Friday 20 November 2015

Hidden Heroes of Easter Week: Book launch

Hidden heroes of Easter Week: Memories of Volunteers from England who joined the Easter Rising will be launched tonight at the Irish World Heritage Centre (IWHC) in Manchester.

The book, written by Robin Stocks, explores those members of the Irish community in British cities who travelled to Dublin in the middle of WW1 to prepare for a rebellion to achieve Independence for Ireland. It relates the experiences of a group of ordinary Volunteers who spent Easter Week under fire and concentrates on the human stories of two of them, a piper and a political radical, and also of their friend from Dublin who fought with the women’s volunteers, the Cumann na mBan.

Newly discovered revelations have shown that it was a Manchester man, Larry Ryan from Tootal Road, Seedley, who was one of the first to storm the Dublin GPO at the start of the 1916 Easter Rising. This is one of a series of previously unknown facts linking Manchester and Stockport with the insurrection.

The 220-page book, which includes some unique period photographs, is now available in bookshops (ISBN: 978-0-9934399-0-2) or can be ordered online from the Hidden Heroes website (£14.99). An e-book is available via Amazon.

The launch will take place at 7:30pm at the IWHC, Irish Town Way, Manchester M8 0AE and everyone is welcome to attend.