Side by Side: The Remittance Generation & The Windrush Generation.
Tuesday 3rd March 10.15am
FREE EVENT - booking advisable
Abbey House Museum, Abbey Walk, Abbey Rd, Leeds LS5 3EH
To begin the month-long celebration of Irish History Month, on Tuesday 3rd March, is the Irish Arts Foundation’s newest project, Side by Side: The Remittance Generation & The Windrush Generation. This event is part of the '1152 club' talks at Abbey House Museum and will focus on lived experiences of Irish and West Indian communities living, working and socialising 'side by side' in the Chapeltown and Potternewton areas of Leeds.
'Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story' (2024)
Saturday 7th March 2.00pm
£Pay As You Feel
Northlight Arts 31 Potternewton Lane, Leeds LS7 3LW
On Saturday 7th March, Northlight Arts will be screening the documentary ‘Blue Road: The Edna O'Brien Story’ (2024) as part of Irish History Month 2026, to celebrate International Women’s Day. In 1960, a young Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, ‘The Country Girls’, becoming a literary sensation. But her success enraged her husband and made her a pariah in her native Ireland, where her books were banned and burned. Edna passed away in 2024, and this film provides a final testimony from her, aged 93, as she reflects upon her extraordinary life. International Women's Day on Sunday 8th March is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.
'Ryan's Daughter' (1970)
Tuesday 10th March 11am
Admission is free and includes access to the museum. Booking Advisable (see link below).
Leeds Industrial Museum Canal Rd, Leeds LS12 2QF
On the morning of Tuesday 10th March, the smallest cinema in the North of England is screening the 1970 film ‘Ryan’s Daughter’. The cinema at Armley Mills Leeds Industrial Museum has vintage fittings rescued from the old Palace Picture House in Armley, which closed its doors back in 1964 and boasts positively roomy capacity of 24 seats! The film, set between August 1917 and January 1918 in the wake of the 1916 Easter Rising, tells the story of a married Irish woman who has an affair with a British officer during World War I, despite moral and political opposition from her nationalist neighbours. The supporting cast features Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones, and Sarah Miles.
'Sins of Ireland' (2025)
Tuesday 19th March 7:30pm
£8, booking advised
Seven Arts, 31(a) Harrogate Road, Leeds, LS7 3PD
On Thursday 19th March, Screen Seven presents the documentary 'Sins of Ireland '. This film is a portrait of Ireland through the lens of the confession box. Fifteen Irish priests who have long listened to the sins of others, offer their own confessional on the rise and fall of a sacrament that now epitomises the turbulent changes in faith and spirituality in contemporary Ireland. The documentary is a nuanced and uncynical examination of confession, as the priests themselves acknowledge how a rite meant to offer absolution and guidance had for many years become a tool of control and shame, with devastating consequences.
'We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly' (2023)
Friday 27th March, 7pm
TICKETS £6.50 (£5.50 concessions)
Headingley Enterprise & Arts Centre (HEART), Bennett Road, Leeds LS6 3HN
Our final Irish History Month screening on Friday 27 th March, in collaboration with Films at HEART is ‘We Only Want the Earth: The Life & Ideas of James Connolly’. James Connolly remains an iconic figure in Irish socialism, republicanism, and the trade union movement. ‘We Only Want the Earth’ draws directly from his own writings to create a vivid portrait of the man behind the ideals, situating his radical politics and many achievements within the struggles of today’s world. The film also documents Connolly’s central role in the 1916 Easter Rising, offering new insight into the political and cultural forces that shaped him.
'That They May Face The Rising Sun' (2023)
Saturday 28th March 7pm
TICKETS £6.50 - see link below
Roundhay Parochial Hall. 5 Fitzroy Drive. Leeds LS8 4AB
On Saturday 21st March at Roundhay Parochial Hall, Oakwood Community Cinema will be screening 'That They May Face The Rising Sun'. Based on the internationally acclaimed Irish author John McGahern's award-winning novel of the same name, ‘That They May Face the Rising Sun’ is a vivid evocation of nature, humanity and life itself, set in a 1980's rural community in Ireland. Joe and Kate Ruttledge have returned from London to live and work among a small, rural, lakeside community in Ireland near to where Joe grew up in County Leitrim.
Exploring the Musical Traditions of County Leitrim & County Fermanagh
Throughout 2026
ONLINE PRESENTATION
Supported by Arts Council England, the project also includes stories from the North Leitrim Leeds-Irish diaspora.
Available online now.
Exploring the Musical Traditions of County Cork & County Kerry
Throughout 2026
ONLINE PRESENTATION
The project explores the musical traditions of County Cork and County Kerry in the south-west of Ireland, in particular the music of the ‘Sliabh Luachra’ area.
‘Sliabh Luachra’ (pronounced Sleeve Loucra) is the mountainous region along the Cork/Kerry border in the province of Munster straddling the county boundaries of Cork and Kerry.
The name ‘Sliabh Luachra’ means "a mountain of rushes". Supported by Arts Council England, the project also includes musical stories from the Cork & Kerry Leeds-Irish diaspora.
Available online now.
The Leeds Irish Music Programme
All shows now available online
FREE RADIO BROADCAST
East Leeds FM, Old Seacroft Chapel, 1081 York Road, Leeds LS14 6JB
In addition to exploring different traditional Irish music historical regional influences and themes, the four programmes during Irish History Month 2021 caught up with local Irish organisations Leeds CCE (Irish Musicians Association), Leeds Irish Health & Homes, The Leeds St Patrick’s Day Committee and Leeds Irish Centre. East Leeds FM have up a standalone radio show page on the Chapel FM website for the series to listen back to all the programmes.
www.chapelfm.co.uk
What's On 2016
What's On 2018