The Limerick Lady Podcast

Emma Langford & Ann Blake celebrate ten years shining a light on extraordinary women in the arts, politics, science, technology and sports! Ticket link: https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/ten-years-of-the-limerick-lady-tickets-1991982549428

Join Emma Langford and Ann Blake in celebrating their tenth year hosting The Limerick Lady: a vibrant series of events and podcasts that have shone a light on a multitude of extraordinary women across Ireland in the arts, politics, science, technology and sports. June 2026 marks ten years since the duo hosted their first showcase of stellar creative talent from around the country. This ten year anniversary show, hosted by Ann and Emma at Number 1 Pery Square, Limerick City, promises to be yet another powerful evening of conversation and entertainment, and a joyful celebration of Limerick's creative community.

€5 from every ticket will go to the Kevin Bell Repatriation Trust: The Repatriation Trust aims to alleviate the financial hardship of bereaved families repatriating the body (bodies) of loved one(s) who have died abroad.

This event is taking place with thanks to Limerick City And County Council and the Twilight Thursday scheme

The FINAL EPISODE (maybe, probably, for now at least) of the Limerick Lady Podcast.

After 7 years of cobbling these spiels together, we decided, for the craic, to let Zoom's "AI companion" take a swing at writing the episode summary for the show notes.

"In this final episode of their podcast, Emma and Ann announced the indefinite suspension of Limerick Lady, citing a lack of friendship between them as the main reason. They reflected on the podcast's history, including its origins with Limerick City Community Radio and notable episodes featuring various guests, while also discussing their upcoming theater projects including "Connie" and a play at the Limetree Theatre. The hosts concluded by discussing their personal lives, including foster pets and sports, while expressing gratitude to their sponsors and listeners before signing off."

So there you go, if there was ever a morsel of doubt in our minds as to AI's capacity to utterly drain human interaction of its humanity, the wit and banter completely removed... But yes, I suppose that's sort of... kind of... what this episode was.

Useful links here:

Foster Lucy the gorgeous 4 or 5-year-old staffy currently domiciling in Langford's gaff: https://www.mylovelyhorserescue.com/dogs.html

Listen to our first five episodes on Limerick City Community Radio: https://www.lccr.ie/podcasts.php?show=limerick-lady-podcast&date=2018-08-15

See/Learn more about the mural of Constance Smith: https://www.limerickpost.ie/2019/11/05/mural-of-limerick-movie-star-constance-smith-unveiled/

Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLimerickLady And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelimericklady And if you're so inclined, on X: www.x.com/lkladyhq

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will) when we remember to get it out on time.

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

On the 22nd of May 2015, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise Marriage Equality by popular vote. That is exactly ten years ago today, at the time of recording of this short note by Ann, one half of The Limerick Lady. Ann briefly reflects on how conversations and openness were what won the campaign. Let's be sure to keep talking and listening.

Ann will be performing her show, The Morning After The Life Before (@morningafterlb on Insta), in Dance Limerick on Saturday the 24th of May at 8pm.

Welcome to the April edition of the Limerick Lady Podcast.

Alternate title: "What gets me goin' about Bóinn".

We were joined this month by the brilliant Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh who recently gave a seminar on the sexist themes within lots of traditional Irish songs that for a long time we've all just kind of... Overlooked, or not known about.

Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh is an accomplished solo performer, guitarist and composer. She is currently a member of Irish-Estonian trio, Iiri-Eesti Lauluvagi, featuring Anne-Mai Valk and Hanna-Reet Ruul. In 2020, she released her album Red is the Rose, an album of traditional songs, sung unaccompanied. In 2021 she co-produced an animated music video to accompany her song Bóinn - the River Goddess. Róisín has worked with artists Joanna Hyde and Tadhg Ó Meachaire on their album One For The Foxes and has worked on the Songs For Our Children Project and the 1916 Song Project with Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune. In 2023, Róisín successfully completed her PhD at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. As a solo artist Róisín performs songs from the Irish, English and Scottish tradition alongside her own compositions. She is currently Assistant Professor in Irish Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance.

If you can access it, Róisín's thesis "Sexual Metaphor and Meaning in the Two Irish Language Songs 'An Binsín Luachra' and 'An tSeanbhean Bhocht'" is available to read on the University of Limerick library website.

Go see the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra at the Wickham Way in Limerick City, as part of the Comhluadar festival, on the 25th of April, and in Dolans on the 26th of April opening for Carswell & Hope (Ire/US band).

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

We're back! Did you miss us? Did you even notice we were gone for a month? Did you spot our new glasses? Our haircuts? Honestly, sometimes feels like you're just not paying attention...

Anyway, WE'RE BACK with a March edition of the Limerick Lady Podcast. We're joined by sarcastic and all-knowing (almost) oracle Sharon Slater, to talk about Limerick's link to Saint Patrick (if that even IS his name) (It's not).

Sharon Slater is an award-winning historian and author whose focus is on the history of Limerick. She has appeared on RTE, TG4, and PBS promoting Limerick's past. Her publications include "A Stitch in Time, a History of Limerick Clothing Factory" and "100 Women of Limerick", and she is creator of the Limerick's Life Podcast, co-hosted by her son Peter.

Buy Sharon's book, 100 Women of Limerick: https://www.omahonys.ie/100-women-of-limerick-p-10547171.html

Visit Sharon's Website: https://limerickslife.com/

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

For our first episode of 2025, we're joined by pun-lover, recovering graphic designer, style icon and professional soprano Eve Stafford: the brand new president of the Limerick branch of Network Ireland, and possibly the first artist to be president of the branch!

