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Denise Foley

Music, News, People

Fleadh Winners Are Sligo-Bound

The Sligo-bound six: Bottom, Emily and Livia Safko and Haley Richardson; top, Alanna Griffin, Keegan Loesel, and Alexander Weir

Eight young traditional Irish musicians from the Philadelphia are have qualified to compete in Sligo, Ireland, in August at the Fleadh Cheoil na nEireann—the All-Ireland music championships.

Two world champions from last year’s Fleadh in Derry, fiddler Haley Richardson of Pittsgrove, NJ, who was the under-12 fiddle champion, harpist Emily Safko of Medford, NJ, who placed first in under-12 in harp, will be returning to compete against dozens of other qualifiers from around Ireland and the world August 11-17. They earned their berths at the recent Mid-Atlantic Fleadh in Parsipanny, NJ, sponsored by the Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, an organization that supports Irish music, dance and culture worldwide.

Richardson placed first in under 12 fiddle, under 12 fiddle slow airs, and under 15 trio with two other solo qualifiers, Keegan Loesel and Alexander Weir. Emily placed 1st in both Under 15 Harp and Harp Slow Airs and her sister, Livia, placed first in under 12 concertina and second in under 12 fiddle slow airs.

Also Sligo-bound are Keegan Loesel, 14, of Kennett Square, who plays uillean pipes and whistles and walked away with a first in Under 15 Whistle slow airs, third in Under 15 Whistle, first in Under 15 uilleann pipes slow airs, second in under 15 uilleannn Pipes, first in under 15 duet with fiddler Alexander Weir, and first in Under 15 Trio with Haley Richardson & Alex Weir; Alexander Weir, 15, of West Chester, who brought home a first in under 15 fiddle slow airs, first in under 15 duet with Keegan Loesel, and first in under 15 trio with Loesel and Richardson; and Alanna Griffin, 18, who also fiddle and concertina, placed second in under 18 concertina.

There will be a fundraising brunch on May 18 at Molly Maguire’s Pub, 202 East Lancaster Avenue, in Downingtown to help defray the traveling costs of the “Sligo-bound Six,” as they’re calling themselves, with a concert and session. Plans are also underway for two other fundraisers, one in Sewell, NJ, and the other in Philadelphia.

Three other local harpists also won places in their divisions—Caroline Bouvier, 8, of Merchantville, NJ, placed third in the under 12s in her first year of competing; Kerry White, 16, of Vorhees, placed third in the 15-18 age group; and Katherine Highet, 27, placed second in the over 18 group.

The three are students of Kathy DeAngelo who, with her husband, Dennis Gormley, was inducted in the Mid-Atlantic Comhaltas division’s Hall of Fame during the Fleadh. DeAngelo and Gormley have worked with the other qualifiers in The Next Generation, a program they started with Chris Brennan-Hagy to foster the skills of youngsters interested in performing Irish music. The group meets every second Sunday of the month at the Irish Center in Philadelphia.

“The Hall of Fame event was amazing,” said DeAngelo this week. “We were so surprised and thrilled to see such a large turnout of friends, family, and supporters from the South Jersey and Philadelphia area.”

When they performed, they made sure it was Philly style. DeAngelo explains:

“We first played a set of reels that we learned from the playing of Ed McDermott [a Leitrim-born Irish traditional musician who settled in New York and later, New Jersey; De Angelo was his student]. Next we had several members of the Next Generation (Alanna Griffin, Mike Glennan, Patrick Glennan) and our friend Bob Glennan join us for a set of jigs composed by Junior Crehan, in a nod to our late friend Liz Crehan Anderson who was a founding member of the Delaware Valley Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eirann.

“For our third number, we had more Next Gen musicians (Kerry White and Alex Weir) join us and we acknowledged Kevin McGillian in the audience, another Hall of Famer from the Philadelphia area. We launched into a set of reels we taught the youngsters that we learned from Kevin, and which they performed on the “Ceili Drive” CD by irishphiladelphia.com, the Travers and Tinker’s Daughter set. It was awesome,” she said.

