In association with the landmark exhibition now at EPIC “Look Back to Look Forward: 50 Years of the Irish in Britain”
Do you have a relative born in the UK? Or were you born in Great Britain but trace your ancestry back to Irish heritage? Over 6 million people living in England share a similar background.
In 1961, 683,000 Irish-born people were living and working in Great Britain. For centuries, the Irish served as a crucial ‘reserve army of labour’ contributing to Britain’s economic progress. Skilled, diligent, and hard-working. Despite facing stark discrimination, poor working conditions, and social marginalization; the Irish in Britain during this period built the most important and popular infrastructures in British history. The legacy they left still lives on today in the Irish clubs, music, sport, and dance.
We are honoured to screen John Fleming and Mark Stewart’s documentary film “Guests of Another Nation” which follows the lived experiences of Irish emigrants living in Britain in the 1980s. Guests of Another Nation follows the lives of some young Irish people in London over the course of a dark, wintery day in December 1987. It includes revealing interviews with a nurse, builders, the Camden Irish Centre priest and Cathal Coughlan (the late musician with Microdisney). The film is 27 minutes long and is a social time capsule which captures the downbeat tone of a difficult period of economic emigration from Ireland.
About Our Speakers
The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with John Fleming (director, Irish Times journalist, author and musician. Fleming’s acclaimed novel The Now Now Express is a fictional take on the same 1980s London-Irish diaspora from a Dublin perspective and mines many of the classic themes of dislocation, unease and identity loss. It is the core text from which The Prongs draw their perceptive and edgy tunes.
Fleming will link the film, book and music as a prism through which to present his personal experience and insight into the era.
Date: May 31, 17.30
Location: EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum
Price: €5.00
About the exhibition
Opening on 18th April, our new landmark exhibition explores the personal stories, the struggles and the triumphs that have shaped the Irish community in Great Britain over the last 50 years. The stories featured within the exhibition are as inspirational as they are heart-breaking, and most importantly, will never be forgotten. Volunteers from the Irish community in Britain received special training to help them capture at-risk testimonies from the last half century which speak of the sacrifice, joy, challenges, and crucial role the Irish have played in modern Britain.
The exhibition also features contributions from notable Irish cultural figures, actors Siobhán McSweeney, Adrian Dunbar and Aisling Bea, broadcaster Terry Christian, musician Jah Wobble and Moth Poetry Prize Winner Laurie Bolger, who has composed a bespoke poem.