Goodbye Saint and Scholar

It looks likely that the St Patrick's day parade will continue after this year's success, and for that I am glad. We've managed to build up a lot of momentum and contacts, and on the day there was a great feeling of community for everyone who joined in. I would love for this to continue, and for more people to join in. This parade has great potential to become one of Medway's biggest festivals.

Would you like to join in? The AGM is this Tuesday, 01 July at the St Mary's social club in Gillingham. It starts at 7pm. The committee will be discussing the ways forward for the upcoming parade for 2015.

However I will be taking this opportunity to step down from the committee. As much as I loved being part of the project during its first year, it really has taken over my life and I have a lot of other things I'd like to do. Spending some time on my writing is one of them!

There is also the matter of exploring Irish culture and history. As I've often been told, it is the Oileán na Naomh agus na nOllamh (Island of saints and scholars) and there is a lot to learn...

Thank you - go raibh maith agaibh 17 March 2014

The Pentacle Drummers, Medway st Patrick Parade
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Go raibh maith agaibh

It means so much more than, thank you. It's more along the lines of "may the good be at you"


Thank you, everyone, thank you pleural. To all of the people who made the parade a success, who helped behind the scenes, filling in forms and directing traffic. Those standing in front of the cameras, waving flags would not have achieved what we did without you

The sun shone, and there was a real feel good factor.

Would you like to know how to say St Patrick's day in Irish? Try this link here

Seachtain na Gaeilge 2014 - An Ghaeilge Abú

Seachtain na Gaeilge, Irish language week, is an international celebration of the Irish language. Events to promote and celebrate the Irish language have been happening all over the world.

Banner designed by Candy Worf of Pinup Payback
Picture credit: SM Jenkin

The Seachtain na Gaeilge festival for this year runs from 1 – 17 March. We are celebrating this festival as part of the St Patrick's day parade celebrations in Medway, as recognition of how important the Irish language is. There will be Irish language banners,  and after the parade the cultural showcase at the St Mary's Social club includes Irish language classes for all levels.


Please note that entry to the post-parade event is by ticket only, to comply with fire safety regulations. To get your ticket, please contact the St Mary's social club.

An Ghaeilge Abú! - The Irish language forever!

Beatha teanga í ag labhairt - the life of a language is in it's use

One week to go - St Patrick's Day here we come!

Well, exactly one week to go today. Next Sunday our parade will be striding out from Smiths' square in Gillingham high street.

Image Credit: Kevin Rosseel

 I'm putting the final touches to our parade line-up. The leaflets are being distributed. After a year of planning, it is finally happening. I'm so excited - hope you are too

Please join us - details are available on Visit Medway

So, the countdown starts. St Patrick's Day here we come!

Well, the last planning meeting of our parade group has just ended. It's taken us a long time to get here, but now we have almost no more time!

Image credit: Lily Lawlor Mottram

Medway's first St Patrick's day parade will stride out on Sunday, 16th March at midday. Our parade will will leave Smith's square in Gillingham and walk in a circle around the high street. After the parade, we will have a cultural showcase at the St Mary's social club in Belmont Road.

For more information, visit the website: Medway St Patrick Parade
Event listing on VisitMedway
Or find us on Facebook and Twitter

If you missed the interview on Fizzer's radio show, you can listen again here. Our interview starts at around 29 minutes in. Enjoy!

Drumroll, please! Leading our parade...

The Pentacle Drummers in action

 Excellent news!  We have secured the services of the wonderful Pentacle Drummers. They will lead our St Patrick's day parade, leaving from Smiths Square in Gillingham high street on Sunday, 16th March at 12 noon.

Will you join in our parade?
Come and enjoy the feel-good factor as Medway celebrates its first St Patrick's Day Parade! There will be music, dancing, hurlers, leaping leprechauns and more...

When the parade finishes, we will be addressed by the Mayor, Councillor Josie Iles. And after the speech, there will be a showcase of Irish culture at the St Marys social club, Belmont Road, Gillingham. Entry to the showcase will be by ticket only, tickets to be purchased direct from the club.

For more information about the parade see http://www.stpatricksdaymedway.org.uk/
Twitter birds follow us @paradeagogo
Or find us lurking on facebook

Why the parade? (St Patrick's day parade)

So we are coming up to 4 weeks before the St Patrick's parade in Medway, and I have started to think more closely about why I am doing this. What exactly, do I hope to achieve? A part of this is finding and celebrating an Irish identity beyond the stereotype. There are smart Irish people (Louis Brennan), no we are not all drunks, there is a beautiful and ancient language and a culture to celebrate too. 

