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  • Painting of Johnny 'Pops' Connors

    Painting of Johnny 'Pops' Connors

    By Cian McLoughlin

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  • On the Road with Aisling

    On the Road with Aisling

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  • On the Road with Aisling

    On the Road with Aisling

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  • On the Road with Aisling

    On the Road with Aisling

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  • On the Road with Aisling

    On the Road with Aisling

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Letters from the Coordinator

  • ap5_man2_wee

    The Times That Are In It

    May 5, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Things have been tough for Aisling as for everyone else but signs are that we may be heading into more stable waters thanks to the wonderful institution of the NHS which has pulled out all the stops in delivering vaccines to the people in the UK. Things are taking a more steady course in Ireland... Read More
  • gaa-chandelier

    Have Yourselves an Aisling Little Christmas

    December 23, 2020Alex McDonnelComments Off
    It has been a most weird time for us all and it will certainly continue to be into the new year at least. This time last year our fears for the future were all about Brexit and having to negotiate the borders between Ireland and the UK. No more driving off the ferry at Dublin... Read More
  • covid-19-context-is-everything-822-1024x640

    Keeping communities safe and in contact

    June 1, 2020Alex McDonnelComments Off
    The Aisling Project has worked with some of the most vulnerable members of the irish community in London during the last 25 years since we began our mission. Aisling started out to help isolated and vulnerable long-term emigrants get in touch with their families in Ireland and return for rehabilitative breaks. The project has had... Read More
  • Attachment-1

    Fiona Cribben

    January 24, 2020Alex McDonnelComments Off
    About fifteen years ago Aisling had a tiny office in the London Irish Centre in Camden Town. There was just enough room for a desk but if you wanted to sit at it you needed to keep the door open. Back then we had been getting a lot of publicity from a campaign we had... Read More
  • IRISH-NAVVIE-NAVVY-NAVVIES-BUILDERS-BUILDING-WORKER-LONDON-CITY-SKYLINE-LONDON-SKYLINE-CITYSCAPE-1970S-UK

    Prime Movers

    September 22, 2017Alex McDonnelComments Off
    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
  • kempton john mary joe

    The Day we Went to Kempton

    September 6, 2017Alex McDonnelComments Off
    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

Latest News

  • An Irishman Abroad

    April 8, 2022Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Jarlath Regan, funny man and ace auctioneer as well as one of our many friends in the comedy business runs a podcast called An Irishman Abroad. The podcast has been running since 2013 and has over 600 posts to it's credit with almost any Irish person you can think of in the world of sport,... Read More
  • john hinde pic

    Happy St. Patrick’s Day To Youse All

    March 17, 2022Alex McDonnelComments Off
    I thought you might like a picture of sweet innocent times in these dark days for the day that is in it. Everyone over 50 must have sent or received one of these masterpieces of Irish nostalgia by John Hinde where hair was never so red and grass was never so green and even the... Read More
  • MenofArlingtonwebsite_wee

    RIP Joe McGarry

    January 18, 2022Alex McDonnelComments Off
    I saw Joe before I met him on the Channel 4 documentary ‘What Do You Want Paradise?’ which was screened in 1993. He appeared in another documentary shot in the House during the refurbishment called ‘Men of Arlington’, he was also photographed for the ground-breaking novel of emigration, I Could Read The Sky and in... Read More
  • nativity keyboards

    Aisling All the Way

    December 17, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Mary and Joseph were travelling in a strange land when they were turned away from the inn while looking for shelter. There is an obvious lesson here for us all to be more charitable to the homeless (and refugees/migrants) particularly at Christmas. Yet the birth of baby Jesus in a stable does not seem to... Read More
  • Aisling - Windsor Races-25

    Thanks from Aisling for a great and successful Day Out

    October 1, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Aisling can announce that our fundraising day out at the races at Royal Windsor Racecourse recently raised an amazing £70k. It was also a great day of fun and racing as well as one of the sunniest September days on record. We have a lot of people to thank for all of that and first... Read More
  • race flyer 2021

