Event type: Festival

Samhain Céilí

The veil between our world and the Other is at its thinnest — and The Armagh Rhymers wouldn’t have it any other way.

As darkness falls on Samhain night, join us for the creepiest ceíli of the season: music to make your bones rattle, games to make your skin crawl, and dancing that might just raise the dead. Bring the little ones in their finest frightful dress-up — or don’t, if they dare to face the spirits plain-faced — and adults, consider yourselves warned: you will be expected to join in.

Children’s gift bags await the first 50 arrivals, and fiercely contested prizes go to the best Samhain costumes. Eye patches, false teeth, masks and props all welcome — shop-bought, homemade, or borrowed from something that goes bump in the night. Grab the face paint, unroll the spider webs, dig out last year’s glitter slime, and practise your most bloodcurdling ‘Woooooo’; the judges will be watching.

Activities are geared for children aged 4–12 (with supervision), though anyone aged 13 to 113 is welcome — children will just need to keep a close eye on their adults. Only pretend broken bones on this dance floor, please.

This event is held in partnership with Liverpool Irish Centre, with support from Comhaltas’s musicians.

Shared Lands: Reconciliation, recognition and reciprocity

In 1847, at the height of the Great Hunger, members of the Choctaw Nation in present-day Oklahoma made a remarkable donation to help starving people in Ireland. Their gift came 16-years after the Choctaw had begun their own forced removal from ancestral homelands along the Trail of Tears.

Thousands died from hunger, disease and exposure. Their gift remains one of history’s most powerful acts of international solidarity.

What inspired such generosity between peoples separated by an ocean? This talk explores the shared histories of famine, displacement, food and survival that connect Ireland and the Choctaw Nation. Drawing on the collaborative Sharing Lands: Reconciliation, Recognition and Reciprocity project, our talk examines how the Choctaw concepts of ima (giving) and iyyikowa (serving those in need) continue to shape relationships between Indigenous and Irish communities today.

The Festival theme I Am Here resonates deeply with this story. It’s relevant not only to survival after colonial violence, but also to recognising the presence, dignity, and humanity of others. Nearly 180 years after the Choctaw Gift, this extraordinary act of compassion continues to inspire new conversations about reciprocity, remembrance, and what it means to stand with one another across cultures, histories, and generations.
*      *      *      *     *
The remarkable story of the $172* sent by members of the Choctaw Nation, to the starving in Ireland, during the Great Famine in 1847 is well told. Even so, the details surrounding the connection between the Choctaw Nation, the people of Ireland and the gift’s legacy has been greatly understudied.

* Equivalent to £3,313.73 using The Bank of England’s inflation calculator on 22 June 2026

The Sharing Lands project team consists of Dr Padraig Kirwan and Dr Shelley Angelie Saggar (Goldsmiths), Professor LeAnne Howe (University of Georgia) and Professor Gillian O’Brien (Liverpool John Moores University). The team are internationally recognised experts in the fields of indigenous studies, literary studies, Irish famine studies and public history.

Care note: The Choctaw Nation’s history is a complex and sometimes contested one. Mindful discomfort can be a part of learning, but if the event becomes overly emotional for any attendee, we encourage you to move away quietly to put yourself where you feel safest. We don’t expect to use traumatising words, but we understand people’s levels are different. Though we don’t anticipate creating significant emotional discomfort, you are the expert in you, so please treat yourself carefully.

Irish set dancing course

This is a chance for 20 people only to join some of Liverpool’s finest Irish musicians and dancers for a fun and lively introduction to Irish set dancing.

Set dancing is céilí’s more challenging cousin! It’s a group social dance, done in sets of eight people, and features Ireland’s trademark fast music and intricate footwork.

Over the six-week course you will learn the basics of the footwork, including some percussive, battering steps, and structure of the dances and get an introduction to the history of music of the dance.

The classes will be relaxed and informal and feature musicians from Liverpool Ceilidh Band and teachers from Liverpool Irish Centre and Movema dance company.

You can come with a partner or on your own. Please wear light, comfortable clothing and preferably some hard soled shoes.

Open to over 16’s.

7-9pm, Tuesday nights:
27th October
3rd November
10th November
17th November
24th November
1st December.

I Am Here

Irish people have made homes all over the world, and Liverpool is no exception. It’s known affectionately as East Dublin, East Belfast, and the 33rd county. This year, Liverpool Irish Festival asks what it means to arrive: to cross a threshold, claim a space, and say simply: I am here.

Rooted in that spirit of arrival, the George Ferguson Irish Dance School and Merseyside’s Melody Makers have collaborated to create a programme that celebrates the many ways we come home. Whether home is somewhere new or somewhere long known, being there carries its own weight of anticipation, expectation and nostalgia. This year invited guests will take to the stage (along with some audience members!). Their presence will serve as their own statement of being.

This engaging two-hour programme brings together over 50 musicians and dancers from across Merseyside. They’ll perform in one of Liverpool’s most magnificent settings: the ever-emerald Sefton Park Palm House. A space that has sheltered and sustained living things for over a century feels like the right place to celebrate a community that has done the same.

Liverpool Irish Festival is proud to present this thematic collaboration as part of an ongoing series of bespoke programmes and a performance that is becoming a firm fixture of the Festival calendar. Grab your tickets whilst you can.

♿: We have created spaces for eight wheelchair spaces. These are linked with companion/carer spaces. To purchase one of these, please pick your wheelchair space (highlighted yellow at the point of booking). We will automatically save the seat next to your reserved space for your companion/carer. You will be charged one concession priced ticket for the two spaces on your selected row.

Téada

Celebrating 25 years on the road in 2026, Téada are one of Irish traditional music’s most celebrated and hard-working ensembles — described by one American critic as “arguably the most vibrant and hard-working traditional Irish music ensemble in the world today”.

