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Irish Times
29-06-2025
- General
- Irish Times
Alison Healy: On discovering what the rebels ate during the Easter Rising
Birthday cake amid open warfare. Commandeered cattle. Scores of sandwiches. Have you ever wondered what the rebels ate during the Easter Rising? The thought never occurred to me until I read some of the volunteers' personal stories in Michael Kenny's new book Easter Week 1916: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories. He trawled through the witness statements held by the Bureau of Military History to see what it was like for the ordinary people who joined the Rising. Volunteer Patrick Kelly told how he was fast asleep when a comrade burst into his house on Easter Monday morning to tell him the Rising was happening. He woke him up by pulling on his big toe. As he hurriedly got dressed, his father attended to his rifle while his mother sent him packing with sandwiches. When apprentice butcher Robert Holland joined the Rising, he hardly expected to be deploying his butchering skills. Stationed at Marrowbone Lane garrison, he was the right man in the right place when three cattle were commandeered nearby. He was asked to slaughter one of them and prepare it for cooking. READ MORE The Tuesday of the Rising marked his 19th birthday. From Inchicore, he was one of four Holland brothers who fought in 1916. He probably thought no one would remember his birthday but his brother Dan popped in from another wing of the building to wish him well. Better still, his 15-year-old brother Walter, who was acting as a messenger boy, slipped through the barricades and went home to Inchicore for a brief visit. He returned with a homemade birthday cake from their mother. Robert must have dreamed of that cake many times when he sat in Knutsford prison near Manchester after the Rising. One of his witness statements in the Bureau of Military History recalled how hunger forced him to eat the lime from the wall. A small piece of bone in his soup would sustain him for hours, sometimes days. He remembered telling a fellow prisoner he would chance eating a picture of the Last Supper, he was that hungry. Matters took a turn for the worse when he was sent to solitary confinement where the food ration was even smaller. 'I spent hours thinking of cakes and parties I had attended. If only I had a little of what was left over from those now, how I would have appreciated it.' Mary Anne Callender might also have had reason to look back ruefully at her life before the Rising. She ran the Lucan Restaurant on Sarsfield Quay and managed to keep it open during the Rising, famously providing Patrick Pearse with his last meal before his execution. She was in the restaurant when she heard news of the executions and she exclaimed 'May the Lord have mercy on their souls'. This was overheard by a British army chauffeur who stormed out. According to her son, the volunteer Ignatius Callender, the restaurant generated 80 per cent of its business from the nearby Royal Barracks. The authorities put the restaurant out of military bounds and it was shuttered the following month. But Mrs Callender was not a woman to scare easily. Early on the Wednesday morning of the Rising she saw Ignatius handling ammunition in his bedroom. He told her he was bringing the ammunition to the Church Street area. This would have placed her son a little too close to the action for her liking, so she declared she would do the job instead. She secured the ammunition inside her blouse and brought a jug and money with her, so that she could pretend she was going to buy milk and food in Stoneybatter. Mission accomplished, she returned to run her restaurant and Ignatius got on with his work of scouting and delivering messages across the city. Heavy gunfire brought him to a standstill at the corner of Parliament Street and Essex Street later that morning. He spotted an old woman, waiting to cross the street. She was bound for 11am Mass and refused to turn back. He took her umbrella, tied his handkerchief to it and waved it into the street to stop the gunfire. It took about five minutes for the firing to stop and he escorted her across the street safely. She promised to pray for him, and perhaps her prayers worked. He was captured on Saturday evening and a British officer ordered a soldier to take him away. After they moved down the street, the soldier admitted that he didn't know what to do with him and advised him to make a run for it. He did so, bracing himself for a bullet that never came. · Easter Week 1916: Ordinary People, Extraordinary Stories is published by the National Museum of Ireland and is on sale at the museum shop in Collins Barracks.
The Herald Scotland
28-04-2025
- Business
- The Herald Scotland
Aberdein Considine swap suits for sportswear in mammoth charity effort
Team members from throughout the firm, which has 21 offices and more than 450 staff across Scotland and the north of England, will undertake a variety of challenges in 2025, including long-distance bike rides, marathons and a talent show, as they raise money for the two charity partners. The RAF improves the lives of children in socially deprived areas of Aberdeen through life-changing programmes that make a sustainable and measurable difference to their health and wellbeing. Cash for Kids is dedicated to supporting children and young people across the UK affected by poverty, abuse, neglect, life-limiting illness and those with additional needs. Jacqueline Law, Managing Partner at Aberdein Considine, welcomed the decision to support the RAF and Cash for Kids as this year's charity partners and said the firm is ready to hit the ground running with a full programme of fundraising events. She said: 'Aberdein Considine has a strong presence across Scotland, but we know that being part of a community is about so much more than just having an office on the high street. This is why we selected the Russell Anderson Foundation and Cash for Kids, two charities that support children and young people close to home and across the UK, as our 2025 charity partners. From left: Sophie Reid, Sam Cardosi of Aberdein & Considine, Karyn Chisholm of Cash For Kids, Emma Norman and Robert Holland of Aberdein & Considine. (Image: The Picture Agency) 'Our colleagues will be stepping out of their comfort zones to undertake a series of fundraising challenges, pushing themselves physically and mentally, to raise much-needed funds in support of our chosen charities and the vital work they do.' Aberdein Considine's fundraising calendar kicked off last week as staff members took part in the Run Balmoral 10km. Next on the agenda is a 12-hour continuous walk, run and cycle challenge in Edinburgh on Thursday 1 May as part of Cash for Kids Day. Members of the team - including former Dons captain and 11-times Scotland player Russell Anderson himself, who is an independent financial planner with Aberdein Considine Wealth - will then join bp's Coast 2 Coast charity cycle from Dumbarton to Aberdeen, with staff also taking part in the Ellon Pedal Car Race, both in June 2025. Later in the year, colleagues in the North-east will lace up their trainers to run the Loch Ness Marathon before employees from across the firm compete to receive a golden buzzer in the 'Aberdein Considine's Got Talent' competition in October. The firm will also cheer on Robert Holland, Partner and Head of Employment Law at Aberdein Considine, as he and his son look to conquer their shared fear of heights to tackle the K2 base camp trek at the second-highest mountain on Earth, all in the name of raising money for charity. Karayn Chisholm, Corporate Fundraiser for Cash for Kids, said: 'We are thrilled to have been chosen as a charity partner for 2025, and we're excited to work with such a dedicated and passionate team. The fundraising plans already in motion are both inspiring and ambitious, and we look forward to bringing them to life together. 'The support of Aberdein Considine will make a real and lasting difference to the lives of disadvantaged children and young people in our local communities. With their help, we will be able to reach even more children and young people – helping them to feel supported, valued, and empowered to build brighter futures. We can't wait to see what we can achieve together.' Russell Anderson Foundation Chief Executive, Graeme Burnett, said: 'We are eternally grateful to Aberdein Considine for selecting RAF as one of the company's charity partners for 2025 as we rely heavily on the generosity of organisations in order to deliver our programmes which are quite literally transforming the lives of youngsters in the most socially deprived areas of the city.' Further events across the year will include a charity quiz and various runs across the North-east of Scotland. Jacqueline Law continued: 'We have been blown away by the level of support shown across the firm for our previous charity partners, with members of our teams giving up countless hours to take part in events, challenges and activities for good causes, and this year will be no different.' The firm also offers colleagues a day each year to take part in charitable work or volunteering, in whatever capacity they can, and encourages staff to use this day to give back to their local community. She added: 'We are excited to continue our work with charities and community groups to ensure that we can help to create real and lasting change in the lives of people who need it the most."
