome of this year’s championship. No reasonable observer
of the recent performances of Best
and Cian Healy versus any of the
other team’s front rows would deny
Ireland the favourites tag up front.
Out wide, Ireland boast a danger-
Ireland seldom do well when carrying the burden of high expectation and although they had won
Triple Crowns under the Eddie
O’Sullivan’s management nobody
dared to even consider that Ireland
were genuine Grand Slam contenders in Declan Kidney’s first year in
charge in 2009. Although all of the
squad will be conscious of the fact
that it is Brian O’Driscoll’s last year
in a green jersey there is the added
incentive for them to make it the
best possible ‘send-off’ for one of
Ireland’s best ever sports stars if not
the best. But all depends on Ireland’s
opening week and who knows if Joe
Schmidt’s men do put back-to-back
home victories together it might
give them the required momentum
to win the hardest Grand Slam of all
by also winning two away games in
Twickenham and Stade de France.
Ireland reduce
‘seed’ of doubt
with Euro placing
By Aidan Begley
Ireland’s chances of obtaining a
generous draw for the 2016 European Championship qualification stages have been helped
after UEFA listed them as second seeds in the first phase of
the draw for the next tournament, held in France in two
summers’ time.
Ireland are one of nine seeds
and Martin O’Neill’s side join
Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium,
Czech Republic and Hungary in
pot two, while Northern Ireland
have been included in pot 5.
The draw for the qualifying
groups takes place on 23rd February in Nice, while the opening
round of fixtures will take place
between 7th and 9th September
2014, less than two months after the World Cup final is held
in Brazil.
Holders Spain are named in pot
one alongside Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England, Portugal, Greece, Russia and Bosnia
and Herzegovina.
UEFA are evidently looking
to ‘jazz’ up for formats for the
qualifiers as hosts France will
also be named in one of the nine
groups, however, their fixtures
will just be considered friendly
internationals with no points
available.
Alongside this, they are also
introducing the concept of
a ‘Week of Football’, where
matches will be played from
Tuesday to Thursday.
Matches can be played on any
day within the ‘week’, while
double-header weeks will in-
Ireland’s starting XV
against Scotland
ous set of wingers in Dave Kearney
and Andrew Trimble who must
be delighted that his current form
has earned him another chance at
international level. But in the absence of Gordon D’Arcy all eyes will
be on the Luke Marshall who is in
excellent form for Ulster. He’s an
intelligent attacker, and with Jonny
Sexton inside him, will relish the
opportunity to test any of the other
teams in this year’s Six Nations.
Sean O’Brien
loss: Sean
O’Brien’s
absence will
be felt but also
offers an opportunity for
Ulster’s Chris
Henry or Tommy O’Donnell
to impress.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Andrew Trimble,
13 Brian O’Driscoll, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Dave
Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8
Jamie Heaslip, 7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O’Mahony,
5 Paul O’Connell (c), 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross,
2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy
Saturday February 8th
Round 2 – Wales – Aviva Stadium 2.30
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack
McGrath, 18 Martin Moore, 19 Dan Tuohy, 20
Tommy O’Donnell, 21 Isaac Boss, 22 Paddy
Jackson, 23 Fergus McFadden
Sunday February 22nd
Round 3 – England – Twickenham 4.00
Saturday March 8th
Round 4 – Italy– Aviva Stadium 2.30
Saturday March 15th
Round 5 – France – Stade de France 5.00
land, Portugal, Greece, Russia,
Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Pot two: Ukraine, Croatia, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland,
Belgium, Czech Republic, Hungary, Republic of Ireland.
Pot three: Serbia, Turkey, Slovenia, Israel, Norway, Slovakia,
Romania, Austria, Poland.
Pot four: Montenegro, Armenia,
Scotland, Finland, Latvia, Wales,
Bulgaria, Estonia, Belarus.
Pot six: Luxembourg, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, Faroe Islands, Malta, Andorra, San Marino, Gibraltar.
Although any game in international football is a difficult one,
if Ireland were to look at all the
teams they could be drawn with,
a group containing Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Poland, Armenia,
Moldova and San Marino would
be a cracking start.
A group containing the likes of
Spain, Belgium, Israel, Finland,
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan
would be the un-perfect mixture of extremely talented teams
and long, tiring journeys to the
outer reaches of Europe.
Pot five: Iceland, Northern Ireland, Albania, Lithuania, Moldova, Former Yugoslav Republic
of Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Georvolve countries playing on gia, Cyprus.
Thursday/Sunday, Friday/Monday or Saturday/Tuesday – how
this will impact players who
have to play on Thursday eveMatchday 1: 7–9 September 2014
ning then on a Saturday in the
Matchday 2: 9–11 October 2014
league will be interesting.
