At Home and Abroad

Eoin O'Grady - President, Irish Cultural Society, Calgary Irish Cultural Society of Calgary, a vibrant community founded in 1986 to celebrate Irish and Celtic culture right in the heart of Calgary. The Irish Cultural Society emerged from the participation of the founding members in various social and cultural activities. At the time that the ICS was forming in 1985 there were four registered Irish dance schools (Houston, Irwin, Pettigrew and Regent) in Calgary, and the Chieftains GAA Club and the Calgary Irish Canadian Athletic Club (Rugby and Ladies Field Hockey) were well established. Irish music groups entertained and people socialized at house parties and bars. A group of Queen’s Belfast alumni had held informal lunches during the past few years. Drama groups Wild Rose Players and Peacock Players had previously staged productions of Irish content. An Irish Club had recently operated in Forest Lawn. External factors including the prevailing situation in Ireland, immigration trends, and the consciousness of multiculturalism in Canada would also have been part of the context. Within the Irish Community there was interest in forming an Irish Club, reviving a Drama Group and organising an Irish Language Class. This triggered discussions about what the purpose and nature of the Irish Club should be. As we talked the thinking focussed on the concept of a society that would promote Irish culture, help raise awareness of things that were already happening, and encourage or initiate new opportunities. Meanwhile the Irish Class was arranged and the drama group progressed as a separate entity. It was important to establish the values that the society would be based on and that were hoped would be enduring. In that regard it was informative to learn from the experiences of previous Irish organizations. Hugh Neary recounted activities of the St. Patrick’s Society that existed in the 1960’s and Kathy Cote told of an Irish group that held dress dances in the Palliser Hotel and sponsored a Rose of Tralee contestant. Learning about such experiences helped to guide the way forward for an Irish organization that might be more sustainable. Eventually various ideas gelled into what became the objects of the Society and its operating philosophy. By December 1985 the names Irish Cultural Society and Liffey Players were settled upon and a benefit concert was held at the Hillhurst Community Hall to raise funds for these societies. We had a small poster to promote the concert and included a Celtic design border copied from an All-Ireland Hurling Final program. A Celtic image from that program subsequently became the ICS emblem. The use of the Celtic knot design signifying ‘eternity’ was intended to represent a link to Irishness that was non-political and non-sectarian, matters that were important to the founding members of the society at that time. https://www.calgaryics.org/