Join Liverpool Irish Festival‘s John Maguire (also of ArtsGroupie) on an expanded walking tour of several Liverpool Irish Famine Trail sites, including Clarence Dock – the entry way for over 1.8m+ Irish Famine poor – and others in the town centre.
Spectators will hear how The Great Hunger changed Liverpool’s streets, learning how locations were used for sanctuary, nourishment and safety. Along the route, sites of Irish influence will also be marked helping to show the geographic memory of these times. Walkers will also hear about the benevolence of Liverpool’s people and on-going effects on the city today.
Using a new trail app, headsets and recent Walk of the Bronze Shoes experience, your guide will really help you to walk in the shoes of Liverpool and Irish people 180-years ago.
The walks leave at 2pm. Bookers are asked to gather in the 15mins prior at the Pilotage Building (near the Museum of Liverpool). The walk will last approximately 120mins.
Bookings for these walks close at 5pm on Fri 17 Oct 2025.
❤️??
Since 2021, Liverpool Irish Festival has been working on revitalising the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail, which includes The Great Hunger commemoration memorial. Today, the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee, Conradh Na Gaeilge Learpholl, Liverpool Irish Centre and its choir, the Deaf Choir in and Movema Dance partner with the Festival to lead a Great Hunger Memorial Service that marks the anniversary of An Gorta Mór (The Great Hunger), lasting 1845-1852 and beyond.
Along with speeches, a Liver Bird performance and a minute’s silence, we’ll sing The Ullaloo together. Commissioned especially for The Great Hunger Memorial in 2024, by local musicians Ian Cantwell and Marty Snape, the Liverpool Irish Centre choir will lead the singing and the Deaf Choir will sign it to us.
“Birds, especially those that migrate or fly high, are often seen as symbols of freedom, migration and hope. In the context of refugees, these symbols take on deeper meaning, representing the journey, resilience, and aspirations of those seeking safety and a new life” – Movema. Linking with our theme of arrivals, we’ll consider those arriving in Liverpool to begin the next stage of their journey, here or abroad.
Everyone is welcome. Please note that this is an outside event, and we may have difficulties with sound if it is rainy or windy. We recommend dressing for the weather and bringing seats or walking aids as needed. This is a standing service of roughly 30-minutes. We won’t have chairs available for everyone. People may gather in advance of the service to welcome the vigil walkers.
These activities have been made possible with funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
❤️??
Complementing our work on the annual Liverpool Irish Famine Memorial, last year’s Walk of the Bronze Shoes has created a new annual opportunity.
For those who don’t know, in 2024 members of our Festival team walked a pair of bronze shoes from County Roscommon (northwest Ireland) to Dublin (east coast of Ireland); sailed them to Holyhead and took them from Seacombe to Mersey Ports, to walk them to Clarence Dock Gates and on to the Famine Memorial. Why?
The bronze shoes are a marker of the National Famine Way in Ireland and Liverpool’s pair — teamed with 15-pairs in North America — are the first to form the Global Irish Famine Way.
Clarence Dock is where 1.8+m Irish Famine poor came into Liverpool. The Great Hunger commemoration memorial (unveiled in 1998) at St Luke’s Bombed Out Church remembers the 300k+ that stayed in Liverpool, the 1m+ that sailed overseas and the 2m+ that died. The journey between the two locations is indicative of the struggles of those sent here.
We’ll repeat the Clarence Dock to St Luke’s Bombed Out Church walk annually, until we find the bronze shoes a permanent home and we welcome you to join us.
This time our group will be led by a time-travelling Liver Bird, a bird cyborg who has travelled through time experiencing displacement due to conflict, famine, economic hardship and climate change. Stewards will help people walk the route. Information will be provided at the site that morning. A small informal ceremony will start the vigil, with walkers from the Walk of the Bronze Shoes,
This activity has been made possible with funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
❤️??
In 2021, Liverpool Irish Festival began our custodianship of the Liverpool Irish Famine Trail. We formed a volunteer History Research Group (who’ve since undertaken 1,700+ hours of research) and released two books: Revive and Reveal (available in the Museum’s gift shop or here: liverpoolirishfestival.com/shop/).
Having trained in tour creation and management – and thoroughly researched the Irish objects on display in Museum of Liverpool – the History Research Group now lead tours of the Museum of Liverpool’s Irish objects. Using live-link headsets, visitors will be guided through the collections, homing in on Irish objects. These headsets work over hearing aids.
These in-person tours additionally take in the Pilotage Building, just outside the Museum. Tours are anticipated to take approximately 45-60mins, depending on audience questions. These activities have been made possible with funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
People who’d like to visit the Irish objects tour in a self-guided trail (no booking needed) can use the guide map online liverpoolirishfestival.com/events/self-guided-irish-trail/ or may collect paper maps (for free) from leaflet holders in the Museum’s foyer.
❤️??
Irish people have made homes all over the world and Liverpool is no exception, being known as East Dublin, East Belfast and the 33rd county! Taking this year’s theme of ‘arrivals’, the George Ferguson Irish Dance School and Merseyside’s Melody Makers have collaborated to produce a welcoming programme, celebrating what it is to arrive. Whether home is new or old, arriving there can be full of anticipation, expectation and nostalgia. We’ll also welcome new guests to the stage.
This engaging two-hour programme features over 50 musicians and dancers from across Merseyside. The performance takes place in one of Liverpool’s most emerald spaces: the ever-magnificent Sefton Park Palm House.
Liverpool Irish Festival is proud to present this thematic collaboration, building an ongoing series of bespoke programmes, and becoming a firm fixture of the Festival. Grab your tickets whilst you can.
♀️❤️??
Open now until 5pm Monday 26th Aug – a fabulous exhibition showcasing recent work of this local group.
Mon to Sat – 10 to 5pm
Sunday -3 to 5pm
Venue – Mossley Hill Church, Rose Lane, L18 8DB
Auditioning with sides is a vital part of any actors tool kit. In this workshop, we guide you through the ins and outs of delivering dynamic and memorable performances using audition sides. This workshop offers personalised feedback and tips to fine tune your audition technique and improve your confidence.
How it works: A few days before the workshop, we’ll send you a few pages of script to look over and prepare. On the day, you’ll give your audition with another actor there to read in with you. You’ll then be offered feedback, direction and a chance to go through your sides again.
These sessions give actors an opportunity to try out audition speeches and monologues in front of the group, before getting one-on-one direction and feedback. If you’d rather just learn from watching others work, that’s brilliant as well. These workshops are a relaxed and supportive opportunity for actors to learn from each other as well as from us. The workshops runs for two hours, here in the Royal Court studio.
This workshop requires booking.
WHAT’S INVOLVED
This workshop will be held on the Royal Court Main Stage and is designed to help you reach and communicate to a house of 1,100 seats. We will cover various aspects of breathing and projection, including posture, alignment, types of breath, grounding diction and clarity. The session will utilise the main stage and auditorium. This work is also invaluable in preparing for outdoor and site specific performances.
WHO’S LEADING
The workshop will be led by Harvey Robinson.
Harvey is an actor, musician and composer with over 15 years’ experience in theatre, television and voice over including West End, Broadway and a number of national tours.
The workshop runs for 2 1/2 hours and will cover the following:
Full warmup of body, face, breath and voice.
Projections techniques for large theatre spaces.
Finding intimacy and truth in a scene, while still communicating and sharing clearly with the audience.
Scenes will be sent in advance.
