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Leeds
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Did you know that throughout the month of March every year, Irish History Month takes place? An initiative brought about by the Irish Arts Foundation in Leeds, Irish History Month exists to promote the many positive contributions that Irish people have made in Leeds and also to introduce new audiences to the vibrancy of Irish arts, heritage, culture, and history.
An afternoon of traditional Irish music hosted by local musicians takes place at Castleton Mill in Armley on the afternoon of Sunday 6 March. The location, a beautifully restored Grade 2 listed former textile mill on the banks of the Leeds Liverpool Canal, provides local historical significance for the first event of this year's Irish History Month in Leeds.
Many Irish immigrants passed through or settled in Leeds during and after the Great Hunger 1845-1852 (also referred to as ‘The Irish Famine’) and were heavily employed in the local textile industry. The term 'Navvies' came from a shortening of 'Navigator', a job title for those that dug out the numerous canal systems of the 18th and 19th Century.
The Irish Navvies were manual labourers working on civil engineering projects such as the Leeds Liverpool Canal that propelled the Victorian industrial revolution.
On Wednesday 9 March at Seacroft Community Hub, in collaboration with Leeds Libraries, Irish Arts Foundation Director, Des Hurley, will chair a discussion and presentation, ‘Untold Stories: The Leeds Irish Community.’ Untold Stories is a community archive project undertaken by the Irish Arts Foundation. Initially funded through the Heritage Lottery Fund, the project looks at the experiences of the emigrant Irish community in Leeds in the second half of the 20th century, particularly their settlement patterns and cultural traditions such as music, dance, song, and sport.
On Saturday 12 March at Chapel FM Arts Centre in East Leeds our new project, 'Exploring the Musical Traditions of County Cork & County Kerry', will be officially launched. Supported by Arts Council England, this nine-month social history project will explore the musical traditions of County Cork and County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland, in particular the music of the ‘Sliabh Luachra’ area. The project will also include stories from the Cork and Kerry-Leeds Irish diaspora. ‘Sliabh Luachra’ (pronounced Sleeve Loucra) is the mountainous region along the Cork/Kerry border in the province of Munster straddling the county boundaries of Cork and Kerry. The name ‘Sliabh Luachra’ means "a mountain of rushes".
An afternoon of traditional Irish music hosted by local musicians takes place at The Terminus and Alfred’s in Meanwood on the afternoon of Sunday 13th March.To celebrate International Women’s Day on 8th March, The Leeds Irish Music Programmes on 22 February and 22 March will include conversations with members of the Leeds-Irish community recalling memories of their arrival and experiences in their adopted city.
Broadcast online on East Leeds FM, all shows are available online.‘1922 - Traditional Music and the Inception of the Irish Free State’. At Kirkstall Abbey Visitor Centre on Tuesday 29 March, in collaboration with Leeds Museums & Galleries and as part of the ‘1152 Club: talks at Kirkstall Abbey’ project, Emeritus Professor of Music at the University of Leeds, David Cooper and musicians from the Irish Arts Foundation explore some of the themes and issues in Irish traditional music and song in the light of events that took place in Ireland a century ago - the War of Independence, the Anglo-Irish Treaty, the formation of the Irish Free State and the ensuing Civil War. As well as sketching out the political background to the events, the talk will consider how music was performed and adapted for broader ideological and cultural purposes.
Throughout the month an Irish educational and cultural exhibition, ‘Timeline,’ can be viewed at Armley Library & Community Hub. The 21st Leeds St Patrick’s Day Parade will take place in Leeds City Centre on Sunday 13 March, leaving Millennium Square at 10.30am.
All details are correct as of 1 March 2022.
The Irish Arts Foundation reserves the right to amend any programme detail.