Win a handmade Irish blanket! Our generous and talented Patron, Jane Chapman, has donated another beautiful, hand crocheted blanket for the ICC to raffle. The drawing will be held on September 10.
$10 per ticket, or 3 tickets for $20. Call 413-333-4951 or visit the ICC/Trinity Pub to buy tickets.
The Irish Cultural Center is linking up with Irish historian, Sean Murphy, to introduce our community to live, weekly online Irish history courses. Sean presents two monthly topics, divided into four-week modules. Courses are presented on Zoom. Each student will receive an electronic copy of each presentation.
The first topic is a general history of Ireland from ancient times to the present day. The course module for August 2023 is Ancient Ireland. Takes place on Thursdays, August 24, 31, September 7 & 14 from 7:30–9:00 pm. Download course flyer >
The second topic is a general history of each of the thirty two counties in Ireland. Featured in August 2023 is County Waterford. Takes place on Thursdays, August 24, 31, September 7 & 14 from 6:00–7:30 pm. Download course flyer >
To Enroll
The enrollment fee is $90 for each four-week course. Please contact Sean directly for information or to enroll in his course(s) – send an email to seanmurphy630@gmail.com.
About Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy was born in Dublin and came to live on Cape Cod in 2005. He has a passion for his homeland and loves to share his knowledge and interest about his heritage through classes, workshops and conversation. He is a teacher of Irish history, music, and dance.
www.irishhistory.online
Preparations are underway for the Sisters of St. Joseph 26th Annual Golf Classic at Springfield Country Club on Monday, August 28. History has proven this to be a wonderful opportunity for renewing acquaintances and enjoying one another’s company while supporting a worthy cause.
The golf day has two tee times, and includes coffee and doughnuts, lunch, a social hour with cash bar, dinner, and a raffle.
Download the brochure for information on registering and sponsorship >
Join us in the new Irish Cultural Center Book Club. We’ll enjoy good craic and delve into Irish and Irish-American literature, with guided discussion in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. This event is open to all, Patrons and the general public.
Our August meeting will take place on Thursday, August 10 from 5:30–6:30 pm in the Celtic Room at the Trinity Pub. Participants are encouraged to arrive a few minutes early to get settled, perhaps grab a drink, mix and mingle. You are welcome to stay after at the Trinity Pub to socialize with dinner or drinks.
We are reading “The Mammy” by Brendan O’Carroll. Like the novels of Roddy Doyle, “The Mammy” features pitch-perfect dialogue, lightning wit, and a host of colorful characters. Earthy and exuberant, the novel brilliantly captures the brash energy and cheerful irreverence of working-class Irish life.
To Register
The Book Club is free to join. Please pre-register so we know how many people to expect. Register online >
About “The Mammy”
“Mammy” is what Irish children call their mothers and The Mammy is Agnes Browne—a widow struggling to raise seven children in a North Dublin neighborhood in the 1960s.
Popular Irish comedian Brendan O’Carroll chronicles the comic misadventures of this large and lively family with raw humor and great affection. Forced to be mother, father, and referee to her battling clan, the ever-resourceful Agnes Browne occasionally finds a spare moment to trade gossip and quips with her best pal Marion Monks (alias “The Kaiser”) and even finds herself pursued by the amorous Frenchman who runs the local pizza parlor. (text from Amazon.com)
Available from several vendors online or your favorite local book shop. Or, check your local library.
• Amazon.com (new)
• Better Worlds Books (used)
News and Press Release:
The 28th Annual Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival – July 15, 2023
Where: Look Park, 300 North Main Street, Florence (Northampton), MA
When: Main events take place 9:00 am – 5:00 pm; Music til 8:30 pm including Enter the Haggis, Screaming Orphans, Albannach, Sarah the Fiddler, and Charlie Zahm. Held rain or shine. Opening Ceremonies at 11:00 am.
Tickets: $25; Children 6–12 $5, Children under 6 free. Advance tickets on-line $22.
On Saturday, July 15 beautiful Look Park comes alive with Highland pipers and drummers, a clan parade, sheep herding, Scottish dogs and other animals, wool spinners and weavers, dance demonstrations, and lively Celtic music. Celebrate your Scottish heritage – real or coveted – with kilt-wearing, tree-tossing Scotsmen at the Highland athletic games and delight in plates piled high with scones, shortbread, bridies or meat pies. There will be over 20 pipe bands competing with over 400 pipers and drummers marching in opening ceremonies.
Come celebrate the second largest Scottish Festival in New England, and the only one in Massachusetts.