One would have thought that
most Managers would prefer
the Thursday/Sunday doubleheader so they get their players
back to their clubs earlier. For
the travelling fan, it does mean
that games played on a weekend
(Saturday/Sunday) make a welcome return in order to attend
these games.
Apart from the seeding, the only
other restrictions will ensure
that Azerbaijan cannot meet
Armenia and Spain cannot play
Gibraltar for political reasons.
Pot one: Spain (holders), Germany, Netherland, Italy, Eng-
UEFA EURO 2016 European
Qualifiers calendar
eview
2014 Rugby Six Nations pr
Ireland’s remaining
Six Nations Fixtures
Matchday 4: 14–16 November 2014
Matchday 5: 27–29 March 2015
Matchday 6: 12–14 June 2015
Matchday 7: 3–5 September 2015
Matchday 8: 6–8 September 2015
Play-off first leg: 12–14 November 2015
Play-off second leg: 15–17 November 2015
Final tournament draw: 12 December 2015
Final tournament (France): 10 June–10 July 2016
42
Winning start for holders: Dublin and Kerry provided
another thriller in the opening round of this year’s National Football League in Croke Park last Saturday. The
Dubs emerged narrow one-point winners with Eoghan
O’Gara scoring one of Dublin’s two first half goals.
ball
eviews - Foot
Pr
ue
ag
Le
al
n
io
at
N
z
an
li
Al
Double-winning Dubs facing
their first major test
BY LARRY COONEY
Just over four months since Dublin’s second All-Ireland final victory in three years a new intercounty season got underway last
Saturday evening February 1st.
And where better for the Sam
Maguire Cup/League winners to
get their campaign off the ground
that the scene of that famous All- team took that defeat badly and
Ireland victory against Kerry.
there is no doubt that the Kingdom will be using the league
The same two Gaelic football gi- as another ‘building block’ of a
ants clashed previously in the championship team determined
game of the season last year in the to unseat the Dubs at the top of
All-Ireland semi-final in a game Gaelic football’s top table.
considered by many to be one of
the best games in recent years if Defeated All-Ireland finalists
not all-time. An emerging Kerry Mayo also have much to prove in
this year’s league campaign and
their success-starved supporters
must be wondering if this team
has peaked and missed another
opportunity to land a coveted
Sam Maguire Cup. Many will also
be watching the progress at the
start of a new managerial era but
a new-look Tyrone can also be realistic contenders for league glory. It’s hard to look beyond these
five teams for the title with Weatmeath led by new manager Paul
Bealin looking the most likely to
be relegated.
Division 2 - Can Donegal
bounce back in wide-open
Division?
Donegal and Armagh will want
to return to the top flight without delay. After their glorious
year in 2012 not many would have
though that Donegal would suffer from such extensive second
season syndrome that began with
relegation to Division 2 and continued with the loss of Ulster and
All-Ireland titles. It’s a wide open
division with many emerging
teams including Meath and Galway who begin in Navan. Louth
look to be in the most precarious
position to survive.
Division 3 - Progressive Cavan
look set to develop further
with promotion
Although improving Cavan look
the stand-out team to move up
to Division 2, this division is also
wide open and an interesting mix
of teams with promoted Limerick the only Munster representative. High scoring Wexford offer
Leinster’s best hope of promotion
but Offaly and Longford will also
want to make an impact.
But Fermanagh will also want
to make a good start under new
manager Pete McGrath. Roscommon may also emerge as promotion contenders but Sligo are likely to settle for survival but may
have to take the drop down.
Division 4 - Tipperary fancied
to progress but Antrim also
have much to prove
Dominated by three Munster
minnows and the two weakest
teams from Leinster, it will be very
difficult for London to build on
their amazing Connacht championship success of last summer.
But it cannot be overlooked that
much of London’s improvement
was built on a better league campaign than was reflected by their
results.
However in the final analysis it
looks as if Antrim and Tipperary
are the best placed to be promoted. Tipperary have much to prove
and although the standard and
attitude to the big ball is improving in the Premier County they
are still well behind Munster’s Big
2 – Kerry and Cork. Unless they
enjoy a good league campaign
they are likely to continue to languish in the lower regions and
even struggle to match Munster
fellow minnows such as Clare and
Waterford.
After a disastrous Connacht
championship last year Leitrim
could be the surprise packet in
the Division but it is unlikely Carlow or Wicklow will be playing for
much other than keeping away
from the basement.
nships Preview
All-Ireland Club Champio
Winning start for Kilkenny: Kilkenny
defeated Dublin in the Walsh Cup final
with four points to spare. The Cats will
be aiming to get back on track after a
disappointing championship by retaining their league title.
Dr. Croke’s determined
not to let this
opportunity slip
Football - Senior
Killarney’s Dr. Croke’s will be bidding to go one further on this occasion and will be happy to have
avoided Leinster and Ulster opposition in this year’s semi-final.
