Sunday Culture
This week’s Sunday Culture is all about the children and charity. At the time of this hitting your inboxes, there should have been a crowd gathering to run a charity 5k for those with blood cancer in Northern Ireland but, alas, Storm Boelo has seen it off. Leukaemia is a type of blood cancer that is the commonest form of cancer affecting children. The run is in support of a friend’s kid who has borne more in their 2 years than most of us could ever conceive of in a lifetime.
What I’ve been reading
The past fortnight has seen the launch of a book telling the story of a cross community children’s charity that my parents were heavily involved in and thus was folded in to my childhood. In ‘Project Children: A Legacy’, author Jane Buckley collates interviews from a wide range of folk in both the USA and Northern Ireland who volunteered to bring children out of what was essentially a civil war to a brief summer reprieve in America. The charity blossomed into supporting US based internships for university age youths and a soccer camp in Derry run my dad. It has now wound back its key work as arguably the same need isn’t there but looking around at how some kids of today struggle somewhat without community space I do wonder.
There’s a chapter about my daddy Gerry (told by my mum) that so eloquently captures why it was such important work that we will be eternally proud of and grateful to have been one small part of.
“With Gerry, it always came back to the same thing. Children first”.
What I’ve been listening to
The co-founder of Project Children, a remarkable man called Denise Mulcahy, appeared on a radio programme recently in which he was invited to share songs that have meaning for him and within the story of Project Children. Denis is a retired bomb squad cop in the New York Police Department and has this remarkable resonant voice that is a beautiful amalgamation of Cork and New York. Worth a listen for that alone! Also the show is a reminder of the power of music to buoy and guide us through hard times.
What I’ve been watching
As a nailed on West Wing stan, it was a given I would be intrigued by Netflix’s ‘The Diplomat’, written by former WW writer Deborah Cahn. Season 4 has just been released and whilst there remains a good amount of twisty turny geopolitics, the focus is much more on the relationships of the core four characters (2 of whom are played by West Wing’s Josh and CJ, Bradley Whitford and Alison Janney). A thoroughly enjoyable watch, even if it does stretch credulity at times.
It’s an indoor kind of a day, so stay safe and coorie in!
GRMA,
Deirdre x
