Mayor of Limerick Honours Alliance Française Limerick’s 80 Year Anniversary with French Flair

Mayor of Limerick Honours Alliance Française Limerick’s 80 Year Anniversary with French Flair. Mayor of the City and County of Limerick, Cllr Gerald Mitchell pictured with Dr Paul O’Brien, Alliance Française Limerick and Loïc Guyon, Honorary Consul of France at a Mayoral Reception for Alliance Française Limerick and Loïc Guyon, Honorary Consul of France. Pic: Don Moloney

80th Anniversary of the Alliance Française Limerick year-long celebration continues with a mayoral reception held at the City Hall on Thursday, April 25, 2024

2024 is the 80th Anniversary of the Alliance Française Limerick and the not-for-profit organisation continued its year-long celebration of French culture and community in Limerick with a mayoral reception held at the City Hall on Thursday, April 25th.

Cllr Gerald Mitchell, Mayor of Limerick hosted the official reception to honour the Alliance Française Limerick and all of its members, as well as The Limerick Wild Geese Festival and The Sarsfield Homecoming project. The festival was launched in 2019 and the Sarsfield Homecoming Project in 2020. All three are linked by the work of Dr Loïc Guyon (Honorary Consul of France and Head of the French Studies department at MIC), who was honoured in the evening for his stalwart work promoting the historical links between Limerick and France. Dr Guyon is the force behind The Sarsfield Project which seeks to find and repatriate the remains of Patrick Sarsfield to Limerick.

At the mayoral reception, Mayor Gerald Mitchell was a most gracious host, detailing his own engagement with the Alliance Française and his support for The Limerick Wild Geese Festival.

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“The Alliance Française has been a long-time member of the community in Limerick and it’s only right to celebrate its anniversary with proper recognition for all of the people who have been involved over the years. It is synonymous with The Limerick Wild Geese Festival which is a great tribute to the long history between the people of Limerick and the people of France.

“However, it is the search for Patrick Sarsfield that is truly an amazing project. It would be great to see the people of Limerick City and County really get behind this search and the potential to bring our greatest hero home,” said Cllr Mitchell at the event.

Mayor Mitchell also spoke in detail about the Sarsfield Homecoming project namechecking archaeologist Frank Coyne of Aegis Archaeology Ltd, who was in attendance, fresh from overseeing the archaeological dig in Huy in Belgium. The Go Fund Me https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-sarsfield-homecoming-project page for the project is still open and more funds are needed for the next phase of the project.

Dr Loïc Guyon, said, “Some years ago I had the privilege to have my work acknowledged by my home country, France, but to have my work recognised today by the authorities of the place I have chosen to call home, the great city of Limerick, is very special indeed. I am deeply honoured and very grateful to Mayor Mitchell for hosting this official reception and for celebrating the contribution made to Limerick by the festival and the project on top of celebrating Alliance Française Limerick’s 80th anniversary. I would like to say how lucky I am to be working on the project with archaeologists Frank Coyne and Ger Riordan and, in relation to the festival, with Michelle Daly-Hayes, Randel and Lorna Hodkinson and Dr Paul O’Brien, all part of the festival’s organising committee.”

Speaking on behalf of the Alliance Française Limerick, director and secretary Dr Paul O Brien, thanked the Mayor Gerald Mitchell and all of the former members, students, teachers and board members of Alliance Française Limerick, without whom 80 years of collaboration and cultural engagement in Limerick would not have happened. Dr O Brien also paid tribute to the multicultural society in Limerick and its appetite for language, culture and history that has flourished in Alliance Française Limerick over the years.

Several collaborators with The Limerick Wild Geese Festival were also present including sponsors, friends, and supporters. This included Lt Colonel Damian Caroll, who represented the Irish Defence forces, several members of ONE, veterans, and community members.

Earlier this year, celebrating its 80 th anniversary, Alliance Française Limerick organised a concert of French songs by international singer and composer Eva Cendors. In April there has been a focus on Art & Architecture with several Art workshops happening for adults and children through French with international Artist Jelena Stamemković.

The fifth edition of the Limerick Wild Geese Festival will happen on July 6th and 7th, 2024 with some exciting and unusual events already at an advanced planning stage. More details will be available soon!

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