But having dumped holders St.
Brigid’s out of the competition in
the Caonnacht club final Castlebar Mitchell’s can be taken lightly
when they meet the Kerry champions in Portlaoise.
#
However assuming the Killarney
based team have ‘wintered’ well
the smart money will be on them
to succeed the Roscommon men.
iews - HURLING
ev
Allianz National League Pr
Can sensational
All-Ireland
winners Clare
follow up with
league honours?
BY LARRY COONEY
Despite its on-going critics the Division 1A and 1B format introduced
in 2012 means that there will be little or no room for error among the
contenders for this year’s title. Both
Munster finalists Limerick and
Cork will want a speedy return to
join the elite teams in Division 1A.
It was the second consecutive year
that Munster champions Limerick
missed out on promotion while
Cork lost out after a thrilling relegation play-off defeat by All-Ireland
champions Clare. It is therefore
hard to look beyond any of the
Munster teams of the teams in Division 1B to get promoted. Limerick
travel to Cork on the opening night
of this year’s campaign on Saturday February 15th – on the same
evening in Division 1A that Tipperary entertain Waterford under the
floodlights of Semple Stadium.
But elsewhere in Division 1A AllIreland champions Clare entertain
Kilkenny in the best of the three
games in the opening weekend.
As has been proved in the past two
seasons there is very little scope after a team loses one game and the
difference between finishing top
and bottom can just a point and as
Cork discovered last year not even
a good start can guarantee survival.
After underachieving in last year’s
championship both Kilkenny and
Tipperary will be keen to get back
on the horse with good campaigns.
Galway and Dublin will also want to
make an impact but Waterford will
also want to step up and challenge
for the knock-out stages. However
if form in the pre-season competition is any indication then Clare
will want the league title to the
Liam MacCarthy Cup. Who would
have believed such were possible a
year ago!?
The other semi-final in Newry
between Derry’s Ballinderry and
Dublin champions St. Vincent’s
will be much harder to predict.
Both sides have been well tested
on the way to their respective provincial finals and again much will
depend on how well they have
prepared for their semi-final.
Intermediate – Kiltane
(Mayo) v Truagh (Monaghan)
Wide open Mayo and
Monaghan decider
London star wing back Tony
Gaughan has helped propel his native club to a historic Croke Park
final and the Mayo men will be
hoping to finish the job against
the Farneymen. Gaughan returns
to London duty for their league
campaign against Carlow hoping
to have won a coveted All-Ireland
club medal.
Junior – Two Mile House
(Kildare) v Fuerty (Roscommon)
Could be a rare All-Ireland
title for the Lilywhites
For the first time in a number of
years a Kerry club will not contest
this final. Surprise finalists Fuerty
from Roscommon upset the odds
in the semi-final while impressive
Kildare champions have been in
tremendous form all year. That
form might be enough to land an
All-Ireland club title for the men
from near Naas.
Hurling - Senior
Can sensational Carlow men
upset Loughgiel’s ‘applecart’!
Two very contrasting semi-finals
should provide quite a novel hurling final pairing on St. Patrick’s
Day. Two of the semi-finalists
have final experience while Carlow’s Mount Leinster Rangers and
Limerick’s Na Pairsaigh have both
defied the odds to win their provincial titles.
Galway’s Portumna are back in
club championship action after an
absence of a couple of years and
keen to emulate their fellow Galway men from St. Thomas who
claimed last year’s decider. Although they dumped St. Thomas
out of this year’s championship
they can expect quite a battle from
Limerick champions Na Pairsaigh
in a real 50-50 game.
Mount Leinster Rangers make
the long journey to Newry to take
on 2012 title holders Loughgiel
Shamrocks and will need the kind
of form that saw off fancied Wexford champions Oulart-The Ballagh and Clara from Kilkenny in
the Leinster decider if they hope
to go all the way to another Croke
Park decider after claiming the intermediate title two years ago.
Intermediate – KilnadeemaLeitrim (Galway) v RowerInistiogue (Kilkenny)
Appetising Kilkenny/Galway
clash in prospect
Kilnadeema-Leitrim were pushed
all the way by Cork’s Youghal
in the semi-final. But the extra
week’s rest by the Kilkenny champions could be crucial. But like so
many games played at this time of
year much will also depend on the
playing conditions. However unlike last year’s clash when Kilkenny’s Clara easily saw off London’s
St. Gabriel’s it should be a much
more competitive decider.
Junior – Ballysaggart (Waterford) v Creggan Kickhams
(Antrim)
Deise men should have too
much power for feisty
Glensmen
Creggan Kickhams defied the odds
to defeat Manchester-based Fullen Gaels in the semi-final. But last
year’s defeated All-Ireland finalists
were well below their best. The
Exiles had hoped for a Croke Park
return after a very impressive performance there in last year’s decider against Kilkenny’s Thomastown. They had also defeated the
fancied Ballinamere from Offaly
in the quarter-final.
