Leeds Irish Health and Homes @ 25

The following is the feature I wrote for the Irish Post on the occasion of LIHH 25th anniversary and launch of new website and logo.

Leeds Irish Health and Homes reflect on 25 years of service but with clear vision for the future.

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letters to Lucia published

NEW PUBLICATION:

LETTERS TO LUCIA

An entertainment

by Richard Rose and James Vollmar

With a foreword by Senator David Norris, Seanad Éireann

Lucia Anna Joyce, only daughter of renowned Irish author James Joyce, died in 1982 in St Andrew’s Hospital Northampton.

Every year on Bloomsday, June 16^th, her grave in Kingsthorpe Cemetery is the focus for Joyce enthusiasts from Northampton and further afield to gather and celebrate Lucia’s life and to share readings from her father’s work. Celebrants and attendees over the years have included hospital staff who knew Lucia, Joyce’s biographer Gordon Bowker, Sean Cannon from the Dubliners, representatives of the Irish Embassy in London and members of the Triskellion Irish Theatre Company, based in Nottingham.

In 2018 local writers Richard Rose and James Vollmar decided to enhance the usual readings with a short play called Letters to Lucia structured around fictional letters to Lucia from key personalities who knew her, including her father and mother, the playwright Samuel Beckett and Kathleen Neel who had performed with Lucia in a Paris dance troupe. Frank Budgen, artist and writer and close confidante of the Joyce family, acted as narrator. Members of Triskellion Irish Theatre Company performed the play in costume and incidental music was provided by Irish Champion Piper Colin O’Loughlin on the Uillean pipes.

Now Triskellion Publications give readers the opportunity to own a copy of this unique playscript with additional material by the writers detailing the genesis of the project and a rare interview with Sheila George, an occupational therapist who worked with Lucia at St Andrew’s.

The book has a forward by noted Joyce scholar and Senator in the Irish Parliament David Norris.

For Joyce enthusiasts and those who would like to know more about this extraordinary family and its links to Dublin, Paris, Zurich, Trieste and Northampton Letters to Lucia represents a valuable addition to existing Joycean commentary from a unique angle. For theatre companies it provides a text for performance and an opportunity to share this work with their audiences far and wide.

Letters to Lucia is available from me fmolumby@aol.com

£8 including packaging and postage

Irish Post review of Letters to Lucia

Gerry Molumby reflects on 25 years promoting Irish Arts in Britain with Triskellion Theatre Company

When asked to look back on 25 years of Triskellion plays, concerts and cabaret I was pleased that, as a keen photographer, I had archived some pictures which helped to resurrect good memories over those many years. So in the past few months I have created the profile , which can be read/downloaded below :

Ministerial Approval, Ciarán Cannon Irish Minister for the Diaspora receiving his copy at Leeds Irish Centre . He was there as part of his worldwide visits to the Irish Diaspora in shaping the Government’s long term engagement policy