Sep/090
The SMS Interview: Michael Murphy’s view
We are delighted to welcome Michael Murphy, Director of University Concert Hall (UCH), which is on the campus of University of Limerick (UL).
This is 2nd in a series of interviews we plan to publish about SMS around the theme of “SMS : Significance & Future” - showcasing views of key people in and connected with SMS.
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Michael Murphy’s CV :
- responsible for management, growth and development of UCH
- opened & launched UCH in September 1993
- finance director of Irish based high-tech electronics company with marketing, sales and distribution subsidiaries in the UK, Europe and USA
- chartered accountant @PricewaterhouseCoopers Limerick & London
- Educated @ Blackrock College Dublin & Crescent College Limerick
- born Limerick City
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Favorite sport: Rugby. I was @ Crescent College Limerick & Blackrock College Dublin. Support & follow Munster (& Old Crescent).
Favorite music: Eagles, Eric Clapton & Opera, particularly Verdi
Favorite performance ever: Maria Callas & Eric Clapton
Favorite food: I’m a Francophile. Love the weather, love the country, like most of the people – they can be a bit obnoxious at times. There’s a particular restaurant where you get seafood & fillet steak (served out in the open) followed by Crepe Suzette – truly lovely.
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What was your first contact with SMS?
We opened the Concert Hall (UCH) in 1993…. In 1996 it was brought to my attention that Clare Music Makers Association were inquiring about hiring the Hall for a concert in July. I thought “great stuff, this is our quiet period.” Said “keep dealing away with them”. Weeks later, I noticed we had an evening of classical music, Beethoven, Mozart and all that sort of stuff… “Where did all that come out of?“ I was told that was Clare Music Makers Association.
The joke here is that when I heard Clare Music Makers Association originally, I automatically, incorrectly, assumed they were a trad Irish group. And I’m going “CMMA play Mozart! What the hell is going on?”
Shortly after, I met Bob & Nancy Creech, and whoever they had at that time. I began to realise and understand what they were about.
CMMA is still there. They’re a separate organisation from Bob. He was involved with them; his daughter I think was teaching over there, and they used to have a summer festival, “Summer Music on the Shannon”.
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Where did you first meet Bob Creech?
It was here in Allegro Cafe in UCH. It was just before their performance. They were in: all of a sudden they were all over the place; rehearsing. I was introduced to him, probably by Henri (Box Office Manager) who’d been dealing with their concert arrangements & requirements.
Talking to Bob Creech, I discovered he’d been General Manager of Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for 10 years. A Canadian, wonderful horn player, a man with a huge CV, played with so many orchestras. We were able to talk about Vancouver.
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What’s the connection between Vancouver, Bob Creech and you?
Suzanne Murphy, my sister, was singing in Vancouver. I was working as accountant for an international business. I had to go to Silicone Valley, San Francisco. I timed the trip so that I could travel up to Vancouver afterwards. Suzanne was performing Lucia de Lammermore. I thought I could hop up there, not realising how far it was. Suzanne sang with Dennis O’Neill. It was a stunning, brilliant performance. It’s one of my favourite operas. A magnificent evening. I was absolutely proud in that packed Vancouver hall: here was this girl from Limerick singing in on an international stage.
Next morning in Vancouver Airport, I went to find a newspaper, to see if there was a review. There were big headlines “Nothing Like This For 10 Years“. Vancouver Opera was the second home of Joan Sutherland [hear her sing here]. It was 10 years since she’s sung there. Talking to Bob Creech years later: he was the leader of the orchestra that night!
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What was your first impression of Bob Creech?
Small in stature, well able to listen. I found him an exceptionally interesting character. As you get to know him more and more, you realise he’s had an amazing musical career. He’s built up a wonderful network of contacts with whom he’s kept in touch. People like Carl Davis & Jose Louis Garcia (who’s come to UCH to give tutorials in the Concert Hall).
It’s the legacy he’s created, as musician & arts administrator, including the founding of a Summer School in Vancouver. Bob is forceful…. He’s worked with Paul McCartney, even had the idea of getting Paul to come to Limerick. I’ll believe that when I see it.
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What attracted you to the idea of giving SMS a home in UCH?
