Ellen Elliott (88), known as Nelly to her loved ones, sat contentedly at a table with her friends last Monday afternoon, following the annual Christmas lunch of the Irish Elderly Advice Network (IEAN) at a church hall in Finsbury Park, north London.
The food was lovely, she said, smiling, and so was the company. Dozens of Irish pensioners enjoyed Monday’s lunch, which was laid on by volunteers
On the green scarf draped around Elliott’s neck was a knitted flower in the colours of the Irish flag. Her friend Irene Oldham (84), who was sitting opposite her at lunch, made it for her.
“I’d be lost without this place,” said Elliott. Oldham beamed sweetly back across the table at her friend. “Everybody is so nice here.”
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IEAN is a charity, run by Nora Mulready, that helps older Irish people living across London, providing practical assistance and, crucially, companionship and a social outlet for those who attend its lunch clubs every Thursday.
It is supported by the Irish embassy, but still operates on a tight budget and has launched a Christmas crowdfunding appeal.
The charity’s clientele includes the Irish who came to Britain in waves from the 1950s to the 1970s, many from working class backgrounds. For this generation, Britain became their economic sanctuary. But unlike the Irish in the US, the ones who went to England were rarely as feted by those left at home.
“Some of these people gave up an awful lot to come here,” said Tom Wheeler (75) from Ratoath in Meath, chairman of IEAN, who moved to London 46 years ago. “But they also might have had little or no say in the matter. They had to emigrate; they had to make money.”
Many older Irish in British cities such as London place great importance on how they are perceived back home, said Wheeler. They are grateful for appreciation from the land they left behind.
IEAN is closely linked to the Irish Pensioners Choir, which was founded by Mulready’s mother Sally Mulready, a well-known activist for the Irish in Britain. A microphone was passed around after Monday’s Christmas lunch as the strains of ballads such as Spancil Hill filled the room. Wheeler, meanwhile, belted out a rousing version of the Rose of Tralee – everybody joined in the chorus.
[ Making home in the museum: how Irish arrivals to London lived in the 1950sOpens in new window ]
Elliott didn’t sing. But she was happy to be there. She said she came to London in 1956 from her Cork home in Kilmichael, a village just south of Macroom that was the site of an infamous ambush of British soldiers during the War of Independence.
She worked as a nurse but had to give it up after she almost died in a ‘flu epidemic. She later found work as a “clippy” – a bus conductor – in Cricklewood. She met her Donegal husband Gerry and settled into family life.
Elliott buried her husband two years ago. Her eyes glistened slightly as she revealed that a year after she lost her husband, one of her two sons, 56-year-old Bobby, died in his sleep. Her friend Irene Oldham told her not to get lost in grieving, and brought her along to one of the IEAN lunch clubs.
“I’m glad she did,” said Elliott. “There’s plenty of help here if you need it.”
Some of these people gave up an awful lot to come here. But they also might have had little or no say in the matter. They had to emigrate; they had to make money
— Tom Wheeler, IEAN chairman
Maeve Heath (85), originally from Milltown in Dublin, was among the volunteers serving up lunch. She moved to London aged 22 in 1962 along with her whole family. They had lived in a corporation house near Windy Arbour, but Heath and her siblings had lost their mother six years before.
“People thought we came from a posh part of Dublin but we didn’t have two pennies to rub together after my mother died,” she said.
[ I moved to London certain that I’d eventually return home. Now, I’ve settledOpens in new window ]
“There were five of us. I was the eldest. I was coming over to London to join a friend. But my dad said: ‘We’ll all go.’”
Heath’s father was Michael McDonnell, a Shamrock Rovers footballer in the 1930s who was known as “Star McDonnell”. He had to give up the game after a back injury. She still remembers her cousins calling her father “Uncle Star”. She knew that Rovers were due to play Chelsea in a European tie last week in London. It made her think of her father, she said.
Heath had worked for the Pye radio company in Dublin and secured a transfer to their London operation on Holloway Road. When she arrived in the city, she thought it was a “mad place”.
“All the people, all the pushing and shoving. I thought: ‘What’s wrong with these people? Where are they all going?’”
She met her Londoner husband at work – he was her supervisor – and they had two boys. Heath was widowed at a young age, in 1985.
One of her sons took her back to Dublin earlier this year as a mother’s day present.
“You still think of Ireland as your home and I am very proud to be Irish. But my children are Londoners. I’ve never wanted to move back,” she said.
She volunteers for 40 hours per week, serving lunches at IEAN one day per week and three days at the London Irish Centre in Camden: “I’ll keep going as long as I can.”
Several of the men at the IEAN lunch spoke of the loneliness that can afflict London’s elderly Irish. John O’Connor (85), who moved over from Mullinahone in Tipperary, is the chairman of the Irish Pensioners Forum of East London.
“We hold tea dances once per month. It is so important to have something to go out to. It gets people out of the house. It breaks down the loneliness,” he said.
O’Connor knew what he was talking about. He lost his wife Ann, originally from Callan in Kilkenny, in June 2022.
There are good vibes here. If it wasn’t for the IEAN, I wouldn’t be alive
— John Sweeney
Patsy Davis (71), from Ennistymon in Co Clare, said the lunch clubs and the choir were great outlets for getting the older Irish active again, especially those whose family had all moved out or who had been widowed. A lot of them miss Ireland, he said.
Davis said he had often thought about moving back to Ireland, but he was also happy in London. In an inversion of the usual narrative, his London-born son had upped sticks and moved to Ennistymon when he was aged 17.
“He calls me up and says: ‘Dad, when are you coming home?’” said Patsy.
While many of the London Irish are nostalgic for home, for some the feelings are more complicated. John Sweeney (84) said he was a “war child” born in Scotland to his Irish mother.
“They said it was a sin for my mother to have me,” he said.
He was brought up in an orphanage in Drogheda, before being moved to the Artane industrial school at 16. In his eyes and voice, you can see and hear the effects of such a difficult upbringing.
“I can never forgive them for what they did to me,” he said.
Sweeney also lost a grown-up son, who died three years ago aged 55 from Covid. His remaining child, a daughter, was one of the volunteers at the lunch.
Sweeney had a hard life, but has been helped in his pursuit of inner peace by his friendships at the IEAN, talking about his troubles, his love of Johnny Cash and his affinity with Native American culture – he wears some of their insignias around his neck.
“There are good vibes here,” he said. “If it wasn’t for [the IEAN] I wouldn’t be alive.”
Nora Mulready said the group is focused on “weaving positivity” throughout all its engagements with older Irish people: “As well as giving them help, it is about joy and friendship. That isn’t just a banality. It is strategic and purposeful. We try to give people a home from home.”
– Details of IEAN’s fundraising can be found on its website www.irishelders.org.uk
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