IRISH CULTURAL SOCIETY
of the Garden City Area
The Irish Cultural Society is a group of your friends and neighbors who want to know more about their Irish heritage. The group, non-political by its charter, endeavors to bring together people with the common goal of learning about our roots and supporting Irish culture and study.
We welcome new members at any time. Please download our membership application and bring it with you to any meeting, or mail it to us!
MONTHLY MEETING
December 8, 2021
7:30pm
Garden City Casino
Our Next Meeting:
The Great Famine - an Gorta Mor (Great Hunger)
The Great Famine- an Gorta Mór (Great Hunger) – is Ireland’s greatest tragedy.
The blight caused more than a million Irish people to die of starvation or related illnesses and two and a half million more to emigrate to America and elsewhere on what were called “Coffin Ships.”
The English believed that the Irish were mainly to blame for the plight because they used outdated and inefficient farming systems. The English believed that the Irish were lazy and didn’t deserve help. The London Times helped to promote that belief: “…the reason for the potato disease in Ireland was God's punishment on the Irish because the majority of them were Catholic.”
Our guest speaker will be Irish born and raised Tom O'Reilly, who has a PhD in Irish History. Tom is also a member of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, Smithtown, NY.
Join us on Wednesday, December 8th at the Garden City Casino - please note the venue change. The meeting begins at 7:30pm, and is free and open to the public.
Maximum attendance is 40, so arrive early to make sure you get a spot!
HEDGEMASTER ARCHIVES
The Hedgemaster Archives is our link to our heritage. Please browse our rich collection of Irish culture and history to learn some more of our lineage. We have significantly added to our collection, so take a look at the new additions!
MARTIN J. KELLY ANNUAL WRITING CONTEST
Contest Details
The Annual Writing Contest is named in honor of Martin J. Kelly, a founding member of the society and its past president for 23 years until his passing on July 2, 2015.
To learn more about Martin, please click here.
2021 Writing Contest
Winner Announced!
The members of the Irish Cultural Society and the members of the H.W. Wilson Foundation are pleased to announce and congratulate the First Place winners of the 2021 Martin J. Kelly Writing Contest:
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Max McConville, Oyster Bay High School
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Taylor Wolfe, H. Frank Carey High School
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Madeline Rose, Wantagh High School
A complete listing of all winners can be seen by clicking here.
All participants in this year's contest received a Certificate of Merit, and each school's library represented by our participants receives a copy of The Immortal Irishman, by Timothy Egan, which is a biography of Thomas Francis Meager.
This year, our contest challenged students to compose an essay in which the writer identifies him/herself through references to indicators or emblems of the writer’s heritage or interests. A model of such an essay of identity, The Meaning of Irishness by George E. Ryan. Click here to view Mr. Ryan's essay.
Contest entrants wrote an essay built upon references to the things which people accumulate from their heritages and interests. Our model essay has references to the books, music, art and other cultural elements of Mr. Ryan’s Irish heritage. Entrants wrote an entertaining essay which refers also to the indicators of heritage in their homes or to the signs in a room which show a person’s passionate interests. Indicators of heritage include religious symbols, foods, celebrations, languages and so much more. Indicators of passionate interests include reading material, special clothing, posters and so much more. Heritage need not be of another country– America, too, has produced emblems of an American heritage.
We express our appreciation to our sponsor, The H.W. Wilson Foundation.
CONTACT
Irish Cultural Society
of the Garden City Area
OUR ADDRESS
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