Carrick-on-Shannon Historical Society: Bush Hotel, Wednesday 16th May, 8.30 pm sharp! Members no charge, nonmembers €5, OAPs/students €3.

Paul Clements is a writer, journalist and tutor. He spent 27 years working for the BBC in Belfast and London before leaping into the freelance world in 2007. He has written two travel books about Ireland, The Height of Nonsense: The Ultimate Irish Road Trip (2005) and Irish Shores: A Journey Round the Rim of Ireland (1993).
A contributing editor to two renowned travel guidebooks: Insight and Fodor’s, he has researched and written essays for Insight Guide Ireland (2008) specializing on the west coast, and on the midlands, northwest and Northern Ireland for Fodor’s Ireland (2009). He has written widely about the writer and historian Jan Morris and his work includes a critical study published in 1998, and a Festschrift, Jan Morris, Around the World in Eighty Years, published in 2006 in honour of her 80th birthday.
Paul’s work has appeared in the Irish Times, Irish Examiner, Escape, the Guardian, Times Literary Supplement, The Observer, Planet, the Welsh Internationalist, Verbal Arts, and The Irish Book Review.
Paul lives in Belfast and spends part of each year in the west of Ireland researching, writing, climbing hills, and squeezing in a pint or two. More recently, he has been a frequent visitor to France where he is attracted, not only by the wine, but to the cultural history and enjoying what the French call la douceurde vivre better known perhaps under its Italian equivalent la dolce vita.
He is a Fellow of Green-Templeton College, Oxford, and a member of the National Union of Journalists, the Society of Authors, and the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland.

‘Leitrim Echoes of the Great War’ is the topic to be presented at the Carrick-on-Shannon & District Historical Society’s lecture by Pádraig Griffin. These lectures have become very popular, so please arrive early — Bush Hotel, 8.30 pm sharp, Wednesday, 18th April. Admission €5, free for members, €3 for OAPs/students, payable at the door.m

Carrick-on-Shannon & District Historical Society are delighted to announce their first lecture for 2012 in the Bush Hotel on Wednesday February 15th @ 8.30p.

“Bishop William Bedell (1571-1642) of Kilmore — Print, Language and Religion in the seventeenth century Ireland”. Bishop Bedell (Church of Ireland) was responsible for translating a number of documents including the Old Testament and a catechism into the Irish language.

The talk will be given by Longford native Dr Marc Caball, BA MOD, BA OXON, author of ‘Poets and Politics’. He is a senior lecturer of Arts and Celtic Studies in University College Dublin.

Caball holds a D.Phil from the University of Oxford and is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He has been appointed a Director of UCD Humanities Institute in Ireland. Dr Caball is chairman of the COST Domain Committee for Individuals, Cultures, Societies and Health (DC ISCH)

He is a council member of the Irish Texts Society and has published widely on the cultural history of Modern Ireland. He is co-editor with Andrew Carpenter, of Oral and Print Cultures in Ireland 1600-1900.

William Bedell was born in 1571 in Black Nolty in Essex and was educated in Cambridge where he was a pupil of William Perkins. He became a fellow of Emmanuel in 1593 and took orders in 1607. He was appointed chaplain to Sir Henry Wooton the English Ambassador of Venice. He translated the Book of Common Prayer into Italian and wrote a series of sermons with Fulgenzio Micanzio.and was appointed to the rectory of Bury St Edmonds.

In 1627 he became Provost of Trinity College Dublin. To gain the confidence of the Irish people he studied the Irish language. Despite being a Protestant, he arranged a chapter of the Irish Old Testament to be read at his dinners by a native Irish speaker and Irish prayers to be said in the Chapel.

In 1629 he was appointed to become Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh. He translated sermons and homilies and a Catechism into Irish. He was responsible for commissioning the translation of the Holy Bible into the Irish language. He made preparations for printing the work at his own house. He was horrified at the deplorable state that people were left in by the English landlords and he set out to improve the living conditions in the diocese. He encountered some opposition from Anglicans and Catholics alike for reaching out to the downtrodden Irish.

He resigned from Ardagh in 1633 and was determined to rebuild the church buildings that were neglected over the years. He was responsible for laying out the town of Virginia in Co Cavan after the landlord’s failure to build the town and provide a church.

At the time of the Irish/Catholic Rebellion in 1641 the local warlords, headed by the O’Reilly clan, took control of the area. Bedell used his Bishop’s house in Kilmore as a place of refuge for those seeking shelter from the war. When he resisted a command to hand over the refugees, he was seized and imprisoned in the castle of Loughochter. He was by repute a very scholarly and kindly man and he was held in such regard that when he was imprisoned he was not harmed. However, due to the damp conditions in the castle, he fell ill after his release and is believed to have contacted typhus.

He died on February 7th in 1642 and is buried next to his wife Leah in Kilmore. His funeral is said to have taken place in the presence of his O’Reilly captors. A large military force attended his funeral and fired a volley over his grave. At the burial a Roman Catholic priest, Fr Farrell, was heard to say “May my soul be with Bedell’s.” Bedell’s last will and testament is available through the UK National Archives.

The new Cathedral Church of Kilmore consecrated in 1860 was, according to the inscription, erected to his memory.

Rig the Jig’s Paul Gurney, guitar/keyboard and well-known recording studio executive, will join Drumshanbo-based Celtic Legends for a concert to launch a lovely CD this Friday, 13th January at 7.30p in St. George’s Heritage Centre, Church Lane, Carrick-on-Shannon.

Prepare for a lovely and lively concert To Drive the Cold Winter Away, a soothing, smoothing and seasonal collection of tunes and songs based on the darkness, light and enchantment of Celtic legends.

Now based in Drumshanbo, multi-talented Gian Castello is a flute player who has studied with the renowned John Lee of Donegal and Micho Russell of Clare. A fervent follower of Celtic culture with roots in Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Brittany, this is his 6th CD in the Bardic tradition . Gian enthrals with his playing of the tin whistle, dulcimer, and concert flute.

Devon MacGillivray (fiddle, vocals) is also based in Drumshanbo (via Boston) and is long involved in music, both classical and traditional, and has her heritage roots in the Cape Breton tradition.

Kitia Benedetti (bodhrán, narration) is an actress by vocation and lends a lovely balance to the trio.

Based in Longford (originally from Kiltyclogher), music producer/sound engineer Paul Gurney enhances all with his keyboards and guitar contribution.

Charlie McGettigan’s CD liner notes are full of praise, including …“On listening to some of the tracks like “Earl of Essex” and “Scarborough Fair” one could picture the ensemble playing in the court of some old Irish chieftain as dancers delicately ‘caroled’ to the music….” while Michael Herron says “[this is] …an aptly titled collection of magical music! From first breath to final note “To Drive the Cold Winter Away” is a mesmerising journey along a crystal river of sound…here is music in which to reflect, to dream.”

Refreshments will be served and admission is €5 at the door. Info 071 962 1757. This CD is available from various outlets as well as at the concert — Mulvey’s, St. George’s Heritage Centre, Nauty Bits (Market Yard), Rock and Rolla (off Bridge St.) and Gala (Drumshanbo).