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When James McDonald started speaking Irish to his first child after his birth last summer, he knew that his son would need to hear it from more than just his Dad to take any interest in it as a living language. A few months later, what began as an innocent enquiry to the London Irish Centre about activities for Irish-speaking parents has developed into a monthly Irish language playgroup for young families living in London!
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Learning Irish through play at the new London Irish playgroup
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Since its first humble meet up of just seven families in December 2016, the playgroup has been somewhat of an instant success as it turns out there hasn’t been such a playgroup in London since the early nineties. Spreading the word throughout the London Irish community with the help of the London Irish Centre's Arts and Culture team, James says:
'Feedback was encouraging, as I had been concerned that people might be interested in singing songs but put off by the Irish language. That wasn’t the case at all as even those with very little ability in Irish were keen for their kids to learn it and we’re now well on our way to having a new generation of Gaelgóirí in London.'
At it's third monthly meet-up last month there were over forty parents and more than thirty children, ranging in age from just four weeks to seven years. Parents took turns singing songs, reading stories, and doing a mix of arts and musical activities to give their children fun experiences with the Irish language and culture. They ranged from Irish-born and newly arrived in London to fourth-generation Irish, or indeed those with no Irish ancestry at all. Some know little or no words of Irish whereas others are native speakers raising their children through Irish, but all share an interest in passing on a love of Irish culture to the next generation.
The playgroup meets from 12-2pm on the last Saturday of the month at the London Irish Centre, Camden Square and you can find more information in the ‘London Irish Playgroup’ group on Facebook, or by contacting James at shanakee@gmail.com.
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Did you know that research has shown that parts of the brain stimulated by music are often the last to be affected by dementia? This provides an unexpected and important link back to past memories and experiences.
'Your Life Through Song', a project of Irish Community Services in Greenwich, Bexley and Lewisham, builds on this concept to support Irish people with dementia, memory loss or cognitive impairment, and their carers. Group meetings take place once a month and provide the opportunity to sing and remember.
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The project is essentially about capturing memories by combining a person's life story with the songs that form important memories their life. These songs then form part of an individual 'Song book' (and accompanying CD) with a list of songs and the reasons why they are important to the person's life story. Family members are involved in the creation of the book as they remember things that the person might not, prompting them to recall stories they may have forgotten. Mary Pegler, the project coordinator, notes that:
'It is easy to assume that just because a person is Irish that they like all Irish songs, when this is not true. They have a very varied taste in music which people would not realise if they did not have the book to refer to. I have found that this is also very good for the family as most of the stories are about happy times and it is a chance to remember the person how they were.'
As a person's condition declines, they may need help from outside the family. In these situations the song book provides those caring for the person outside of the family with a clear picture of the person before they became ill. It acts as a prompt for discussion and is also an important tool in promoting a calming environment for the person.
Memory loss can be very lonely as the person does not always feel that they cannot contribute anything as they can’t remember. With songs and singing this is the opposite, with the person the feeling they are included. If you'd like to find out more, contact Mary at carersmanager@irishcommunityservices.org.uk.
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Over the last year, we've noticed a rise in the number of queries we are receiving about returning to Ireland. This tallies with CSO figures which show an increase of 74% in inward migration to Ireland by Irish people - a total of 21,100 people in the year to April 2016. At a political level there has been some interest in issues of concern for returning Irish emigrants, and you can read our November 2016 submission to the Interdepartmental Committee on Diaspora Affairs convened by Minister Joe McHugh on the Policy and Research section of our website or by clicking here.
In order to support the next generation of returning Irish emigrants, we are offering collaborative information sessions to Emigrant Support Programme funded organisations around the world. Working together, we hope to support current Irish emigrants to make an informed decision about their proposed return to Ireland from abroad.
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Details of one of our recent joint information sessions in Australia
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To date we have run capacity building sessions on the ins-and-outs of returning to Ireland from abroad with groups in the USA, Canada, Australia and the UK (including the Coalition of Irish Immigration Centres, the Irish Canadian Immigration Centre, the Irish Support Agency NSW Inc, and the Irish Australian Support & Resource Bureau). We also recently worked in partnership with Safe Home Ireland at an information session for possible returnees at Mind Yourself in London last month.
These sessions can be facilitated remotely by Skype with front-line workers or directly with groups of prospective returnees. If this is something that interests you, get in touch with Sarah at sarahowen@crosscare.ie
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