Shrove Tuesday also known in Ireland as Pancake Tuesday or Pancake Day is the day in February or March immediately preceding Ash Wednesday (the first day of Lent), which is celebrated in some Christian countries by consuming pancakes.

As this is the last day of the Christian liturgical season historically known as Shrovetide, before the penitential season of Lent, related popular practices, such as indulging in food that one might give up as their Lenten sacrifice for the upcoming forty days, are associated with Shrove Tuesday celebrations. The term Mardi Gras is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to the practice of the last night of eating richer, fatty foods before the ritual fasting of the Lenten season, which begins on Ash Wednesday. Many Christian congregations thus observe the day through the holding of pancake breakfasts, as well as the ringing of church bells to remind people to remember to repent of their sins before the start of Lent.

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Follower by Seamus Heaney:

A Summary and Analysis: Series 2 Episode 14 (No. 32). After the Podcast Introduction this Episode has 3 main segments; Follower - A Summary; Follower - A Reading by Seamus Heaney himself; Follower - Analysis of the poem. Follower is a poem that focuses on the relationship between father and son, shifting in perspective from past to present, giving the reader an insight into a son's reaction to the passing of time and that same father grown old.

It is an autobiographical poem that throws light on the speaker's observations as a child and the influence of the father as he worked the land with the child following. There is a deep but almost hidden respect for the father, acknowledged as an expert.

First published in 1966 in the book Death of a Naturalist, Follower is one of many early poems Heaney wrote about his family and in particular his father. Most of these finely crafted poems are based in the farmlands and peaty boglands of County Derry, Northern Ireland, where the poet was born and raised.

Follower is a straightforward lyrical poem and is an excellent example of Heaney's use of rural language within a controlled syntax that is full of long and short vowels, contrasting consonants and varied rhythms.

Throughout there is the quality of keen observation and a quiet depth of purpose. The reader is placed directly alongside the speaker, into the field being furrowed, into the mind of a child now facing life as a man, and the frustrating reversal of roles.

This is a kind of cruel but inevitable reversal. Such a contrast to those past days when the father had energy and control but who is now it turns out, a follower himself. #Entertainment, #GCSE, #LeavingCertificate, #Lierature, #Poetry, #SeamusHeaney, #Culture, #Farming, #Ireland

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The Guinness Six Nations starts on Saturday with Wales playing Italy and Ireland taking on the Scots. Then on Sunday England will face the ever unpredictable French Side!

On the eve of the 20th anniversary of the Championship, what makes the #GuinnessSixNations special to you?

Has anyone got any score predictions for the weekend?

Mine are included with reasons for in this episode. See if you agree and let me know.

Thanks for listening.

A breakdown of this weekend's Allianz National Football League Round 2 Fixtures covering Saturday 1st February and Sunday 2nd February. This episode gives a Preview and Prediction for each of the games and a breakdown of where games can be viewed or listened to. Wherever you are attending have a safe and enjoyable weekend.

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How Water Power Changed The Way We Worked: How the power of water was harnessed to work for man in the home and factory.

In the past most of the work of spinning and weaving was done domestically in people’s homes. The source of energy used in production was the muscle power of the craftspeople. At that time, machinery was mainly simple and small scale. Since then, the use of muscle power as a source of energy in industry has been replaced by the power of moving water and air.

Industry in the home gave way in importance to the mill, the works and the factory.

The idea of using water power was nothing new. The Egyptians used the running water of the River Nile centuries ago to turn primitive water wheels. The Egyptians were not alone in their use of water power.

The Syrians, the Greeks, the Chinese all harnessed water power to help them grind their corn, raise water from the rivers, and work bellows for furnaces where iron was smelted.

Water Power And Industry

It is said that the Greeks invented another kind of water wheel that lay on its side projecting into the river to catch the current which made it turn. These wheels became popular in Scandinavia and when Norse invaders arrived in England and Ireland, they brought the technology with them and was widely used until the nineteenth century. 

The type of water wheel we know best today was developed by the Normans and was used almost entirely for the grinding of corn. These mills could be found throughout Ireland at the beginning of the nineteenth century.

Brendan Scott demonstrates how a water wheel works through the use of a model.

The wheel consists of a series of buckets and the weight of the water in the bucket forces the wheel to turn.

This episode of ‘Six Generations’ was broadcast on 22 January 1970. The presenter is Brendan Scott.

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An IRA intelligence book dating from the War of Independence is being put on display for the first time in National Museum of Ireland.

This Podcast highlights the lengths to which the IRA went to target enemy intelligence officers in the War of Independence. The amazing detail is revealed in a photograph album which has never been made public before.