    A Day At The Races

    July 15, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    We are taking the reins once again and we are lining up for our fundraising day at the races at Windsor race course on 7 September. We are champing at the bit to get out and have fun and meet old friends once more so please come along for the racing. The poster says we... Read More

Trips News

  • stolen minibus

    Lost and Found

    August 30, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Our outreach worker, John is from Ballina in Co. Mayo and goes home every year for the Moy festival and although he hasn’t drank alcohol in nearly 40 years, while he is there he goes into the local pubs to see who else is around town. Last year he got talking to someone in a... Read More
  • killaloe 2

    The Last Pig in Ireland

    May 16, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    A couple of days before we left London we went to clean the minibus and load up with water and soft drinks for the journey. Charlie would be making sandwiches on Friday night. At first John noticed the note placed under the windscreen wiper, then I noticed there was no wiper only a stump of... Read More
  • 20181119_111923

    The Migrant Life

    March 5, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Aisling will be celebrating our 25th anniversary later this year. It is a great achievement to have kept going this long and not only are we planning to expand our service in 2019 we are as enthusiastic now as we were when we began in 1994. In the last quarter century we have worked with... Read More
  • Killaloe1 lough derg

    The Rocky Road to Dublin and Beyond

    October 26, 2018Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Tommy, (AKA Nuts-and-Bolts) was missing and so his brother rang Aisling from Clare. He was worried about Tommy not having heard from him in years and so we set out to find him as best we could. The last connection we had with Tommy was at a sheltered housing scheme way out in the London... Read More
  • abortion 2018

    Pray for the Living

    June 26, 2018Alex McDonnelComments Off
    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
  • smoking waterford 2017

    Six Degrees Down to Zero

    October 18, 2017Alex McDonnelComments Off
    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

Events and Benefits

  • Aisling - Windsor Races-25

    Thanks from Aisling for a great and successful Day Out

    October 1, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Aisling can announce that our fundraising day out at the races at Royal Windsor Racecourse recently raised an amazing £70k. It was also a great day of fun and racing as well as one of the sunniest September days on record. We have a lot of people to thank for all of that and first... Read More
  • race flyer 2021

    A Day At The Races

    July 15, 2021Alex McDonnelComments Off
    We are taking the reins once again and we are lining up for our fundraising day at the races at Windsor race course on 7 September. We are champing at the bit to get out and have fun and meet old friends once more so please come along for the racing. The poster says we... Read More
  • comedy line up 2019

    Aisling Comedy Benefit

    December 17, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    We began to raise money for Aisling with fundraising comedy benefit gigs in London over 20 years ago and Ardal O’Hanlon was one of the first acts we booked for it (immediately after he offered to be our patron). Fr. Ted had just come out on Channel 4 and most people still didn’t know what... Read More
  • gaa-chandelier

    Xmas Greetings

    December 16, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    I read somewhere that the early Christians used the letter X to identify themselves in early graffiti when they were members of an underground organisation outlawed by Rome and it is thought to refer to how Jesus was crucified in the shape of an X rather than a Cross (+). Citizen X, Mister X, The X Men and... Read More
  • dara o'brian2

    Aisling Comedy Benefit

    October 14, 2019Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Some of you may be going 'Great... more top comedy from the Aisling Project at their regular venue, the beautiful Union Chapel, handily located in Highbury, with easy access to all London transport links and what a line up of some of the best comedy talent from Ireland and Great Britain and a great cause... Read More
  • dublin marathon

    Aisling supporter to run Dublin City Marathon

    October 12, 2018Alex McDonnelComments Off
    Ann Stephenson is running the Dublin marathon in support of the Aisling Project. She has a particular interest in Aisling and the work that we do. Here is why in her own words: At the moment I am training really hard for my first full marathon which I will run in Dublin on October 28th.... Read More
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