Network Ireland is a non-profit, voluntary organisation, with over 1,000 members and seventeen very dynamic branches. Established in 1983, this is a progressive, dynamic organisation supporting the professional and personal development of women.

Eve is a professional singer and classical crossover soprano from Limerick. She's best known as a wedding and events singer all across Munster for the last 14 years. In the past year she has had great success with her solo concert series, "Songbird" & recently released her debut album of the same name which includes Eve's Number 1 debut single. For the past three years, Eve has been a proud member of the National Concert Hall's outreach program 'Health & Harmony' in association with the Alzheimer's society of Ireland performing at several concerts a month in care home settings.

Eve is the 2025 President of Network Ireland Limerick, and won the Creative Professional Branch award in 2022 for the Businesswoman of the Year Awards.

Buy Eve's album: https://evestafford.bandcamp.com/album/songbird-contains-one-digital-track Join the network: https://networkireland.ie/general/register_member_type.asp?

Ticket link for Eve's "Lovebird" concert at St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick: https://www.tickettailor.com/events/evestaffordsoprano/1406402

Support The Haven Hub by texting HAVEN to 50300 –

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

Ann and Emma reflect on the year gone by and hopes for a better 2025.

In this "angry corner" we have a little cathartic rant about the state of Ireland's housing crisis, the lack of supports in Limerick for victims of sexual assault, the horror of what's happening in Afghanistan, and the appalling lack of non-skinny-jeans for baby girls... And lots more besides. This podcast is a look at the ideological and practical feminist issues of 2024, and what we hope we won't have to keep talking about next year.

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

What happens when your books, for all the right reasons, are banned? Well sometimes the controversy just drives demand; unfortunately it also often means the author's name is all-but-lost to the mists of time, and relegated to the back of the collective mind.

Such was the case for Limerick's own Kate O'Brien whose 50th anniversary we mark in 2024. O'Brien had two books "Mary Lavelle" and "Land of Spices" banned in Ireland, and she herself was banned from Spain, for expressing some very progressive ideas around politics, women's liberation, and sexual identity.

On this month's episode we meet Shirley Keane, director of Limerick's Opera Workshop, and Fiona Linnane, composer, to discuss their work-in-progress "Banned" which explores how Kate O'Brien responded to her censorship – the heartbreak it brought her, her ultimate triumph in spite of it, and the impact it will have had on the breadth of her audience today.

Fiona Linnane is a composer whose compositional practice centres around use of text and includes opera, art song and featuring spoken word. She is director of Limerick New Music Ensemble and represented by the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin.

Following a Bachelor of Music Degree from University College Cork and a Masters in Music Technology from University of Limerick, Linnane's first explorations into composition were through song writing. Over the last 20 years she has established herself as a composer of "Art Song" and operatic works popular with both audiences and performers alike. The work of Kate O'Brien has been a feature of Linnane's work since 2011 when she began composing her song cycle Songs from Kate O'Brien. The cycle consists of 12 songs – four for soprano, four for contralto and four for baritone – based on poems by Mary Coll depicting characters from O'Brien's novels at pivotal moments in their development. The Limerick City and County Council awarded her with Individual Arts Bursaries in 2018 and 2019 for work in opera and art song, including the addition of the four songs for soprano to the Kate O'Brien cycle.

Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Workshop, Shirley has had training in both theatre and opera, at Rose Bruford College, Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London. Shows created and produced for Opera Workshop include The Countess' Salon, Opera What The Fuss!, The Trouble with Virtue, Abandoned and No 2 Pery Square by Fiona Linnane. In October 2022 Shirley produced and directed Twisted Tales, a production of short, edgy contemporary operas by Fiona Linnane and Luke Byrne.

She has worked as a performer, director, teacher and mentor with companies as diverse as Opera Theatre Co., Opera Holland Park, Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera, Live Music Now, Accademia Solti Te Kanawa, Half Moon Young People's Theatre Co., and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Shirley was also engaged on the Women's Conducting Programme at the National Concert Hall, led by conductor Alice Farnham. Shirley enjoys regular cover presenter time on RTE lyric fm.

https://limetreebelltable.ie/events/banned-by-fiona-linnane/ https://operaworkshop.ie/

Instagram: @fionacomposes @operaworkshoplimerick

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie

Rest in peace Annette Hannon and condolences to the Blakes and the Hannons

Come one, come all! This month we celebrate 69 episodes of the Limerick Lady with a chat about sex, sex myths, the sex toy industry and lots more with Seattle-born, Galway-based Shawna Scott the founder and owner of "Sex Siopa".

Shawna talks to us about seeing a gap and choosing to fill it, about the holes in medical professionals' knowledge around sexual health and pleasure, and about how she opened up for business during the pandemic. We will not be apologising for euphemistic language, no we will not.

Shawna Scott is the owner and founder of the multi-award winning SexSiopa.ie and BodyGra.ie. Since 2012 she has been utilizing Sex Siopa as a platform to get Ireland comfortable with talking about sex and pleasure with a focus on health and inclusion. Over the years this has caught the attention of health care workers in Ireland, which has provided Shawna the opportunity to work with doctors and professionals in the areas of cancer, endometriosis, physical therapy, and gynaecology to create holistic, individualised care solutions for people with complex health needs. She has featured in countless publications, radio & tv programmes, and has spoken at events both within Ireland and internationally.

When she's not flogging dildos, Shawna loves crocheting, watching horror movies, and spending time in the back garden with her rescue greyhound.

www.sexsiopa.ie Instagram: An_Siopa_Gneas Twitter: SexSiopa Facebook: Sex Siopa

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake.

Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will).

The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper.

Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie