The Elizabeth Bishop and James Flynn Scholarship Showcase

In March last year, the Irish Youth Foundation was contacted by Amanda Johnson whose family and friends had raised funds through Facebook in memory of their late parents, Elizabeth Bishop and James Flynn. They had been unable to hold a funeral due to the pandemic and the family wished to donate the funds to the Irish Youth Foundation.

We felt it was important to use these funds to create a lasting memorial for Elizabeth and James which could both involve their family and friends in future and benefit the young Irish community. 

To donate to the centre and the music programme please follow the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/irishculturalcentrelondon

In collaboration with Amanda and her family and the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith, we are delighted to announce that we have established a new music scholarship in memory of Elizabeth Bishop and James Flynn.

This is their story as told by their daughter, Amanda:Elizabeth Bishop and James Flynn met 35 years ago in Brook Green social club Hammersmith. It was a friendship that turned into love and remained that way for the rest of their lives passing within 9 days of each other in January 2021. 

Their journeys started in their homeland of Ireland, Jim in Cork and Mum in Causeway. Co. Kerry. Both left family, friends and loved ones, and travelled to England in their early teens, seeking a better life in London. Before finally settling and starting their families in West London in the 1970s.

Elizabeth and Jim had a blended happy family between them with children Joy, Joanna, Thomas, Amanda, James and David and grandchildren Ellie, Darren, Joseph and Scarlett. Both Elizabeth and Jim were known for the kindness and love they brought to everybody they met. Both of them were infectious and always left you wanting to be around them more. Forward-thinking individuals only ever believed in love and kindness.

They spent a lot of time at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith watching Kerry playing football or at a dance (Lizzie was the best dancer). They loved how being there made them feel a connection to home. They were very proud of their Irish heritage. 

The sense of belonging is something that we would like to continue for them and this is why we are so grateful that in their memory we were able to raise some funds for the Irish Youth Foundation/Irish Cultural Centre Music Scholarship. This is only the beginning and we look forward to being able to honour Liz and Jim by making sure the sponsorship is something they can be proud of, established in the memory of the most amazing human beings, our mother and father. May they rest in peace until we meet again, always loved but never forgotten.”

William Foote, Irish Cultural Centre Director said: 

The Irish Cultural Centre, Hammersmith is delighted to be the recipient of this generous donation which we would love to use to help establish a talent scholarship here at the Centre. Over the course of the year, we run music classes in traditional Irish instruments. The classes we run are Fiddle, Flute, Tin Whistle, Bodhran and backing instruments such as Guitar, Banjo and Bouzouki.   

We will use the funds to award a talent-based scholarship to a student within these classes to be part of a showcase at the end of the academic year in 2022. The showcase event will celebrate the teaching and skills on show within our community at the ICC and help inspire generations to come. Each scholarship will last for a full year of teaching and at the end of the showcase, the following year’s recipient will be announced. The age limit will be up to 30 so that young adults can be included.

ICC class teachers were invited to recommend suitable candidates in each discipline and the following students on the excellence scholarship this year are:

Flute/Whistle:

• Daniel O’Connor-Brady

Fiddle:

• Oisin McCarthy Bleas
• Lorcan Bale

This year class teachers will be invited to recommend suitable candidates in each discipline and the winning candidate will be announced in September at the beginning of the term. The showcase featuring these and other ICC students will be held at the start of the academic year on Saturday 24th of September at 1pm. 

In future years, the Irish Cultural Centre will open the scholarship up to applications for other young people within the community to apply to be part of the next year of learning.

To donate to the centre and the music programme please follow the link here: https://www.justgiving.com/irishculturalcentrelondon