POSTPONED: We are sorry to say this event has had to be postponed, following new lockdrown restrictions and our commitment to safety. We hope to run them in the new year or when new guidelines permit.
From St Luke’s to Central Library, walkers will discover aspects of Liverpool’s Irish history, encountering a vanished church, pubs, statues, a 200 year old school and some of Britain’s finest Victorian architecture.
Amongst it all, shipping magnates, street urchins, priests, politicians and a jazz legend. Walkers will visit St George’s Plateau, the scene of many momentous events, and St John’s Gardens, to reflect on the Victorians commemorated there.
In addition to the South Liverpool walk, readers may also like the Scotland Road walk (24 Oct).
This in an outdoor walk; please be weather prepared, comfortable and hydrated. We will observe Covid-19 regulations as at the date of the walk. Walkers should act responsibly, including wearing a mask in the event streets or locations are busy. We will do all we can to maintain social distancing, but need your active co-operation in this.
This year’s walks are held in memory of Vin Finn, Festival volunteer and Irish community champion.
POSTPONED: We are sorry to say this event has had to be postponed, following new lockdrown restrictions and our commitment to safety. We hope to run them in the new year or when new guidelines permit.
Greg Quiery -author, poet, historian- leads exceptionally researched trails of Liverpool, outlining the influence Irish lives have had here.
This two hour walk –led by historian Greg Quiery- explores the dense history of a world famous district. Featuring the stories of heroic men and women; footballers and rock stars; two hidden statues; a graveyard and the legends of Dandy Pat and James Carling. The walk ends at St Anthony’s church, a short bus ride from town.
As with the South Liverpool and Irish Heritage walks, places are limited so we advise you book early to avoid disappointment.
This in an outdoor walk; please be weather prepared, comfortable and hydrated. We will observe Covid-19 regulations as at the date of the walk. Walkers should act responsibly, including wearing a mask in the event streets or locations are busy. We will do all we can to maintain social distancing, but need your active co-operation in this.
This year’s walks are held in memory of Vin Finn, Festival volunteer and Irish community champion.
Edy Fung
Instagram residency for Liverpool Irish Festival, 1-14 Oct 2020
Physical exhibition Art Arcadia residency, 23-30 Oct 2020, St Augustine’s Schoolhouse, Derry
In a collaboration crossing the North Sea, time and international experience, Art Arcadia and Liverpool irish Festival partner to bring you Edy Fung’s Covid-19 reflections, tied to her adolescent diaries, spanning the SARS epidemic.
Feelings of past and present are both compressed through the epidemic events via the perpetuated timeless platform of the virtual environment. The artist realised the predictability of the consistency of her reaction to the two events 17 years apart. In Diaries. Monuments. Memory. Documentation. Event. Pandemic. Archive. Digital identity. Encoding. Decoding. Commemoration. Deja-vu. Always-already. Burying shame. Treehole. Winter counts., Edy Fung revisits her online diaries, written from the time during school closure after the 2003 SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in Hong Kong, rediscovered again through the ‘Wayback Machine’ while going through lockdown after the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic.
A selection of 14 entries – reflecting the mandatory period of isolation, is translated into a site-specific installation inspired by winter counts. Playing with expressions in denotations and connotations, a series of Instagram posts on the artist’s reflection on this year’s new normal will be published from 1 to 14 October 2020, as the virtual aspect parallel to the physical representation.
He stowed her away to pursue their dream. Off they sailed into the sunset with their secret. However, it was the song in her heart that set her free. See how Fortune threatens to overwhelm wannabe singer Kathleen. Will she survive waves, war and stormy love affairs, only to founder in marriage or might those newly found airwaves waft her to success? Watch this Stowaway strive to exchange the inequalities of her times for her worldwide musical message of love.
Barbara Marsh’s new play is aired for the first time as part of #LIF2020. Watch this scratch reading of a new work, directed by Zara Marie Brown. Detailing an Irish journey between Liverpool and New York, witness the exchange between actors and page; story and dreams. Q&A follows with the play’s writer and director.
This is an In:Visible Women marker. It shows this event continues our In:Visible Women work. These events are always open to everyone, but are female led and often contain stories pertinent to women. In:Visible Women began in 2016 and shows the Festival’s dedication to promoting equity and hearing from women who have, historically, been diminished by societal systems. This is a small contribution to making invisible women -and their stories- visible.
Join a live webinar to learn about some interesting historical characters from Liverpool’s Irish Diaspora.
With roughly 50% of Liverpool’s population having Irish ancestry, that’s quite a pool to draw from.