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May 2, 2014 by Denise Foley

How to Be Irish in Philly

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

The John Byrne Band at last years Philadelphia Fleadh–they’re back this Saturday in the park.

This Saturday, the Philadelphia Fleadh takes over Pennypack Park in Philadelphia with The Mahones and some of Philly’s finest Irish musicians, along with a feis—an Irish dance competition—sponsored by Celtic Flame School of Irish Dance. Gates open at 11 AM and the whole thing winds up around sundown.

Before you go, stop in at the American Catholic Historical Society on 4th Street in Philadelphia to see a one-off exhibit of items relating to James Connnolly the union activist who was involved in the Dublin Lockout of 1913 which set the stage for the 1916 Easter Uprising, one of the first steps towards Irish independence.

If you’re more the sea-faring type, set sail with McDermott’s Handy—that’s Dennis Gormley and Kathy DeAngelo– on the A. J. Meerwald, New Jersey’s only tall ship, at 1:30 when the ship leaves the Riverfront Promenade Dock near the Oneida Boat Club in Burlington.

Local music producer and performer, Gabriel Donohue, is being feted for his 25 years in the business at the New York Irish Center in Queens on Saturday night, with an all-star cast of well-wishers including Cherish the Ladies’ Joannie Madden, fiddler Eileen Ivers, Cathy Maguire, Brian Conway and many others.

On Sunday, St. Declan’s Well on Walnut Street in Philadelphia is hosting a fundraiser for the Malvern-based Amigos de Jesus organization, which runs an orphanage in Honduras co-founded by a local Irish-American priest, Father Dennis O’Donnell. There will be music, dancing, food, beer specials, and raffles.

Like barbecue? Like free barbecue? If you also like Irish music, come to the Commodore Barry Club (The Irish Center) at 6815 Emlen Street in Philadelphia on Thursday to hear a group of talented musicians from all over Ireland who call themselves Porterhead and enjoy a meal hot off the grill.

There are still a few seats available (as of Friday) for next Friday’s house concert with the legendary John Faulkner, who early in his career performed with Dolores Keane, then his wife. Contact barnstarconcerts@gmail.com to reserve your spot in the living room of Gabriel Donohue and Marian Makins to hear this concert up close and personal.

McDermott’s Handy will be playing on Friday night at Café 420 Coffee House in Bordentown, NJ.

If you’re a Celtic Thunder fan—specifically, a George Donaldson fan—his loal friends are holding a fundraiser for his daughter, Sarah, on Saturday, May 10, at The Plough and the Stars, where the late singer often did his solo act. Donaldson died several months ago of a heart attack at the age of 46.

Look for details for all these events on our calendar.

May 2, 2014 by Denise Foley

History

The Story of “Dynamite” Luke

“Dynamite” Luke Dillon in his later years.

Luke Dillon, who was involved in what were called the Dynamite Wars of the late 1800s—an effort to secure Irish freedom by bombing quintessentially British targets such as Scotland Yard and Parliament–was the embodiment of the phrase, “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.” In fact, in the index of one book written about that campaign, he was listed as “Dillon, Luke (terrorist).”

An article about Dillon in an Irish newspaper was headlined: “The life story of a revolutionary who never saw his native land.” Technically though, Ireland wasn’t Luke Dillon’s native land. He was born in a poor, largely Irish section of Leeds, England in 1850, where his parents, Patrick and Bridget McDonald Dillon, emigrated from their Sligo home to escape the ravages of the starvation (an gorta mor).

Dillon didn’t even spend much time in England, except later, on “business.” His parents emigrated again, this time to Trenton, NJ, when Luke was six and where he lived until he was 18. Unable to find work, he joined the US Army and became a pony soldier out West—Wyoming and Montana—where by all accounts he took part in the Indian wars.

