The Limerick Lady Podcast

The FINAL EPISODE (maybe, probably, for now at least) of the Limerick Lady Podcast. After 7 years of cobbling these spiels together, we decided, for the craic, to let Zoom's "AI companion" take a swing at writing the episode summary for the show notes. "In this final episode of their podcast, Emma and Ann announced the indefinite suspension of Limerick Lady, citing a lack of friendship between them as the main reason. They reflected on the podcast's history, including its origins with Limerick City Community Radio and notable episodes featuring various guests, while also discussing their upcoming theater projects including "Connie" and a play at the Limetree Theatre. The hosts concluded by discussing their personal lives, including foster pets and sports, while expressing gratitude to their sponsors and listeners before signing off." So there you go, if there was ever a morsel of doubt in our minds as to AI's capacity to utterly drain human interaction of its humanity, the wit and banter completely removed... But yes, I suppose that's sort of... kind of... what this episode was.  Useful links here:  Foster Lucy the gorgeous 4 or 5-year-old staffy currently domiciling in Langford's gaff: https://www.mylovelyhorserescue.com/dogs.html  Listen to our first five episodes on Limerick City Community Radio: https://www.lccr.ie/podcasts.php?show=limerick-lady-podcast&date=2018-08-15  See/Learn more about the mural of Constance Smith:  https://www.limerickpost.ie/2019/11/05/mural-of-limerick-movie-star-constance-smith-unveiled/  Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLimerickLady  And on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thelimericklady And if you're so inclined, on X: www.x.com/lkladyhq  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will) when we remember to get it out on time.  The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

On the 22nd of May 2015, Ireland became the first country in the world to legalise Marriage Equality by popular vote. That is exactly ten years ago today, at the time of recording of this short note by Ann, one half of The Limerick Lady. Ann briefly reflects on how conversations and openness were what won the campaign. Let's be sure to keep talking and listening. Ann will be performing her show, The Morning After The Life Before (@morningafterlb on Insta), in Dance Limerick on Saturday the 24th of May at 8pm.  

Welcome to the April edition of the Limerick Lady Podcast. Alternate title: "What gets me goin' about Bóinn". We were joined this month by the brilliant Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh who recently gave a seminar on the sexist themes within lots of traditional Irish songs that for a long time we've all just kind of... Overlooked, or not known about.  Róisín Ní Ghallóglaigh is an accomplished solo performer, guitarist and composer. She is currently a member of Irish-Estonian trio, Iiri-Eesti Lauluvagi, featuring Anne-Mai Valk and Hanna-Reet Ruul. In 2020, she released her album Red is the Rose, an album of traditional songs, sung unaccompanied. In 2021 she co-produced an animated music video to accompany her song Bóinn - the River Goddess. Róisín has worked with artists Joanna Hyde and Tadhg Ó Meachaire on their album One For The Foxes and has worked on the Songs For Our Children Project and the 1916 Song Project with Aileen Lambert and Michael Fortune. In 2023, Róisín successfully completed her PhD at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick. As a solo artist Róisín performs songs from the Irish, English and Scottish tradition alongside her own compositions. She is currently Assistant Professor in Irish Music at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance. If you can access it, Róisín's thesis "Sexual Metaphor and Meaning in the Two Irish Language Songs ‘An Binsín Luachra’ and ‘An tSeanbhean Bhocht’" is available to read on the University of Limerick library website.  Go see the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra at the Wickham Way in Limerick City, as part of the Comhluadar festival, on the 25th of April, and in Dolans on the 26th of April opening for Carswell & Hope (Ire/US band).  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

