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
Letter from the Coordinator
March 2015
Hello from the Coordinator’s chair and I would like to wish you all a very happy and belated St. Patrick’s Day. As usual we spent our Paddy’s day in Ireland with a group of returning emigrants. This time in Aughrim Co. Wicklow and you can read all about our adventures in a report on our Aisling Trips page very shortly. We went to Aughrim this year rather than Blessington which is our usual March destination because the cottages where we usually stay have been priced up way beyond our range and so we had to seek out a cheaper alternative. We stayed in cottages run by Trident (www.tridentholidayhomes.ie) who are a company we have used often and they offer very reasonable terms and even given us holiday vouchers for our various raffle prizes through the years so we tend to look first at what they are offering in the various parts of Ireland we visit before confirming a booking. We still have to rely on holiday companies for accommodation on most of our trips. The main exception is in Donegal where Valerie Morton used to loan us her holiday cottages at Killybegs each May and since she is no longer using the cottages Pat Logue, pub guvnor of the Sheephaven Bay has stepped in and we now stay in his family home in Downings free of charge on the same week. Last year was our first in Downings and we are looking forward to going back there in a few weeks’ time.
We are as ever hoping that this year may prove to be a turning point in our effort to open our own Resettlement House in Ireland. You may remember that we had a very positive meeting with Jimmy Deenihan, the new Minister for the Diaspora late last year in order to progress our plans and already this last week we have had a meeting with Sinn Fein’s Diaspora spokesperson Trevor O’Clochartaigh in Westminster who we hope will help to move our plans still further forward. There are signs that the economy is improving in Ireland and there are once again calls for emigrants to return home in the press and in statements from politicians. I suppose they are mostly aimed at high earners and those with plenty of cash to invest in the country and we hope that many will consider such a move but these are not the people we represent and our clients would be hoping to make a home back in Ireland but would at least at first be hoping that their homeland would welcome them regardless of their ability to contribute massively to the financial recovery. What Aisling returners can contribute is a sense of well-being not just for their families and friends, estranged for so long but for the whole country and the completion of a journey began with so much hope to benefit their families and the nation and now at last returning into a place of safety where they can resettle back into their own communities where they will be welcomed and valued.
Our raffle of Rugby World Cup tickets is gathering momentum and was given a considerable boost by Ireland’s truly amazing and historic victory in the 6 Nations last week. We were driving back from Pembroke Dock as Wales were kicking off against Italy on the final day of the contest and we were listening to the match on BBC Cymru which was handy because it is hard to get any other BBC signal in Wales. By the time we were across the border into England the Ireland v Scotland match was kicking off at Murrayfield. None of us in the minibus believed that Ireland would ever achieve the 22 points needed to beat Wales to the total. At the end of that game we knew for sure that England had no hope of securing a victory to surpass Ireland. By the time we reached London we were exhausted and amazed that England only lost by the slimmest margin in the most thrilling sporting occasion in years. Buy tickets now at the designated pub outlets for the most eagerly awaited Rugby World Cup ever.
Have Yourselves an Aisling Little Christmas
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
Keeping communities safe and in contact
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
Fiona Cribben
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
Prime Movers
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
The Day we Went to Kempton
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
If You Brexit You Bought It
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
Captains Log
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
Three Books
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
November 2015 –
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