Rise of the Gangster Film. A special one day event at the Molly Keane Writers retreat in Ardmore, Co. Waterford, presented by Kevin Brownlow, film historian and honorary Academy Award winner.

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AILBRIN SOCIETY YOUGHAL

PRESENTS A TALK

BY

TOM MULLINS

 

“THE POETRY OF CHILDHOOD”

 

ON WEDNESDAY, 22ND MAY

AT 8.30 PM

IN THE WALTER RALEIGH HOTEL, YOUGHAL

 

ADMISSION: MEMBERS – FREE; NON-MEMBERS 5E

Youghal filmmakers Michael Twomey and Kieran McCarthy are to screen their documentary ‘Another Way Home‘ at the Fingal Film Festival. The film will be screened on Thursday 9th May 2013 at the Odeon Cinema, Blanchardstown, Dublin.

The programme begins at 7pm with Another Way Home being shown after a number of short films. The festival runs for three days from the 8th to the 10th with 45% of its films coming from abroad. The screening follows last November’s showings at the UCC Mental Health Conference and the 57th Cork Film Festival.

Director, Michael Twomey said the selection of the film at Fingal is further evidence of a growing independent industry in Ireland. “It’s brilliant for us because the festival circuit is our best chance to have the film seen. I think there are more people making film out there than we realize and digital filmmaking makes it possible for filmmakers to take on projects, oftentimes just for the love of it. The festivals encourage independents to submit their work and without them there would be no outlet.” However, Michael added that the festival circuit also has a downside. “Competition is incredibly high. Irish festivals aren’t just about Irish films in fact all the festivals in Ireland receive thousands of submissions from all around the globe. Internet information means filmmakers as far away as Australia can browse what exactly festivals are looking for and can submit accordingly. That’s why it’s such a boost for us to be taking part in Fingal.”

Another Way Home is the story about a mother’s struggle to find alternative health care for her daughter following a breakdown in her teenage years. Michael said the film has received a very positive reaction. “We had a lot of interest from professionals in the mental health sector who came to both screenings last year and the discussions after the screenings with them and the general public was very encouraging. Many people found the film very emotional and even a bit distressing in parts but overall uplifting.” The film has received some excellent reviews. The Cork Film Festival said the film was a ‘must see’ and ‘highly recommended’ while TV3 broadcaster Vincent Browne called it ‘superb’. The Irish Times said the film was ‘a powerful piece of work’ and received five stars from film critic Ronan Doyle.

Asked if there were any plans to screen the film in Youghal Michael said it was unlikely. “We would love to and we’ve had a lot of requests to do so. The problem is putting it on at a venue. We don’t have a cinema so opportunities are limited. The Mall Arts Centre, Youghal is there but unless you can cough up the third party insurance, which can be anything between 250 to 350 euros it’s not an option, which is a great shame. Support from people is always there but in situations like this one how can filmmakers looking to show their work locally get a leg up or a start? We were lucky with this film but what if the festivals didn’t take it and we wanted to show it to our families, friends and the public? I’m sure there are filmmakers who will see how well Another Way Home is doing and think they’d like to have a go themselves, but where can they start if not in their own town? All art begins locally, every successful artist no matter what discipline started locally and grew from there, that is not happening here enough. I know there was an attempt to run a local festival in Youghal last year but didn’t get sufficient support. Imagine what it would do for young filmmakers, musicians, workshops, established Cork and Waterford filmmakers, tourism and in a few years interest nationally and from abroad.”

He added. Tickets can be purchased for Another Way Home at the Fingal Film Festival website and at entertainment.ie

Watch a trailer video clip of Another Way Home on the website: http://www.completecontrolfilms.com/another-way-home/

Actor, writer and chef Peter Gowen, 55, is originally from Youghal. He lives in London with his wife, Anna and 14 year-old son, Jack.

“There’s no time to do anything in the morning. I’m up at 5.30am, I have 15 minutes to shower and then I’m out the door. Breakfast doesn’t happen. Basically I’ve two lives, because when I’m not acting, I’m a chef in London. It’s in corporate fine dining, cooking for bankers, hedge fund managers and VIP clients. I also work as an events chef, setting up field kitchens and delivering canapés or three-course meals.

Acting is a tough career. Mick Lally, who was a friend of mine, once said to me: ‘the tide comes in and goes back out and when it does, you’re never quite sure when it’ll come back again’. That’s an actor’s life. Sometimes there’s a surge and other times, there’s nothing. You abandon your life to an insecure financial future. So having the cheffing job is almost therapeutic, if I get an acting job I’m happy and if not, well, that’s okay too.

