The Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust will celebrate three very special birthdays at Merlin Park Hospital this weekend.
The trust will honour three women resident in unit 5 in the hospital with a special Mass at 2pm followed by a party featuring entertainment by Troubadors for Health next Wednesday.
The event is being held for Galway women Annie Dirrane, who will be celebrating her 101st birthday, Mary Kennedy, who will be 99, and Irene Lynch, 98.
Annie Dirrane was born in Kilronan, Inis Mór, on March 13 1908. She emigrated to England to train as a nurse and worked there for more than 20 years. Annie returned home to look after her parents whose health was deteriorating. Annie has been living in Unit 5 for the past 12 years. She is hale and hearty and received a silver commemorative coin and letter of congratulations from President Mary McAleese on reaching her birthday milestone last year.
Mary Helen Keogh Kennedy was born to Sarah and William Keogh in 1910 at Prospect Hill, Galway. Her father worked at the Galway Woollen Mills. She is from a family of four girls — Mary (Nellie ), Sarah, Josie, and Frances (Fanny ). In 1912 her family moved from Prospect Hill to St Bridget’s Terrace, and were the first family to move into the street. Mary went to the Convent of Mercy School and later worked at the Presentation convent. She married Matthew Kennedy, a carpenter from Kilkenny, in 1936 at St Patrick’s Church, Forster Street. They moved to Kilkenny where her eldest son John was born. Two years later they returned to Galway where they lived with her mother at St Bridget’s Terrace. Mary had four sons; John (RIP ), William, Canice, and Brian.
Irene Lynch was born in Dublin on April 27 1911. She came to Galway to live with her grandmother in Nuns Island at the age of 11. She attended the Presentation primary school and was a boarder in Taylor’s Hill secondary school. She qualified as a secondary school teacher in English and history from NUI, Galway. She taught in Galway, England, and Belfast, where she taught for 30 years. Irene later returned to Galway to live in Newcastle. Her hobbies were rowing, tennis, and reading. She still continues to read voraciously. She likes a smoke and is very happy in Unit 5.
Galway University Hospital Arts Trust runs an extensive arts programme in units 5 and 6 in Merlin Park University Hospital that promotes the increased quality of life for sick and hospitalised people through the delivery of high quality arts activities. Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust will launch the fourth volume of patients’ memoirs during the Cúirt International Festival of Literature on Wednesday April 22 at 11am in University Hospital, Galway. The theme of The Cat’s Cradle this year is ‘Hard Times Come Again’. Patients talk about their memories of hard times past — everything from straw mattresses to World War II — and offer Brian Cowen some advice!
Troubadours for Health, Jonathan Gunning and Miquel Barcelo, have been working with Galway University Hospitals Arts Trust for the past five years. The troubadours use music, storytelling, and improvisation to provide an interactive playful experience that is tailored to each individual. This programme comprises music, song, dance, and short dramatic sketches. All 65 long term patients plus those in respite care avail of the theatre programme. Those who are unable to attend the dayroom for activities get a personal performance. Further information on the programme is available from Margaret Flannery, arts officer, at (091 ) 544979 or [email protected]
