2009 July - The Irish Diaspora

Rose of Tralee 2009

ROSE OF TRALEE 2010
ROSE OF TRALEE 2011

Here come the girls… and this year there’s 50 of the lovely ladies.

The Rose of Tralee is celebrating its 50th birthday and this year 50 girls will be in the competition to mark the occasion. The festival runs from 21st to the 26th August and starts with the International Rose Ball, parades and musical entertainment, and the final itself takes place on the Tuesday and Wednesday.

The contestants are judged on their overall personality and suitability as ambassadors, and the festival is a celebration of the “aspirations, ambitions, intellect, social responsibility and Irish heritage” of modern young women.

The event is very diasporic with Rose Centres around the world, and anyone can enter if they are Irish descent. Alice O’Sullivan won the rose in 1959 but its origins go back to the early 1800s and the story of Mary O’Connor.

Things have changed and these days the girls really are modern. How modern? well Facebook modern to start with. Amy Moran from Cork, for example, is giving you the chance to get to know her well before she steps foot on the stage in Kerry. You should pop over and say hello!

The Rose of Tralee is distinctly Irish and unique in its style. You would’nt be thinking about it much during the year but it’s great fun when it happens.

Wishing ye all the best of luck (especially Amy, ah well just a bit biased!) and sure you’ll have a great time and a night to remember!

If you fancy a bit of a singalong – the Rose of Tralee

On the night update!
Well would you adam and eve it, London half inched it! – a big congratulations to our new Rose, Charmaine Kenny. Nice one!

London - Charmaine Kenny

And here’s the rest of this years lovely line-up…

Arizona - Alexis Hodel

Armagh - Lisa McClelland

Birmingham - Anna Mullins

Boston - Meaghan Murphy

Cavan - Tara Cunningham

Channel Islands - Leanne Tunney

Chicago - Deirdre McNulty

Coventry Rose - Una Casey

Darwin - Anne McNamee

Derby - Cathrina McGuinness

Dubai - Clodagh Fleming

Dublin Rose - Susan Roe

Edmonton - Katherine Quirke

Florida - Kersten Rowley

France - Melodie ONeill

Georgia - Sinead Lynch

Germany - Jessica Kreuz

Kerry - Karen McGillycuddy

Kilkenny - Stephanie ODwyer

Leicester-Hannah Oguz

Liverpool - Maeve Gallagher

Luxembourg - Siobhan OReilly

Manchester - Aideen Reilly

Milton Keynes - Candy Murphy

New Jersey - Genevieve O'Reilly

New Orleans - Megan Busby

New York - Ashling Colton

New Zealand - Lisa Monaghan

Newcastle - Nerice Logue

Newfoundland - Lori O'Keeffe

Ohio Rose - Annie Dunn

Ottawa - Sarah Thorenton

Perth - Rose McDonnell

Philadelphia - Jocelyn McGillian

Queensland - Kelly O'Shea.

S Australia - Lisa Dunne

S California - Brittany Kelly

San Francisco - Emer Cunningham

Sandwell - Helen McMenamin

Sligo Rose - Sinead McGill

Sunderland - Regina O'Hara

Sydney - Romy Farelly

Texas - Leslie McDonough

Tipperary - Denise Shouldice

Toronto - Sarah Sullivan

Washington DC - Tara Maguire

Waterford - Orna Middleton

Yorkshire - Nicole Moriarty

RTE Online

Here’s the direct links to RTEs online radio channels:

RTE ONLINE FM RADIO

RTÉ Radio 1 Online : RTÉ 2fm : RTÉ Lyric fm : RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta

RTE ONLINE DIGITAL RADIO

RTÉ 2 XM : RTÉ Choice : RTÉ Junior / Chill : RTÉ Gold : RTÉ Pulse : RTE Radio 1 Extra

RTÉ use Windows Media Player or Real Player to play streaming radio, and if you have any problems or need to know more there’s plenty of information at their help page.

They also have a Radio Gadget you can use if you’re running Windows Vista or Windows 7. You’ll need to make sure you have the Microsoft Silverlight browser plugin installed before you download and activate the RTE gadget – details here.

Happy listening, wherever you happen to be!

Murphy Clan

Gaelic variation:
Ó Murchadha, Ó Murchú, Mac Murchaidh: “sea warrior” or “strong or superior”.

Anglicised variations:
O’Murchoe, Murphy.

Although Murphy is the most numerous name in Ireland today (and interestingly the 59th most popular surname in the US), not all Murphys share the same ancestry. There were several significant Murphy septs in each of the four Irish provinces, Munster, Ulster, Leinster and Connacht.