He was honorably discharged in 1870 and he moved to Philadelphia, where city directories say he was a shoemaker who specialized in slipper making. He married and had a large family.

While in Philadelphia, he met two men, James Gibbons, a printer, and William Carroll, a doctor, who were active in Clan na Gael, a leading Irish republican organization in the US He joined the organization and quickly became a leader.

At a 1881 Feinian convention in Chicago, another physician, Dr. Thomas Gallagher, asked members to support a dynamite campaign that would take the fight for Irish independence directly to Britain. Dr. Gallagher had been experimenting with making dynamite and volunteered to bring it to England, which he did with a small army of volunteers who made the explosives in Birmingham, which, because it was an industrial city, was the perfect place to order the ingredients without arousing suspicion.

And it almost worked. Bombers hit several targets before a clever chemist became suspicious and contacted police. Many of the dynamitards, as they were called, were arrested, including Dr. Gallagher.

But the bombing campaign did not end. While two of the dynamitards were awaiting trial, Luke Dillon and two other men sailed to England and took separate lodgings in London. They had Dr. Gallagher’s list of targets and some Atlas powder cakes, an explosive made in Philadelphia. Among their targets were the headquarters of the Intelligence Department of the War Office (Adair House), the Army and Navy Club in St. James Square, Scotland Yard , which also contained officers of the much hate special Irish Branch, Trafalagar Square, and more icons of British power. They planned to set off bombs at each of these places on one night, May 30, 1884.

Dillon may have been the most daring of the bombers. In fact, he was prepared to be a suicide bomber. He told friends he carried matches and a cigar to light the belt filled with dynamite he wore in case he was cornered. He was also reportedly the model for the character called “The Professor,” an anarchist, in the book, “The Secret Agent,” written by Joseph Conrad of “Heart of Darkness” fame.

On May 30, as bombs were going off at the Junior Carleton Club, an upper class political resort, Luke Dillon entered Scotland Yard and placed a bomb against the wall of a public urinal. No one was killed, but parts of the walls of the building were blown off. Collateral damage was a pub across the street where one customer was injured and had to be taken to the hospital. The police cordoned off the area but by then Dillon was long gone—headed back to New York with his two compatriots, one of whom returned not long after and bombed London Bridge.

But Dillon wasn’t done. He returned to London the following year with the intent to bomb Parliament. The Houses of Parliament and Royal Apartments of Westminster were open to the general public every Saturday but to get in, he needed a ticket. So Dillon went to the lord chamberlain’s office and requested two, which he received.

He and his partner walked up the grand staircase and turned right into the queen’s robing room, where a policeman was on duty. They proceeded to the royal gallery and then to the prince’s chamber, which also had a police guard. They wandered through a few other rooms, noting the guards, until they came to the House of Commons. There was a barrier there—but no guard—so Dillon coolly ducked underneath the barrier, went to a ventilating chamber and undid his belt, which was loaded with dynamite. He placed it by the side of a bench and lit the fuse. He checked his watch and then went back into the hall.

Instead of running, Dillon and his partner strolled through the halls to Westminster Hall, where Dillon’s partner placed his dynamite belt and lit it.

Then the two of them walked, again casually, toward an exit.
A few blocks away, another bomb was set at the tower of London. The two bombs at Westminster went off, and unfortunately a civilian was badly injured.

Dillon later attempted to bomb the Welland Canal in Canada, a vital part of the St. Lawrence Seaway, to paralyze the shipping lane while the British were embroiled in the Boer War. Canadian officials were on alert and nabbed the men, including Dillon, who was tried and sent to prison for life.

US politicians asked President William Howard Taft to intercede with the Canadian government to release Dillon, but Dillon himself was uncooperative. He refused appeals by Clan na Gael leaders and Joseph McGarrity to admit his guilt and petition the Canadian government for clemency. As he wrote to friend, he believed that if he did so, “the rest of my life would not be worth such a surrender of principle.”