Image credit: J Durham
(From http://www.morguefile.com/)

It has dominated my life outside of work for the last year, and I have lost count of the other activities that have by necessity had to be dropped or let slide. For next month or so, there will be nothing else.

Don't get me wrong, this has been an excellent opportunity to learn, to grow and to develop. The friends I have made along the way, the way that my relationships with my friends has shifted and changed has all been a part of it. When the parade happens, it will be an additional pleasure, and a tactile demonstration of the goodwill and raised awareness we are hoping to achieve. Both for the Irish community in Medway and for the St Mary's social club.

So what is it that we want to do? Firstly, to raise awareness about the Irish community in Medway. There has been no definitive history written about them, but they have been active in working in the area notably in construction and at the hospital. There are about 1% Irish born in the local area, but estimates for those of Irish descent leap up to 10%. Quite a big demographic, don't you think? The St Mary's social club was formed back in 1973, but still many people don't know about it. Part of what we are doing is to raise awareness about forgotten Irish people of note, including the genius Louis Brennan. My personal interest in him goes beyond his Irish identity, as he is from the same county my family are from.

The second of course is to have a good time! Of all the festivals and parades I've attended, the one that many people seem to enjoy the most is the St Patrick's day parade. It's an inclusive and friendly occasion. Unfortunately, in recent years there are a number of places where the connection to some breweries has taken over the event. I like a pint as much as the next person, but why is it that the likes of Guinness (and other breweries and companies) have been able to colonise the day? Is is because of their sponsorship, or because it ties into ideas about what it means, what other people think it means, to be Irish? How much has the stereotype of the drunken Irish played into that?

And while we're asking questions, I ask myself these while I am inviting groups to take part in our parade. By including some groups and not others, what does it say about being Irish in Medway and the Irish identity? What does it mean to be Irish, second generation Irish in England? Am I celebrating an Irish identity, or creating it? Does it have to be a choice, can't identity be shaped and change over time as well?

St Patrick day parade - first meeting

So, it's our first planning meeting for the proposed parade tomorrow. We'll be meeting up at the St. Mary's social club from 7pm.

There are a lot of ideas, and a lot of people interested but it's a question of 1) where we will be allowed to go - will it be accessible to everyone? 2) How many people will be prepared to help with the boring admin work? and 3) Who will turn up?

I'm massively excited though.... the first of its kind in Medway...

Tá sásta orm - Manchester Turf

Turf, fresh from the Manchester fields ;-)
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Tá sásta orm - I am happy (The happiness is on me if you want to be more literal about it)

I managed to get away to Manchester for their St Patrick's day parade last weekend. Their celebration was out of this world; a full two weeks of music, literature and culture culminating in a parade that stopped traffic in Manchester city central.

Many of the people up in Manchester originated in the wild west of Éire, county Maigh eo (Mayo to all you Sasanach out there!) are you enjoying the view of the lovely turf to the right there? Someone was selling it as incense at Albert square... there were many tractors on display that day

It got me thinking, how happy I was to be there. Proud about my Irish heritage yes, but also proud of my English heritage that could celebrate the Irish language and culture with us. I love how the happiness is "on" me, rather than me being the emotion. It's a recognition that the feeling won't be me, won't last forever. And on that thought..... slán!

St Patricks day - parade

So, it looks like the St Mary's social club might be interested in our parade idea...

Image credit: slezer44 (morguefile.com)

There's a hidden story to the Irish in Medway. When I say hidden, I mean untold. So we're going to start celebrating it, big time, starting from next year.

Wanna be in our parade?

The year of the snake

Celebrating the year of the Snake. Chatham High Street 17/2/13
Image credit: SM Jenkin

Happy new year!
So we are now entering the year of the snake, quite an interesting animal for a writer to relate to. There are so many myths and legends attached to this particular animal.

The second thing I think about is the myth of Saint Patrick, and his expulsion of all the snakes from Ireland (can you guess what my first reaction/ thought is? Exactly).

What I find it interesting is the story, did Patrick really get rid of all the snakes in Ireland? Or was he, as so many storyteller friends of mine assert, talking about the druids in the area?

When it comes to stories, myths and legends they always have strings attached. Whose translation do we use today? Whose ideas are weaved into a "plain story"? What's the real message here? This is something that angers me, when I am told that I'm "reading too much" into a story, all stories have assumptions. What is wrong with questioning them? Questioning and challenging, re-telling stories are the only way they stay interesting, the only way they speak to us.

Hence, the year of the snake. One thing I can admire is their ability to shed their skin, to let loose the constricting skin of last year. Do we want to start that now? What stories do you want to tell, in your own way?