Seamus McGarry Awarded Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad

Seamus McGarry, one of the Irish Cultural Centres Directors, has been awarded the Presidential Distinguished Award for the Irish Abroad. These awards, which were presented for the first time last year, honour recipients in a number of fields including: 
Peace, Reconciliation and Development
Business and Education
Arts, Culture and Sport
Charitable Works

Seamus McGarry was a recipient of the award in honour of Irish Community Support. Seamus has been a prominent member of the Irish Community in Britain for over 40 years and was well known in the GAA in the 60s as a hurler in London and Hertfordshire.   Amongst his many achievements Seamus was a founder member of the Ireland Fund of Great Britain in 1988 and is currently a Trustee.  He has also served over 10 years of office as chairman of the Federation of Irish Societies in two terms, was appointed Director of the Safe Start Foundation in London 1992 - 1998 and was former Chairman of the Irish Network Stevenage. As you can see the award has been well deserved and we at the Irish Cultural Centre congratulate Seamus in his achievements!

"These awards also recognise the tireless and crucial work of those like Rodney Walsh in New Zealand and Seamus McGarry in the UK who have looked after Irish citizens abroad. On behalf of the Irish people, I would like to express our gratitude for their hard work and commitment to Ireland over many decades. ” 
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs & Trade, Eamon Gilmore T.D.

Seamus is currently a member of the Irish Government Emigrant Services Committee and a Director here at the Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith. 

Irish Language Classes at the Irish Cultural Centre

Má tá cúpla bliain déanta agat sa teanga Gaeilge ar scoil agus b'fhéidir suas go dtí an Teastas Sóisearach, agus más mian leat do scileanna sa sean teanga a fheabhsú tá deis iontach agat anseo i Hammersmith.

Beidh ranganna Gaeilge an Irish Cultural Centre Hammersmith ag tosnú arís tar éis na Nollag agus tá mic léinn nua á lorg acu.

Le déanaí ag Féile Scannán na hÉireann i Londain taispeánadh dhá scannán i nGaeilge, le fotheidil, ar ndóigh! Chríochnaigh an ócáid le seisiún Ceisteanna agus Freagraí dá-theangach leis an lucht  scannaíochta.  Bhí mic léinn as na ranganna Gaeilge páirteach sa seisiún seo, an chéad ceann dá-theangach le Gaeilge dá leithéid  i bhFéile Scannán i Londain, le haistriúchán beo ó Danny Sheehy as Gaeltacht Chiarraí - sin fianaise go bhfuil ag éirí go maith leis na ranganna Gaeilge i Hammersmith!

Má theastaíonn uait do scileanna sa Ghaeilge a athbheochain, gheobhaidh tú na sonraí  anseo:  


Translation - 

If you studied Irish at school up to Junior Cert Level, and fancy refreshing your skills here in Hammersmith then this could be the perfect opportunity.  The Irish Cultural Centre’s Irish Language classes re-commence after Christmas and are looking for new recruits.

At the recent Irish Film Festival a double bill of Irish language films took place.  This event culminated in a question and answer session. Students from the Irish Cultural Centres language classes were involved in the first Irish English bi-lingual Q&A in a London film festival, with live translation from Danny Sheehy: a testament to the success of the classes!

If you would like to re-ignite your Irish Language skills you can find all the details here 

Irish Language - Join the Conversation!

With 41% of the Irish population able to speak Irish yet only 1.8% of the population speaking Irish daily outside of education, here at the Irish Cultural Centre we are intrigued to learn why so few people use this fascinating language in their daily lives. We are uncovering facts about Irish and posing questions through our Facebook and Twitter pages to see how much is known about the Irish language. 

Join in the conversations on Facebook and Twitter using #irishlangfacts

Also use the hashtag to let us know about your experiences of Irish language, whether that be from your schools days spent reading Peig or any other anecdotes you might have. Let us know and get involved!

Here is a clip of Stephen Fry raising some interesting points -