We're back! Did you miss us? Did you even notice we were gone for a month? Did you spot our new glasses? Our haircuts? Honestly, sometimes feels like you're just not paying attention...  Anyway, WE'RE BACK with a March edition of the Limerick Lady Podcast. We're joined by sarcastic and all-knowing (almost) oracle Sharon Slater, to talk about Limerick's link to Saint Patrick (if that even IS his name) (It's not).  Sharon Slater is an award-winning historian and author whose focus is on the history of Limerick. She has appeared on RTE, TG4, and PBS promoting Limerick's past. Her publications include "A Stitch in Time, a History of Limerick Clothing Factory" and "100 Women of Limerick", and she is creator of the Limerick's Life Podcast, co-hosted by her son Peter.   Buy Sharon's book, 100 Women of Limerick: https://www.omahonys.ie/100-women-of-limerick-p-10547171.html Visit Sharon's Website: https://limerickslife.com/  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

For our first episode of 2025, we're joined by pun-lover, recovering graphic designer, style icon and professional soprano Eve Stafford: the brand new president of the Limerick branch of Network Ireland, and possibly the first artist to be president of the branch!  Network Ireland is a non-profit, voluntary organisation, with over 1,000 members and seventeen very dynamic branches. Established in 1983, this is a progressive, dynamic organisation supporting the professional and personal development of women. Eve is a professional singer and classical crossover soprano from Limerick. She's best known as a wedding and events singer all across Munster for the last 14 years. In the past year she has had great success with her solo concert series, “Songbird” & recently released her debut album of the same name which includes Eve’s Number 1 debut single. For the past three years, Eve has been a proud member of the National Concert Hall’s outreach program ‘Health & Harmony’ in association with the Alzheimer’s society of Ireland performing at several concerts a month in care home settings. Eve is the 2025 President of Network Ireland Limerick, and won the Creative Professional Branch award in 2022 for the Businesswoman of the Year Awards. Buy Eve's album: https://evestafford.bandcamp.com/album/songbird-contains-one-digital-track  Join the network: https://networkireland.ie/general/register_member_type.asp? Ticket link for Eve's "Lovebird" concert at St Mary's Cathedral, Limerick:  https://www.tickettailor.com/events/evestaffordsoprano/1406402  Support The Haven Hub by texting HAVEN to 50300 –  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie   

Ann and Emma reflect on the year gone by and hopes for a better 2025. In this "angry corner" we have a little cathartic rant about the state of Ireland's housing crisis, the lack of supports in Limerick for victims of sexual assault, the horror of what's happening in Afghanistan, and the appalling lack of non-skinny-jeans for baby girls... And lots more besides. This podcast is a look at the ideological and practical feminist issues of 2024, and what we hope we won't have to keep talking about next year.   The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

What happens when your books, for all the right reasons, are banned? Well sometimes the controversy just drives demand; unfortunately it also often means the author's name is all-but-lost to the mists of time, and relegated to the back of the collective mind. Such was the case for Limerick's own Kate O'Brien whose 50th anniversary we mark in 2024. O'Brien had two books "Mary Lavelle" and "Land of Spices" banned in Ireland, and she herself was banned from Spain, for expressing some very progressive ideas around politics, women's liberation, and sexual identity.  On this month's episode we meet Shirley Keane, director of Limerick's Opera Workshop, and Fiona Linnane, composer, to discuss their work-in-progress "Banned" which explores how Kate O'Brien responded to her censorship – the heartbreak it brought her, her ultimate triumph in spite of it, and the impact it will have had on the breadth of her audience today.  Fiona Linnane is a composer whose compositional practice centres around use of text and includes opera, art song and featuring spoken word.  She is director of Limerick New Music Ensemble and represented by the Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin. Following a Bachelor of Music Degree from University College Cork and a Masters in Music Technology from University of Limerick, Linnane’s first explorations into composition were through song writing. Over the last 20 years she has established herself as a composer of "Art Song" and operatic works popular with both audiences and performers alike. The work of Kate O’Brien has been a feature of Linnane’s work since 2011 when she began composing her song cycle Songs from Kate O’Brien. The cycle consists of 12 songs – four for soprano, four for contralto and four for baritone – based on poems by Mary Coll depicting characters from O’Brien’s novels at pivotal moments in their development. The Limerick City and County Council awarded her with Individual Arts Bursaries in 2018 and 2019 for work in opera and art song, including the addition of the four songs for soprano to the Kate O’Brien cycle. Founder and Artistic Director of Opera Workshop, Shirley has had training in both theatre and opera, at Rose Bruford College, Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, London. Shows created and produced for Opera Workshop include The Countess’ Salon, Opera What The Fuss!, The Trouble with Virtue, Abandoned and No 2 Pery Square by Fiona Linnane. In October 2022 Shirley produced and directed Twisted Tales, a production of short, edgy contemporary operas by Fiona Linnane and Luke Byrne. She has worked as a performer, director, teacher and mentor with companies as diverse as Opera Theatre Co., Opera Holland Park, Basingstoke Haymarket Theatre, Glyndebourne Opera, Live Music Now, Accademia Solti Te Kanawa, Half Moon Young People’s Theatre Co., and The Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Shirley was also engaged on the Women’s Conducting Programme at the National Concert Hall, led by conductor Alice Farnham. Shirley enjoys regular cover presenter time on RTE lyric fm. https://limetreebelltable.ie/events/banned-by-fiona-linnane/ https://operaworkshop.ie/ Instagram:  @fionacomposes @operaworkshoplimerick The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