Using the XO Chronicles to learn about some fascinating Irish Liverpudlians and their connection with Ireland, we will also discuss the close relationship between Liverpool and Ireland and the connection has shaped our customs, cultures and languages, throughout history. The XO Chronicles are a free feature on the IrelandXO.com website. It works by enabling all people of Irish ancestry, both in Ireland and around the world, to add to the heritage of every Irish locality by recording what they know about our ancestors, the places they lived in and the events that shaped their lives.
Travel may be off the cards right now, but we can still connect our Global Irish Communities and learn about our shared ancestry, especially the special bond between Ireland and Liverpool. The Webinar will run for 30 minutes on Zoom.
This event was recorded. You can see the session below.
Can you help us support the Festival charity and its artists by making a gift?
Have you enjoyed something at the Festival that you think is worth a reward or the value of a standard event ticket? Every donation helps. In 2020, we have seen devastating losses across our income streams. In spite of this, we have done our best to develop a positive and exciting Festival with #LIF2020. Coronavirus has affected our ability to arrange and host events for four reasons:
• social distancing
• arts funding (we received 35% less arts funding in 2020 compared to 2019)
• sponsorship, advertising and ticket sales (we have lost 98% of this income compared with 2019) .
what we can expect from visitors at computers over 10 days.
Anything you can do to support us will help our work and benefit the charity (number 1100126) in to next year. We -the Festival Director and Board – thank you in advance for your kind donations.
URL to Paypal donation link.
Scan this QR code to take you to our donations page.
POSTPONED: We are sorry to say this event has had to be postponed, following new lockdrown restrictions and our commitment to safety. We hope to run them in the new year or when new guidelines permit.
Greg Quiery -author, poet, historian- leads exceptionally researched trails of Liverpool, outlining the influence Irish lives have had here.
One of few physical events in 2020, this two hour walk, popular in recent years, visits the remarkable architecture of the Hope and Rodney Street areas, to discover their connections to the history, politics and culture of Liverpool’s vibrant Irish community. Led by historian Greg Quiery, we advise you book early to avoid disappointment.
Anyone interested in this may also like the City of Hunger; City of Gold walk (Sun 18 Oct) and the Scotland Road walk (24 Oct).
This in an outdoor walk; please be weather prepared, comfortable and hydrated. We will observe Covid-19 regulations as at the date of the walk. Walkers should act responsibly, including wearing a mask in the event streets or locations are busy. We will do all we can to maintain social distancing, but need your active co-operation in this.
This year’s walks are held in memory of Vin Finn, Festival volunteer and Irish community champion.
Donations can be made via this Eventbrite link. All proceeds will go to the work of the Liverpool Irish Festival. Please note any amount you give will include a cost to Eventbrite for making the transaction.
Liverpool Lambs is a play written by Liverpool Irish pals Peter King and Steve Nolan.
Performed in 2016 at The Unity and The Liverpool Irish Centre (as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival). The duo told the story of 50 Liverpool volunteers involved in the Dublin Easter Rising 1916, three of whom were Peter’s relatives. In 2019 the Liverpool Irish Festival introduced the authors to theatre company Falling Doors Theatre in the hope of mounting a touring version of the play, to premier at #LIF2020, before carrying on across the UK and Ireland. Sadly, this was not to be. However, undeterred, they’re bringing you a podcast with insight into the writing of the play, the origins of the story and what to look forward to.
The King Brothers were raised in Kirkdale, by parents John and Mary who relocated from Blackwater (County Wexford, Ireland). Prior to WW1, the brothers enlisted in the Irish Republican Brotherhood, a secret organisation working with the Volunteer Movement, beside many volunteers from the Liverpool branch. The play follows their journey to the deadly uprising in Dublin.
Image credit: Featured image (top right) is courtesy of the Wexford County Archive. Picture below from the King family.
The podcast is available to listen to here:
For an audio described version, use this YouTube link.
This podcast has been made using the volunteer time and dedication of Falling Doors Theatre and Liverpool Lamb’s writers, Peter King and Steve Nolan. If you are able to make a donation towards the Liverpool Lambs project, it would greatly appreciated.
Meet Réamonn Ó Ciaráin, a leading expert in Cú Chulainn and Gaelic translation.
In our Meet the Maker series, he discusses his work and the influence these stories have on Irish culture, his exchanges and what folklore means to us, in a modern world.
Cú Chulainn is a mythic Ulster man, whose powers -and stories of conquest- equate to those of the ancient Greek and Roman deity stories. Adopted by different parties through time, the folkloric stories are embedded in to Irish history.
Listen as Réamonn regales you with stories from Cú Chulainn, ‘Ireland’s greatest source of psychic inspiration’.
Especially good for older children, illustrations from Dara Vallely will also be shown. This is the first time this story will have been read aloud, in English.
This event will be recorded and shared online with subtitles within 48 hours.
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