Apparently, Dillon’s friends and family assumed he was dead until an article appeared in the New York Times on July 12, 1914 stating that “the Irish patriot Luke Dillon” was released from the Canadian prison and had sent a telegram to Joseph McGarrity, asking to meet with him in Atlantic City, NJ.
At the time of his release Dillon was 65. He remained active in the Clan na Gael organization and became a valued member of McGarrity’s inner circle. He lived to see his dream of taking the fight to England in the 1916 Easter Rising and the birth of the Republic of Ireland in the 1920s. He died in 1930 at the age of 81.

Those in our terror-torn world who prefer a peaceful solution to the world’s ills might have trouble reconciling the purity of Luke Dillon’s motives with the lethal means he chose to achieve his aims—and this was true even in Dillon’s day. In a letter written while Dillon was still imprisoned, John T. Keating, of Chicago, a former president of the AOH, said about the man he admired, that Dillon “loved Ireland not wisely but too well.”

May 1, 2014 by Denise Foley

History, News, People

Remembering “Dynamite” Luke Dillon

The procession wound its way through Holy Cross Cemetery, where many Irish republicans are buried.

It had been 79 years since Eileen Dillon Moran visited the grave of her grandfather, Luke Dillon, at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon. On Sunday, April 27, with her son, Mike Moran and daughter, Eileen Prisutski, by her side, she laid a wreath at the granite stone of the man she remembered as a “kind, gentle grandfather who told us to always eat dessert first to make sure we got it.”

As she got older—she was five when he died–she came to know him as history did—as “Dynamite” Luke Dillon, who, in 1884 and 1885, was the daring bomber of Scotland Yard and the British Parliament who did it for the cause of Irish freedom. Yet Luke Dillon was born in Leeds, England to Irish immigrant parents, grew up in Trenton, NJ, served with the “pony soldiers” during the Indian wars in Montana and Wyoming, and settled with his family in Philadelphia where he worked a shoemaker. He never set foot on Irish soil.

“One of my sons used to want to fight everybody and we always used to say that who he took after, Luke,” laughed Mrs. Moran, 89, a widow who now lives in West Chester.

There have been Easter Rising Commemorations for decades at Holy Cross, where the Tyrone man long associated the fight for Irish independence, Joseph McGarrity, is also buried. In the past, McGarrity’s sisters, both now deceased, attended; this year, his granddaughter, Deirdre McGarrity Mullen and a cousin, Loretta Beckett of Gloucester City, NJ, laid the wreath on McGarrity’s grave.

But there have been no Dillon descendants at the ceremony, until this year when Eileen Moran brought not only two of her children, but her grandchildren–Luke Dillon’s great-great grandchildren.

The annual event marks the anniversary of the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Dublin, mounted by Irish republicans whose goal was to overthrow British rule of Ireland and establish an independent Republic, an aim that wasn’t achieved until 1922. And in the minds of many fervent Irish republicans, it’s a fight that won’t be over until the entire island of Ireland is united. Luke Dillon lived to see the formation of the Irish state. He died in 1930, at the age of 81, a faithful member of the Clan na Gael republican organization in the US to the end.

“The Dillon family showing up in force was great to see,” says Jim Lockhart of Philadelphia, who organized the event and is on the 1916 Committee which is planning the 100th anniversary of the Irish uprising in two years. “There was a really good turnout this year because we started organizing it earlier and invited more groups to participate.”

Along with Clan na Gael, there were color guards from two Ancient Order of Hibernian divisions, the Pennsylvania 69th Irish Regiment re-enactors, and Emerald Society pipers. At McGarrity’s grave, Belfast native Aine Fox, who now lives in Ardmore, read the proclamation first read by Padraig Pearse outside the General Post Office on O’Connell Street in Dublin in April 1916 establishing “the right of the people of Ireland to the ownership of Ireland.” Gerry McHale, co-chair of the Pennsylvania Ancient Order of Hibernian’s Freedom for All Ireland committee read a history of Joseph McGarrity and I read a history of Luke Dillon. Longtime activists Patricia Bonner and Frances Duffy placed a small amount of Irish soil on each of the graves.