Rest in peace Annette Hannon and condolences to the Blakes and the Hannons 

Come one, come all! This month we celebrate 69 episodes of the Limerick Lady with a chat about sex, sex myths, the sex toy industry and lots more with Seattle-born, Galway-based Shawna Scott the founder and owner of "Sex Siopa".  Shawna talks to us about seeing a gap and choosing to fill it, about the holes in medical professionals' knowledge around sexual health and pleasure, and about how she opened up for business during the pandemic. We will not be apologising for euphemistic language, no we will not.  Shawna Scott is the owner and founder of the multi-award winning SexSiopa.ie and BodyGra.ie. Since 2012 she has been utilizing Sex Siopa as a platform to get Ireland comfortable with talking about sex and pleasure with a focus on health and inclusion. Over the years this has caught the attention of health care workers in Ireland, which has provided Shawna the opportunity to work with doctors and professionals in the areas of cancer, endometriosis, physical therapy, and gynaecology to create holistic, individualised care solutions for people with complex health needs. She has featured in countless publications, radio & tv programmes, and has spoken at events both within Ireland and internationally. When she's not flogging dildos, Shawna loves crocheting, watching horror movies, and spending time in the back garden with her rescue greyhound.  www.sexsiopa.ie Instagram: An_Siopa_Gneas  Twitter: SexSiopa  Facebook: Sex Siopa  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie   

Limerick's Georgina Miller Georgina is an actress, writer and voice-over artist. She's also a graduate of the full-time actor training course at the Gaiety School of Acting. Georgina won the award for Best Actress from the Guinness ISDA Festival for her performance in "At the Black Pig’s Dyke" (MIDAS). In this month's episode she talks to us about her debut play, a hybrid aerial show called "Freefalling". Freefalling is an autobiographic play about a backpacking trip in her 30s during which she developed the incredibly rare Guillain-Barre syndrome which left her paralysed, alone and fearing for her life on a hospital bed in Samoa. Spoiler: she lives to tell the tale. Hear and see it for yourself at the Limetree Theatre in Limerick City in September and at this year's Dublin Theatre Festival in Draíocht in Dublin in October.  Freefalling is a co-production between Rough Magic Theatre Company and Limetree Theatre in association with Fidget Feet Aerial Dance Company.  In this episode we discuss the absolute dud that was the Grey's Anatomy musical episode; the creative process of turning your trauma into art and learning to distance yourself from the story; finding a team of collaborators you can trust to guide your work; the divide between the self as writer and the self as performer; and quieting the voice inside that says you can't do something.  https://x.com/RoughMagicIRL https://dublintheatrefestival.ie/event/freefalling/  https://limetreebelltable.ie/events/freefalling-2/  https://www.instagram.com/rough.magic  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