Munster Murphys are the largest group, and can trace their origins to the Múscraighe tribe who inhabited the large area of western Cork, later to be known as the barony of Muskerry.

Ulster Murphys can claim a line back to Niall of the Nine Hostages, the 5th century High King best known for bringing Saint Patrick to Ireland as a slave in 432.

Leinster Murphys are descended from a long line of provincial kings and chieftains, and can claim a line back to the ancient tribe of the Laighin, who gave the province its name.

Connacht Murphys are less common and have been referred to as “of a family of the Uí Fiachrach who were chiefs of a district on the southern shore of Sligo Bay, now comprised of the parishes of Skreen and Templeboy but were dispossessed and dispersed in the 13th century.”

It’s a rough guess, but there are possibly one million Murphy’s around the world. If you’re one of them you should join the diaspora and we’ll see if we can find ye all!

You can read more about the Murphy name at Dennis Murphys website and, when it’s back off vacation! there should hopefully be some intereting stuff at the Murphy Clan website as well.

Arthur Guinness

Arthur Guinness started brewing with £100.

It was 1752, he was 27 years old, and his godfather left him the money in his will. A man with foresight, or at least willing to take a risk, three years later he was running his own brewery making ale in Leixlip. Arthur must have been thinking big even then, and it wasn’t long before he headed for Dublin and agreed a 9,000 year lease on a four acre site – the year was 1759 and Guinness as a brewer of porter was founded.

Arthur Guinness

By 1767 he was the master of the Dublin Corporation of Brewers and managed to expand his operations extensively during 1797–99. The brewery was producing more than 20,000 barrels a year when he died in 1803.

As a man he was highly respected for his actions to improve the lives of people in communities where Guinness did business. This philosophy carried through after his death, and in 1876 Guinness was one of the first businesses in Ireland to provide proper pensions and healthcare for its employees and their families. Guinness the brewery and Guinness the family continued this generosity over the years, and have given land for recreational areas, financial support to education initiatives, and funding for low income housing in parts of Dublin.

It’s Guinness’s 250th birthday this year and the 24th of September is to be known as Arthur’s Day. An impressive line-up of events are planned and leading musical artists will be performing in celebrations around the world, and at 17:59 on that day we’re invited to raise a glass of Guinness to toast the man himself.

Here’s a taster…

Guinness really is one of Irelands greatest exports and enjoyed by the Irish and non-Irish alike, I wonder if he knew something when he signed that lease, imagine the celebrations in 2659!

Slainte, cheers, prost, salut, yung sing, gezondheid, skal…

Thirsty now, off for a pint meself!

Hill of Tara

There’s something about the Hill of Tara that instinctively makes you feel it’s at the core of Irelands heritage, that it’s part of the spirit of Ireland, and that somehow it links us all through its ancient history.

Maybe it’s what we don’t know, or possibly it’s to do with age and mythology, but whatever it is there is an inner sense that tells us we should be looking after it.

Hill of Tara contains a number of ancient monuments, and, according to tradition, was the seat of Árd Rí na hÉireann, or the High King of Ireland. It’s also thought it was the political and spiritual capital of Ireland from the time of the first Celtic influence until the 1169 invasion of Richard de Clare. The complete story of the wider area around Hill of Tara remains untold, and there is still a lot to be learnt.

TaraWatch has submitted a complaint to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, seeking intervention by the UN. Maybe there’s hope that further destruction can be averted and the basis for the intervention is explained in detail at the TaraWatch website.

In truth, the rerouting of a planned motorway shouldn’t be beyond the capability of man, and any minister of government who puts aside the them and us mentality and makes this decision would surely have the ‘feel good factor’ in the long run. I know I wouldn’t want to be questioning what i’d done in the calmer light of day – and hardly a good epitaph!

We should collectively cherish the Hill of Tara as one of the great symbols of our history, be proud of what it represents, preserve it unspoilt for tourists and those of Irish heritage to enjoy, and protect it for the benefit of future generations.

Time to put the tiger on a diet!

SAVE TARA – Sign the Petition to Unesco.
(The iPetitions donation is voluntary – your signature and comment will be recorded regardless.)

Smithsonian puts Hill of Tara on list of endangered must-sees

Discovery Programme: Tara is one of the best-known and important ancient sites in Ireland.

Hill of Tara nominated for World Heritage Site status

Rose of Tralee 2009

RTE Online

Murphy Clan

Arthur Guinness

Hill of Tara

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