Complementing our work on the annual Liverpool Irish Famine Memorial, 2024’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 (north midlands in 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.
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.
Meeting point: Please note the (web) location provided for this is the destination, not the meeting place. Please congregate at Clarence Dock Gates, on the water side of Regent Road, facing the junction of Cotton Street.
This activity has been made possible with funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
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 and Liverpool Signing Choir 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, performances 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 Liverpool Signing Choir will sign it to us.
In 2026 we consider the plight of those in the context of I Am Here, considering Maslow’s pyramid of needs and what is needed for self-actualisation.
We will welcome anyone who is interested in memorialising the 1m people who perished on the island of Ireland and the 1.8m who came through Liverpool to start their life elsewhere.
About the event
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. There is room for wheelchair users.
These activities have been made possible with funds from The National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Care note: The story of An Gorta Mór continues to be deeply contested and its stories are sensitive, calling for compassion and self-care. Mindful discomfort is a part of memorial, but if the event becomes overly emotional for any attendee, we encourage you to move away quietly and put yourself where you feel safest. We don’t expect to use traumatising words, but we understand people’s levels are different and the An Gorta Mór story is a deep one. Though we don’t anticipate creating significant emotional discomfort, you are the expert in you, so please treat yourself carefully.’
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.
Tour also runs on Tues 20 Oct 2026.
John Mitchel’s GAA club, in partnership with LivIrishFest, hosts this unique event at Liverpool’s only dedicated GAA pitch.
Open to all age groups, whether you’re a keen to play Hurling (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurling) or Camogie (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camogie) or have never heard of the game!
Come along to our ‘give it a go’ Festival session, 2pm-3.30pm.
Lancashire coaches will be there to welcome everyone, offering a great opportunity to find out a bit more about the game and our club; with a chance to meet our members and play a bit of Hurling and Camogie.
This is an outdoor event in October. Please be ready with waterproofs and/or sun cream as needed and know any one of you could get muddy or grass-stained!
For more details on the club follow Facebook @johnmitchelsliverpool and X @JohnMitchelsGAA
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.
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).
John Mitchel’s GAA club, in partnership with LivIrishFest, hosts this unique event at Liverpool’s only dedicated GAA pitch.
Following the Gaelic Football give a go session at 1pm, there’ll be ‘blitz’ sessions for girls, from fully qualified and checked coaches (guardians to stay throughout). From 2.30pm-4.30pm, people can take part in or watch the underage Gaelic Football Tournament.
This is an outdoor event in October. Please be ready with waterproofs and/or sun cream as needed and know any one of you could get muddy or grass-stained!
For more details on the club follow Facebook @johnmitchelsliverpool and X @JohnMitchelsGAA
Open to all age groups, whether you’re a keen Gaelic Football player or have never heard of the game!
Come along to our ‘give it a go’ Festival session, 1pm-2.30pm.
John Mitchel’s GAA coaches will be there to welcome everyone, offering a great opportunity to find out a bit more about the game and our club; with a chance to meet our members and play a bit of Gaelic Football. There’ll be ‘blitz’ sessions for young ones, from fully qualified and checked coaches (guardians to stay throughout).
This is an outdoor event in October. Please be ready with waterproofs and/or sun cream as needed and know any one of you could get muddy or grass-stained!
For more details on the club follow Facebook @johnmitchelsliverpool and X @JohnMitchelsGAA
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.
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.