It fell into our lap. If you were to prepare a job spec for artistic director, Bob Creech would fit it ideally. What really attracted him was the acoustic of the Hall. At the beginning, I was simply renting a hall to Clare Music Makers. Year after year, Bob Creech came back. SMS were hiring school rooms in Ennis & Limerick. But it was splintered. That doesn’t make for a good festival
Bob was bringing staff in. It grew from one performance. Bob was pressing me for space for tutorials, and then residential student accommodation. It grew and moved in, to the point where there is almost nothing in Ennis. You could say SMS migrated in.
Clare Music Makers is run by a committee. The SMS summer school grew out of it. CMMA found SMS was becoming too big; they were exhausted by it, and wanted to discontinue the relationship. This had financial implications for SMS.
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What were the implications of SMS moving from Clare Music Makers to UCH?
SMS was in receipt of funding from various agencies, including the Arts Council, in the name of CMMA. SMS is not a limited company, limited by guarantee. Bob came to me. We discussed what to do. The obvious thing to do was for UCH to assume SMS as a project of ours, run by Bob Creech.
I was happy, having observed the growth of SMS over many years.
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What’s become the relationship of UCH to SMS?
There was no perceived change. Bob Creech ran SMS. We’d discuss it. Bob Creech would tell me about, say, John Perry. I’d say “I don’t mind what you do artistically, you’re in charge of that area. But I need SMS to break even.”
Then there was the development of the Youth Opera Theatre Programme. Bob Creech’s contacts again. With the production of Noah’s Flood, SMS developed an Arts Programme for two weeks. I was excited by it: kids making the art for the opera staging, rehearsing and learning alongside professional musicians. It’s the discipline of the process, including individual solo performance.
But opera is very expensive to put on… Bob Creech is an artistic entrepreneur.
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Has the expansion of SMS created any challenges for you?
SMS has grown because of the number of students, needing more and more rooms. Bob says “get rooms for me”. I’ve had to go to university departments to acquire rooms for rehearsal, and try to keep up with the expansion. SMS is now a 4 week event. That excites me… but has brought its own challenge.
The campus, in the ’90s, was like a desert all summer, all idle. SMS fitted in neatly with my ambitions to have activity here on the campus. In recent years, the UL campus in summer has become a destination for all sorts of students, many here for language study. Now it’s become difficult to find accommodation on campus. SMS doesn’t have the same freedom as before.
Aug/093
SMS Office now closed
Well, we’ve finally disassembled what has been the Summer Music on the Shannon office for 2009. I had some help from Ana Marques, Deirdre Stack Marques and Naoise Stack Marques yesterday and today in expunging all traces of SMS 09 from the Foundation Building at UL. This included taking down all the signs that had been put up on notice boards, walls, and doors throughout the Foundation Building’s ground floor where we operated from, as well as our Room Numbers and maps from the room doors and dressing room doors backstage which served as tuition rooms for the instrumental faculty as well as changing rooms for the many performances on the University Concert Hall stage.
The office itself had to be put back into boxes for transport back to Clare Music Makers which stores SMS office stuff during the year. The computer equipment (consisting of a 17″ CRT monitor, two speakers, an aging epson printer, and CPU, plus cables for same) has been unplugged, battened down where necessary, and taped up ready for transport also. All the tables and chairs have been removed and put back where we got them. So I’ve finally moved out of UCH and the SMS office has gone into hibernation until the summer of 2010, when it will again spring into existence all going well.
The music library is still in the process of being dismounted and put back in its multitude of sturdy plastic containers. This job has fallen to Bob Creech and Bruce Dunn and should be complete by this evening or tomorrow morning. All the music on loan from Germany, Sweden and the UK has to be packaged up and posted off. The remainder goes back into storage at Clare Music Makers in Ennis. Colie Tubridy will transport it, together with the office, tomorrow or Thursday.
Then there is all the musical equipment that has been on loan from Clare Music Makers, the University of Limerick Orchestra, and others, consisting of music stands, percussion equipment and other bits and pieces, which has to be returned to the owners in pristine state. And last, but not least, there’s the TAM on loan from RTE which has to be taken back to Dublin.
This is some of the essential preparatory work that goes on in the background both before and after an event such as Summer Music on the Shannon, that goes unnoticed by the public, and without which SMS could not take place at all.
Aug/093
Who tuned in to the live streaming broadcast on the internet?
Thanks to HEAnet, we have some statistics about who was on-line for the concert from UCH on Sunday.