In July we're joined by Niamh Dunne to chat about the highs and lows of a career in music, the value of vulnerability in art, and her latest project which involved traveling the length of the country with two pipers, her dad Mickey Dunne and Paddy Keenan of the Bothy Band, exploring and celebrating Traveler heritage through their documentary project The Long Grazing Acre. Niamh is an accomplished fiddle player and singer. ‘Tides’, her first album of self-penned songs was released in 2022 to widespread critical acclaim. She is a member of the group, Beoga whose album ‘How to Tune a Fish’ was shortlisted for a Grammy nomination in the ‘Best Contemporary World Music Album’ category. In 2017 Beoga collaborated with Ed Sheeran on his ‘÷’ album and later that year, the band performed with Sheeran during his headline Glastonbury performance.  Niamh is a long-standing member of The Karan Casey Band and she has accumulated vast experience as a composer, performing her own compositions and songs at The Proms in the Park with The Ulster Orchestra, and with the RTÉ concert Orchestra in the National Concert Hall.   Niamh Dunne is currently the 2024 Arts Council / UCC Traditional Artist in Residence. As part of the role, Niamh delivers a series of concerts, workshops, and events throughout the UCC campus community during the course of her one-year residency.  https://www.niamhdunne.com/ https://twitter.com/niamhdunnemusic https://www.facebook.com/NiamhDunnefiddle/  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH! For our June episode, Emma and Ann got a twofer! We're joined this month by Anna Murphy AND Tara Nix of Limerick musical duo T.A. Narrative. We were also joined quietly (mostly) by Maeve the dog.  The conversation danced with abandon through and around the topics of activism, Eurovision, the representation of women and queer people on stages and on radio, the impact of big mad costumes and facepaint on stage, and how creative people need to "crawl out of their holes" and people generally need to "not be gowls".  T.A. Narrative is a duo from Limerick, Ireland, composed of Tara Nix and Anna Murphy. The pair, who are childhood friends, have worked together under various guises, sharing the stage in Irish punk bands and touring and recording in the U.S. Starting a collaboration as T.A. Narrative during lockdown, their unique and exciting visual live show and the release of their debut E.P. 'Retro Futurism' in 2023 have firmly placed them as a must-see act. Drawing influences from post-punk, electronic, and sparkly pop music (from Fugazi to Kim Petras), they have been described as having a charming abandon and a palpable sense of freedom and joy in the music that they create (Notbad.ie). Fresh off the back of a tour with Irish electronic giants, King Kong Company, a much talked about performance at last year's Electric Picnic Festival, and having opened for the likes of Les Savy Fav, Bush Tetras, O., Le Boom & KYNSY, T.A. Narrative have just released thumping new single 'Caught Out' which will be followed by a new E.P. in the Autumn. They are booked for this year's All Together Now festival. Expect to dance your tits off. Twitter.com/TANarrative1 Instagram.com/t.a_narrative  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

As we said back in April, we knew it was coming, it was inevitable, we said: it's gonna be May. And here it is! Hello!  This month we spoke to Dr Emma Fisher-Owen; writer, theatre designer, puppeteer and stop-motion animator. We spoke to Emma about her love of "promenade" theatre; about using 860 storage boxes to create the set for the recent production of "Handle With Care"; about "coming out" as disabled through her PhD show "Pupa"; and about the amazing meet-cute that brought her and her husband and partner in creative crime together, and led them to creating their company Beyond The Bark.  Emma got her PhD from Mary Immaculate College in 2018 in puppetry and disability. She has recently been nominated for best set design at the Dublin Fringe 2023 for What is Not Ours to Carry (Ali Clarke). She set up Beyond the Bark, an inclusive animation and puppet theatre in 2006 that creates work for old and young audiences, and has co-created and designed a number of Ceol Connected shows for young audiences including The Land of a Hundred Little Hills which just finished touring Ireland. Her film Marcach Dearg funded by the Arts Council Covid Award won best animated short at the Richard Harris International Film Festival 2021 and was a finalist for the Montreal Independent Film Festival in 2021. Emma was nominated Irish Times Set Designer in 2010 for Revengers Tragedy (Bottom Dog) and Don Juan in Hell (Limerick Hub).  She can be found at https://beyondthebark.squarespace.com/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beyondthebarkireland Twitter: Emcfisher  Instagram: beyondthebarkpuppets The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

