Ep 280 – Celebrations at the Birmingham Irish Association and the Saint Bernadette Relic Tour arrives at Salford Cathedral

This week on the Irish in the UK

In part 1… We are in Birmingham celebrating with their CEO, Maurice Malone, who has been awarded the MBE. At the same event, we look back over the years that Pat Reihill was the Chairman of the Birmingham Irish Association, celebrating all the success stories under his leadership.

The whole event was organised by the Association’s Service Manager Trudy McGroarty and was a surprise for both Morris and Pat!

At the same event we meet Pat O’Neill who takes over the reins as the new CEO.

The great work within the community, by the Irish Association, is rewarded with a silver MBE and a tribute from Michael D Higgins, the Irish President.

In part 2… we round off our visit to the Birmingham Irish Association, meeting Pauline McDermott who was rewarded for her work with the dementia project.

Across to Salford and we’re at the Cathedral. The Saint Bernadette Relic Tour has travelled around the country and we meet up with it at Salford Cathedral. The Relic has travelled from Lourdes and will continue visiting places of worship until November 2022.

We meet Gwyneth Walker, President of Salford Lourdes Hospitality and talk with Fr Gerard Fieldhouse-Byrne about the huge importance of Saint Bernadette’s Relic, and how well the local congregation has received it.

 

For more information…

Birmingham Irish Association and Dementia Care… www.birish.org.uk

Saint Bernadette Tour… https://stbernadette.org.uk

 

 

REMEMBER!! If you also watch on Sky, we’re now on channel 186… same time, just new channel.

Watch the Irish in the UK every Thursday night at 7.30pm on SKY 186 or Freesat 162. Repeated on Tuesday at 1 pm