The evening was a great combination of cheer, friendship and celebration.  Attendees included former Silver Key Honorees Jim O’Brien,Carol, D’Arcy, Olga Reisman, Richard Finnegan, Gobnait Conneely, Neil Hurley, Kieran O’Sullivan and others. 

Also joining us were our new Irish Consul-General Michael Lonergan, Sister Lena Deevy from the Irish Immigration Center, Sister Marguerite Kelly from the Irish Pastoral Centre  and other familiar faces.

If you weren’t able to attend, please feel free to watch our video highlights from the event.  Photos can be viewed in our photo section.

In addition to the awards, great food and festive atmosphere, the event included a raffle.  The Society raffled off tickets to a Christmas Celtic Sojourn, courtesy of Brian O’Donovan.  Proceeds from the raffle are going to the Society’s fund to digitize our archives. 

The Silver Key Reception is our primary fundraiser for the year.   The Silver Key fund is used to support the charitable requests we receive from Irish, Irish-Americans and new Bostonians. 

The success of the event was due to the hard work of many people.  We’d like to thank:

• Sandra Moody, Keeper of the Silver Key
• Honor Moody
• Brian O’Donovan, Celtic  Sojourn
• Richard Finnegan
• Gobnait Conneely
• Bobbie Carlton

The Charitable Irish Society’s 273rd Annual St. Patrick’s Dinner

Featured speaker: Author and Columnist James Carroll

When: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Cocktail reception: 6:30pm
Dinner: 7:30pm

Location: The Hampshire House
84 Beacon Street, Boston, Mass.

Tickets are $135 per person

For tickets: Call Paula Carroll at 508-655-8430

or email Kelley Kassa at klkassa@yahoo.com

Our Annual General Meeting will take place on Wednesday, March 17, 2010.

When: 10:30am

Where: Boston Athenaeum
10 1/2 Beacon Street, Boston, MA  02108

Agenda:  This year’s Annual General Meeting will start with an introduction to the Athenaeum from the Director of the Athenaeum.  We will then discuss general business, minutes from the year’s Board of Directors meetings, and elect directors and officers for the 2010/2011 term. 

Coffee will be served.

Following the meeting, members will walk to the Irish Famine Memorial and place a wreath in front of the memorial.

December Board Meeting

Wednesday, December

Location: TBD

November Board Meeting

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Location: TBD

Travels with my Harp: An Afternoon with Mary O’Hara

Sunday, October 11, 2009 at Boston College

Presentation 2:00 – 3:30pm, Devlin Hall 008

Exhibit and Reception 3:45pm – 5:30pm, John J Burns Library

On Sunday, October 11, 2009, Boston College is holding a very special event marking the donation of the papers of famed Irish singer and harpist Mary O’Hara to the Irish Music Archives of the John J. Burns Library of Boston College.   

An artist of international renown, Mary O’Hara has appeared on many of the world’s major stages, including London ’s Royal Albert Hall, New York’s Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, and Toronto ’s Roy Thompson Hall. Born in County Sligo , Ireland , Mary O’Hara achieved early fame in the 1950s and 1960s with a series of landmark recordings and a television series on BBC-TV.  Her performances revived the tradition of the Irish harp as an accompanying instrument — a tradition dead in Ireland by the 1950s.  Liam Clancy in his 2002 autobiography, Memoirs of an Irish Troubadour, has written how Mary O’Hara’s music inspired him and others of the “folk revival” period of the early 1960s. 

 In 1956, Ms. O’Hara married the American poet Richard Selig, a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford , and the couple relocated to the United States .  Following Richard’s untimely death fifteen months into their marriage, Mary left her musical career and became a Benedictine nun. In 1974, she left the monastery and resumed recording and performing, appearing in major concert halls around the world. She married Dr. Padraig O’Toole in 1985, and after retiring from singing in 1994, she accompanied her husband to work in Africa for six years.  A musical play about Ms. O’Hara’s life, Harp on the Willow, was produced in Australia in 2007.  She currently resides with her husband in England .

The John J. Burns Library exhibit, Mary O’Hara, Singer and Harpist: A Retrospective features selected posters, recordings, correspondence, sheet music, awards, photographs, and books from the Mary O’Hara Papers.  The exhibit will be on view at the library from October 1, 2009 through April 30, 2010.

Please RSVP to Lori Shemanski at 617-552-3282 or lori.shemanski@bc.edu.

October Board Meeting

All members in good standing are invited to attend Board meetings.

Next Board Meeting: Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Time: 5:30pm

Location: The Roche Room, Bapst Library, Boston College

This year is the 160th anniversary of the sinking of the Brig St. John, a  famine tragedy in which at least 99 Irish men, women and children, mostly from Galway and Clare, were lost so close to their final destination of Boston.

To memorialize those lost and commemorate local efforts to save those onboard, the AOH has organized some activities.

A Mass at St Anthony’s Church (at the corner of South Main and Summer Street)at 1:00pm in Cohasset, followed by a brief reception after the Mass in the parish hall.  Afterwards there will be a wreath laying ceremony at the Celtic Cross in Cohasset Central Cemetery.
Date: 2009-10-04

In this newsletter we announce our three honorees for the annual Silver Key award.  They are: John Curran, Larry Reynolds and Christopher J. Lavery.  The newsletter highlights their accomplishments and provides details on how you can get tickets for the event.

Read the September Newsletter!

Our June newsletter shines a spotlight on long-time Society member Lenahan O’Connell, promotes some recent lectures in Ireland given by Board Member and Past President Catherine Shannon and more. 

Click here for the June Newsletter!