Rooted in the living tradition yet alive to the wider world, the Sligo-based group have headlined major festivals across North America, Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Australia, performing to audiences of up to 40,000 on their landmark Japanese and Taiwanese tours. Closer to home, they are a familiar and much-loved presence at Ireland’s greatest festivals, from Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann to Temple Bar TradFest.

The band’s current line-up brings together some of Ireland’s finest traditional musicians: Oisín Mac Diarmada on fiddle, Paul Finn on button accordion, Damien Stenson on flute, Seán McElwain on guitar and bouzouki, Tristan Rosenstock on bodhrán and the award-winning step dancer and pianist Samantha Harvey.

Their most recent album on Gael Linn features special guest appearances by Hollywood actor and singer John C. Reilly and the late, great Séamus Begley — a fitting record from a band who carry the tradition with both pride and joy. Don’t miss them!

Presented in partnership by Return to London Town and Liverpool Irish Festival, with support from Culture Ireland. 

PK’s seisiún

Simple opportunity to come along for a tune. The second seisiún of two in the Festival, the other takes place the prior Fri (16 Oct 2025).

Bring an instrument, your voice and a will to play along. There’ll be Festival friends to help bring the gang together. A fully stocked bar — in one of the most historic and quirkiest pubs in Liverpool — eases you towards the dawn. This event gets busy quickly and sometimes it’s ‘standing room only’. Be prepared to ‘hotch up’ and swap places so everyone can get a piece of the action. This is a night that almost guarantees high kicks ’til dawn.

Family Day

A Festival-staple and must-see; we invite you to pop-by — or indeed, spend the day with us — at the Museum of Liverpool (Pier Head). There, we’ve a veritable array of activity to entertain kids (and adults) of all ages.

The Armagh Rhymers return with their (exclusive to the Festival) Liver Bird story helping to understand how the First Nations people of North America helped the Irish during The Great Hunger. The Bolger-Cunningham Dance School will give it their all in the morning, before the George Ferguson School for Irish Dance produce junior and senior dance sets, whilst Melody Makers will bring their intergenerational group to play in the space. You’ll also be able to collect a Brave Maeve Tír Na nÓg map. The day puts the Irish of Liverpool at the heart of everything; the programme, the Museum and the city.

Plus there’ll be Brave Maeve activities for all the family.

The Family Day is sponsored by Tourism Ireland and held in partnership with National Museums Liverpool. As part of the Family programme, you might also like the Samhain Céilí (Sun 25 Oct).

Tony Birthill Memorial

Tony Birtill was born in Walton, Liverpool in 1954 — a Scouser of Irish heritage who became one of the foremost authorities on the history of the Irish diaspora in the city. A fluent Irish speaker, enthusiastic teacher of the language and committed historian, his life was closely intertwined with the Irish community in Liverpool throughout his adult life.

He was a mainstay of that community and an active member of Cairde Na hÉireann, Conradh na Gaeilge, the Liverpool Easter 1916 Commemoration Committee and the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee. His landmark book A Hidden History: The Irish Language in Liverpool revealed — among much else — that the word ‘scouse’ itself carries traces of the Irish language brought here by Famine migrants. He was also a long-standing trustee of Liverpool Irish Festival, teaching Irish language classes at the Liverpool Irish Centre every Thursday night until his death on 21 October 2021. This annual memorial, held in the week that marks the anniversary of his passing, is our way of ensuring that his contribution to Irish life in Liverpool is never forgotten.

Read tributes to him in The Irish Post. 

Obscured View

Geraldine Moloney Judge reprises her one woman show Obscured View, five years on from performing to a sell out crowd and standing ovation.

Now the Republic of Ireland are in the play offs, hoping to qualify for the next World Cup. It’s been 10 years since Ireland played in a competitive tournament and 24 years since that memorable World Cup in Japan/South Korea (2002). Geraldine is looking forward to reliving some of those memories in the hope it will spur the Republic to qualify for this year’s World Cup. Geraldine will also reflect on Liverpool’s 20th title win and pay homage to the sad passing of Diogo Jota.

A one-woman one-act play about how a love affair for football began when our narrator saw the Ireland qualify for their first World Cup (1990). Watch as the memories of travelling to see Ireland play their second World Cup final (1994) in the USA take shape, before witnessing Roy Keane’s ejection from World Cup 2002. Remember how the horrors of Hillsborough impacted the people of Dublin, as well as Liverpool, and consider how sexism and racism flag the parochial narrow-mindedness of some fans towards others. The finale is a whistle stop tour of Liverpool’s memorable night in Istanbul, whilst the play — as a whole — reflects the ties between Liverpool and Ireland via their shared love of football.

Written and performed by local writer, actor and Irish-Scouser Geraldine Moloney Judge.

Note to bookers: Once inside the venue there is single-level access throughout, with disabled access toilets. However, there are steps into the venue, which requires a set of ramps that can be requested. Please consider this access when making your booking.

The St Brigid’s Arms exhibition tour with Q&As

The doors of The St Brigid’s Arms are open — a fictional venue created by and for women of Irish heritage living in the North of England.

Inspired by the traditional Irish pub as a place of gathering, connection and storytelling, this unique community exhibition explores experiences of migration, identity, belonging and heritage through art, music, dance and personal stories.

Join us as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival to discover the voices and experiences of Irish women across generations. Through shared memories, traditions and creative responses, the exhibition celebrates the rich untold stories of Irish women.

After exploring the exhibition, stay for a short Q&A with Lydia O’Hara and Rosarie Walsh to hear more about the project’s development, the women who helped bring it to life, the importance of preserving and sharing these stories and what’s next. Come along, make connections and become part of the conversation.

This tour runs again on Thurs 22 Oct 2026.