Two years ago in the Little Theatre in Athlone I had the privilege of watching a debut performance of a play written by Neil Richardson and directed by Caroline Barry called From The Shannon To The Somme. A true story about an Athlone man, Sgt Michael Curley, a soldier before and during World War 1. Michael had done his seven… (more…)
It has taken me a couple of weeks to get over Dave McGarry’s death and judging by the amount of e-mails and comments received, I would guess his death has disturbed a great number of people and him a Catholic priest whose stock as a group of people has been lowered considerably over the last few years. It just shows… (more…)
This is a story of soldiering in the 19th century, when England ruled nearly half the world with a standing army of approximately 100,000 men. It was a life; full of action and bravery some of the time, but mostly a life of humdrum boredom, basically a lowly labourer’s life in uniform. In Ireland in the 19th century the best… (more…)
Irish soldiers who enlisted in the British Army in their hundreds of thousands in late 1914 were faced with a massive dilemma by 1917. What was their exact place in history? Could they ever be let live with their families in their much changed homeland? Would their blood sacrifice be forgotten? What were they and who were they fighting for. … (more…)