The guest speaker at Dillon’s grave was Michelle O’Neill, a Sinn Fein political leader in Northern Ireland who is minister of agriculture and rural development for the Northern Ireland Executive, who spoke, like Padraig Pearse, of an inevitable united Ireland where old enemies “live side by side” peacefully. The challenge will be, she said, “to convince the ordinary Unionist that there’s a place in Ireland for them.”

The Centennial Easter Rising ceremony will be held on April 24, 2016, at Independence Hall, says Lockhart. “In the run up to that we plan to continue raising awareness of the 1916 by hold or publicizing educational events in the area.”

Look for more information on these and other events on our calendar.

View our photo essay of the event and read the text of my talk about “Dynamite” Luke Dillon.

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May 1, 2014 by Denise Foley

People

How to Be Irish in Philly This Week

Last year’s Easter Rising ceremony at the grave of Luke Dillon in Yeadon.

Only about a week till the Philadelphia Fleadh—15 bands, five stages, and a feis, all in the beautiful surroundings of Pennypack Park in Philadelphia on May 3. Most of your favorite local bands will be there—both trad and Celtic rock—along with food and vendors. So grab your blanket and your baby but forget the bucket of beer—there will be Irish and other beers for sale. Oh, and you’re Irish—bring sunscreen.

But before that happens. . . .

There’s a great event on our calendar called the “Dames Dash,” which sounds vaguely risqué but isn’t in the least. Well, we hope. It’s a citywide scavenger hunt (with after-party) on Saturday that anyone can join in and it’s all to raise money for the Notre Dame Ladies Gaelic Football Club. It all starts at Tir na Nog at 16th and Arch in Philadelphia—and that’s where it ends up too. You can register on the spot and you’ll be part of a team.

The remarkable piper Paddy Keenan will be doing a concert on Saturday night at the Irish Center. This is uillean piping at its best.

On Sunday morning, you can see the Division 2 final between Donegal and Dublin on pay-per-view at the Irish Center at 9 AM, followed by the Division 1 final between Derry and Dublin. There’s also a buffet dinner later in the day, after the meetings of the Mayo and Donegal Associations.

In between you can head to Holy Cross Cemetery on Bally Road in Yeadon for the annual Easter Rising Commemoration to honor Joseph McGarrity, financier of the Irish republican movement, and “Dynamite” Luke Dillon, who took part in a bombing campaign in England to force Britain to grant Ireland home rule. Both men are buried in the cemetery. (I’ll be making a few remarks at the grave of Luke Dillon, a man who loved Ireland though he’d never been there. Descendants of Dillon, who was an upholsterer in Philadelphia, are expected to attend.) There will be a social following the ceremony at Briarcliff American Legion Hall in Glenolden.

At 4 PM on Sunday, the Theresa Flanagan Band is playing at JD McGillicuddy’s in
Upper Darby, where you can dance the night away.

On Monday, there will be a free Irish Tay-Sachs screening at Arcadia University n Glenside. It’s part of a research study attempting to determine the incidence of carriers of the Tay-Sachs gene in the Irish population. Even if you’re not of childbearing years, getting tested may help scientists determine whether people of Irish descent need to be tested routinely for the inherited disease, which is fatal to young children. There have been three cases in the Philadelphia area involving parents of Irish descent. The disease, while rare, is most common in Ashkenazi Jews, French Canadians, Cajuns, and the Amish.

On Tuesday, Irish Network-Philadelphia will be hosting a “Go Green” event at Maloneys Pub in Ardmore, with Sue Cordes of Delaware County’s Recycling Department. If you bring an old cellphone to recycle, you’ll get a free drink. Tuesday is session night at Maloney’s, and we hear this one is hopping.