Of course these stats only show those who were able to tune in at the time of the concert performance (1330 – 1625 GMT, about 0530 in western Canada).
The live stream will be available later.
It will be edited to take out all the gaps. It will then be made available as an archive. Many more will tune in during the autumn/fall. Over time, the internet audience for the concert may well exceed the numbers in the Hall.
There were 301 “Pageviews” with 162 “Unique Views“
- I think this means 162 different computers logged on to the broadcast. Some of those computers may have had groups huddled round them. Some of the computers may have been linked to TV screens.
The “Top 10 Countries” for audience were
1. Ireland 72 (44%)
2. United Kingdom 36 (22%)
3. Canada 17 (10%)
4. Germany 8 (5%)
5. Italy 7 (4%)
6. Switzerland 6 (4%)
7. United States 6 (4%)
8. Portugal 4 (2%)
9. Australia 3 (2%)
10. Norway 3 (2%)
But these figures don’t tell us the whole audience story.
We have a “Viewer Breakdown within Ireland“
1. Dublin 23 (32%)
2. Limerick 21 (29%)
3. Sligo 9 (13%)
4. Cork 7 ( (10%)
5. Waterford 7 (10%)
6. Letterkenny, Co Donegal 2 (3%)
7. Galway 2 (3%)
8. Naas, Co Kildare 1 (1%)
But I can tell you 4 people watched & listened to at least part of it on my laptop in Cork. Perhaps you need to multiply the number of computers by 4 to get an accurate sense of the internet audience.
Aug/092
The SMS Interview : David Collopy’s view of SMS
We are delighted to welcome David Collopy, General Manager of University Concert Hall (UCH), located on the campus of University of Limerick (UL).
This is the first of a series of interviews we hope to publish around the theme of “SMS : Significance & Future” - showcasing views of key people in and connected with SMS.
David brings a wonderful CV to SMS.
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Director Glór – Irish Music Centre in Ennis, Co Clare
October 2007 — October 2008
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Chief Executive Opera Ireland
November 1985 — December 2006
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General Administrator Wexford Festival Opera
February 1980 — September 1985
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Some personal favorites…
Favorite Sport: I’m not really interested in any sport. If offered tickets for Heineken Cup final (Munster playing), I’d probably say “tickets should go to someone who’s passionate about the game.”
Favorite Food: My favourite food experience is the seafood platter in Linnane’s New Quay, County Clare. This is a pub-restaurant, on southern shore of Galway Bay, near Ballyvaughan (known as “the flaggy shore“). There was a boat disaster there; I saw a documentary on it. I’m a seafood person; I’d live on it if I could.
Favorite music: If I could take only one piece to a desert island, it would have to be opera: overture to Verdi’s La Forza del destino [listen here] - a common enough overture, but I love it
Favorite performer, musician or singer: Maria Callas
Favorite country: Switzerland. Been many times. love it – so many contrasts
Country you’d love to go to: Bali. Wanted to get married there. Or Goa
Favorite city: Paris, culturally
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How did you first hear about “Summer Music on the Shannon”?
Seven years ago, when I was chief executive of Opera Ireland, Michael Murphy, director UCH, told me about this “summer camp”. Michael introduced me to Bob Creech. SMS opera project had just started. It was something I wanted to explore, because Opera Ireland was very keen to nurture young talent. SMS opera programme was a programme with which we wanted to build a partnership. We wanted to support it.
Opera Ireland became partner/sponsor of SMS opera programme. It was great for SMS to link with the only national opera organisation in Ireland.
When I left Opera Ireland, I wrote a report for Michael Murphy on how to take this link forward. I also looked at organisational structure & management, began to work closely with Bob Creech. UCH wanted to help SMS achieve its ‘raison d’etre’.
Any highlights in relation to SMS?
As general manager UCH from November 2008, I began to “look after” SMS from a UCH perspective. We’ve tried to make a bit more sense of the relationship.
SMS is actually a “project” of UCH. SMS isn’t a legal entity in its own right. In terms of liabilities, financial and otherwise, SMS comes under UCH. When making grant applications, applications go forward from UCH. My job is to add more resource to SMS for management & administration. We want to continuously improve SMS business organisation, so that the artistic, learning & performance side of SMS can continue to flourish.
When SMS is on UL campus, the two organisations are nearly one and the same.
Who else in UCH plays an important role in SMS?
