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New
York Irish Center
10-40
Jackson Ave, Long Island City NY 11101
Tel:
+1-718-482-0909
Email-Newsletter
- Spring 2009
  The
New York Irish Center would like to wish all
of our friends and supporters a very happy
St. Patrick's Day!
As you will see below we have a busy day
planned on March 17th itself, as well as a
pre-St. Patrick's Day Breakfast (with all
the trimmings) on March 15th. We hope to you
at either event.
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig ort!
Recap on Past Events @ the Center
The New York Irish Center started off the
year with a bang hosting a very funny play,
“Blinded by the Light”, by
Dermot Bolger, directed by
BenAlbert Productions, as our first
fundraiser of 2009. A big thank you to the
cast and director for all their hard work
and dedication to making it a fabulous
event!! This play created a lot of interest,
so much so, that we plan on hosting
it again later in the year for
those who didn’t get to see it already. Stay
tuned for more details….
Senior Help Line
(Listening Service) - we have been quite
successful in recruiting volunteers for the
new Senior’s Help Line, which was introduced
by the Irish Consulate, and has been in
existence in Ireland for over 10 years. This
Help Line, patroned by President Mary
McAleese, is operated by fully trained
senior citizens for the senior community in
a completely anonymous setting. If they feel
like a chat, they can call during
operational hours and converse at their
leisure with a senior who is there to
listen.
Fashion Show
was a successful and hilarious evening
pulled together very quickly and undertaken
by a group of local women who were brave
enough to walk the catwalk strutting their
wares! (We had everyone from Scarlet O’Hara
to Miss Red Shoes Diary to Marilyn Munroe
showing us how easy it is to look the
part!) Two local stores, Ethereal Boutique
in Long Island City, and Cat Nip Boutique in
Woodside were kind enough to allow us model
their merchandise, and Nolas Salon, Hue
Salon in Woodside, and Hairitage Salon in
Maspeth did a great job on hair and
makeup. A hearty thank you to all who
participated, and to those who sponsored the
event by giving gift certificates, Pure Spa,
O’Neill’s restaurant, Saloon Salon, and
Cuckoo’s Nest for their donation of beer and
wine. You can also thank them by your
patronage.
The New York Irish Center is now on
Stay connected to the goings-on at the
Center along with other Facebookers by
joining the
New York Irish Center Facebook group.
We’ll continue posting updates on events and
programs on our Facebook page, where you can
also meet other friends and discuss any
topic of interest to the group. Come
join the party!
The Irish Times
newspaper featured the Center in a
recent article on the plight of Irish
seniors in the NYC tri-state area. You
can read the article on our website
- many thanks to Conn Corrigan for a
great piece!
Upcoming Events @ the Center
The Senior Help Line
"Go-Live" date is coming up in April. We
would like you to pass the word to all who
are on their own and /or are in their senior
years. This ‘Listening Service’,
as stated above, is a chat line to make sure
this group of people in our community are
being heard- we want to hear what you have
to say, and hope you will avail of the
opportunity to call for a chat and tell us
how you feel. The volunteers are here to
listen. The telephone number is:
1-877-997-5777 and will be up and
running by mid- April. We can send
literature to anyone you feel should know
about this service. Please contact
us for more details.
St. Patrick’s Day Breakfast
will be held on Sunday, March 15th
@ 11:00am. We are hosting a
breakfast for everyone, and especially for
Senior’s or people who may not be in a
position to attend festive activities on St.
Patrick’s Day. We will have an Irish
Breakfast including tea, coffee, brown bread
& jam, etc. We may be joined by our Fiddle
group for some lively entertainment and you
can sit and have a chat after breakfast or
stay for Mass if you are so inclined. There
are so many events for our Holiday, why not
come to the Center and make this your day!
St. Patrick’s Day
is going to be a busy day here at the
Center. The Co. Dublin and
Co. Donegal county associations have
rented our space for their after-parade
get-together. We may even have a
Céilí group renting another space,
which will be finalized in a day or
so. Please see our
website and Facebook
page where we'll post updates as details
are confirmed.