Described by National Museum of Ireland curator Brenda Malone as a “find of national importance”, the album features photographs detailing those who the IRA wished to target.

It was owned by the family of Monaghan IRA commander Matt Fitzpatrick. He was shot dead in February 1922 during a gun battle which ended in the deaths of four members of the Ulster Special Constabulary (the B Specials). That incident became known as the “Clones affray”.

The blue hardback album entitled News Cuttings has belonged to his nephew, Gerard Fitzpatrick, who has now loaned it to the museum at Collins Barracks.

Ms Malone said the book was too valuable to put on public display, but the images would be available to the public in the museum’s updated Irish Wars 1919 to 1923 exhibition which includes 50 new exhibits from the War of Independence. Ms Malone explained the significance of the IRA book: “It helps us to piece together how intelligence operated and how many people were involved even if they were not in the IRA.”

Michael Collins was able to walk around Dublin during the war with relative impunity because the British did not have a reliable photograph of him.

It is clear from the album that F Company of the Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary was a particular IRA target.That company reported to the chief of police in Dublin Castle and was involved in intelligence.

A mole within Dublin Castle was able to identify all 37 men in a photograph of F Company, including the notorious Capt Eugene Igoe, leader of the so-called Igoe Gang.

The album also includes a famous photograph from the War of Independence of a group of British intelligence officers. It has often been miscaptioned as a photograph of the Cairo gang wiped out on Bloody Sunday, but it is clear that the photograph was taken after Bloody Sunday. It is captioned as the “murder gang. Along with identifying the enemy, the IRA also identified meticulously those working for the British who might be of assistance to them. A photograph of staff in Dublin Castle identifies those who were Irish and those who were not. One of them was Elizabeth “Lily” Mernin. She worked as a typist in Dublin Castle and was the source passed on addresses of agents targeted by Collins’s squad on Bloody Sunday.

This will form part of 'The Century Project'

A commemoration of the decade of revolution 1912-1923. #Revolution;

#CenturyProject; #MichaelCollins; #IrishHistory; #Revolution

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Curated from the RTE Archives this episode recalls a 1988 documentary looking at the history of whiskey and the folklore surrounding it.

Exhibitions at the Irish Whiskey Museum tell the story of Irish whiskey, from its worldwide popularity in the 1800s to the brands that are still on sale today, such as Jameson and Bushmills.

The Jameson story is also told nearby in the Old Jameson Distillery in Smithfield, where visitors can experience the traditional distilling process.

The 1988 documentary ‘Whiskey with an E’ looked at the history of whiskey and the folklore surrounding it. In the opening sequence presenter Eamon Morrissey visits the town of Listowel, which has 55 pubs, one of them owned by writer John B. Keane. The sales of ‘brown spirits’ may be dropping all over the world, but in Keane’s pub, ‘there still are the remains of ould decency’.

#Whiskey; #Jameson; #Bushmills; #JohnBKeane; #Folklore

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Usual Suspects Star In Bonanza GAA Weekend. All Ireland Club Football and Hurling Weekend. Sigerson Cup Quarter Final Weekend. FBD, O'Byrne Cup, McKenna Cup and Walsh Cup Final Weekend. No matter where you looked there was a match on and for each of the teams, players and their supporters they were all important. In this episode a round up of the results from what was a bumper weekend of GAA action. Some have asked the question was it all too much, what about calendars and fixture connection? One thing is for certain the days of the 'Dual Player' are certainly numbered! #AllIrelandClub; #BallyhaleGAA; #CorofinGAC; #SigersonCup; #McKennaCup; #TyroneGAA; #FBDLeague; #GalwayGAA; #OByrneCup; #LongfordGAA; #WalshCup; #WexfordGAA

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'Come Out Ye Black and Tans' Tops UK I Tunes Chart!

In the streaming age, the first singles charts of the new year are reliably predictable. Out goes the Christmas music; back in flood the familiar faces of Lewis Capaldi, Stormzy and Dua Lipa.

However 2020 was different as in true 1920's Flying Column fashion the establishment Streaming Charts were ambushed Guerilla style!

As for a few hours on 8 January, an Irish rebel song about defying a notorious, 10,000-strong temporary police force sent by Churchill to Ireland in 1920 topped the UK iTunes chart. “Tell them how the IRA made you run like hell away,” runs the refrain of Come Out Ye Black and Tans, this version recorded by traditional Dublin folk band the Wolfe Tones, “From the green and lovely lanes of Killashandra.” Its wildcard success has as much to do with Alan Partridge and a ham advert as it does the legacy of Irish police brutality.

