History Matters in Dunhill

By John Hartery

It was  noted before in this blog that history talks bring crowds and it was proven again  at Dunhill Multi-Education Centre, no mean achievement on a dark and wintry January evening. Dunhill is an example of a community that's vibrant with a large range of local education and entrepreneurial activities amongst other initiatives. 

The lectures  come under the banner of The Julian Walton Winter Lecture Series and is now in its 14th Year. Walton is of course the doyen of historians in the region with an impressive track record of broadcasting and writing on historical topics many with a local flavour.

The Dunhill schedule  of talks run on a weekly basis on Thursday nights with a fiver admission charge and a cuppa and chat afterwards. Topics tend to have a local bias but placed  the context of wider history.

Tony Benn's memorial to Emily Davison

Last week's talk by Niamh Crowley had a full house for 'Women, The Vote and Waterford'. it was quite a wide-ranging talk tracing  the Suffragette movement in the UK and USA to local Waterford women who helped smash the glass ceiling. Archive footage and pictures illustrated the path taken to secure votes for all women (and some men) finally  in the late 1920s. Ireland in fact in the vanguard in granting the franchise to everybody. 

The Epsom Derby event and Emily Davison was noted and an interesting clip of what happened  

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Davison was also famous for hiding out in the House of Commons to feature there in the census. An occasion finally acknowledged there by a plaque placed by Tony Benn an act  subsequently chronicled by Reg Meuross

Many women used the census of 1911 to voice their views on no votes for women. Crowley illustrated the census returns of a trio of Waterford women active in pursuit of the vote; Lily Poole, Dr Mary Strangman and Rosamund Jacobson.

There's plenty of talks coming up  in the Dunhill lecture series and something for all tastes

Dunhill History Lectures with Julian Walton - Series XIV - 2020

The series will run for ten weeks, every Thursday from 9 January to 12 March. Lectures are held at Dunhill Multi-Education Centre (opposite the GAA grounds).

Starting at 8 p.m., each lecture lasts about an hour and is followed by a question & answer session and light refreshments.

9 Jan Julian Walton: “Eaten by a hog”: The early history of Kilmeadan

16 Jan Liam Suipéal: Coastal Place names from Dungarvan to Youghal - an illustrated talk on our coastal heritage.

23 Jan Niamh Crowley: Women, the vote, and Waterford

30 Jan Julian Walton: The Hore family of Dungarvan

6 Feb William Fraher: Visualising the past: Waterford County Museum’s photographic archive

13 Feb Julian Walton: Charles Newport Bolton (1816-1884) – artist, genealogist, and historian of Waterford Harbour

20 Feb Christina Knight O’Connor and Eddie Cantwell: Investigations at Gallows Hill, Dungarvan - a community archaeology project

27 Feb Dave Pollock: Finding medieval Stradbally

5 March Eugene Broderick: Thomas Meagher (1789?-1874): the forgotten father of Thomas Francis Meagher

12 March Julian Walton: A surprise!

London Calling 2020

Every now and then, I pine for the buzz that a big city can offer and can't resist the impulse to jump on a plane for London so conveniently close to us on the east coast of Ireland. The appeal was explored in this BBC radio programme by Mark Tully https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b03sr5qv quoting a diverse range of authors in a celebration of the big city from William Blake to Suzanne Vega and from New Orleans jazz to William Wordsworth. London seemed the same as ever. Brexit wiped off the headlines by the announcement of Harry and Meghan's departure. I spent four nights in central London visiting old haunts and finding some new ones. A little roundup of my experiences here.

Play at Kilburn:  The Tricycle Theatre in Kilburn High Road has had a name change. The complex housing a cinema, bar and restaurant as well as a theatre with a town hall feel was lively on Thursday night. It is now  known as The Kiln. I saw Mike Bartlett's play Snowflake here. Although it was well reviewed, I found this three-hander based on the rift between a father and daughter with a Brexit theme a bit yawn inducing. Guardian review by Michale Billington here https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2018/dec/11/snowflake-review-mike-bartlett-old-fire-station-oxford. The Black Lion across the road is an impressive pub for a post show pint.

Pete Atkin at Pheasantry wity songs of the late Clive James

The Songs of Clive James and Peter Atkin: A bittersweet evening as Clive Jame's song writing partner accompanied by pianist Simon Wallace played  some of the songs the duo had produced in five decades of collaboration at the clubby ambience of the basement lounge of, The Pheasantry- a Pizza Express venue on King's Rd Chelsea. The staff managed to deftly serve pizza and drinks without interrupting the flow. A radio programme on the duo here.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06nnnlc

Troy Exhibition at The British Museum; With a magnificent atrium, The British Museum is for my money the most impressive public building in London. A special exhibition of all things to do with Troy. Lots of ceramics, marbles and paintings. Best of all were the books, early print editions of translations of Homer's Iliad and hand written volumes with notes in the margins, many from a collection at Buckingham Palace.

Shopping: Enjoyed browsing in the Victorian building housing a Waterstone's branch on Gower Street. Lots of literary events listed

Ballet: The Red Shoe's based on a Hans Christian Anderson tale was playing at Sadler's Wells in Islington. A gorgeous production to a Bernard Hermann score. Ballet Rambert were showing off what they could do at an open rehearsal of a forthcoming production (Aisha and Abhaya) at the Royal Opera House. The house is open during to the day to have a wander around. The viewing balcony allows views over the area and a peak into the costume workrooms. I enjoyed a pie and a pint in the Red Lion in Islington near Sadler's Wells amid punters in  to watch Saturday football.





Pub Theatre
Canal Cafe Theatre has a long running revue programme in the style of Beyond the Fringe over a pub in Little Venice. It was hilarious. with topical sketches riffing on the latest news.

Cast here 

Edward Bartram, Gabrielle de Saumarez, Luke Francis and Emily-Rose Clarkson.
Directed by Sam Sheldon.
Musical Direction by Richard Baker.

Curtains: Musical

I saw Curtains by Kander and Ebb on the last night at Wyndham's Theatre in the West End before it went on tour. It was very charming and witty. There were strong performances not least from Jason Manford as the stage struck detective. Mark Lawson's review here https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/dec/18/curtains-review-wyndhams-theatre-kander-and-ebb. Definitely worth seeing if not a must-see.

Westminster Cathedral: Music for the 10.30 liturgy included a motet from Handel's Messiah- And the Glory of the Lord shall be revealed; settings by Renaissance composer Christopher Tye and an organ voluntary by Buxtehude. All was not happy it seems in the Cathedral Music Dept and the newsletter carried news of the sudden departure of music master Martin Baker, it appears in a clash over changes to the timetable. More here in a Guardian article https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/21/westminster-cathedral-to-review-sacred-music-after-master-resigns.

The magazine carried a feature on the late Colin Mawby who was of course well known from his work with RTE choirs in Dublin. Artcicle from Oremus here https://issuu.com/rcwestminster/docs/january20website

Busker Trafalgar Sq

The newsletter also carried a list of raffle prizes still to be claimed included; champagne, chocolates, M&S vouchers, 'Festive Pandoro Cake' and a 'donkey'! I suppose might be hard to house a donkey in your average London dwelling.

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Pooch, Pie and Pint in Islington