Marie Healy is Registrar: looks after applicants signing-up for courses; deals with queries & all things on campus - even doctors & dentists.
Paul Boland is Technical Manager. We have 22 public performances.
Anything that must move for performances@St Mary’s Cathedral, Kilrush, Bruff, Kilmallock – like projectors & sound equipment - is provided by UCH technical department.
Paul Boland also acts as Production Manager: sets up & provides equipment, schedules, deals with the technical side of Concert Hall, lights the hall, works with Set Designer to help realise the overall design concept.
Emma Foote, Marketing Manager: prepares printed material, brochures, press releases, radio ads, helps local, regional & national newspapers. For example, Carl Davis [composer of "The Mermaid"] was on Pat Kenny Show with Myles Dungan – she arranges that.
Box Office Manager, Henri Murphy, with our box office staff, sell tickets. There’s no box office@St Mary’s Cathedral, so we have to provide that with house staff.
How does SMS Summer School fit into the annual cycle of Concert Hall?
Fits very well. Summer is every concert hall’s down time for audience. With SMS, we’ve a programme that fills the gap brilliantly.
Remember, SMS occupies more than the Concert Hall. Expands into 3-4 university faculties. Uses space from Languages, Engineering, Irish World Academy of Music & Dance. (Great co-operation there.) Also Jean Monnet Theatre & Jonathan Swift Theatre : SMS pervades the physical fabric of the University Of Limerick.
The downside is that SMS runs during summer holiday season. Local concert-going audience is down, off on holidays. SMS can’t have the same packed houses for concerts as we get during the rest of the year. So it’s a trade off.
What connections exist between SMS & the wider artistic community in Ireland?
Musicians come from their musical communities. After SMS they go back to work in September, on their day jobs. They take the spirit & experience of SMS with them, to Cork, Dublin and beyond.
It’s like ‘viral’ marketing. The word gets out & on to others who may well join SMS. Music education all over Ireland benefits. For example, Artane Band [see them play] with whom SMS has close links, comes to Limerick for a week of their own Concert performances.
The impact of SMS radiates out a fair bit. The musical connections also connect with educational networks. School teachers come to supervise & support students.
There is an essential & strong connection with the international music community as well. SMS began with Bob Creech & friends from Canada & UK. Recently, the Norwegian connection has grown. For example, David Stewart is Canadian. He’s known Bob in Canada. He also has connections with Norway. He was leader of the Norwegian Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. There are so many countries involved in SMS, that these international influences are developing all the time.
Bob Creech is the centre, with his amazing experience and network. If you look at his CV, you’ll see how he’s brought people together from many countries. It’s a bit like Facebook in action – the living embodiment of Facebook [there is an SMS Facebook Group] in terms of networking.
What connections exist with the wider community in Limerick, Clare, Ireland & beyond?
SMS is predominantly a Summer School. A certain school regime is present. As for all children going to school, students share a common interest. But when the child leaves school, it’s over. After SMS, the connection is broken. Contrast this with the world of work: there are people I’ve known, & stayed in touch with, for 30 years.
The student association with the organisation is relatively short. Absence of structures & backup means that, for SMS, the long term connection is not so strong. We have plans to address that.
Do you deliberately plan for children from deprived areas like Moyross to come?
Look at the mission statement for SMS (on website). It’s a very global mission statement. It’s really to make music for everyone, irrespective of age, financial background, or ability. Students have access to SMS music programmes, with bursaries for those who can’t afford the fees. SMS lives out its mission statement.
The SMS experience gives students a bit of a ‘crutch’, if they need it. Young kids come to the programme from Moyross. They develop a talent they didn’t know they had. This a key aspect of what we do. The bursary programme should be the last thing to go if we’re in difficulties. The joy this experience gives kids is of immense value to everyone.
Any particular challenges in 2009?
As I see it, SMS is at a cross roads. SMS has outgrown its success It came to UCH with a 2-week programme. Now it’s over 4 weeks. There are masterclasses now. The programme has expanded out of all recognition. And yet it’s still being run with it’s original approach.
Now we need a serious reassessment. How is SMS going to build and keep bringing in other elements?
We need to develop long term plans. Branding. Governance structures. Strategic marketing. SMS has now become too big to continue as it has been.
It is also struggling financially - like every arts organisation.
