The Ireland Funds Great Britain – 35th Anniversary Celebration 2023
The Ireland Funds Great Britain hosted their 35th anniversary celebrations at the Embassy of Ireland on the evening of Thursday 30th November. Joined by distinguished guests and friends, they honoured their founding chair, Josephine Hart, and paid tribute to her famous Poetry Hour, with readings of WB Yeats by Bob Geldof, Denise Gough and Lennie Goodings, superbly curated by Shevaun Wilder of the Josephine Hart Poetry Foundation.
Over the past 35 years, the Great Britain chapter of The Ireland Funds has invested in people, programmes and communities across Ireland, that work to increase access to and excellence in education, nourish Irish arts and culture, advance peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland, and strengthen the bonds that bring communities closer together.
The evening was a celebration of all that has been achieved and as Executive Director, Katie Jemmett, so eloquently summed up, “there is always more to do, and so we are taking the opportunity to not just look back on our achievements, but to look forward and consider the impact we want to have now and in the future”.
Their guests were wowed by a specially commissioned poem, Home, written and performed by Eva O’Connor. A first edition copy of WB Yeats ‘Selected Poems. Lyrical and Narrative’ was presented to Lord Saatchi, Josephine Hart’s husband, by recently appointed Chair of IFGB, Bridget Walsh.
Photos: Noel Mullen and Anna McGrane
