Latest Posts
The Traveller – Wishing Well
Hello, my name is Jillian Godsil (heyho) and I am the owner of this blog. I also produce and present The Wishing Well on DublinSouthFM, a twice monthly visit into the head and hearts of really interesting and passionate people. In a departure from the ordinary, I visited my guest, singer songwriter Don Mescall in his converted studios in a old decommissioned church in Cavan. I will share a link to the show – scheduled for March 12 here. Here is the start of Don’s bio – it’s extensive and the rest is provided at the end of this article. As a songwriter, Don Mescall’s songs have featured on albums with sales of over 22 million worldwide and have received in excess of 18 million hits on You Tube. His songs have been recorded by artists including US Country superstars Rascal Flatts, Brett Eldridge , Lonestar, Neal McCoy, Backstreet Boys, Geri Halliwell, Sharon Corr, Ronan Keating, Celtic Thunder, American idol’s Clay Aiken and American idol Theo Thams (Phantom of the Opera star, Ramin Karimloo), Aslan, Frances Black, Brian Kennedy , Christy Dignam ,French Canadian recording artist Garou, Shane Filan & Nicky Byrne (Westlife), Boyzone, triple platinum French artist Marina Kaye, […]
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Before the Surge
Today as we enter lockdown here in Ireland we are also waiting for the surge. So many new terms for our condition; social distancing, cocooning, washing hands, not touching our face, and of course the surge. In a matter of days my perception of the world has changed. Daily, I search online for news, mostly news of deaths, across the world. Nightly, I wait for our own account of new cases and new deaths. And recently when watching television, I shuddered when I saw a normal gathering of people – too close too close I thought – and I physically recoiled when two people hugged on screen. Suddenly two metres is the new norm. As a young teenage I loved history and studied it in Trinity. I particularly loved World War 1 for many reasons including the innocence, the heroism, and the misplaced notions of patriotism. In a war fought over a tiny principality the reality was far from any notion of fighting for good, whatever that might mean anyway. I studied stories in the trenches, about the boredom and then the going over the top. I read one story of a young captain who brought his football to the […]
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The Wishing Well: Sarah Glennane on screen music, AI and the value of community
The best film music can change how an audience feels without announcing its presence. It draws people into a story, gives a scene its emotional weight and sometimes stays with them long after the credits. Sarah Glennane believes the composers who do that work should be visible to the industry, even when their music is at its most subtle. Listen to the radio show here (September 29) Glennane is CEO of the Screen Composers Guild of Ireland, which represents composers based across the island who write original music for film, television, games, advertising and other media. Its 124 full members work across a wide range of productions. Among those she mentions from Wicklow include Stephen Rennicks, who scored Normal People, and Stephen McKeon and award winning Anna Rice. Other successful composers from the around the country include Sarah Lynch, Eimear Noone, Die Hexen and David Holmes The guild was founded in 2018. Glennane had previously managed bands and worked in music supervision, helping film and television productions license existing songs. That role brought her into contact with another part of the music industry: the composers asked to create something original for a particular story. She became curious about how many […]
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Making a Difference: Kieran Tansey and the Hope That Travels
Kieran Tansey works in financial services, but for the past 15 years much of his time outside work has been devoted to getting practical help to people who need it. He is a founder, board member and financial director of Irish charity Project ESPWA. Listen to the radio show here (September 21) The charity’s original name was Haiti Orphanage Project Espwa, with the initials spelling HOPE. Espoir is the French word for hope, while ESPWA is the Haitian Creole spelling. As the organisation expanded beyond Haiti, it shortened its name to Project ESPWA. The charity began with a trip to Haiti in April 2010, three months after the devastating earthquake that killed an estimated 200,000 people and displaced around 1.5 million. Tansey was among approximately 300 volunteers who travelled with the Haven Partnership to a remote area in the northwest of the country. Over the course of a week, they built around 80 houses, a community centre and a playground. Although his professional background was in finance, Tansey was no stranger to manual work, having worked on building sites during his later years at secondary school. Nor did the volunteers need to arrive with particular construction skills. “In fairness, you didn’t have to be […]
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Wishing Well: Mike Quinn, the apprentice poet finding hope in words
Mike Quinn describes himself as a retired gentleman having fun with poetry. He is reluctant even to call himself a poet, preferring the term apprentice, despite having already produced collections combining poetry and art. listen to the radio show here (Sept 15) The apprenticeship began in earnest after a heart event in 2019. Quinn’s daughter is a young doctor and helped him through the process, but the experience also made him reconsider what he wanted to do with the time ahead. He remembers sitting on his bed in the Blackrock Clinic and realising that something had changed. “Death pinged my doorbell and gave me a second chance, which I’m delighted to have,” he says. The expression came from the late Galway poet Kevin Higgins, whose workshops Quinn began attending after his illness. Higgins wrote: “You aren’t fully alive until death pings your doorbell and asks for somebody else.” For Quinn, the bell had quite literally rung. “I was thinking a little bell was ringing and I was saying, ‘Wakey, wakey time, Mike. Time to smell the roses and drink the wine a second time.’ It was that kick in the pants. I suppose everybody needs one because we take a […]
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Making a Difference: Lorraine O’Dwyer – The Blessing and the Curse of Being a Woman
Lorraine O’Dwyer was once told she was no good for anything but gallivanting. As it turns out, they were right. “I am very good at it,” she says. Listen to the radio show here (Sept 7) Today, gallivanting is not simply something O’Dwyer does; it is the name of her business and, in many ways, her vocation. She takes people into the woods, forages, tells stories, explores Ireland’s ancient mythology and introduces visitors to plants and traditions that would have been immediately familiar to our ancestors. She is also a bean feasa, an Irish term she translates as “wise woman”, and describes herself as the eighth generation of wise women in her family. Once, those women made medicines from the plants around them. O’Dwyer brings people into the woods to show them what they used and, just as importantly, to tell the stories of the women who carried that knowledge. It is difficult to imagine a more appropriate occupation for the girl who couldn’t sit still in school. O’Dwyer was eventually expelled, something she discusses with characteristic good humour. She says she has ADHD, at a time when girls were far less likely to be diagnosed, and the conventional classroom […]
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The Wishing Well: Tara MacLean – Where Songs Become Hope
Some people write songs because they have a gift. Tara MacLean wrote songs because she needed somewhere safe to put the things that hurt. Listen to the radio show here (Sept 1) Growing up in a household where music was ever-present but life was anything but predictable, the Canadian-Irish singer-songwriter discovered early that songs could become both sanctuary and survival. Guitars were always close at hand, new songs seemed to appear as naturally as conversation, and amid the upheaval of childhood, music became her constant companion. “Writing songs has been my life raft,” she says. “Without those, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it all.” MacLean’s recently published memoir, Song of the Sparrow, is a beautifully written account of a childhood marked by instability, abuse and loss. It is not an easy read, yet what emerges most strongly is not tragedy but resilience. Throughout her life, music has been both companion and guide, helping her navigate grief, heartbreak and the inevitable losses that life brings. “My songs were kind of my way of reaching for some kind of understanding,” she explains. “Finding faith in the darkness.” Compassion is a recurring theme throughout both her memoir and our […]
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