Full House for Joe Giltrap & myself in Luton Library Theatre last October - Pure Magic!!!

Great support once more from John Bowman, on his evocative show 'Bowman's Sunday', for my Audio Documentary. His choice of extracts over the past three weeks has been both insightful and beautifully balanced. The only 'public intellectual' in this country to demonstrate a true understanding of the issues around the 'Fifties generation of emigrants and their expungement from the national narrative. Others seem to think the subject beneath consideration...

Spirit of a Woman statue which waves goodbye to those who "took the boat" stands proud in Mayo

I was delighted to hear of this statue's existence from a Mayo man recently. The Spirit of a Woman statue was erected in memory of those times and the families who were separated. It stands in The Square looking down the main street towards the railway bridge. It is a poignant and moving testament to the many men - and women - who "took the boat". This statue is still relevant today as we see so many of our citizens emigrating in search of work.

Tune in tomorrow morning for more Voices of The Men Who Built Britain with John Bowman on RTE Radio 1 http://bit.ly/1i1un4v

In this week's show, Ultan will be accompanying the excerpts from his CD material.
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/bowman-sunday-830/

Brilliant writing from Frank McNally in his Irishman's Diary Column in last Saturday's Irish Times. I couldn't have said it nearly so well. Click here to go to the article.

30 mins. of interview excerpts played on the John Bowman Show RTE Radio 1 http://bit.ly/1i1un4v

If you missed it last Sunday morning, have a listen back at http://bit.ly/1i1un4v to excerpts from my upcoming CD of interviews with The Men Who Built Britain!

Delighted to have had a selection of the interviews from my upcoming CD Voices of The Men Who Built Britain featured on the John Bowman Show on RTE Radio 1 yesterday. Tune in here to listen: http://bit.ly/HUA8At and listen in next Sunday to hear more. A warm thanks to all on the John Bowman Show for featuring this work.

A warm thanks to Aine Lawlor for having me on Marian Finucane's morning show on RTE Radio 1 last Saturday. It was a pleasure to discuss my upcoming CD of Voices of The Men Who Built Britain @Finucaneshow. If you missed it, you can listen back to it here: http://bit.ly/1bTBhBY

Delighted to have been featured in Frank McNally's column An Irishman's Diary in last Saturday's Irish Times @IrishTimes. http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/heritage/trench-warfare-1.1596376?page=1

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The Craic was good in Cricklewood:

Sell-out Show at Luton Library Theatre On Saturday October 19th. A great audience made it a really enjoyable experience for Joe Giltrap & myself. Definitely love to do it again!!!

Voices of the men who built Britain: taster. Full CD runs for 70+ minutes. Details from myself on +353 (0)51 563377

The long-awaited CD, The Crack was Good in Cricklewood: Voices of the men who built Britain, will be available within the next fortnight!!!

VOICES OF THE MEN WHO BUILT BRITAIN

These first-hand accounts of life in Britain’s construction industry in the last century are taken from my archive of recorded interviews and convey a vivid picture of the lives of Irish labourers both before and after leaving Ireland.
Men speak freely about ‘getting the start and jumping on wagons, about gangermen good and bad, about dogging out muck, tunnelling, and pulling cable, about sinking pints, courting women, surviving in lonely bed-sits and dreaming foolishly of ‘going home’.
 Others who didn’t either emigrate or do the work, but observed the consequences, speak hard truths about the price paid in health and relationships and the indifference of many at home who perhaps profited from the labours of those who left.

Songs such as Uncle John and The Mountains of Mourne, Cricklewood, Crooked Jack, The Sick Note, Tunnel Tigers and McAlpine’s Fusiliers, although not the music that the navvies themselves might have played or danced to, express those moods of sadness, defiance, or elation which the navvies knew well but needed others to put into words.

These interviews were conducted mainly between 1993 and 1999. Sadly, a number of the contributors have since passed on, and their world can never come again. Essentially a layered slice of social history, and not just an entertainment, this unique CD offers listeners a rare chance to share the ‘living history’ of those who were there – the men who built Britain!

 

THE CRAIC WAS GOOD IN CRICKLEWOOD:

Songs & Stories of The Men who built Britain

PRESENTED

by

ULTAN COWLEY

with music by

Joe Giltrap

upcoming dates: Luton Library Theatre Saturday October 19th

                            Newcastle Irish Festival Sunday October 20th

THIS STIRRING BLEND OF SONGS OF THE NAVVIES’ HEYDAY AND ANECDOTES OF LIFE ON SITE AND IN THE PUBS, BED-SITS, AND DANCEHALLS OF CAMDEN TOWN, CRICKLEWOOD, AND ELSEWHERE PROVOKES AN EMOTIONAL RESPONSE FROM AUDIENCES EVERYWHERE.

This was the world of Tunnel Tigers, Heavy Diggers, and McAlpine's Fusiliers; of Hen Houses, Cock Lodgers, and The Landlady’s Breakfast; of Dead Men, Walking Pelters, and Murphy's Volunteers; of The Shamrock, The Galtymore, The Buffalo and The Crown.

What other migrant labourers experience today is but an echo of what Irish men endured in Britain years ago. Anyone who lived through those days and sees this show will recognise that world. It will be a delight to those who were there and a revelation to those who weren’t...

‘You told it as it was. For me it brought back anger, sadness, and tears. It also brought back memories of pride, joy, and laughter; of men who earned their bread by the sweat of their brow. God rest those who are gone’.             

‘Entertainment – With a Sting in the Tale’ The Irish Post

Voices of The Men Who Built Britain - Coming Soon!!