Happy April to all our lovely fools- I mean listeners. LISTENERS. You're lovely. Thank you! This month Emma spoke to Ciara Kenny aka Ciaraíoch, cartoonist and illustrator, about her first forays into illustration through the college paper, her inspirations and influences, her upcoming exhibition in Limerick City, and her cheeky little crow friend.  Ciaraíoch (Ciara Kenny) is a freelance cartoonist and illustrator from rural Kerry, which she refuses to leave due to a vague distrust of both motorised transport and townies. She has a keen interest in social justice, feminism, nature, and Irish history and mythology, and creates drawings, paintings and linocut prints inspired by those subjects. She also draws regular topical and humour cartoons, has provided illustrations for several books, painted public murals and street art, and contributed work to television, magazines, websites, podcasts, and an academic journal, as well as having her work displayed at cartoon festivals and art exhibitions. Ciara can be found far too often on most social media platforms as @Ciaraioch, with more work available to view at www.ciaraioch.com Ciara's exhibition at the People's Museum of Limerick in Pery Square, Limerick City, on the 27th of April at 5pm – all are welcome!  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

Emma Langford and Ann Blake shoot the breeze with a chat around arts and activism; how they're inextricably intwined for any artist with a social conscience; and about the ever-conflicting expectations the public have of artists to either "do more" or to "just shut up and do your job". We touch on topics like the Síle-Na-Gig, Eurovision, the Irish artists' SXSW boycott, RTÉ's handling of censorship around activism, and the vulnerability of artists taking any kind of socio-political stance; And there's a belated little International Women's Day message! Oh and we talk a bit about sports too. Which, yknow, is a new thing. We're a sports podcast now I guess.  Here's the PJ Harvey song Ann references, "Sheela-Na-Gig": https://youtu.be/Sjxr_No-yuY?si=H01FwZUNgEax1m8w  More about Limerick's arts and climate festival, Future Limerick, here: https://futurelimerick.ie/  Follow Ann Blake on Twitter at annblake78, on Instagram at annblakeplay and check out  her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter at BPLO. Find Emma Langford on Twitter at ELangfordMusic – on Instagram at EmmaLangfordMusic - and at her website www.emmalangfordmusic.com    Find the Limerick Lady podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and follow for new episodes on the third Thursday every month. The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by Ormston House Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie This podcast usually goes out on the 3rd Thursday each month - the 'Thirdsday', if you will. Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at thelimericklady Tweet about us using #LKLadyPod so we can see what you have to say!    Intro music: Demon Darling by Emma Langford Outro music: Closed Book by Emma Langford

