Recap on This Year’s Events @ the New York Irish Center

Since January of 2008, the New York Irish Center has been a very busy place, with lots of events happening daily, weekly and monthly, for all age groups. Here is a brief summary of the many events we hosted in 2008...

Social Theater Nights: Our first ‘Social Theater’ night in January was a play written by Sean O’Casey, Juno & the Paycock. The turnout was fantastic and we were delighted to see a sold out event for most of the nights! During the year, we followed up the success of that night with such great Irish plays as The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde in March/April, Living Quarters” by Brian Friel in May/June, A Great Little Woman produced by Yelof Productions from Galway in September, and An Evening of John B. Keane with exerpts from Letters of a Matchmaker, and Sive in October, courtesy of Lartigue Theatre Group from Listowel. Our sincere thanks to everyone who helped put on and run these events which not only help to promote Irish culture but also help us raise much-need funds for the Center.

Other Cultural Events: In addition to these great plays, we also hosted other great cultural events at the Center including a Book Reading in March with with Daniel Cassidy & Peter Quinn, authors of “How the Irish Invented Slang”, and an Art and Photography Show in November featuring work from local artists (many of whom we didn’t know were artists!), who displayed their imaginative works to all who came to support them.

Other Fun Events: And we hosted many other (not-so-cultural) fun events during the year like the Blind Date Nite in July where many shy lads and lassies came out of their shell on the night with the help of our own ‘Cilla Black’ and ‘Graham’, to see if this would be their chance to find their dream partner, the Fluffy Dough Awards in September where we awarded an official certificate of excellence to the lady with the greatest skill in Brown Bread Making, and a Halloween Spooky Party in October for the bery young and young at heart.

We had a very special occasion in September, when on hearing about Hour Children, a Foster Care Center and Community Outreach Pantry located here in Long Island City, we joined with our local print shop to host a fundraiser for this wonderful organization. Items donated were various supplies, clothing and healthy foods, which filled a truck that was dispatched to collect the items. Our local Councilman came and had his picture taken, as well as many generous Center members and neighbors. This will be an ongoing cause for the Irish Center to support throughout the year.

And all this in addition to the regular events like the weekly Seniors Lunch, the Mothers & Caregivers Group, the many great classes taught at the Center (see below for a photo from the Irish Class group's "Thanksgiving as Gaeilge", courtesy of Maura Mulligan), and you'll see why we say this was the BEST year ever for the New York Irish Center - and we're only getting started!

Upcoming Events @ the Center

Our Texas Hold’Em night will be on Wednesday, December 17th. Please see our flyer on the website for registration details.

Santa will be visiting our Christmas Party for young and old on December 20th. We will have refreshments and goodies on what promises to be a fun evening. The party will be from 3pm to about 7pm, just to finish your day of shopping. At this party, we will be collecting toys, supplies clothing and healthy foods for our favorite charity, Hour Children Foster Care Center, located here in Long Island City. Please bring an extra toy or piece of clothing, or can of food on the day so we can put it in the box to be shipped off to the Foster Care Center. They need everything from Babies to Adults items to make their patron’s lives a little easier this Christmas.

Our next Social Theater night will be held on the first 2 weekends in January. “Blinded by the Light”, a classic piece of comedy, written by Irish writer, Dermot Bolger, is currently being rehearsed and directed by BenAlbert Productions. Please call early for tickets to this very funny play and social evening as they are selling fast. An entertaining way to end the Holiday Season before braving the real cold of the winter! Please see our website for more details. http://www.nyirish.org/.

In January and February, please keep your eyes open for our next events such as Art & Photography Show, General Knowledge Quiz, and Fashion Show to name but a few…..

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.

Senior Lunch and Social Club:

We provide a weekly social life for our senior group every Wednesday from 1pm to 4’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. We are starting a senior ‘book club’ so you can also enjoy our eclectic library. In January, we will be starting a Friday Afternoon Club, which will be for young and older, with classes to enjoy working with your hands from Art, to Quilt Making, to Board Games & Creative Writing. Please watch out for more details on these afternoon activities…..

Classes:

• Irish Dance Class: Mondays, 6pm-8:15pm
• Tin Whistle Classes: Mondays, 4:45pm-7pm
• Piano Keyboard Classes: Mondays, 7pm-8pm
• Irish Language Classes: Tuesdays, 5pm-9:15pm (multiple levels)
• Line Dancing Classes: Starting in September- Wednesday evenings (call for details)
• Violin Lessons: Thursdays, 6pm-9pm
• Acting Classes: Thursdays, 6pm-7:30pm (adults) Friday Afternoon Club: Fridays, 1pm- 5pm (various classes starting January ’09)

We also have other regular events such as: a ‘25’ Card night on the last Friday of every month. All are welcome! On the fourth Saturday of every month we have a Céili & Set Dancing night. Anyone interested in this event should email info@newyorkirishcenter.org on the mailing list so you will get regular updates. For a complete listing of classes and events taking place at the Center, please visit www.newyorkirishcenter.org/events.htm.

We, at the New York Irish Center, from our Staff and Board Members and Volunteers, wish all of you a very Happy and Healthy Holiday Season, and Prosperous New Year with lots of luck and happiness in the coming year. Hope to see you here again soon We would also like to thank all our supporters and donors who make it possible to pay our mortgage and keep the doors open so we can hear your requests and provide entertainment and events that you all can enjoy. The donations and contributions that come to us from you, our supporters, are always appreciated. Nollaig Shona Daoibh Go Léir!

If you would like to support the programs and services that the Center provides to the Irish community, please visit our online donation page at http://www.newyorkirishcenter.org/donate.htm. Or if you''d like to donate some "sweat equity" (i.e. volunteer), please send an email to info@newyorkirishcenter.org or visit http://www.newyorkirishcenter.org/contact.htm.