About the Author

Alex McDonnel

Peter Doyle Returns Home

One thing more than anything that Peter wanted was to return to his home place. For him this was where his mother lived in Kiltegan Co. Wicklow, a small village in the south of the county.  Peter found out about his mother shortly after he fled for London in 1959 from the cruelty of forced… Read More

Two stalwart men

It is still hard to believe that our great friend and mentor, John Glynn is no longer with us, 2 years after his death. He has always seemed to walk beside us in all of Aisling’s endeavours as we continue in our work to return Irish exiles to their homeland. In recent weeks we have… Read More

RIP Peter Doyle

One of our first ever Aisling clients, Peter Doyle has died aged 81. He was in many ways a symbol of what Aisling is all about. He came to London when he was only 16, having escaped the brutal ‘care’ of religious orders in Ireland. He had been sent by the St. John of God’s… Read More

Change of address

Aisling has moved to a new address which is at: Resource for London, 356 Holloway Rd, London N7 6PA. Phone: 020 7697 4203. I am sure many of you will know the centre which has been a home to many voluntary and charitable organisations for many years. The place is famous for at least one… Read More

All the best on St. Patrick’s Day

Some say he was a gentleman, others that the snakes he banished from Ireland were our druidic forefathers in one the first instances of religious and ethnic cleansing. But he’s our own and he is celebrated across the world wherever Irish people have landed. For the last 20 years on our national day Aisling would… Read More

A word from our sponsor – Best Christmas wishes to all Aisling friends

Our patron and friend Ardal O’Hanlon made a rare appearance at the Hammersmith Irish Cultural Centre last week to talk about his new Novel Brouhaha (makes a great Christmas present Brouhaha by Ardal O’Hanlon book for sale – Search (bing.com) ) with journalist Anne Flaherty. For over an hour Ardal discussed the book and his… Read More

John Glynn RIP

John had been a community worker in the Irish and homeless communities in London for many years and was known all over town as the man to go to if you were in trouble, particularly with alcohol problems. In certain parts, Kilburn and Cricklewood for instance he had an appropriate nickname. When one of the… Read More

An Irishman Abroad

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

Happy St. Patrick’s Day To Youse All

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