Also on Tuesday night, see the new documentary, “Wages of Spin II,” by local Irish-American filmmaker Shawn Swords, at the Bryn Mawr Theater in Bryn Mawr. It explores the payola scandals of the 1950s.

Thursday ushers in the merry month of May, and the group, Open the Door for Three– Kieran O’Hare on uilleann pipes, whistles and flute; Liz Knowles on fiddle, and Pat Broaders on bouzouki and vocals—will be performing at the Blue Ball Barn in Alapocas Run State Park in Wilmington. Kids under 17 get in free.

Looking ahead: On May 3, there will be a day-long exhibit on the life of Irish patriot and union activist, James Connolly, focusing on the eight years he spent in the US that influenced his actions during the Dublin Lockout of 1913. And if this all means nothing to you, go to the exhibit at the American Catholic Historical Society and find out about the lockout, which was a prelude to the 1916 Easter uprising in Dublin.

May 3 is turning into quite a busy day. Local record producer and performer Gabriel Donohue will be celebrating the 25 years of his company, Cove Island Productions, at a gala at New York’s Irish Center featuring many of the top-drawer musicians he’s worked with including Joannie Madden, Eileen Ivers, James Keane, Cathy Maguire, Liz McNicholl, Donie Carroll, members of Girsa, Brian Conway, and others, including his wife, singer Marian Makins. Donohue moved from North Jersey to Philadelphia several years ago and continues to produce CDs at his relocated recording studio.

Check our calendar for more details on all these events.

April 25, 2014 by Denise Foley

People

She Left Her Heart in Honduras

Aisling Travers and her friend, Jose.

Aisling Travers was always taken with the homilies delivered by Father Dennis O’Donnell, a visiting priest at her parish, St. Patrick’s, in Malvern. Father O’Donnell, past rector at Malvern Retreat House, along with Anthony Granese, a Villanova engineering graduate, and Granese’s wife, Christine co-founded of Amigos de Jesus, a Malvern-based nonprofit that helps to operate a home for impoverished children in Honduras.

“He would always incorporate the kids into his homilies and it would make us all feel like we were there with them,” says the 21-year-old West Chester University education major. “I always said to my mom, ‘I’m going to go there one of these days.’”

That day came last summer, when she was one of 20 people who flew to Central America for a short-term mission, one week with the boys and girls at the 200-acre property in the Santa Barbara area of Honduras. She wasn’t sure what to expect, but Father O’Donnell set the volunteers straight on the flight down.

“He said, ‘You’re not here to fix the children. They will fix you,’” recalls Aisling, a vibrant redhead and the daughter of Irish immigrants. “’I’m telling you now,’ he said, ‘you’re all caught up in feeding them, teaching them, saving them, being all they need and more, but you’ll find that you’re the ones who are really in need.’ I thought, ookaaay. I have no idea what’s ahead of me.”

She knows now and is ready for her June 28 return trip, this time with her younger sister, Ciara, and boyfriend, Joey Smith. “Some people go to check something off on their bucket list then go back to their old life,” she says. “Others, like me, found that Amigos de Jesus becomes a part of your life and you leave a part of you there. You leave so much of your heart there.”

That’s why Aisling has been juggling school and event planning for the last few weeks. She’s organized a fundraiser for Amigos de Jesus on Sunday, May 4, at St. Declan’s Well Irish Pub and Restaurant, 3131 Walnut Street, in Philadelphia. The choice of venue was a no-brainer: The pub is owned by her uncle, Aidan Travers, and Marty Spellman, whose daughter, Elizabeth, a former Philadelphia Rose of Tralee, spent two years teaching at the Amigos de Jesus orphanage.

“Our worlds seem to have come together,” says Aisling of Elizabeth Spellman. Aisling was the 2014 recipient of the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award, given annually at the Rose of Tralee selection event, which took place this year on April 11.

