Aisling gratefully received our annual grant from the Emigrant Servicers Programme this month which is the money distributed by the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin for services to the Irish Abroad. This fund has become a life saver for the emigrant Irish community throughout the world and we can thank a number of people... Read More

We had a great day out at the races in Kempton on Wednesday 16 August. Back in June we were approached by Sarah Finucane, single handed publisher of Irish in Britain what’s-on guide ‘The Craic is Back’ with an idea to raise money for Aisling. The idea was simple and, as it turned out, very... Read More

Brexit is throwing some unexpected curve balls our way. How many of the voters on the leave side thought about the ructions that may ensue when borders are reintroduced or when friends and family members are no longer welcome in Britain? This is a real possibility yet I know of many Irish people here in... Read More

The floor collapsed in the toilet of our office here in Agar Tower. I guess it was the weight of the solid gold bog seat like the one that Trump talks out of. The landlord eventually had a look and found dry rot running through to the other end of the office and that obviously... Read More

The last few months have been productive for Aisling featuring a very successful trip to Wicklow (see Cats and Crows). Many of the people we work with have suffered from a bad experience of emigration and as such find it very hard to go back home after so long away. Our whole purpose is to... Read More

During this last month or so Aisling has had to wear a suit as we have had to do a good bit of fine dining and dancing in some of London’s top hotels. This is the kind of thing that Aisling has to do more frequently these days with myself and John Glynn tripping the... Read More

I have heard it said many times that dependency problems can be inherited along with many other personality traits and talents, physical attributes etc. After many years with Aisling we have noticed family traits repeated in later generations often jumping generations and leaping across family members. A very good friend of mine who I met... Read More

We had a great night out at Windsor races on the 4th of June. Thanks to the tireless efforts of our fundraising committee of Tom Corkery from Gallagher Group, Sarah Finucane of The Craic magazine, Gerry Keany from Cara Stationary and Dermot O'Grady from Ardent Tide we managed to raise £30,000 for the Aisling Project... Read More

Another great evening at the races for Aisling and our supporters and friends is coming our way. The Irish Night at Windsor race course on the evening of Monday 4th June will be sponsored by Irish businesses who will be donating the sponsorship money to Aisling. A marquee is being put up in the grounds... Read More

The Aisling logo was designed by Declan Fahy and features one of our first Aisling clients, taken from an iconic photograph by Deirdre O’Callaghan. Alan MacDonald came on our trip to Wexford about 15 years ago and while we were there we went to visit his home town of Enniscorthy. Alan and I went for... Read More

Our good friends at Green Curtain Theatre are producing a small theatre tour of London Irish venues. This is a great chance to see original theatre from experienced performers and is definitely not to be missed.

Bob Geldof earned a lot of kudos for Band Aid and a lot of sympathy when his wife and daughter died but it seems that he has squandered a bit of both lately. He handed back his freedom of the city of Dublin award before Christmas to protest at the same honour being given to... Read More

Driving around Ireland on our trip to Donegal this year we are constantly asked from lamp-posts, billboards and news media a very complex question with a stark either/or answer: Yes or No. Yes gives women the right to choose whether they should have the right to decide for themselves if they want to have a... Read More

You may have noticed from previous postings that John our alcohol outreach worker seems to find a connection with everyone he meets wherever we go because it seems everyone in the world originated in County Mayo which is the real cradle of civilisation (Mayopotamia perhaps?). But on this trip we witnessed something a bit more... Read More

Ardal O’Hanlon is very busy at the moment in fact I was watching TV the other evening and there were trailers on for two programmes featuring the man himself. One is a tour of Ireland in his company taking place over three hourly programmes and the other was: the Tree of the Year competition which... Read More

I had been sceptical about the approaching centenary of the Easter Rising of 1916, the opening salvo in the war of independence and the date that rings loudest in our national psyche. Mostly because I believed that the main political parties in Ireland have seemed to find the whole thing a bit of an embarrassment... Read More

Sometimes I think we go on too much about drink in these pages so in this one it is all about the lack of the stuff. On our June trip all the returners are ex–drinkers, ex–alcoholics and ex-hung-over–feeling–sick-and-sorry-for-themselves-the-next-day kind of people. There’s nothing new about this of course we have been running ‘dry’ trips for... Read More

When Tom left Dublin 25 years ago he came straight to London and went straight on the drink and straight onto the streets. Since then Aisling has seen Tom in various hostels throughout London and he is now in a small, supported shared house in Ealing where his drinking is limited to three cans of... Read More

Our good friends at Green Curtain Theatre are producing a small theatre tour of London Irish venues. This is a great chance to see original theatre from experienced performers and is definitely not to be missed.

The Chapel is one of London’s best music venues and though it may not be as well known for comedy it is getting very popular with comedy promoters because of the thrill of swearing and saying risky stuff from the pulpit of a working church. On Monday 27th November we had a stellar line up... Read More

Taking place at everyone's favourite sweary church The Union Chapel on Monday 27 November 2017. Doors open 6.30pm, show starts 7.30pm. Late bar and music. Our Patron Ardal O'Hanlon has asked some of his favourite comedians and Fr. Ted alumni to come along and entertain Aisling friends and comrades in the Peoples Republic of Islington... Read More

HOORAY! Aisling is proud to present its TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY comedy spectacular on Sunday May 25th. Featuring a truly startling line-up of comic talent, including Aisling patron Ardal O'Hanlon, Dara O'Briain, Ed Bryne and many, many more, the night is sure to be an absolute blast. Full details, including the killer line up, can be found... Read More

London's Evening Standard gave the recent Aisling benefit gig a great review - with especial praise for our patron (saint) Ardal O'Hanlon. The review was published in the paper and on their website (scan of the newspaper article above). O'Hanlon's stand-up is as original and offbeat as ever, says Bruce Dessau

As always our patron Ardal O'Hanlon will be mastering the ceremonies with Milton Jones 'the funniest man on the telly', hilarious actor/comedian Brendan Dempsey making his return to Aisling, something different from 'genuinely alternative' comedian Sara Pascoe and very talented Drogheda native writer actor and performer Yasmine Akram all working for free for the Aisling... Read More