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Emerald Club unites Leicester’s Irish folk  By
David Thorpe
The Irish community in Leicester has never really had a place to call
its own but the recently opened Emerald Club is rapidly becoming a home
from home for ex-pats in the area.
Initially constructed as a home for the city’s GAA and soccer clubs,
the community centre on Gypsy Lane now provides a variety of Irish-themed
services, ranging from language and history classes to IT lessons for
the area’s older residents.
The centre is quickly becoming the centre of the Irish social scene and
hosts regular functions.
The Leicester and Leicestershire Irish Community Forum is based in the
Emerald Club.
It offers advice to Irish emigrants in the city and has seen an increase
in the number of Irish students attending the region’s two universities.
They have come seeking advice about settling in, entitlements and a whole
range of other issues that are the concern of Irish people when they first
arrive in Britain.
Belfast-born project manager Jackie Duffy said: “This centre is
probably still in its infancy but we have a great facility here and hope
to continue developing it.
“New events are taking place all the time and the Irish classes
which we have been running for kids will soon be available to adults as
well.
“The Leicester St. Patrick’s Day parade is also organised
from here and we hope that it will become a place that Irish people of
all ages will use.”
The sports grounds surrounding the centre were provided by Leicester City
Council while the centre itself was built with help from the Irish Government’s
Díon Fund and years of campaigning and fundraising by Irish groups
in the area.
The official opening of the Emerald Club will take place later in the
year but activities are already in full swing.
Naomh Padraig GAA club chairman John Callaghan said: “There is quite
a large population of Irish people in the area but they never really had
a centre where they could keep the culture alive.
“The different sports clubs in the area which have Irish connections
got together initially just looking for a sports field.
“The project took off from there and at the moment several hundred
people must use the centre every week.
“There is a room on the centre which is available to lots of groups
and people who want to use it.
“To have something like that was important to us as it means that
Irish people will always have a place to meet and talk if they want, while
not having to be part of a club.” |