And she wants to bring other worlds together. “It continues to blow my mind how generous the Irish community in Philadelphia is,” she says. “I thought it would be good to get them behind this. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to say Jose is being sponsored by the Irish in Philadelphia?”

Ah, Jose. That’s the name of the eight-year old who greeted her as she got off the bus at the orphanage with her name written on a piece of cardboard suspended by string around his neck. And he is holding on to the part of her heart she left behind.

“Oh my, he was the cutest little boy I ever met,” she gushes. “There I was, getting off the bus, which had armed guard on board, thinking, this is going to be awkward since I don’t know anybody, and he came up to me. We fell in love. Every time I looked around he was at my hip. Every day we had a prayer circle when we would all meet and hold hands in a big circle, and he would make sure he was next to me holding my hand. During reflection times, he would sit on my, and fall asleep on my lap during Mass. Many nights I would carry him to bed. I wanted to take him home with me!”

Though Jose had a 1000-watt smile—as did most of the children—Aisling said she knew he had “a horrific” back story. While some of the children are orphans, most have parents who were either not financially able—or emotionally able—to care for them.

“I thought all the children were like little Oliver Twists with no moms and dads, but that was wrong. A lot of them were abandoned by their parents, or mistreated and they government got involved. They all carry some kind of scar. But I have to say it’s the happiest sad place you’ll ever go. These kids don’t have luxuries, they come from awful backgrounds, but they’re the happiest kids you’ll ever meet because they found this happy place and they feel safe.”

Aisling is no stranger to volunteer work. While still a student at Great Valley High School, she started a program called Kid2Kid which brought 150 teen volunteers to work with sick kids at Nemours/Alfred I. Dupont Hospital for Children in Wilmington. She also launched a drive called Pencils for Peace which enlisted middle school children to provide children in Africa and Afghanistan with needed school supplies. But her Amigos de Jesus experience was different.

“Everybody has the potential to give back to society in their own bubble here in America. I needed to step out of this bubble to see what this world had to offer,” she says.

She wasn’t deterred by her lack of Spanish, though she knew enough words to translate the nickname given to her by one of the kids at the orphanage. “He called me ‘Mucha Blanca.’ I knew blanca meant white and mucho meant very, so my nickname was ‘Very white,’” she says, laughing. “It wouldn’t have been so bad but it spread like wildfire around the orphanage and Father O’Donnell picked up on it. During one of our reflections, he was talking about the Holy Spirit, and how you can find it in the dark, or how if you’re out in a field you can see it, ‘kinda like Mucha Blanca over there.’”

She bought the Rosetta Stone Spanish language program so she should be slightly more fluent in June, she says. But it really won’t matter much. “As long as you can open your heart and love those kids, “ she says, “you don’t need to know Spanish.”

The Amigos de Jesus fundraiser runs from noon to 4 PM on Sunday, May 4, and features live music, the McDade-Cara Irish dancers, and food for your $15 admission. There will be drink specials and raffle baskets. It’s the day of the Broad Street Run, so check local traffic for detours.

April 25, 2014 by Denise Foley

People

How To Be Irish in Philly This Week

Irish piper Paddy Keenan will be in town next Friday.

This Saturday, lost loved ones will be remembered and honored at the annual Charlie Dunlop Memorial Fund banquet at Springfield Country Club. The event raises money for the fund that continues the work of the late Delco and County Tyrone electrician in providing financial support for community members in need.

Easter is a time of memorial for those in the Irish community—specifically, remembering the Easter Rising of 1916 when a group of Irish republicans mounted an armed insurrection against the British in Dublin. The Gloucester County AOH will hold an Easter Monday flag raising at the Red Bank Battlefield in National Park, NJ, starting at 11 AM, followed by Mass and a luncheon at the AOH hall on 200 Columbia Boulevard. The event is open to all. (Mark your calendars for Sunday, April 27, for the annual Easter Rising Ceremonies honoring Irish republican heroes Luke Dillon and Joseph McGarrity at Holy Cross Cemetery in Yeadon, where they’re buried.)

