There’s a little Filum fun at the Spotted Dog this coming Monday with Irish Destiny – ‘The Great Spectacular Film Of The War In Ireland’. A little clip from the old 1926 film is above. According to the Wikipedia blurb, the film has quite an unusual back-story in once being lost but then found again:
Irish Destiny is a 1926 directed by George Dewhurst and written by Isaac Eppel to mark the tenth anniversary of the Easter rising.
The film was considered lost for many years until in 1991 a single surviving nitrate print was located in the US Library of Congress by the Irish Film Institute’s Irish Film Archive who had the film transferred to safety stock and restored. The Irish Film Institute then commissioned a new score for the film by Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin.
We’ll be watching it at 8pm in the Spotted Dog on Warwick St this Monday 23rd August. Hopefully see you then!
Spotted Dog landlord John Tighe has sent me belated notification of O’Lympics meetings every Monday (starting tonight).
7pm at The Spotted Dog in preparation for the Papal Visit themed 2010 Digbeth O’Lympics. Sports added to the usual welly-wanging, snail racing, coracle racing and Rock Star Triathlon, include Sacrament Race, Seven Deadly Sins of Birmingham City Council Event, Popemobile Race…
It seems Adam Crossley, when he’s not busy chairing Digbeth Residents’ Association, is amusing himself creating contemporary art pieces for the Spotted Dog’s garden. And giving them imaginative titles.
I wasn’t the only one to express some surprise at Adam’s new hobby.
Today is Digbeth is Good’s second birthday! Please join me for celebration drinkies and a slice of the above cake, lovingly made by Mrs Rawlins. We’ll be in The Spotted Dog from 6pm this evening.
So that’s Friday and Monday with me firmly planted in my second home The Spotted Dog. I’m planning to spend a little of the time in between checking out the MOM (Meeting Of Minds) exhibition at the Sauce Gallery, Custard Factory. I’m also hoping to sample the delights of the newly opened Cleary’s on Moseley Street, the phoenix to rise from the ashes of the lovely pub that was demolished along with some back-to-backs on Cheapside to make way for a barren building site. Grrrr….
To mark the occasion I’ll be washing down some birthday cake with miscellaneous alcohol in The Spotted Dog’s back garden from 6pm this Friday evening. I don’t particularly enjoy drinking alone so please come and join me if you can – everyone is welcome and it would be lovely to celebrate two years of this blog with friends old and new. :-)
Let the notorious choir take care of the Father’s Day celebrations for you – take Dad to the pub and sink a few pints whilst they entertain you with hits from yesteryear:
Come and join notorious as we sing some of our greatest hits from classics such as “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles to more recent additions to the repertoire like “Shine” by Take That! A concert of our most show-stopping tunes for all the family!
This is against the backdrop of Landlord John Tighe’s 25th anniversary at the Spotted Dog.
The gig starts at 1pm on Sunday 20th June at The Spotted Dog, Warwick Street and admission is free.
On Mon 17th May in the Spotted Dog there was a special screening a screening of the first episode of the hard-hitting documentary The Forgotten Irish series, which concentrated on the stories of Irish immigrants who’d settled in Birmingham.
After the documentary, we showed some archived film and TV clips from the internet which related to the issues in The Forgotten Irish, which stimulated some pretty robust and interesting discussion. The clips we showed included:
William Perrin interviewed a few people about the memories and stories they had to tell in reaction to the clips shown, which are the YouTube clips included in this post.
It was pretty powerful evening and people shared some amazing personal stories with us – thanks very much to everyone who came along.
By the way, I bumped into James (who featured in The Forgotten Irish) on Digbeth High Street last week and we had a little chat – you’ll be pleased to hear he’s settling into his new home at St Eugene’s well! You can watch The Forgotten Irish Birmingham feature on YouTube using the following links:
On Sunday 9th May the Spotted Dog Ceili Band became Midland Region Ceili Band Champions. Landlord John Tighe tells me, “This qualifies them for the British Championships in Glasgow later on and thence the international championship at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann (Festival of Music in Ireland) in August.”
So a very Well Done to them. You can catch the Spotted Dog Ceili Band in the pub every other Monday, the next date being Mon 24th May. They’re also playing at Dancing at The Crossroads in the pub this Sunday 23rd May.
Dancing at the crossroads, County Galway, circa 1891
John Tighe has asked me to let it be known that The Spotted Dog invites you to ‘DANCING AT THE CROSSROADS’:
In the 18th, 19th and well into the 20th centuries in many parts of rural Ireland there was a tradition of the locals meeting at the crossroads after Mass on Sunday and, with the help of a few itinerant musicians, holding a dance, to the irritation of the clergy and authorities.Thundered one parish priest in 1670, “Dancing is a thing that leads to bad thoughts and evil actions. It is dancing that excites the desires of the body. In the dance are seen frenzy and woe, and with dancing thousands go to the black hell.”
Music will be from LITTLE JIMMY AND FRIENDS and THE SPOTTED DOG CÉILÍ BAND
Strut your stuff at old-time, waltz, quickstep, foxtrot, jiving, jitterbugging, bad thoughts and evil actions. There will also be set dancing and céilí.
It’s on Sunday 23rd May 2010, 3pm ‘til late in The Spotted Dog’s beautiful garden. Admission is £2.00 (free if you bring a plate of buns). There’ll be fund-raising and a cheque presentation in aid of ACORNS CHILDREN’S HOSPICE.
Last night I was lucky enough to attend a screening of the hard-hitting Forgotten Irish series featuring Birmingham – telling the stories of a handful of the many Irish immigrants who came here after the Second World War and found themselves literally rebuilding Britain:
Most of the ‘forgotten Irish’ came to Britain in the second half of the twentieth century, during one of the darkest and most impoverished periods of Ireland’s history. They paved the way for more recent generations of Irish immigrants to Britain.
The majority came to find work, and sent billions of pounds home to their families- thousands of others came to escape the hardship, marginalisation and all too often, the abuse of institutional life.
At the end of their working lives, many had the means to go home however many are still here, often living in isolation, poverty and deprivation – without the support of friends or family.
Thankfully there is local support available, as can be seen from James and Patrick’s experiences in the video extract above – both are given a helping hand by the Irish Welfare and Information Centre (IWIC), which is currently settling into its new home next door to St Anne’s Church on Alcester Street. James is also settling into a new home – in St Eugene’s Court on Cheapside, a supported housing scheme for older Irish men run by Midland Heart housing group.
I’ve organised a screening of the full Birmingham series of The Forgotten Irish at The Spotted Dog pub, Warwick Street this Monday 17th May at 8pm, which will be followed by a few relevant film and TV clips from online archives and a discussion around the issues and memories they raise. It’s free, everyone’s welcome and there will be some free tea and cake for you all to enjoy whilst you watch. I really hope you can come along to hear some amazing Birmingham-Irish stories, share your thoughts and find out about the fantastic work IWIC and Midland Heart are doing on our doorstep.
