The Play Hut in Kilburn’s Grange Park will host a celebration of Irish heritage this Saturday 10 May 10am- 6pm.
There will be traditional Irish music, market stalls, food, with workshops for children and adults as well as a memory museum by Electronic Sheep.
Admission and activities are free.
Electronic Sheep are the visual arts team behind The Kilburn Tapestries which was featured in The Irish World and featured the late impresario and promoter Vince Power, whom we lost last year.
The festival is organised by Kilburn State of Mind whose aim is to address isolation and inequality in the community.
Alan Medley, CEO and Founder of Kilburn State of Mind, told The Irish World: “We want to pay homage to the Irish community and the heritage of Kilburn.
“When the opportunity came along to do something, we thought it would be another good opportunity to remember what Kilburn recently was because at the moment, it’s lost its identity a little bit.
“I’d like people to kind of remember where we were 10, 15 years ago which was a thriving Irish community.
“It was a wonderful place to be and there’s not much identity these days.
“We just want to kind of tip the hat to that and remind people where we are.”
Helen Delany of Electronic Sheep told The Irish World: “I’m having this memory museum.
“Some of them are funny Irish stories that happened in the area from the past mainly related to music but also some of the typical Irish stories from here in the past.
“But the other thing we’re going to reflect on is the Kilburn Tapestry that you featured before.
“We’re going to have two panels about that.
“One of them is also obviously to remember the legacy of Vince Power and the influence of Vince Power in the area with all his venues and promoting Irish music as well as international musicians like Johnny Cash and everyone.
“I think his legacy will be still going through Dingwalls so his tradition will carry through.”
There will also be a screening of a film by Electronic Sheep about the Irish of Kilburn.
“Our new film is also about the Irish of Kilburn and the history of the Irish in the area.
“It’s called Kilburn in Motion.
“It’s an art film. It’s filmed in Kilburn. It’s about the community of Kilburn, the Irish of Kilburn, immigration, integration in general and also captures all the unappreciated architectural buildings of the area.”
The film was improvised with members of the community.
“We did a boat scene, for example, in the Tin Tabernacle and it’s based on the whole tradition of the Irish boat coming over from Ireland with the people on it.
“It’s quite a visual piece, it basically tells the story of that crossing the Irish sea to London, and then about these two characters.
“Brenda, the other half of Electronic Sheep, and myself, we play the two lead characters so it’s semi-autobiographical but there’s an underlying story of immigration running behind it.
“It’s not just about us, it’s about everybody.
“It’s not specifically about Brenda and I but it’s about anyone who’s immigrated into a city and in this case, it’s about the Irish of London.
“It’s part of a continuation of the tapestry concept but it’s more specific about this area, about Kilburn.”
The film features music from the era when Helen and Brenda first came to London and to Vince Power’s Mean Fiddler.
“Ironically, or maybe not ironically but in truth, these bands were also supported by Vince. He had the Mean Fiddler in Dublin as well and some of these bands played in his venue in Dublin and some of them played in his venues over here so they cross over.
“His legacy continues, yeah.
“It’s only still coming to light how many venues and how much influence he had on the whole of the music scene, not just Kilburn or not just Brent.
“He was behind so many things that I even went to my younger self with my friends.”
- Irish Heritage Festival takes place at The Play Hut, Kilburn Grange Park 10am- 6pm this Saturday 10 May. Email kilburnstateofmind@gmail.com.
