Committee members of London’s County Carlow Association will celebrate their upcoming 40th anniversary by organising a 40-mile sponsored walk in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, over the Irish Bank Holiday Weekend of 31st May / 1st June.

The County Carlow Association of London will be raising money for the Friends of Calcutta, the humanitarian charity, founded in 1994, that educates over 1800 children in some of the poorest areas of India. The founder of the charity, Michael Hopkins, became Carlow’s 2006 International Person of the Year for his dedication and commitment to the poor of Calcutta.

Claire Nolan-Sturley, chair of the Association, explains all:

At our Dinner Dance last year Michael was our guest of honour. In a very moving after dinner speech he spoke of his association with Mother Theresa and how he gained great strength and inspiration whilst working alongside her as she worked with the world’s poorest. The gathering at the dinner was so touched by his sincerity and his dedication to the cause the idea of a fundraising project was suggested with a forty-mile walk for the association’s forty year’s of existence”

Pembrokeshire was chosen for the walk for a number of reasons:

• It is easily accessibility to both Carlow, located in southeast Ireland, and London
• A joint initiative between Pembrokeshire and County Carlow already exists: The Cultural X-change Project which is a joint initiative to create two virtual museums, one for each county
• The Pembrokeshire Coastal Path is a well recognised walking route with some fantastic scenic views along the way

Responses from both Carlow Council and Pembrokeshire Council have been very positive. It is expected that both councils will be represented on the morning of the start.

The walkers taking part are:

• Claire Nolan-Sturley (Carlow Town)
• Garry Sturley (London born)
• Ned Dunbar (Ardriston)
• Anne Nolan (Carlow Town)
• Bob Monaghan (Bagenalstown)
• Peter O’Brien (Cloughna)
• John Nolan (Bagenalstown)

Claire added:

We opted for a 40-mile walk to coincide with our 40th Annual Dinner Dance on Saturday 11th October. We haven’t yet decided what we’ll do for the 50th!”

The County Carlow Association of London welcomes anyone that would like to sponsor any of the walkers to contact us using our online contact form. Alternatively, potential sponsors can call Catherina Clarke on 0208 354 8501 or 07789 226734

NOTICE TO EDITORS:

The Friends of Calcutta was formed in 1994. and has become one of the leading lights in the field of humanitarian aid and funds 8 schools educating 1800 children. The schools are located in 5 of the most disadvantaged areas of the city. It was formed after Michael Hopkins’ first visit to Calcutta, a place Mother Theresa called the ‘city of joy’.

Friends of Calcutta is an Irish voluntary organization which works in partnership with Indian groups, to help the poorest of the poor in Calcutta realize their dignity and develop their potential, mainly through the education of deprived children and care of the destitute elderly and ensures that all contributions to any funds are totally given to the projects indicated. The membership of the charity includes men and women of different walks of life, different faiths and different professional commitments, drawn from Ireland and from Calcutta.

Full Press Release:

CCAL Press Release Pembrokeshire Walk - May 2008 (PDF)

It is with deep regret that we announce the death on 1st May after a short illness at St James’ and St Vincent’s Hospital Dublin of Sr. Pascal Richardson of the Brigidine Convent Tullow.

Sr. Paschal (Alice) originally from Togher, Co. Cork was instrumental in producing the Carlow Association Banner that is carried at the London St Patrick’s Parade every year and is on display at our dinner dances and other events. The burial took place in the Convent Cemetery, Tullow on Saturday 3rd May.

‘Go raibh solas na bhflaitheas uirthi, mar gheall ag an obair a roinne sí e ngairdín an Tiarna’.

24 year old Derek Ryan originally from Garryhill and a regular at our London get-togethers was a hugely popular winner of the Tipperary International Song Of Peace with his song ‘You Give Me Peace’ on 26th April.

Hundreds of entries were submitted from International and from home grown sources. The 10 entrants for this year’s final come from USA, the Netherlands, the UK, Northern Ireland and of course from various parts of Ireland including Carlow, Waterford, Cork and Athlone.

There was just two points separating the top three songs at the end, with an American entry being runner-up and Paddy Sharkey from Dublin taking the 3rd spot. Contest Secretary, Martin Quinn, presented Derek with the Tipperary Crystal Trophy and a cheque for €1,500. There were 10 finalists in the Contest with entries from Ireland, England, the Netherlands and the U.S.A. making it to the final.

Derek commented after his success:

I’ve been developing my songwriting ever since my early teens, so I was delighted to win the Tipperary international song of peace competition as it’s always nice for my songs to be acknowledged. I’ve just signed a publishing and production deal in Nashville for my very own solo album so the future’s looking bright, fingers crossed!

He is a keen singer / songwriter having had huge success to date with boy band D-Side. He moved to London 7 years ago to work full time in the music business and recently signed a production and publishing deal in Nashville, where he plans to relocate this summer. Coming from a very musical family he is son of Pat Ryan of Cúpla fame who will be playing at our 40th Annual dinner dance on October 11th.

Derek recently hit the headlines with his rendition of the new Carlow anthem ‘Red Yellow and Green’. I’m sure you will all join us in wishing him the best in his future career.

