Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Sir Richard Wallace. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Sir Richard Wallace. Afficher tous les articles

08 avril 2014

The French Connection: 12 mars 2014

The origins of this talk by Hélène GUILLET & Philip McGRORY date back to an idea of then French President, Nicolas Sarkozy to mark Ireland's tenure of chairing the European Union.  The President had the idea of an exhibition charting connections between the two countries.  The exhibition was set out in a series of panels with commentaries in English, French and Irish. We were therefore honoured that the person tasked with providing the French translation was none other than our speaker, Hélène.


The Norman castle at Carrickfergus, County Antrim
We were taken on a tour from virtually the dawn of recorded history, through the arrival of the Normans, onto 1690 and the Williamite and Jacobite wars and to the flight of the Wild Geese.

Our speakers explained the origins of the Collège des Irlandais in Paris on the rue des Irlandais near the Sorbonne.  Hélène showed us a picture of a wedding ceremony being performed in the famous cultural centre. It was her wedding from two and a half years ago in which she married Cairan who also worked on the President's commemorative project mentioned above.

Next, Philip brought us closer to home and into Lisburn. He shared a little known fact that Lisburn was the only town in Ulster to have a French church, in which the minister conducted and the congregation followed services in French.

Numerous names of notables reinforcing the Franco-Irish connection were mentioned.  We had Sir Francis Beaufort, of wind scale fame, connections of the Mac-Mahon lineage and Richard Hennessy, an Irish officer serving in the army of Louis XV who went on to establish the renowned cognac house. 

Did you know that there were relatively few prisoners in the Bastille when it was stormed in 1789? And that one of them was Irish? And that there were Bastille day celebrations in Belfast in 1791 and '92? We learnt that.


Check out names on pillar columns
Have you ever been under the Arc de Triomphe and looked up at the 600 names commemorated there? Some of them are of Irish connection so next time, check out Charles Edward Jennings de KILMAINE inscribed on column 5 of the Northern pillar and Henri Jacques Guillaume CLARKE on column 11 of the Eastern pillar.

Sir Richard Wallace was Conservative and Unionist MP for Lisburn in the period 1873 to 1885. He spent a lot of his time at his home, the Bagatelle in the Bois de Boulogne.  Clicking on the following link to the Bagatelle reveals an interesting connection with Marie Antoinette.

Detail on fountain at Wallace Park, Lisburn
Sir Richard was also a philanthropist donating 2.5 million francs for the relief of poverty and he also provided the legacy of Wallace Fountains, enduring symbols of Paris and of which there are two remaining from the original five in Lisburn.

Philip and Hélène's talk covered military connections especially in the 20th century - we heard about Redmond, Messines and Samuel Beckett's resistance role in World War 2 and they shared a recent photograph showing troops from both sides of the border working with their French peers to train soldiers in Mali.

There was still plenty to connect... we looked at the French background of local, familiar faces - former Taoiseach Sean Lemass, previous Unionist leader, James Molyneaux, Field Marshall Montgomery and to the Irish background of the familiar General Charles de Gaulle whose maternal connections include the McCartan's of County Down.  In fact there were so many connections that Philip tested our knowledge with a picture quiz of 20 people with Franco-Irish connections.  These included artist Sir John Lavery, engineer Peter Rice, and designer and architect, Eileen Grey.

Our speakers were bringing their fascinating talk to a close but there was still something to explain.  Notice for the talk had referred to a sea-going snail, what was that about?  At the foot of several of their slides we had noticed a picture of a snail. They hadn't referred to it but all was about to be revealed.

It turns out that one of the earliest Franco-Irish connections is embodied in a snail, the Irish cepaea nemoralis.  Apparently this genus is found only in Ireland and the Pyrenees area. How did it get from there to here? 

Hélène and Philip left that to their appreciative audience.

15 juillet 2012

La Fête à Wallace Park, Lisburn

photo: Rym Akhonzada
The bandstand in Wallace Park, Lisburn was the focal point for 14 July Bastille Day celebrations. Organised as part of the City's Park Life programme to encourage use of public spaces, it was pleasing to see the many "citizens" who gathered to occupy the bandstand area. The idea was to create a café style atmosphere by creating a round of patio tables covered in red checked cloths. A large public address system squeezed out French accordion music while people organised themselves with refreshments.

A coffee truck was stationed nearby and seemed to be doing quite a trade in not only coffee but ice cream. Local restaurant Periwig had prepared a French themed menu of treats including a liver pâté parfait served on toasted brioche; fishcakes; macarons in a variety of colours and profiteroles served with hot chocolate sauce.

Anthea McWilliams of the Sir Richard Wallace Trust moved to the stand to tell the story of Sir Richard and his connection to both Lisburn and Paris. She referred to his legacy of the "peoples park" itself, to the Wallace School which she attended and to the Wallace Fountains, his enduring gift to the people of France. Anthea shared details of the Wallace walking tour and encouraged everyone to give it a go.

After another musical interlude, Natasha and Alison from Interlinguani, a local language teaching school organised a glove puppet show in French for the many children who had come along. They then entertained them with a story, encouraging them to learn and use simple French words. They offered prizes of chocolate, checking first with mums and dads that that was okay, to those who were the loudest, the quietest and those who got the French just right.

To the left of the bandstand there was a constant queue of parents and young children lining up to have their faces painted. Moustaches were everywhere, Pierrot faces and some aristocratic Marie Antoinette looks too.

Interlinguani shared a gazebo with the Cercle Français de Belfast. Rym, Director of the school was kept busy meeting parents and supplying their children with colouring-in pictures and pens. Alongside, Hilary from the Cercle was just as busy, blowing balloons. A lot of her effort was punctured however as several youngsters burst their balloons to discover the little paper message in French that had been placed in each. Nearby, leisure staff had roped off a piste de pétanque and several adults and children tried their hand at throwing boules, many for the first time.

Back to the stand and the Bailies Mills Accordion Band had taken their seats to play an assortment of French standards including the occasional rendition of La Marseillaise. Beret and marine shirted musicians had dressed for the part adding touches of good humour to the proceedings.

Anthea took to the stage again, this time to read from the Richard Wallace Storybook created by the Trust. Its simple style and illustrations appealed to the children and were also appreciated by their elders. More puppets and story time from Alison and Natasha, then back to the accordionists to bring the event to an end.

Carolyn, event organiser with Lisburn City's Leisure Services, was pleased at the turn out. She was particularly pleased that so many French nationals had participated. Although a hundred or more people had attended, more important than the number was the fact that people had got together around the bandstand to enjoy the occasion and use the facility. Given his close connections to France, no doubt Sir Richard would have been pleased that his people's park had been the focal point for a successful local celebration of La Fête Nationale.