Art & Photography Show
will take place in early April. The
show exhibits excellent work by 5 talented
Irish and Irish American Artists and
Photographers, who mostly have not had the
opportunity to show their work
previously. This is a quarterly event which
was very well attended last time, and if you
are interested in purchasing their exhibits,
this is the place to be in early April! Tea,
coffee, brown bread and some other cool
beverages will be provided at this free
event.
Dinner Dance – Our Fourth
Annual Fundraising Dinner Dance will be held
on Saturday, May 9th,
2009 @ 8pm in
Astoria Manor, Astoria. Our Dinner Dance
Committee are sending out the details and if
you would like to be included in this fun
event, please call the Center to be included
in our correspondence for tickets, or for a
souvenir Journal Ad or photo insert. We will
also post more information on
our
website and Facebook
page shortly. We hope to see you
in attendance to support our Irish Center
and have a party with your friends.
North American Association for Celtic
Language Teachers Conference - on
Wednesday evening, May 20th,
and for the following two days, Celtic
language teachers, involved with Breton,
Cornish, Irish, Manx, Scots Gaelic, Welsh,
will gather at the New York Irish Center,
from all over the United States, Canada and
Europe, for the annual conference of the
North American Celtic Language Teachers.
Please visit our
website for more information.
We have two Plays in the
works and we will provide more details as
the rehearsals progress, but one is
definitely set for June 19th,
20th, & 21st. So
keep your ears open for more details in
May/June timeframe. Some other events
in the planning stages are a Quizz
Nite between this Center and
Mineola Irish Center… further details to be
published on both websites and our
Facebook page when details are
confirmed.
On-Going Events @ the Center
Care-giver & Toddler Group:
This group meets every Monday from 2pm to
5pm, and every Thursday from 10:30am to
2pm. We provide a large space for your child
to run around and play with toys. A nice
reprieve from the cold of the nearest
park! Come for mutual support and fun for
the children. There are fun music 7 movement
classes you and your child can join on other
days as well. Please call for details…..
Senior Lunch and Social Club:
We provide a weekly social life for our senior
group every Wednesday from 12:30pm to
3:30’ish! While meeting old friends, playing
cards, chatting and making new friends, and
generally feeling welcome, we provide a free
lunch to all who attend. If you are the computer
geek type, you can while away the afternoon
catching up on e-mails and corresponding with
relatives miles away, or enjoy your ‘soaps’ on
TV in our café area.
Friday Afternoon Club: In
January, we started a Friday Afternoon Club
for young and old alike, with classes to
enjoy working with your hands from
Art/Painting, to Quilt Making, to Board
Games & Creative Writing. Please come and
join us for a cup of tea and an afternoon of
conversation while learning some new skills
if you wish to join in some activities, or
just read the papers and watch some sports
or a movie…
Classes:
-
Irish Dance Class:
Mondays, 6pm-10pm (Adult beginners also
welcome)
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Tin Whistle Classes:
Mondays, 6:30pm-8:30pm
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Piano Keyboard Classes:
Mondays, 8:30pm-9pm
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Irish Language Classes:
Tuesdays, 6:30pm-9:15pm (beginner
levels)
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Kids Irish Language & Culture
Classes: (starting after St.
Patrick’s Day- call for details)
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Line Dancing Classes: 1st
& 3rd Wednesdays of each
month: 7pm -10pm
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Violin/Fiddle Lessons:
Thursdays, 6pm-9pm
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Acting Classes: (Call
for more details starting in Spring)
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Friday Afternoon Club:
Fridays, 1pm- 5pm (Arts & Crafts, Board
Games, Painting, etc.)
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Mommy & Me Movement & Music
Class: Thursdays, 12 noon
(starting in March)
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Computer Class: We now
have a computer teacher
available. Please call the Center to
schedule classes…..
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Céili & Set Dancing: on
the fourth Saturday of every
month. Anyone interested in this event
should contact
us to get on the mailing list for
regular updates.
We also have other regular events such as:
a ‘25’ Card night on the last Friday of
every month. All are welcome!
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