However powered by county panellists Shane and Stephen Bennett
the Deise men should have too
much power for the McCannpowered team from Randalstown,
including manager Thomas McCann.
44
ISBN 977-2-05354-200-4
9 772053 542004
Pictured Left: 50 Cap celebration: Ireland full back Rob Kearney
scores Ireland’s third try on his
fiftieth international cap.
2014 Rugby Six Nations
Bring
on
the
Welsh!
O’Connell and Davies could be back
for vital clash in Dublin
By LARRY COONEY
Ireland 28
Tries: Trimble, Heaslip,
Kearney, Con: Sexton 2, Pens:
Sexton
Scotland 6
Pens: Laidlaw 2
After getting the Joe Schmidt era off
to a perfect start Ireland captain Paul
O’Connell and crack Welsh centre Jonthan Davies could both be in action at
the Aviva Stadium this Saturday February 8. O’Connell was a late omission
from Ireland’s 28-6 Six Nations opening
victory over Scotland last on Sunday at
the Aviva Stadium due to a chest infection.
Meanwhile Jonathan Davies also returned to club action for the Scarlets’ in
their Cup loss to London Irish last Saturday as he nears a return to Test rugby.
The defeat at the Madejski Stadium
was Davies’ first competitive involvement since tearing his pectoral muscle
against South Africa in November.
And though initial medical reports
suggested the centre would not be fit
until late February-early March, Davies may yet find himself involved in
Wales’ Round Two Six Nations clash
with Ireland in Dublin this weekend.
“Whether he will be involved with the
Wales team next weekend is down to
him and down to our medical team and
their medical team to see exactly where
he is at in terms of his return to playing,” said his Scarlets coach and former
Ireland flanker Simon Easterby.
Joe Schmidt influence
already evident
Meanwhile the influence of new boss
Joe Schmidt was very evident in Ireland’s play in their opening round victory against Scotland as straightforward but well-taken tries from Andrew
Trimble and stand-in captain Jamie
Heaslip saw the hosts build a comfortable lead early in the second-half, before 50 cap Rob Kearney rounded off
proceedings in the final ten minutes.
“To get off to a winning start is something that every team wants to do, so
we’re really happy with that,” said Kearney who added that next week’s game
against Wales is also a massive challenge. “It’s a massive challenge for us.
We are under no illusions. We have to
recover really well now. There’s only six
days, they’ve had an extra day to recover, so we certainly know it’s a massive,
massive challenge coming.”
Veteran Brian O’Driscoll in his last season in the Ireland colours also set a new
international cap record for his country.
But a gritty Irish performance was lit up
by a moment of magic from Sexton as
half-time approached. A dummied kick
and step inside his own half saw him
sear downfield, before releasing Heaslip for a charge to the corner flag with
a huge, looping pass. Evans saved the
day with brilliant last-gasp cover tackle
to haul Heaslip’s feet over the touchline, but the danger was far from over.
Not for the first time, Scotland’s lineout faltered under pressure, and from
the resultant penalty, the Irish opted for
the corner rather than the posts. This is
the sort of decision that has to bear fruit
in elite rugby, and though visitors repelled the initial drive well, the ball was
spread wide, and Trimble had a simple
run-in down the right-hand-side. Sexton was wide with the conversion, but
Ireland held an eight-point lead going
into the break when the score was 11-3.
A fine start therefore to Schmidt’s Six
Nations reign with Ireland now topping
the table after Round One but Wales
will be a much tougher test.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Andrew Trimble, 13 Brian
O’Driscoll, 12 Luke Marshall, 11 Dave Kearney, 10
Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip (c),
7 Chris Henry, 6 Peter O’Mahony, 5 Dan Tuohy, 4 Devin
Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Scotland: 15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Alex
Dunbar, 12 Duncan Taylor, 11 Sean Lamont, 10 Duncan
Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw, 8 Dave Denton, 7 Kelly Brown (c),
6 Ryan Wilson, 5 Jim Hamilton, 4 Tim Swinson, 3 Moray
Low, 2 Ross Ford, 1 Ryan Grant.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 Jack McGrath, 18
Martin Moore, 19 Iain Henderson, 20 Tommy O’Donnell,
21 Isaac Boss, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Fergus McFadden.
Replacements: 16 Pat MacArthur, 17 Al Dickinson,
18 Geoff Cross, 19 Richie Gray, 20 Johnnie Beattie, 21 Chris Cusiter, 22 Matt Scott, 23 Max Evans.
Referee: Craig Joubert (SA)
02

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Transcription

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