Change must be done in a measured and achievable way. You cannot run an organisation which grown so much bigger in size and diversity, on the same resources or mechanisms. This is what Bob Creech has been trying to bring to all our attention. We have to consider how best to move forward for the next phase of SMS – so as to ensure the spirit of SMS for the future.
Looking ahead 5 years, where would you see SMS?
Assuming present demand & growth rate remains constant, we shall concentrate on tuition, but also with performance.
A key aspect for students is that they play alongside professional players from the Philharmonic. What is unique is that they interact as equals in performance of the music. You may have the leader of the Norwegian orchestra playing alongside a student, with the student leading the orchestra. The roles are reversed. It is a great way for kids to learn that this is what its like when you’re a player.
SMS goes to Kilrush, Bruff & Kilmallock. Do you see SMS going to other places, expanded its outreach service?
We need to define outreach. SMS spends 4 weeks working very hard here. Going out from Limerick gives students more performances. Going on tour shows opera students what it’s like to tour an opera. This means it’s not just one performance. They get to perform at home and tour.
We need balance. It’s a matter of showing communities what is available. Letting them find out what an SMS performance could mean to them locally. It’s not a matter of SMS pushing itself into communities. We need local communities to want SMS.
We need to show the very high standard of SMS performance. This is audience development. Growing the appreciation of the value there is in a young student reaching out to young musicians and teachers, on an equal basis. This is an area for policy development.
[to be continued]
Aug/090
Worldwide audience for SMS Concert from Limerick
Backstage in University Concert Hall (UCH) after the concert, the musicians looked at (and listened to) themselves on stage playing…
For me, the most poignant moment on Saturday evening was when a musician turned to me and said
“My father can’t travel to hear me play. Now he could watch the concert on the internet…”
I thought: what’s the story? is his father ill? is this a one-off? imagine his father never being about to hear him play live?
That was a moment of enormous force.
A moment when I resolved to do all I could to help bring about change, to harness the power of the internet of help overcome such limitations. We no longer need to be there in person to watch and hear the concert. So let us make it happen. Let’s live-stream every concert…
You are looking at a photograph of two wonderful musicians watching the concert being played back.
HEAnet (who & what it is) reaction to the live broadcast they sponsored:
I heard from David Collopy, UCH, today that the HEAnet people were delighted with the broadcast. The quality of sound was spectacular. It should have been: it went out down a pipe that was 1 gigabyte wide (whatever that means) on fiber optic cable. (Even I know that’s cutting edge.)
Whenever we use the word “audience” again, let’s think of the bigger audience out there with internet access…
I hope there are people in the wider Irish arts community reading about SMS, and thinking “how could we do the same?“
Aug/090
The live broadcast of music on the internet
Here are some links if you’d like to know more about the current state of play on live streaming of classical music on the internet…
Atanar.com - This is a company dedicated to the area of Internet performances, CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) & Video streaming over the Net.
Medici.tv – huge resource of concerts to listen to…
Communications Breakdown – a blog post I found
Classical live on-line radio – not live video streaming, but useful link for music lovers
Jul/090
Live streaming tomorrow night from UCH
For more information on our first ever live-streaming from Summer Music on the Shannon tomorrow evening 1st August at 8.00pm from the University Concert Hall in UL, check out the live streaming page on Summer Music on the Shannon.
Many thanks to HEAnet, ITD, UCH and LIT for their support and help in this exciting venture.
Jul/091
First LIVE Concert Streaming from University Concert Hall & UL
An exiting press release… (Thanks to David Collopy)
On Saturday 1st August people from all over the world can zone in on University Concert Hall and watch, listen to and enjoy musicians –also from all over the world – perform Live!
“The PianoMan” is the inaugural concert of this year’s Summer Music on the Shannon International Festival and will be the first ever concert streamed Live from the UL campus.
Over three hundred classical music and opera students and faculty have gathered in University Concert Hall from countries including the US, Canada, France, Italy and even Zambia, for Summer Music on the Shannon 2009.
UCH & UL are therefore delighted to announce this innovation whereby parents, friends and family of these young pupils can now log on and enjoy the first performance of the Festival!
Hosted by the HEA (Highter Education Authority) Net and facilitated by the University of Limerick ITD department, this will be the first of many concerts streamed live from UCH for the benefit and enjoyment of music fans the world over!
