The Charitable Irish Society’s 274th Annual St. Patrick’s Day Dinner

Featured Speaker: Nicholas Allen, Boston College Burns Library Visiting Scholar, Moore Institute Professor, NUI Galway

When: Thursday, March 17, 2011

Cocktails: 6:30pm
Dinner: 7:30pm

Location: The Union Club of Boston
Eight Park Street, Boston, MA 02108

Tickets: $135

For more information contact:

Paula Carrol – 508-655-8430
Kelley Kassa – klkassa@yahoo.com

The Charitable Irish Society’s 273rd Annual St. Patrick’s Dinner

Featured speaker: Author and Columnist James Carroll

When: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Cocktail reception: 6:30pm
Dinner: 7:30pm

Location: The Hampshire House
84 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.

Tickets are $135 per person

For tickets: Call Paula Carroll at 508-655-8430

or email Kelley Kassa at klkassa@yahoo.com

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 17, 2010.

When: 10:30am

Where: Boston Athenaeum
10 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston, MA  02108

Agenda:  This year’s Annual General Meeting will start with an introduction to the Athenaeum from the Director of the Athenaeum.  We will then discuss general business, minutes from the year’s Board of Directors meetings, and elect directors and officers for the 2010/2011 term. 

Coffee will be served.

Following the meeting, members will walk to the Irish Famine Memorial and place a wreath in front of the memorial.

December Board Meeting

Wednesday, December

Location: TBD

November Board Meeting

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Location: TBD

Travels with my Harp: An Afternoon with Mary O’Hara

Sunday, October 11, 2009 at Boston College

Presentation 2:00 – 3:30pm, Devlin Hall 008

Exhibit and Reception 3:45pm – 5:30pm, John J Burns Library

On Sunday, October 11, 2009, Boston College is holding a very special event marking the donation of the papers of famed Irish singer and harpist Mary O’Hara to the Irish Music Archives of the John J. Burns Library of Boston College.   

An artist of international renown, Mary O’Hara has appeared on many of the world’s major stages, including London ’s Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Toronto ‘s Roy Thompson Hall. Born in County Sligo , Ireland , Mary O’Hara achieved early fame in the 1950s and 1960s with a series of landmark recordings and a television series on BBC-TV.  Her performances revived the tradition of the Irish harp as an accompanying instrument — a tradition dead in Ireland by the 1950s.  Liam Clancy in his 2002 autobiography, Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour, has written how Mary O’Hara’s music inspired him and others of the “folk revival” period of the early 1960s. 

 In 1956, Ms. O’Hara married the American poet Richard Selig, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford , and the couple relocated to the United States .  Following Richard’s untimely death fifteen months into their marriage, Mary left her musical career and became a Benedictine nun. In 1974, she left the monastery and resumed recording and performing, appearing in major concert halls around the world. She married Dr. Padraig O’Toole in 1985, and after retiring from singing in 1994, she accompanied her husband to work in Africa for six years.  A musical play about Ms. O’Hara’s life, Harp on the Willow, was produced in Australia in 2007.  She currently resides with her husband in England .

The John J. Burns Library exhibit, Mary O’Hara, Singer and Harpist: A Retrospective features selected posters, recordings, correspondence, sheet music, awards, photographs, and books from the Mary O’Hara Papers.  The exhibit will be on view at the library from October 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010.

Please RSVP to Lori Shemanski at 617-552-3282 or lori.shemanski@bc.edu.

October Board Meeting

All members in good standing are invited to attend Board meetings.

Next Board Meeting: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Time: 5:30pm

Location: The Roche Room, Bapst Library, Boston College

This year is the 160th anniversary of the sinking of the Brig St. John, a  famine tragedy in which at least 99 Irish men, women and children, mostly from Galway and Clare, were lost so close to their final destination of Boston.

To memorialize those lost and commemorate local efforts to save those onboard, the AOH has organized some activities.

A Mass at St Anthony’s Church (at the corner of South Main and Summer Street)at 1:00pm in Cohasset, followed by a brief reception after the Mass in the parish hall.  Afterwards there will be a wreath laying ceremony at the Celtic Cross in Cohasset Central Cemetery.
Date: 2009-10-04

The Charitable Irish Society will bestow Silver Key Awards on John Curran, Larry Reynolds, and Christopher J. Lavery on Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

Here are the event details:

Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Time: 6:00pm – 8:30pm

Place: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1154 Boylston Street, Boston

Tickets: For information on tickets, please contact Keeper of the Silver Key Sandra Moody at: sandralmoody@yahoo.com 0r 617-734-9291

About This Year’s Recipients 

Co. Kerry native and longtime Belmont resident John Curran is well-known throughout the Boston Irish community — and particularly in the Irish music community. 

 John came to the U.S. in 1955, and since then has made a big impact in Boston.  His many accomplishments include being a co-founder of the Hanafin-Cooley (Boston) branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann and a founder of the Irish Cultural Centre of New England. 

 John may be best known for his 30 years of showcasing and promoting Irish music and culture as host of The Sound of Erin Irish radio show. 

Larry Reynolds is one of the most well-known Irish musicians in the Greater Boston area and has dedicated countless hours to keeping the Irish music tradition alive in Boston. 

Larry honed in craft in Galway (where he was born and raised) and then brought his gift to us when he emigrated to Boston in 1953.                                         He currently lives in Waltham.

 A long-time member of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann, he is the Chairman of the Hanafin-Cooley branch.

 A Belfast native, Chris Lavery earned his law degree from Boston College and is now a partner in the Sedna Law firm.    

 Chris’s commitment to helping immigrants to the U.S. goes far beyond his paying clients.  When not practicing law, Chris provides pro bono legal services for the legal clinics run by both the Irish Immigration Center and the Irish Pastoral Centre.

 In 2006 Chris was one of several lawyers receiving the Irish Immigration Center’s Solas Award.  He is also a recipient of the PAIR Project of Boston’s Detention Attorney Award (2006) and Appreciation Award for Outstanding Public Service (2007).  Chris is also on the Board of Trustees for the Irish Pastoral Centre.

We hope you will join us for this exciting evening!

Join the Society for a casual gathering to listen to Larry Reynold’s famous traditional Irish seisun!

When: 7:30pm, Monday, July 20, 2009

Where: Green Briar,  304 Washington Street, Brighton