On 8 March 2024, Irish citizens will be asked to vote in two referendums to change our Constitution. The first Referendum concerns the concept of Family in the Constitution. The second Referendum proposes to delete an existing part of the Constitution and insert new text providing recognition for care provided by family members to each other. You have two separate votes on whether you wish to make the proposed changes to the current text of Article 41 of the Constitution. Ailbhe Smyth, an activist in women's rights and the rights of LGBTQIA+ people, is actively campaigning for a yes vote on both amendments, and we chat with her about why that is. She was the founding head of Women’s Studies at UCD (University College Dublin) where she began lecturing at the age of 21. She has been campaigning on feminist, LGBTQI+ and socialist issues for decades. She played a key role in the victorious Marriage Equality referendum in 2015. A pro-choice activist since the late 1970s, Ailbhe co-founded the Coalition to Repeal the 8th Amendment and went on to become Co-Director of the Together for Yes 2015 referendum campaign which won the right to abortion for women in Ireland in 2018. A Dublin resident, Ailbhe is currently Chair of Women’s Aid Ireland, and Honorary Patron of the Women’s Collective Ireland (previously National Collective of Community-based Women’s Network). She is a founder member of Climate Justice Coalition, and also of Le Chéile: Diversity not Division which campaigns against the growth of far right extremism. In 2019, Ailbhe was listed as one of Time Magazine’s ‘Most Influential People’. She was conferred with an honorary Doctorate of Laws by NUIG in 2021, and was conferred with the Freedom of the City of Dublin. Follow Ailbhe Smyth on Twitter at AilbheS Follow Ann Blake on Twitter at annblake78, on Instagram at annblakeplay and check out  her band The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on twitter at BPLO. Find Emma Langford on Twitter at ELangfordMusic – on Instagram at EmmaLangfordMusic - and at her website www.emmalangfordmusic.com    Find the Limerick Lady podcast wherever you get your podcasts, and follow for new episodes on the third Thursday every month. The Limerick Lady Podcast is supported by the Limerick Post Newspaper, and sponsored by Ormston House Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie This podcast usually goes out on the 3rd Thursday each month - the 'Thirdsday', if you will. Follow The Limerick Lady on Facebook at TheLimerickLady, on Twitter at LkLadyHQ and on Instagram at thelimericklady Tweet about us using #LKLadyPod so we can see what you have to say!    Intro music: Demon Darling by Emma Langford Outro music: Closed Book by Emma Langford

Unfortunately there is no episode this month as Emma is on tour in the USA and Ann is in the middle of a big (good) life episode that she will be letting people know about soon. Find out more and get ticets for Emma's USA shows at www.emmalangfordmusic.com/tour  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

HAPPY CHRISTMAS! This month we spoke to Molly Cantwell about her charity cover of ‘River’ which was released on Wednesday the 20th of December in aid of GCN (Gay Community News), in memory of her late friend Joe Drennan who was killed this year in a hit-and-run incident in Limerick. We also chatted about her time dressing as a medieval lady to sing at banquets in Knappogue and Bunratty, her work in journalism, and some hidden talents that she has not adequately exploited recently. Molly Cantwell is a 25-year-old Irish/Valenciano/Madeiran queer multimedia journalist and student at the University of Limerick - as well as an award-winning shower singer to-be. Currently sitting as managing editor of Limerick Voice and editor-in-chief of An Focal, Molly is passionate about platforming human rights and equality stories as well as writing about music, arts and culture, news, politics, and much more. She freelances for Hot Press and Overblown, with previous work in The Clare Echo, GCN, The Irish Examiner, The Limerick Leader, and more.  During her time as a student in Limerick College of Further Education (2018 - 2020), Molly solo-produced and created her National Student Media Award nominated radio documentary “Cyber Killer - Qu'est - Ce Que C'est?”. In 2022, Molly also sat as editor-in-chief of CURIOUS - a UL magazine created by second year students. She has been nominated for the Smedias eight times - winning two of these categories. Molly has already lived another lifetime as a professional entertainer with Shannon Heritage, which she thoroughly enjoyed, but she is excited to finish college in 2024 and get her journalism career properly started. She is inspired by the dedicated work of her colleagues at Hot Press and female journalists like Zara King, Sarah McInerney, Claire Byrne, Louise McSharry, Aoife Moore, and more.  Follow Molly Cantwell on Instagram at @WhatMollyDoesNext and on Twitter/X at @whatmolsaysnext  Buy "River" on Bandcamp NOW here: https://mollycantwell.bandcamp.com/track/river  GCN is a free, vital resource by the LGBTQ+ community for the LGBTQ+ community since 1988. You can find them and support their work here: https://gcn.ie/  Tickets for The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra on the 23rd of December in Dolans, Limerick are available here: https://www.dolans.ie/gigs-events-live-music-listings/2023/12/23/the-brad-pitt-light-orchestra  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

