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.
Linda Ervine was born into a working-class Protestant family in east Belfast. She is the manager of the first Irish language centre to be based in a loyalist area. When she began learning Irish in 2011, no one would have conceived of the idea of an Irish language centre in the heart of east Belfast but despite the many difficulties, Turas is now one of the largest providers of Irish language classes in Belfast. She is the founder of Scoil na Seolta, the first Integrated school to teach through the medium of Irish. In 2021 she was honoured to receive the MBE for her work promoting the Irish language. In 2023 she was given an honorary doctorate by Queen’s University and in 2025 she was made a member of the Royal Irish Academy as well as an honorary degree from Trinity College in June that year and an honorary degree from the Open University in October 2025. In March 2026, she was appointed to the Irish Council of State by President Catherine Connolly. About the event: Thursday 11 June | 1pm-1.45pm. This is a FREE online webinar. To book, please email us: cis@covirishsoc.org.uk with names and contact emails of all attendees. Registration closes 04 June 2026. The online link will be emailed to attendees prior to the event. With support from: Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade Reconciliation Fund.
Join us as we celebrate St. Patrick's Day 2026 in Coventry with events, live performances, plenty of craic and lots to discover!
Join us for a special St. Patrick's day Lunch Club from 12:30pm - 5:00pm at CIS Office, Eaton House | £10 per ticket . Blessing of the Shamrock Mass - 12pm at St Osburg's Church | Blessings of the Shamrock kindly provided by our twin City, Cork. Enjoy an Irish Stew and buffet, a special visit from St Patrick, plus live performances with music from Frankie and the McHugh School of Irish Dancers. Tickets are available at the office. Please contact us on 02476 256629 or get in touch at cis@covirishsoc.org.uk or on Facebook.
