Scurlogstown Olympiad 2018/Photos!

Scurlogstown Olympiad/Haymaking Festival 2018!

Napoleon and Friend

Simon Murphy and Sarah Douglas

Cynthia Simonet

Carmel Murray and Friends.

Set dancing with Kevin Cunniffe, Annette Barry and friend.

Raising the dust from the floorboards!

Just a few of the photos taken at the Porch Fields in Trim on Sunday.

The Meath Writers' Circle/Children's Poetry Competition Results

The Meath Writers' Circle/Children's Poetry Competition Results!

The Meath Writers' Circle is delighted to announce the children's poetry competition shortlist and wishes to acknowledge the outstanding response to the competition and the excellent standard of all entries received. All shortlisted entrants will receive certificates. All shortlisted entrants are invited to read their entries at an award ceremony to be held at Meath County Library, Navan, Co. Meath on Saturday July the 14th at 2.30 pm. Prizes will be awarded to first, second and third in each category and certificates to all on the shortlist. The winners in each category will be announced on July the 14th.   

Shortlist: (Category 8 - 10 years)

Sophia Grace Christie, 87 Brackinrainey Manor, Longwood, Co. Meath.

Síofra O' Connor, Scoil Chiarán, Doorus, Kinvara, Co. Galway.

Juliette Carroll-Breen, The Old Glebe, Drumconrath, Navan, Co. Meath.

Grace Amos, Lough Isle, Kilcommon, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

Bob Maye, Killucan Road, Kinnegad, Co. Westmeath.

Ruby Mc Morrow, Dunsany N.S. Co. Meath.

Lily Casey, Clara Rd, Millstreet, Co. Cork.

Scarlett Leonard, Dunsany N.S. Co. Meath.

Shortlist: (Category 11 - 13 years)

Isabel Wallace, Dunsany N.S. Co. Meath.

Grace Lyons, 30 Slievemore Road, Drimnagh, Dublin 12.

Thomas Balfe, 62 Eastham Court, Bettystown, Co. Meath.

Emily Brooks, Dunsany N.S. Co. Meath.

Annie Mc Cabe, Dunsany N.S. Co. Meath.

Nicole Mc Fadden, 46 Old Chapel Wood, Naas, Co. Kildare.

Luke Griffin, Allenstown, Kells, Co. Meath. (St Ultans, Bohermeen).

Abbey Coffey, 121 Balreask Manor, Navan, Co. Meath. (St Ultans, Bohermeen).

Keelan Mc Kenna, Jamestown, Bohermeen, Co. Meath. (St Ultans, Bohermeen).

Kyle Gilsenan, Jamestown, Bohermeen, Co. Meath. (St Ultans, Bohermeen).

Barra Mc Cluskey, 2 Botanic Park, Glasnevin, Dublin 9.

Sadhbh David O' Leary, 6 The Meadows, Flynns Road, Ballincollig, Co. Cork.

* Those who are invited should reply to Gabriel McDonnell at 087 2639531 by July the 1st. Certificates or prizes can be posted to those who are unable to attend.

The Meath Writers' Circle/June Meeting 2018!

The Meath Writers' Circle/ June Meeting 2018!

A small turnout last Thursday night for the June meeting with only seven in attendance but some of the material read was very good. The shortlist for the children's poetry competition has been decided and the winners and highly commended will be contacted in the next few days. The standard and quality of the entries was very high and all are to be congratulated with the award ceremony to be held in July. More on that to follow. Those who have not sent in material for the magazine and wish to do so, should send it in as soon as possible as it is getting late in the year....

Wreath Laying Ceremonies 2018!

Wreath Laying Ceremonies 2018!

 

Gemma Murray, Willie G. Hodgins, Joe Conlon,
Carmel and Catherine Murray
at the grave of poet
F. R. Higgins in Laracor.

Betty and Bernie Murray
at the grave of poet
Tommy Murray in St. Loman's Trim.

The annual wreath laying ceremonies at the graves of poets F.R. Higgins and Tommy Murray took place last Saturday prior to the opening event of the Scurlogstown Olympiad Haymaking Festival for 2018. The High Nellies' cycle tour followed with an evening of music and conversation in Jack Quinn's and on what was a beautiful evening the turn out was perhaps in the hundreds.

Phil Coulter - The Man from God Knows Where

The 1798 Rebellion was an uprising by The United Irishmen against British rule in Ireland and lasted between May and September of that year resulting in the death of thousands. Last week marked the 220th anniversary of the event; passing almost unnoticed in the media, but many of our finest ballads can be traced back to then. The above recording is by Phil Coulter and tells the story of one Thomas Russell who played a major part in both it and a later uprising by his friend Robert Emmett. He was also a close personal friend of Wolfe Tone. Thomas Russell was executed in Downpatrick in October 1803. The ballad is by Florence Wilson. (1870 - 1946). With thanks to Ireland 1 who posted and youtube.

I Found My Tribe/Doris Daley.

I Found My Tribe/Doris Daley!

Chinook Fire Productions 2013

"I Found My Tribe" is the story of a journey back. A DVD by Denise Calderwood that explores the question "What is in you to do, and how did it get there?" and follows in the steps of the Canadian cowboy poet Doris Daley as she searches for some trace of her roots and of her great grandfather Jim, who left Ireland in the nineteenth century and settled in the Porcupine Hills of South Alberta. A journey that would take her through Canada, the United States and to Ireland. A saga of emigration and famine ships and of musical heritage. The Ó Dálaigh were some of Ireland's greatest Gaelic poets and our last magazine included a namesake of hers and his poem on Bective Abbey. Her poems on the American west have been compared to those of Robert Service and she credits his influence to when she discovered the magic of cadence and internal rhyme. The vast open spaces of the American West to the grasslands of Meath is a distance but she taps into it easy and her Irish poems bridge that journey made. There are many well known faces here and you really should get yourself a copy; especially if you are from the county.

She was the guest reader at both The Central/Navan and The Scurlogstown Olympiad Haymaking Festival in 2013 and scenes from these and other events both local and national are included here.

Doris Daley is an award winning poet whose poetry has won her the Best Cowgirl Poet awards from both the Academy of Western Artists and the Western Music Association, as well as the Texas Cowboy Gathering's Heritage Award. Her poetry books and other info are on the link below.

www.dorisdaley.com     

Pat Bennett R.I.P.

Pat Bennett R.I.P.

Pat Bennett was a poet and songwriter from Virginia in County Cavan and a long time member of The Meath Writers' Circle. Sadly, he passed away in April of this year and was buried in Maghera yesterday. He will be remembered for his kindness and good nature and always a ready smile. I recorded Pat reciting this poem back in April of 2012 and there are a number of his other poems on the site back then. He was a regular at nearly all of our meetings and used to travel over from London every month. He will be missed.

Painted Skies

A bite to eat

A place to lie

A time for thought

Before I die.

My love to call

A kiss at last

A hand to shake

That's from the past.

A dyin wish

In a livin year

Come the appointed time

Of leavin here.

Thrones of mercy

I can see

Harp of angels

Callin me.

Up among 

The painted skies

Of one who lives 

And never dies.

That's it.

Pat Bennett: (Recorded Thursday, April the 12th, 2012)