For our November episode, we're joined by Eilís Walsh, a graduate of MSc in Marketing, Consumption and Society. Eilís is a blogger, photographer, and burgeoning social media marketer from Co Kilkenny, now living in Limerick. She is one of three project leaders of The Night Doesn't Belong To Us, alongside Maria McSweeney and Julie McLoughlin.  In the wake of tragic events of the last few years, "The Night Doesn't Belong To Us" emerges as a timely and vital project, addressing the concerns and experiences of women navigating the streets of Limerick after dark. Born from a pre-pandemic idea, the project took root during lockdowns, with its full realization delayed due to necessary restrictions. Initiated by Eilís Walsh who has an interest in photo-journalism, and sparked by a prior project delving into men's mental health, "The Night Doesn't Belong To Us" pivots to shed light on the unease felt by women during nighttime activities in Limerick. The project gained momentum following the tragic murders of Ashling Murphy and Urantsetseg Tserendorj, reinforcing the need to confront and discuss women's safety in public spaces. Collaborating with artist Maria McSweeney, the project aims to amplify the voices of women from diverse backgrounds and age groups living in Limerick. Through a comprehensive survey distributed on social media, the team, with invaluable assistance from William O'Neill of The People's Museum of Limerick, received over 150 responses detailing locations and activities that evoke feelings of vulnerability and danger. Navigating logistical challenges and fueled by a grant from the Arts Council of Ireland's Agility Award, the team, including photographer Julie McLoughlin, is now set to capture the stories of nearly 50 women. Their aim is to authentically represent the experiences of women of all ages and backgrounds, ensuring inclusivity across communities. As "The Night Doesn't Belong To Us" continues to unfold, the project seeks further engagement from members of Trans Limerick and the 65+ age group, aiming to enrich the narrative and reflect the diversity of experiences within the community. An exhibition is scheduled for the summer of 2024.  Follow The Night Doesn't Belong To Us on Instagram at thenightdoesntbelongtous or reach Eilís by email at eilismwalsh@gmail.com  Tickets for a Night For Palestine in Dolans, Limerick are available here: https://dolans.yapsody.com/event/index/791489/a-night-for-palestine  Read more about Limerick's "Particles Or Waves" project in 2014: http://www.connolly-cleary.com/Home/particles.html  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie 

Happy Halloween! This month we're joined by thanatologist and Death Café host Jennifer Moran-Stritch. Jennifer is a lecturer at the Technological University of the Shannon in Limerick. The focus of her teaching is in personal development, therapeutic group work skills, and loss and grief for the caring professional. In addition to lecturing, Jennifer is the primary principal investigator of the Loss and Grief Research Group which is part of Social Sciences ConneXions Research Institute at TUS.  She also teaches on the RCSI/Irish Hospice MSc in Loss and Bereavement and is a certified thanatologist and the current Irish representative to the Association for the Study of Death and Society. In 2015, Jennifer co-hosted the first Death Café event in the Limerick area, where people gather to eat cake, drink coffee and tea and celebrate our mortality. She is a steering group member of the Global Dying Well Initiative and one of the founders of the Limerick Bereavement Network. In this podcast we look at global funeral rituals and traditions; Irish attitudes toward death; how long is too long to try and hold on to the memory of somebody; and whether modern technology is helping or hindering the natural healing process of grief.  Follow Jennifer on Facebook at Death Cafe Limerick, reach her by email at deathcafelimerick@gmail.com and she's also findable on the TUS website at www.TUS.ie  Find tickets to Ann's/The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra's gig as part of Comhluadar's Féile Na Samhna at https://www.tickettailor.com/events/comhluadarluimnigh/1034259?fbclid=IwAR2JHetdnFK2k3W-4CMA65o8gqGoldG_8Eck2K6XzFbclLqifl3HG63V5OE  Check out all of Lumen Street Theatre's Samhain Festival events at https://samhain.lumenstreettheatre.ie/  The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker and musician Ann Blake. Find the Limerick Lady Podcast on all your favourite streaming platforms. New episodes drop once a month, on the third Thursday (or Thirdsday, if you will). The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by The Limerick Post Newspaper. Follow Ormston House at www.ormstonhouse.com Support the Limerick Post at www.limerickpost.ie