This family fun event includes children’s athletic games and a water spray park. Many Clans and a genealogist will be present to assist in tracing your Scottish ancestry. Vendors will be offering a variety of Scottish foods and imports. Listen to the beautiful Celtic harp music of the Pioneer Valley Harpers’ Guild. Learn about spinning and weaving from the Weavers’ Guild of Springfield. Relive history with the Historic Highlanders.
For 2023, Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival presents world class Celtic music in the Ceilidh tent from 9:45 am – 8:30 pm. Featured artists Enter the Haggis, Albannach, Screaming Orphans, Sarah the Fiddler, and Charlie Zahm will present music ranging from sweet, pure song and boisterous ballads all the way to fiery fiddling and full-blown Celtic rock & tribal drum, and comedy! Whether sitting in the Ceilidh Tent watching the show, quenching your thirst in the Celtic Pub with local microbrews provided by New City Brewery (Easthampton) or just having a picnic on the grass nearby, plan on enjoying great live Celtic music all day long. Again this year – Whisky Tasting! – sponsored by ImpEx and Four Seasons Wine & Liquor, Hadley, MA.
The Glasgow Lands Scottish Festival, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation. Its mission is to support other nonprofit organizations and to provide scholarships for qualifying Scottish dance, pipe and/or drum students. Event co-sponsored by: Westfield Bank, New England Public Media, Burger King of Northampton, and New City Brewery.
All Festival Proceeds Benefit: River Valley Counseling Center, a multi-service agency in Hampden County, MA, is a licensed mental health clinic, offering a range of traditional and non-traditional outpatient services to adults and children. Also, Forum House, Westfield, a service of Viability, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization serving disabled and disadvantaged adults in Hampden, Hampshire and southern Worcester Counties.
For more information and schedules, visit the Glasgow Lands website >
Visit our ICC info table in the Clan area!
*Update – this show is now sold out. Tickets will not be sold at the door.*
Join Father Patrick Aloysius Misgivings for this divine presentation of stories and one liners about growing up Catholic. From miracles and marriage counseling to bazaars and birth control, nothing escapes the good father’s razor sharp Irish wit. This hilarious interactive comedy includes a collection, a raffle and even an actual Bingo game.
The show takes place on Thursday, August 17 at the Irish House Restaurant and Trinity Pub from 6:30–8:30 pm. Doors open at 5:30 pm. Get tickets >
Tickets are $40 with buffet and $20 for the show only. Get your tickets online. Table seating location is first come, first served on show day. Ticket sales end on August 14.
Irish House Summertime BBQ Buffet (available with $40 ticket)
Entrees: BBQ Chicken, Bourbon Meatballs, Parmesan Pasta w/ Applewood Smoked Bacon, Ratatouille
Sides: Shrimp and Pasta Salad, Cornbread, Coleslaw, Baked Beans, Potato Salad
Homemade desserts will be available à la carte. Full bar will be open for all ticket holders.
Please let us know if special seating accommodations are required. Table seating location is first come, first served. Seating includes tables with regular chairs and taller bistro-style.
Tickets are non-refundable. Get tickets >
Join us in the new Irish Cultural Center Book Club. We’ll enjoy good craic and delve into Irish and Irish-American literature, with guided discussion in a welcoming, relaxed atmosphere. This event is open to all, Patrons and the general public.
Our July meeting will take place on Thursday, July 13 from 5:30–6:30 pm in the Celtic Room at the Trinity Pub. Light appetizers will be provided. You are welcome to stay after at the Trinity Pub to socialize with dinner or drinks.
We are reading “The Ninth Hour” by Alice McDermott, a magnificent new novel from one of America’s finest writers – a powerfully affecting story spanning the 20th century of a widow and her daughter and the nuns who serve their Irish-American community in Brooklyn.
To Register
The Book Club is free to join. Please pre-register so we know how many people to expect. Register online >
About “The Ninth Hour”
From National Book Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize Finalist Alice McDermott, “The Ninth Hour” is the critically-acclaimed “haunting and vivid portrait of an Irish Catholic clan in early twentieth century America” (The Associated Press).
On a dim winter afternoon, a young Irish immigrant opens a gas tap in his Brooklyn tenement. He is determined to prove―to the subway bosses who have recently fired him, to his pregnant wife―that “the hours of his life . . . belonged to himself alone.” In the aftermath of the fire that follows, Sister St. Saviour, an aging nun, a Little Nursing Sister of the Sick Poor, appears, unbidden, to direct the way forward for his widow and his unborn child.