I was always the clown in the family. There were nine of us and in a large family everyone has a niche. Mine was acting the eejit. I also wasn’t very good at school and coped by being the class clown. I failed disastrously in my Leaving Cert. It wasn’t the most glittering academic record, but going to a ‘traditional’ Christian Brothers school meant I couldn’t engage with what was going on. I was anxious all the time.

My parents were upset by my exam results as my sisters before me were in Trinity and UCC and they expected me to sail into something like architecture. Instead, I ended up crashing. I was so embarrassed that I went to London, but I soon realised independence didn’t amount to much. It was 1975, and I worked on a building site- exhausted by the work and the cold- and living in a squat, with heroin addicts and weirdoes. For a young man, it was huge learning curve and decided to go back to school at the Cork Commercial College, which sounds quite grand but it actual was a semi-detached house in Bishopstown. I got a decent Leaving Cert, and ended up at Trinity after all.

1

As I had just 10 hours of lectures a week, I did some work for the Players Theatre. My first acting role was in Kennedy’s Children, and I played the barman. I didn’t say anything but I got mentioned in the reviews, much to the annoyance of the other cast members. I was standing there, fecking about and polishing glasses while they had to learn great big monologues. My first spoken performance was in a Shakespearean play- a small role- and I got an exit round of applause… whatever I was doing, the audience thought it was great craic! That was an electrifying moment for me. I thought, ‘I want to get into this business’ so I continued my studies in a semi-interested kind of way, spending more time in the theatre, and playing small commercial parts.

This business is a curious one. Neil Jordan saw me in A Whistle in the Dark at the Abbey Theatre 10 years previous to The Butcher Boy. A decade later, when I was living in York- a time before mobile phones- he rang looking for me. My wife- fiancé at the time- knew I had gone to buy wedding rings, so she took a chance and phoned the store. They asked was I Peter Gowen, and told me to get on a train to London to meet Neil Jordan. I ran to York Station, travelled to London, got picked up by a car, and had a 10-minute chat with Jordan. The following day he phoned and offered me the part.

On the day we got married, I had to fly off that evening to Ireland. We had to push the wedding forward and I left the reception at 7pm. Then I spent the entire day standing behind a coffin! That’s life as an actor… random. Ten years ago, when the tide went out, as Mick Lally said, I was lucky enough to work at Fulham Football Club, in the fine dining section, and went on to work for an agency that places me in different places. There’s a lot of repetitive work so it frees up my brain. When I actually write, it’s with a pen and paper. Even though I can’t read my own writing, I do it in long hand, and then transfer it to the computer.

I’ve been writing for years but it’s difficult to get work on stage. I’m delighted The Chronicles of Oggle is now the debut production for The Everyman County Touring Initiative. I started writing the play in 2005, and it’s the 25th draft… and still being tweaked. It’s based on my own experiences and asks questions like how Irish society functioned within the control of the Church. While the themes are serious, it still has the Irish sense of humour.

Cork is my writing baptism and now I can say, without embarrassment, that I’m a writer. Early in my acting career, I wrote plays but they withered out. Around the time my father got sick, I started writing again. When your parents become ill, something alters in you. I got feverish when writing and I didn’t care if it was good or not. That was the catalyst.

Now I’m a chef, actor and a writer, and my days vary. If I’m cheffing, I don’t eat at all and have five coffees instead. When I get the shakes, I stop! In the places I work, there’s no such thing as lunch. Fine dining is a tough kitchen and you come in, crack on and don’t stop.

When I’m not cheffing, I love cooking at home. I’m trying to get my son into it, he recently made his first spaghetti bolognese after some harassment. It’s important for young people to learn how to cook. Your immune system only works properly if the body is getting the right nutrition. When my daughter went to college, I made her a three-week cookery book so at the end of it, she’d have 21 dishes. However, when she finished, she wanted another recipe! I had to tell her that the whole idea of the book was to go back to the start.

We eat a lot of Greek food at home, which is quite simple. There’s something in the Greek psyche- similar to Ireland- that’s sort of peasant like. That’s not meant in a derogatory way, but rather every Greek is a farmer at heart, embracing food grown in the garden. The combination of lemon juice, fresh herbs and olive oil is extremely healthy.

Usually I’m starving when I get home, but I don’t cook. I crash because I’m back up again at 5.30am. I pick throughout the day, and anyway, I love being in bed by 10pm. If you don’t get enough sleep in this game, you’ll be catatonic by the weekend. In comparison, on nights I’m on stage, it’s 2am by the time I get to sleep, after dinner and a glass of wine.

