Two
Irish Scene’s for one! Chances are high a lot of people didn't see the most recent (before this one) edition of Irish Scene or even know it exists. We had just printed and distributed the March edition when the pandemic hit Australia and we all retreated into our houses. By the time it came around for the May edition there wasn’t a hope in hell we could get it printed and circulated throughout the community so we did the next best thing, we produced it online as an electronic edition. That issue attempted to take a close look at and document the experience of the Irish community living through the crisis and pay tribute to our doctors, nurses and everyone involved in the fight to tackle Coronavirus. We - as a community - had been in similar situations before and the magazine featured inspiring stories about Irish people and groups in the past here in WA and beyond who had made it their mission - often at great personal cost - to fight the pandemics of their times. A small circle of people did however get their hands on a printed copy thanks to some people we would like to acknowledge and thank for going above and beyond to support the magazine when they didn't have too. The Claddagh Association contacted us with a fantastic idea. They wanted to check if it would be okay to run off copies in booklet format on their office printer and post them out to their older members who normally enjoy the magazine but may not have access to computers or the internet. I know from feedback I received that they got out there and the gesture was appreciated. Staff, volunteers and committee members manned the one day stocktake sale in the Irish Club while the doors were closed. Paul McLoughlin from McLoughlins Some of the fantastic volunteers at Claddagh Butchers was on sausage sizzle duty who helped print and distribute copies and we got chatting about things,
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The magazine is available to view online at issuu.com/irishsceneperth or a PDF copy can be requested by email from irishsceneperth.com including the magazine. I told him what the Claddagh were doing and without a second thought he made a similar offer to put the printer in his office at our disposal. Another batch of books were printed and stapled together, which were then picked up by the one and only Tony Synnott - he of Minute with Synnott fame - who took them around to a lot of older people who he knows who had been stuck at home in isolation and would have been missing the normal things in life they enjoyed. To everyone at the Claddagh, McLoughlins and Tony, from Irish Scene, thank you! If you would like to read the May/June edition of Irish Scene contact us at irishsceneperth@gmail.com and we will email you out a copy.
