The life and work of the First World War poet Francis Ledwidge, who died in Belgium 107 years ago this month, was celebrated yesterday with a programme of music and poetry in the garden of his former home in Janeville just outside the village of Slane.
The event, an established occasion in the County Meath calendar, took place in its usual location, the garden of the poet’s home, now a museum visited by hundreds of people each year. Sunday’s programme was given generous support from Meath County Council’s Arts Office under the Annual Arts Grant Scheme.
Addressing the attendance which included museum committee members, supporters and neighbours, Museum Committee Chairperson Terry Wogan, said that, as always on these occasions, he was struck as he stood in the tranquillity of the beautiful garden with Stanley Hill in the background, that Francis Ledwidge found himself in very different green fields in France and Belgium during the Great War and paid the ultimate sacrifice when losing his life in Ypres in 1917.
“The contrast in surroundings simply could not be greater,” he said. “In the last few weeks the first anniversary of the death of Joe Ledwidge, the poet’s nephew, had been marked. Joe had taken a great interest in the museum and he and his wife provided musical entertainment at Ledwidge commemorations down the years.”
He thanked Rosemary Maye and Joe Matthews for their work in having the museum garden look so well. The chairperson also thanked “Lucy and Michael” for their donation of the gazebo in use on the day.
Mr Wogan also thanked all those who support the museum, either through their voluntary or work efforts, including Paddy Reilly who supplied music for the event, the museum committee and guides, Meath County Council and all those who took time to visit the museum.
Museum Committee President Rosemary Yore laid a wreath in memory of the poet at the memorial. In an address she recalled the great support given to the museum and the memory of the poet by the late Professor Gerald Dawe of Queens University Belfast who died in May this year.
During the afternoon’s proceedings poems were read by Orla Fay (Soliloquy), Tomas de Faoite (A Little Boy in the Morning), Rosemary Maye (The Gardener), Pat Casey (To a Linnet in a Cage), Lucy Kennedy (The Dead Kings), James Doherty (June), Tom Flanagan (The Fairies) and Paul Murphy (At Evening).