On Wednesday, the Derry Brigade will be playing at the AOH Div. 61 Hall at Rhawn and Frankford Streets in Philadelphia.

Grab your whistles, flutes, and uillean pipes if you got ‘em for April 25-26 workshops with the legendary piper Paddy Keenan, who will also be performing in concert at the Irish Center in Philadelphia, thanks to the Philadelphia Ceili Group.

April 18, 2014 by Denise Foley

People

Philadelphia’s New Rose of Tralee Selected

Maria Walsh, the 2014 Philadelphia Rose of Tralee

For the first time, the Philadelphia Rose of Tralee has more than Irish roots—she has an Irish accent.

Maria Walsh, who was born in Boston and moved to Shrule, County Mayo, with her family when she was 7, was selected on Friday, April 11, at the Radnor Hotel to represent the City of Brotherly Love in the 2014 regional finals in Tralee in May. If she makes the cut there, Walsh will compete with Roses from around the world at the annual Rose of Tralee Festival in August, one of the most-watched events on Irish television.

“I wish my parents could have been here,” said Walsh after accepting her crown.

Reverse immigration is apparently a family trait. Her mother, Noreen, was also born in Boston, but grew up in Leitir More in Connemara. Her father, Vincent is from County Mayo. Walsh has three far-flung siblings who live in Perth, Los Angeles, and Galway.

A journalism and visual media graduate of Griffith College in Dublin, Walsh is studio manager for Anthropologie Group at the Navy Yard in Philadelphia, where she’s lived since 2010. She’s a serious Gaelic football fan and has played with the local Notre Dames Gaelic Football Club. When the night’s emcee, CBS3 reporter Jim Donovan, asked her “if you could have any superpower, what would it be?” Walsh said she’d like the power to guarantee that Mayo would bring home the Sam Maguire Cup this year. (For those not savvy about Gaelic football, that’s roughly equivalent to winning the Stanley Cup.) That drew applause and cheers from members of the Mayo Society in attendance.

Walsh succeeds Brittney Killion, a congressional aide, who said her year at Philly’s Rose “brought light into our family’s life” after a “year of loss,” including the death of her uncle and godfather. The high-energy, exuberant Killion, who can belt out a song like a Broadway star, recalled Tralee locals telling her “how wild my Philly family is and what good craic [fun] they are.”

The winner of the Mary O’Connor Spirit Award was 21-year-old West Chester University student Aisling Travers. The daughter of Seamus and Marie Travers of Counties Donegal and Leitrim, Travers was honored for her charity work. As a high school student, she founded a program to involve her fellow students in volunteering at A.I DuPont and Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia. That grew out of a program, Kid2Kid, she founded to raise money for Beaumont Children’s Hospital and which was able to turn over $20,000 to the Irish hospital. She also founded “Pencils for Peace,” an organization that works with local middle school students to provide children in Afghanistan and Ethiopia with school supplies.

When a friend, Carmel Bradley, was diagnosed with breast cancer, Travers became part of “Carmel’s Crew,” a group of women who walked the 3-day, 60-mile Susan G. Komen walk for the cure. She also hosted an afternoon tea to raise money for the event.

Travers volunteers as a fundraiser with the McDade-Cara School of Irish Dance and the Delaware County Gaelic Football Club. Most recently, she traveled to Honduras to work with children at the Amigos de Jesus children’s home.

The Rose of Tralee Center added two new awards this year: Fiona Brogan who, like Walsh, plays Gaelic football, and is an Irish step dancer, was named 2014 Junior Rose; and Olivia Hilpl received the first Rose Gifford Award for best dressed woman at the event. Rose Gifford, 99, the first Mary O’Connor Spirit Award winner, personally gave the award to Hilpl, founder of the Rince Ri School of Irish Dance.

April 17, 2014 by Denise Foley

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