Widely believed to have been written by the Irish writer and songwriter, Dominic Behan, as a tribute to his father, Stephen, the song denounces the British force of mostly former soldiers recruited to the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) in Ireland following the 1916 Easter Rising. Not exactly smitten by the British answer to the revolution – namely further repression – the author’s intention would later resonate with the Wolfe Tones. Since 1963, they have packed venues across the world with their siren song of national autonomy, exemplified by the sentiment of Come Out Ye Black and Tans.

You might ask;

How has a song ostensibly rooted in Irish republicanism – a heady tale that is essentially an anti-colonialist anthem at its core – burrowed into the imagination of so many listeners?

While it has, ahem, occupied a certain place in the minds of Irish people regardless of creed for decades, the broader phenomenon can (perhaps best disregarding a reworking for an Irish ham advert last year) be traced back to two disparate happenings.

Last March, Steve Coogan ended an episode of This Time With Alan Partridge by singing the rebel song in character as eccentric rural Irish farmer and Partridge impersonator Martin Brennan.

Irish Twitter went wild and the Wolfe Tones’ rendition of the song started to penetrate foreign consciousness on easily the biggest scale since Behan apparently put pen to paper.

Then, last week, an event organised by the Irish government that was poised to commemorate the role of the RIC and Dublin Metropolitan Police (DMP) – two forces that acquired a reputation for brutality against civilians in the aftermath of IRA attacks during the Irish War of Independence – was deferred following kickback from the public and politicians.

No doubt bolstered by fond memories of Martin Brennan, Come Out Ye Black and Tans not only briefly topped both the UK and Irish iTunes charts, but entered the Australian iTunes Top 5. The meme doubled as a signal to Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and co.

Admittedly, the iTunes charts are very reactive and easily swayed, and rarely reflect the Official Charts Company’s weekly rankings. (There was a brief furore around Jarvis Cocker’s Running the World hitting the UK iTunes chart top spot before Christmas, only to miss out on the festive Top 40 altogether.) But the song’s unlikely moment in the spotlight reflects the newfound prominence of many Irish voices and communities online.

The Wolfe Tones’ minor success signifies a broader trend of razor-sharp in-joking and commentary from Irish Twitter, both diaspora and those at home.

The song looks beyond Ireland, too, succinctly relating the Irish experience to other peoples’ historic struggles against the British Empire.

The broader essence of the song hits home. Some concrete good has stemmed from it all, too. Founding Wolfe Tones member Brian Warfield has said that proceeds from the track will benefit wildlife and firefighter charities. #BridgeToBetter; #WolfeTones; #AlanPartridge; #SteveCoogan; #MartinBrennan; #LeoVaradkar #BlackAndTans #RIC

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Hi everyone, as it is the start of the New Year indeed a New Decade, what better time than to change some of the format around my podcast. I suppose the actual content of this podcast over the course of the last year reflects my own slightly confused sense of where I wanted to go as I continually jumped from topic to topic and interest to interest!

Since I recently retired I have been trying to find a new direction or path in my life. It's been all change. During the course of my initial months of retirement I had been dealing with health issues related to my heart.

One of the reasons I had to retire from my vocation of over 37 years, teaching. The last 20 of which I was a Principal in a small rural primary school.

Thankfully, after what I can only term as an amazing procedure I have been blessed with steadily improving in health.

As the New Year continues to tick steadily along it is easy to start falling into the trap of New Year's Resolutions

I'm going to get healthy. I'm going to write that book. Im going spend more quality time with my loved ones. I'm going to learn my native language. I'm  going to be more organized. I'm going to overcome bad habits.

However I've taken 'Time Out' from all of that and decided to take my own approach at my own speed and try to celebrate the little successes rather than berate myself for the large failures as I Build My #BridgeToBetter.

This Podcast will act as a record of my journey. Of my ups and of course downs as I:

Build my #BridgeToThePast to help me understand who I am and how I got to where I am today;

Build my #BridgeToTheFuture to help me plan out a map of where I would like to go and what I would like to do as my life develops in a new direction.

Of course, as I progress through my journey I will be including my own personal stuff linked to hobbies general interests, sporting events and real life events of the moment.

My hope is that through my story I might be able to  provide some small nugget of inspiration or motivation for others on their own personal journey to Building their #BridgeToBetter'.

Do feel free to join in the conversation by using the voice comment/message facility and don't forget to Like, Share and give us a Thumbs Up on whatever platform you listen to Podcasts on as we Build our own #BridgeToBetter.

Thankyou for listening and until next time SLAN!

#BuildingBridges, #CrossingTheBridge, #BridgeToThePast, #BridgeToTheFuture #Wellness #BridgeToBetter

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