The Gathering: Homeward Bound sees six well-known Irish people who are based abroad return to their home place, or a place they have close ties to, in order to help these communities prepare for The Gathering Ireland 2013, a year-long celebration which will see the people of Ireland reaching out to many millions of friends, family, loved ones and connections overseas, inviting them to Ireland next year to celebrate with everyone.
The personalities featured in the line-up are: former rugby international Trevor Brennan goes back to Leixlip; musician Bressie returns to Mullingar; Irish dancer and choreographer Jean Butler re-connects with Westport; comedian Brendan Grace returns to the Liberties; Kerry GAA and Aussie Rules football star Tadhg Kennelly goes back to his native Listowel and renowned Irish actress Fionnula Flanagan revisits Connemara.
Each of those featured will undertake a very personal journey where they will revisit places of particular significance to them, evoking an emotional and sometimes humorous response. They will also uncover the story of emigration from their home place, by meeting with local historians, visiting libraries and viewing church records. A clear picture of both the historic and more recent emigrant history will be created so that the Diaspora of each particular town will become a more tangible and real concept to the people in each of these places.
Along the way they will help reunite family and friends who have not seen each other for decades, putting flesh on the bones of what ‘home’ really means for the Irish scattered across the globe. Finally, each of the six will create a video invite to the world, asking them to return to the person’s chosen town in 2013.
The series will be broadcast on RTÉ One television and is also available to audiences worldwide on the RTÉ Player www.rte.ie/player
Episode 3 of 6 – Trevor Brennan
One of Ireland’s best-known rugby personalities, Trevor Brennan, is reminded of what coming home can mean when he returns to his native Leixlip to invite Kildare’s Diaspora back to Ireland as part of The Gathering Ireland 2013. Following retirement from professional rugby in 2007, Trevor and his family have lived in Toulouse where he owns and runs the busy De Danú Irish Bar.
Leixlip is a town that has experienced huge change in the last 50 years growing from a population of just under a thousand to more than 15,000. Trevor takes a ride in a helicopter to see from the air how his town has transformed and learns that despite the influx of people, Leixlip has its own emigration story with many of its former inhabitants now scattered all over the world, particularly in England, Canada and more recently in Australia and New Zealand. Trevor is motivated to help get some of its Diaspora back home next year as part of The Gathering. He inspires community and business groups to start planning events for 2013 including his old rugby club in Barnhall which hopes to reunite the famous team that got the club from junior to senior status in 1999.
In a trip down memory lane, Trevor visits St. Catherine’s Park where he spent many long summer months playing as a young boy. There, he meets fellow Leixlip native, Mary Kelly, who lost a close cousin to emigration almost 40 years ago. Frank Herbert left Ireland for Canada with his new bride in 1973. He was just 20 years old then and worked as a fitter turner. He has since become a successful businessman and owns an oil tools manufacturing company in Alberta, Canada.
Trevor hears how Mary and Frank shared a magical childhood growing up together in the woods in Leixlip and how heartbreaking it was for Mary to see Frank emigrate. He is affected by their story and is determined to get them back together again for The Gathering next year.
While back home Trevor prepares his own video, a call to action for each one of us to invite someone back home next year and an invitation to Irish emigrants around the world to reconnect with the place they come from.