Ambassador of Canada set to honour Hargadon
ROAD IS TO BE NAMED AFTER POET MICHAEL HARGADON
THE Canadian Ambassador to Ireland is coming to Sligo this week to participate in a ceremony naming a local road in honour of the Sligo-born poet Michael A.Hargadon.
Kevin Michael Vickers ONB SC, Ambassador of Canada to Ireland will join Cathaoirleach of Sligo County Council Councillor Martin Baker at the opening ceremony at the junction of the Dromahair Road and the Calry Road at 3.30pm on Wednesday 8th August.
The road is an area he would have traversed many times on his way to and from his home in Colgagh, Calry.
Ambassador Vickers will also unveil a commemorative plaque at the house where Michael Hargadon was born in Colgagh at 4pm on Wednesday.
This year marks the 50 th anniversary of the death of the Calry journalist and poet who emigrated to Canada in 1915 and became a celebrated journalist, athlete, author and poet.
Calry Local History Society in collaboration with the Friends of Michael Hargadon group, has organised a three-week long commemoration of his birth and death (1888 -1968) with a wide-ranging programme between now and 26 th August.
It will include an exhibition at Sligo City Hall, poetry readings at Hargadons Bros Pub on O’Connell Street, a public lecture, the launching of a Michael Hargadon website, a radio documentary, a Hargadon clan gathering, a graveyard remembrance, a boat trip on Lough Gill and several social events.
The exhibition at City Hall was officially opened by the Mayor of Sligo Municipal District Councillor Rosaleen O’Grady at 12 noon on Monday.
It features photographs of old Sligo and Calry characters from the 1920s, including many celebrities that Hargadon met during the Roaring Twenties.
Both locals and tourists can enjoy poetry readings every lunch in Hargadon’s Pub. Readers include Editor of The Sligo Champion Jenny McCudden on Thursday, descendants of the poet, local dignitaries, academics and Sligo residents.
This weekend Hargadon families from Canada, UK, USA, Belgium and around Ireland will gather at the Redahan Centre/Genealogy Centre and Sligo City Hall to network and celebrate their family history connections.
On Sunday August 19 th a graveside remembrance will take place at the Hargadon and McLoughlin graves in Clogher Graveyard, Calry at 11am.
It will be conducted by Fr Vincent O’Hara with readings from the works of Michael Hargadon.
His surviving son Brian Hargadon of Ottawa will speak at a public talk in the Clayton Hotel on Tuesday 21st August at 8pm. He will be joined by Chair of Calry Local History Society Gerard Cunningham.
michaelahargadon.com.