Coventry Irish Society’s 5th Annual Ball
October 31, 2024
Thank you to everyone who made our 5th Annual Ball a huge success. It was a wonderful night for our community to celebrate our culture and heritage.
Fantastic entertainment for the evening was provided by the very talented, Maggie Gallagher and Celtica Academy. The legendary Christy Pepper kept the dancefloor packed all night with a live performance of favourite tunes.
We were delighted to be joined by a senior delegation from Cork City Council; Cllr. Honore Kamegni (Deputy Lord Mayor of Cork), Viviane Kamegni, Cllr. Kieran McCarthy (Former Lord Mayor of Cork 2023/2024), and Ciarán Kelleher Byrne (International Relations Officer at Cork City Council).
The occasion was the perfect opportunity to present our long-serving volunteers with awards for long-standing service and dedication to their community; Ann Sullivan, Tommy Cleary, and Margaret Campbell. Certificates of Achievement were also presented to two excellent work-experience students; Daithí Houston and Gerard Gallagher.
A very special tribute was paid to our very own Kate McCarthy, Trustee of the Coventry Irish Society, who has dedicated over 20 years’ voluntary service to the charity, including successfully steering the charity through some extremely challenging and turbulent times. In a very moving speech, Kate, paid tribute to her own mother, and the values she taught her, in particular to look out for others.
The highlight of the evening was a formal presentation of the prestigious Cork City Gift by the Deputy Lord Mayor to our own Kay Forrest for a lifetime of service to the Irish community in Coventry. Special recognition was given to Kay for her long-term service to the Charity and for her ongoing commitment and herculean work over the past 31 years.
We, at the Coventry Irish Society, would like to give special thanks to all of our supporters, especially Care Associates who were the main sponsor of the event for the second year running. As a charity, we are very much dependent on the financial support that we get from our local businesses – your support is never taken for granted and very much keeps us going. Thank you!
We would also like to thank the staff at Christ The King Social Club who worked tirelessly throughout the evening to provide excellent hospitality to a full capacity room.
We also appreciated the opportunity, before the Ball, to host the Deputy Lord Mayor and his team at our offices where they enjoyed meeting the Irish in Coventry and seeing first-hand all the vital work that goes on to support our community. Coventry was the first city in the world to be twinned with another city and is currently twinned with 26 other cities across the world, including Cork. We value and cherish the friendship we have with Cork and look forward to continuing to work together.
View some of our favourite highlights from the night in this short video.
Beginners’ Irish Language Autumn Course 2026 with Dr Ian Malcolm Professional Irish language teacher and acclaimed Journalist, Dr Ian Malcolm, will deliver a bespoke online course in Beginners’ Irish. This course will consist of 10x classes and will take place entirely over Zoom on Saturday mornings, with Dr Ian Malcolm. Course details: Saturday 3 October 2026 - Saturday 5 December 2026* with 10x classes on Saturday mornings, delivered via Zoom from 11.00 am – 12.30 pm (including a 20 minute break). £105 for Coventry Irish Society Members | £110 for Non-Members *(or possibly slightly later, should the tutor need to take any unplanned leave during the course). This course consists of 10 classes and the aim is for the entirety of the course to be completed before Christmas 2026. Course materials: The class will use the textbook, Irish For Beginners (which is in the link below). This book costs in the region of £7.00 - £10.00 and it is strongly recommended that students purchase their own copies in advance of the course. You can find details of the course textbook here. Registration closes when course capacity is reached. Early booking is strongly recommended. The registration form for this course can be downloaded below. Please contact us at cis@covirishsoc.org.uk to return your booking form and complete course fee payment.
Coventry Irish Society launch our new #GaeilgeOnTheGo flashcards to support and encourage learning and practising new words in Irish. Here are our first set of free flashcards, in Irish, to mark the start of the new school year, and to welcome the Autumn season. Click on a tile below to enlarge.
Coventry Irish Society is moving!