I’m quite good about clearing my mind before going to bed. When I was younger, I was terrible, with everything buzzing around my head. I’ve calmed down a bit.

To be honest, the biggest challenge in my life is dealing with the anxiety I experienced as a schoolboy. My secondary school days haunt me. When I wake up the feeling something terrible is going to happen is always there. I have to fight it, telling myself ‘I’m okay’. That’s my biggest obstacle. When my father and sister died, my son was in hospital with an asthma attack that almost killed him, and my wife had meningitis, I could deal with it all. Psychological dread is different. At the same time, it also drives me. It’s why I’m passionate about everything I do.

One of my secrets to happiness is having a good long-term relationship with a partner who supports you, and you also support. Someone said the secret to a good relationship is to give more than you get back, and that’s how I approach life, being as generous as I can.

Being active is a great thing, and helps prevent the doubts from settling. I love getting out on the water, and we’re lucky to live by the river in London. As soon as it gets nice, I’m on the boat with friends and while we don’t do a pub crawl- as that involves getting langered- we do stop at a few pubs along the bank.

It’s nice to get back to Youghal, as our family home is on a great fishing spot. And of course, I also get to see my mother. She’s an amazing woman; she’s recovering from a stroke at the age of 88, and is still going great guns. In terms of other heroes, Richard Corrigan is amazing and an inspiration to any Irish person, with his determination, passion and vision. Gabriel Byrne has those same qualities.

I’d hope people see me as a bit of craic. I’m sure not everyone would think that, as I’ve a bit of temper. I can’t stand laziness or dishonesty, and if I come across those things at work, you get two barrels at the same time.

In 10 years, I hope I’m still working as a chef, shouting at people who’re lazy or lacking the correct amount of passion. And hopefully I’ll still be an actor and a writer. I want to develop in all fields and I look forward to the challenge.”

The Chronicles of Oggle is at The Mall Arts Centre, Youghal on Thursday, April 18th; The Everyman from Monday, April 22nd to Thursday, April 25th; Village Arts Centre, Kilworth on Friday, April 26th and The Schoolyard Theatre, Charleville on Saturday, April 27th.

Story: http://thecorknews.ie/articles/daytripper-peter-gowen-10255

 A new play by Peter Gowen

The debut production of The Everyman County Touring Initiative
Meet Pakie. An orphan, a storyteller, an adventurer, a survivor. He may not be the sharpest sandwich in the tool box, but Pakie knows a thing or two about the history of his native town – from the vicious Vikings, to the less-than Christian Brothers. Pakie’s a laugh a minute… but Pakie’s got secrets. Secrets the God fearing people of Oggle, may not be ready to hear.
Written and performed by renowned local actor Peter Gowen (Love/Hate, The Butcher Boy/Hairy Ape), and directed by Donal Gallagher, the Chronicles of Oggle is a hilarious and heartbreaking story of small towns and even smaller minds.
Presented by The Everyman in association with Asylum Productions

“…and poor Walter Rally: got his head chopped off.
Okay, he did bring the lung cancer and the famine to Ireland,
but he didn’t know that at the time, and he didn’t mean to.
He was only trying to impress the queer wan over in London…”

THE ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE 2013 in Youghal was a very colourful affair with lots of clubs, local organisations and businesses in the town and surrounding area participating in the the annual event. This year’s parade was organised by the Youghal4All group in association with the Youghal Pipe Band. Thanks to Kieran McCarthy and Michael O’Connell who broadcast the event live on the internet. This was the 6th year that Youghalonline broadcast the parade live to the wider community and to those far away from home. There were prizes for best floats, banners and marching groups. Click on the HD video below to see the whole parade as it passed through North Main Street with the famous Clock Gate Tower in the background, appropriately covered in Green netting while it is being to refurbished. We hope everyone had a wonderful day, especially to our overseas viewers we hope that the video reminds you of home. HAPPY ST. PATRICKS’ DAY!

You can share the video or leave a comment on the Youghalonline facebook page click here.

The parade video is 21 mins in length. If you would like to watch it in HD click on the cog wheel which appears on the timeline ( after you press the play button) to adjust the settings.

Related Videos

The Ailbrin Society is pleased to present a talk on “St. Finbarr’s – Cork’s Gothic Cathedral”. This will be held on Wednesday, 20th March, at 8.30 pm in the Walter Raleigh Hotel, Youghal.