If you want to hear Derek singing ‘You give me Peace’ tune into www.myspace.com/derekryanmusic and sing along to the words below:

YOU GIVE ME PEACE

ITS BEEN A LONG DAY
AND I’VE DONE MY SHARE,
COME A LONG WAY,
BUT I’M ALMOST THERE

ALL THATS ON MY MIND
IS TO SEE YOUR FACE
HOLD YOUR HAND IN MINE
FEEL YOUR EMBRACE

YOU GIVE ME PEACE
IM NEVER GONNA LET YOU GO
YOU GIVE ME PEACE
AND THE LOVE THAT I NEED TO GROW
I TRAVEL THE WORLD TO GET TO YOUR DOOR
CAUSE YOUR EVERYTHING I’M LOOKING FOR
YOU GIVE ME STRENGTH TO BE WHO I WANNA BE
YOU GIVE ME PEACE

THERE ARE DOUBTS IN LIFE
THAT WE ALL GO THROUGH
BUT UNDER FADING LIGHTS
I CAN COUNT ON YOU
IF I WRONG OR RIGHT
YOU STAND BY ME
WHEN I NEED TO FLY
YOU’RE MY SANCTUARY

YOUR GLOWING SMILE,SAYS I’VE FINALLY ARRIVED
YOU GIVE ME STRENGTH TO BE WHO I WANNA BE
YOU GIVE ME PEACE.

MUSIC AND LYRICS COPYRIGHT OF DEREK RYAN

This year’s London Saint Patrick’s Parade (Sunday 16th March 2008) started from Hyde Park Corner at 12
noon passed Piccadilly Circus, Lower Regent Street, Trafalgar Square and finished in Whitehall.

The Parade included approx 4,000 participants made up of marching bands colourful costumes, community groups, Irish dancing schools, pageantry and floats with Irish music, costumes and characters.

Thousands line the streets to watch and cheer on this colourful spectacle. We are happy to report we had a large walking contingency from Carlow who proudly marched behind the Carlow Association Banner. The weather was typically Irish “wind and rain” but it added to the atmosphere and we were all kept on our toes (literally) trying hard to keep our new “Carlow colours” proudly flying high.

The reason being that the GLA on the day made available 33 flags representing the 32 counties of Ireland plus a flag to represent all 2nd Generation Irish (London Irish Flag). Those counties that were represented at the Parade collected their flag and proudly displayed it with their own individual Banners. A great day was had by all and it was an opportunity to meet old and new friends alike. Our thanks to TJ, Margaret and Laura Kelly to who travelled over from Carlow especially to join us in the parade and to Jim O’Neill a life long member of the Association who never fails to turn up come rain or shine.

Carlow Emmigrants still have a spring in their step! The passion felt for Carlow was evident in South London recently when the County Carlow Association London held their Spring event on Friday 29th Feb 2008.

Two hundred people danced the night away to the tunes of ‘Cupla’. As the advert said, ‘On tour from Garryhill’, Cúpla played at popular London venues over the weekend including Crawley’s ‘Irish Party Night’.

But the big event of the weekend was the Association’s dance at Saint Boniface, in Tooting. Carlow Association Chairperson, Claire Sturley said ‘London is a very big place with Carlow people living in every Borough. In the springtime we try to bring our event to a different area each year, to make it easier for Carlow people to get together’. It certainly worked. This year the Committee was joined by some people they have not seen in years. Claire continues ‘It is a great joy to bring people together who have lost touch. It is so easy to pick up where you left off when you have something in common like your home, Carlow’.

Visitors to the London Carlow Association website who use Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) may be experiencing some problems relating to the way the website is displayed.

IE7 users users may notice that the boxes that appear on the left and right-hand of the webpage have gaps within them and are also not parallel to one another. Users of Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), Firefox, Opera and Safari browsers are not affected.

The issues relate to the way that IE7 renders webpages: IE7 doesn’t yet comply with current web standards. We are currently working on these issues and hope to find a workaround, or ‘hack’, over the next week. If we are unable to find a workaround within this time, we may need redesign the website.

In the meantime, if you would like to view the website as it was intended please install Firefox (which IE7 is modelled on). You can find a free Firefox download at www.celtic-irish.co.uk/shop

Our AGM was held on Tuesday 3rd April at The Irish Centre and was very well attended, in fact, the best for some years.  It was great to see so many long standing members turn up and the event proved to be a great opportunity for some of us to catch up with old friends.

Thanks to everyone who formed the committee and a special welcome to the new committee members:-  Margaret Dixon & John O’Brien.  Since the AGM Cecilia Byrne has agreed to be co-opted on.  We are pleased also to say that the following committee members also remain with us:  Brenda Clarke, Jenny Schwab & Peter O’Brien.

Our officers were voted in as follows:

• Margaret Doyle – President
• Bill Schwab – Vice President
• Claire Nolan Sturley – Chairperson
• John Nolan – Vice Chair
• Ned Dunbar – Treasurer
• Catherina Clarke – Secretary
• Noreen Nolan – Assistant Secretary
• Chrissy O’Brien – PRO

We look forward to a busy and rewarding year ahead working together in order to carry on the great traditions of the Carlow Association within London and the south-east area

The Carlow association helped to celebrate a fantastic 2007 Saint Patrick’s Weekend at the Irish Centre on Sunday 18th March. The mass at the Irish Centre was a wonderful celebration, with a traditional harpist playing and parts of the service in Gaeilge. The Irish Ambassador, Daithi O’Cheallaigh and his wife attended also.

John Connolly, Chairman of the Council of Irish County Associations took the opportunity to wish the Ambassador every good luck in his new post and thanked him for all the work he has done for all the Irish Counties during his time in London.

The parade and festival were a great success with larger crowds than ever attending.  The Carlow contingent was well supported and we were delighted to be joined by people who came from as far as Norfolk and members of the Dunbar family who travelled from Carlow, specially. Let’s make next year’s Parade the biggest and best ever.  You can’t say we have not given you enough notice!