“The PianoMan” will feature John Perry, Professor of Music at the University of Southern California, and friends perform a delightful programme of music including Schubert’s Fantasia (Piano for Four Hands), Beethoven’s Piano Sonata In D and Terzetto in C by Dvorak. The concert is Free to the public and is sure to set the scene for a wonderful 16th SMS season!
For those of you who cannot get to UCH next Saturday night, be sure to log onto http://flashhost.heanet.ie/sms/live.html and enjoy!
Jul/090
John Perry has arrived
Pianist extraordinaire, John Perry, arrived into Shannon at 6.15am this morning and is due shorty on the main stage at the University Concert Hall for rehearsals.
John performs a free concert this coming Saturday night 1st August at UCH.
The programme is as follows:
- Fantasia in F minor’, Op.103 (piano, four hands) – Franz Schubert, performed by John Perry and Mina Perry
- ‘Terzetto in C major’, Opus 74, (two violins & cello) – Anton Dvorak, performed by David Stewart, Violin, Paule Préfontaine, Violin; David Gaudry, Viola; and David Bucknall, Cello.
- ‘Piano Sonata in D’, Op. 10, No.3 – Ludwig van Beethoven
- ‘Piano Quartet in A major’, Op. 26 – Jonhannes Brahms
- Also starring on Viola is David Gaudry
The concert promises to be terrific, and if you’re unlucky enough not to be able to attend, do not fret as it is being live-streamed on the web, through the auspices of UL IT Dept., UCH, HEAnet and LIT. I’ll post a link to the live stream nearer the time.
Jul/092
Visiting SMS late on Friday afternoon of Week One
My day involved driving from Glanmire, Cork to Adare to visit my mother in Embury Close.
Grace, my almost-four year old daughter went for her fortnightly treat to see grandma Clare.
Unusually, we left Adare at about 2.30pm because Grandma had another appointment. So I drove into Limerick, to Clancy’s Electrical on O’Connell Street to return my Sony digital camera.
It’s a xmas present, under guarantee, and it stopped working in Biarritz, France, recently. I’ve felt as if I’ve lost an eye.
So I felt great to have a loan of mother’s CanonA460 digital camera.
I joined the traffic into Limerick, sent my camera back to Sony for repair and phoned Patrick Stack. He was working for SMS @UCH @UL.
It was great to have a few minutes of unexpected time to visit UCH and meet SMS for the first time.
So far all my contact with SMS has been via word-of-mouth, telephone, email and website.
What I didn’t realise is that UL closes down early on Friday afternoon. There were hardly any students wandering about on campus. Maybe there were all in the library, but I doubt it. UCH felt empty.
The cafe shut when we arrived, but the staff, who were cleaning up, were kind enough to serve Grace a Fanta Orange. (I’d promise her treats for coming in to meet people.)
I contacted Patrick by mobile phone. He met us and brought us to the nerve centre: Marie Healey. She’s Michael Murphy’s PA. She didn’t want her photograph taken,
so instead I shot Patrick Stack in her office.
I got a quick glimpse of Michael Murphy, managing director UCH, on the phone in his office, didn’t disturb him. I was so delighted to have a digital camera again.
Patrick took me down into the basement of UCH – where the SMS rehearsal & admin office is. I met his daughter and son at work there.
I met the man who drives the bus in which SMS students get out to campus from Limerick train & coach station.
I was interested to see what was posted up.
I also met two members of SMS faculty, from the singing section: they were shy. I’ll get their photos next time.
I met a group of five students, who just finished working (studying).
I photographed people whose names I never found out.
I felt I was beginning to get into SMS, starting to meet the people who matter, picking up the flavour of the mix.
I was introduced to people who were on their way home to Brookfield Hall (where students & faculty are staying)
and a fun lady from Kilrush who is a teacher (I forgot to ask her what she teaches).
There was also an amazing highlight. I went into a room where a young Russian student was working with his singing coach.
He sang, unaccompanied, a part of Pie Jesu (Sarah Brightman & Paul Miles Johnston with Winchester Cathedral Choir version here) for me. I was transported.
All the people I met were incredibly friendly and positive about the blog and keen to see it. I didn’t meet anyone who’d yet seen it. Patrick Stack set up a introductory viewing on his laptop. [That’s Toni looking at Bruce Dunn on screen.)
I did my best to encourage people to look at the blog and comment on it.
Grace & I left at about 5 pm. We drove back to Cork and I resolved to visit SMS again soon.