The speaker is John Stack from Youghal. John is the acclaimed author of the trilogy “Masters of the Sea”. His fourth book is on the Spanish Armada. John has been a tour guide in St. Finbarr’s and will have interesting insights to share with us into the history of this Cork landmark. We look forward to seeing you there.

Admission: members free; non-members E5.

Related Video

 

 

Láinseáil Seachtain na Gaeilge 2013 – Marta 4th – 17th 2013

Launch of Irish Week 2013 – March 4th – 17th 2013

The launch of Seachtain na Gaeilge 2013 took place in Club Aras, Youghal, on Monday, 11th March 2013. Speaking at the launch, Liam Ó Laochdha, Cathaoirleach Chonradh na Gaeilge, Eochaill, said: “There is an amazing number of people who have gaeilge but are reluctant to speak it for many reasons and this is a chance, at this time, to encourage all those people to speak the Irish language more often”

Latest Youghalonline’s Cloudcasts on Mixcloud

Pupils and teachers from each of the schools in Youghal and the surrounding area attended the launch and enjoyed the music of local group Lar Na Cruinne from Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann. Donacha Ó Cearúill, secretary of the local branch of Conradh na Gaeilge said the launch was a great success and great to see everyone making that extra effort in speaking Irish.

Seachtain na Gaeilge is a non-profit organisation, which promotes the use of Irish language and culture both at home and abroad within a two-week festival held in March every year, and this year takes place between the 4th – 17th March 2013. Conradh na Gaeilge established the organisation in 1902.

The festival has built up incredible momentum in recent years, becoming the largest celebration of our native language and culture held in Ireland every year and sweeping other countries up in the whirlwind along the way.

Latest Youghalonline’s Cloudcasts on Mixcloud

Croi Glan – Dance Production – Double Bill – An Outside Understanding & Gawky & Awkward
The Mall Arts Centre, Youghal

Date: Saturday 20th April. 8.00pm

Tickets: €15.00 Concessions: €10.00

Tickets from Yew Wood Venues 087 9593276 or at door on night.

About Croi Glan:
Croi Glan Integrated Dance Company, is a professional contemporary dance company based in Cork, which performs work that includes both disabled and non-disabled dancers. Founded in December 2006 by Rhona Coughlan and Tara Brandel, Croi Glan highlights the cutting edge artistic value of creating performance with diverse bodies by producing high calibre work which tours nationally and internationally. Croi Glan also provides an educational program that offers integrated dance to people with and without disabilities, through introductory workshops; ongoing classes; and vocational training in integrated dance.

 

An Outside Understanding

Delving into the personal, this duet reveals what defines us, what our dreams are and what is shared between us – a glimpse into our very souls. This work brings together one of Ireland’s leading choreographers, Liz Roche, and one of the country’s leading integrated dance companies to produce a critically acclaimed and searing performance. Mixing film with live dance for a technically challenging duet, it delves into the personal, revealing what defines us, what our dreams are and what is shared between us. Performed by Mary Nugent and Dawn Mulloy, the piece was nominated for Best Staging and Best Female Performance at the 2012 Dublin Fringe Festival.

Gawky & Awkward
‘School was easy. Maths was easy. Learning was too easy. So I chose the one thing that was hard.’
Tara Brandel’s new solo work Understand & Gawky & Awkward is a very personal piece, revealing the things we struggle with and a dancer’s creative journey through dyslexia/dyspraxia. The work is directed by Caroline Bowditch (previously Scottish Dance Theatre’s Dance Agent for Change) and incorporates an original score by disabled composer Charlotte White.

St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Youghal

Organised by Youghal4All. The parade will begin at 3 p.m.

Assembly beforehand on the Breton Road.

Entrants should contact youghallcc@gmail.com

Youghal4All will sponsor a new prize for “Best New Entrant” this year.

Please note that all floats to enter from the Breton Road.

Press Release Tue, 5 Mar 2013

The official launch of the Historic Towns Initiative took place in Custom House in Dublin on Thursday 21st of February 2013 by Minister Jimmy Deenihan.The three towns taking part in the initiative are Listowel, Westport and Youghal. Mayor of Youghal, Cllr Michelle Hennessy and Cllr Mary Linehan Foley represented Youghal town council at the event. Also in attendance were Deputy Sandra McLellan and archaeologist Catherine Desmond.

 

Related story CLICK HERE: Youghal town chosen to pilot a new heritage project

More on this story here: http://www.youghalonline.com/tag/towns/