In Catholic Brooklyn in the early part of the twentieth century, decorum, superstition, and shame collude to erase the man’s brief existence, and yet his suicide, though never spoken of, reverberates through many lives―testing the limits and the demands of love and sacrifice, of forgiveness and forgetfulness, even through multiple generations. Rendered with remarkable delicacy, heart, and intelligence, Alice McDermott’s “The Ninth Hour” is a crowning achievement of one of the finest American writers at work today. (text from Amazon.com)
Available from several vendors online or your favorite local book shop. Or, check your local library.
• Amazon.com (new)
• Better Worlds Books (used)
The twenty-second Lá na Gaeilge, the ICC’s annual language day, took place on May 6, 2023 at Elms College. After a two-year hiatus caused by the pandemic, it was great to deliver the program in person so that Irish language enthusiasts could renew old friendships and new students could have the opportunity to develop an appreciation for the language. Based on the feedback for the day, everyone was pleased with our format at the college.
At the start of the event, we remembered Kathleen Gilhooly and acknowledged her contributions over the years to the language day and to the Irish language program. The veterans at the day remembered Kathleen as an extremely friendly and knowledgeable teacher as well as an accomplished musician. She inspired many people to learn and improve their Irish at past events and as a classroom instructor. Her contribution of time and energy was essential in establishing and growing the language day and Irish language course offerings.
Emer Maguire, the Fulbright Irish Language Teaching Assistant, and her committee organized the day. Their challenge was to restart the program in person by creating an attractive schedule that included three different levels of Irish classes. Workshops including set dancing, calligraphy and language games were provided to appeal to various interests. Finally, they assembled a staff that included the FLTA from UCONN and instructor from the Albany Conradh na Gaeilge. Erin Mulvaugh, Kathleen Joss and Emer facilitated the workshops.
The highlight of the day was a lecture offered by Emer on her native County Louth. Although it is Ireland’s smallest county, we learned there were numerous layers of history, culture and geography that helped us get a better understanding of the area. In addition, all had an opportunity to hear and appreciate some of the unique features of the Ulster dialect.
At the end of the day, participants had a rewarding day. It is clear that language learning is a social event, and that learning is easier when there is a positive environment. This language journey is best done with others and encouraged by enthusiastic teachers. Thanks for your help on the day and the whole year, Emer.
– written by Irish language instructor Gerald Costello
We would like to welcome Conor Driscoll as our new ICC Events Coordinator. Conor is responsible for planning and promoting our own ICC cultural events and coordinating private events booked at the Irish House Restaurant and Trinity Pub.
Conor initially became involved with the ICC as Vice President of the Springfield Rifles Rugby Club, who practice and play their home games here. Conor serves as ambassador for the rugby organization to the ICC and jumped at the chance to start working as Events Coordinator.
“I fell in love with the ICC almost instantly. It has always felt like a second home to me so when I got the opportunity to come on in an official capacity, I couldn’t say no to something that felt so natural to me.”
Born and raised in East Longmeadow, Conor currently lives in Springfield, MA. He embraced his Irish Heritage at a young age by going on multiple trips to Ireland for the O’Driscoll Clan family gathering every June in Baltimore, County Cork. He also worked in his family’s restaurant, O’Driscoll’s Irish Pub, in Wilbraham, MA.
After completing his service in the United States Air Force at Moody AFB in Valdosta, GA, he moved back to western MA and worked a variety of jobs from the food service industry to landscape construction. In his time off he enjoys playing rugby, golfing, skiing and traveling.
The Irish Cultural Center is linking up with Irish historian, Sean Murphy, to introduce our community to live, weekly online Irish history courses. Sean presents monthly topics divided into four-week modules. Courses are presented on Zoom. Each student will receive an electronic copy of each presentation.
This summer, Sean offers one topic, continuing the general history of each of the thirty two counties in Ireland. Featured in June 2023 is County Tipperary. Takes place on Thursdays, June 15, 22, 29 and July 6 from 6:00–7:30 pm. Download course flyer.
To Enroll
The enrollment fee is $90 for each four-week course. Please contact Sean directly for information or to enroll in his course(s) – send an email to seanmurphy630@gmail.com.
About Sean Murphy
Sean Murphy was born in Dublin and came to live on Cape Cod in 2005. He has a passion for his homeland and loves to share his knowledge and interest about his heritage through classes, workshops and conversation. He is a teacher of Irish history, music, and dance.