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, […]
Continue reading
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 […]
Continue reading
Making a Difference with Karina Abramova
There was a time when astrology sat at the very heart of human civilisation. Kings consulted astrologers before making decisions of state. Universities required students to study it. Physicians believed timing was as important as treatment. Today, however, astrology is more often associated with newspaper horoscopes and social media snippets than with scholarship or strategy. Karina Abramova is quietly challenging those assumptions. Listen to the radio show here (10 August) An author, transformational advisor and astrologer, Abramova works with entrepreneurs, business leaders and individuals standing at important crossroads in their lives. Her clients are not looking for someone to predict the future. They are looking for clarity, direction and, perhaps most importantly, timing. “I help men and women on the edge of reinvention and on the crossroads of transformation to decide when to act, what to begin or end, and where their greatest potential and evolution lies,” she says. “In other words, I am a strategic astrologer.” It is a description that immediately prompts curiosity. Astrology is often dismissed without much thought, yet Abramova’s explanation reveals something far more complex than weekly horoscopes. According to Abramova, astrology began around 5,000 years ago in ancient Babylon, modern day Iraq. Priests carefully […]
Continue reading
How a visual art exhibition became a catalyst for community recovery – and found its way to Electric Picnic
For David Delaney and photographer Ciara Buckley, 12, a creative visual art installation exploring addiction, recovery and hope has been selected for the arts programme at Electric Picnic 2026. Originally exhibited in County Laois, 12 was never intended to become anything more than an artistic exploration of recovery through portrait photography, personal stories and a collection of restored chairs from Cuan Mhuire transformed into works of art. Instead, it became something much bigger. Visitors lingered long after viewing the exhibition. Conversations began between strangers. People shared stories of addiction, grief, recovery and resilience. Families spoke openly about experiences they had never previously discussed. Others simply listened. It became clear that people were searching for more than information. They were searching for connection. “The exhibition showed us that recovery isn’t just about treatment,” said David Delaney. “It’s about being seen, being heard and belonging. We realised there was a real need for somewhere those conversations could continue.” Among those whose story formed part of the original exhibition was Michelle Robertson. Through the conversations that followed 12, Michelle and David recognised a gap in community recovery support. Together, they co-founded the ARC Project (addiction. recovery. community.), a volunteer-led organisation dedicated to complementing […]
Continue reading
Wishing Well with Tony Guerin – Stories in my Head
Some people collect stories. Others seem simply to attract them. Spend an hour in the company of Tony Guerin and it quickly becomes apparent that stories have followed him throughout his life, from the small cottages of his childhood in Listowel to the Garda stations where he served as a detective sergeant, and finally to the pages of the novels and plays that have established him as one of Kerry’s best known literary voices. Mention “Kerry royalty” and he immediately laughs off the description, but there is no doubting the affection with which he is regarded in his native county or the respect his writing has earned over many decades. Listen to the radio show here (August 4th) Guerin was born in 1938 in what he remembers as a close-knit community where neighbours depended on one another in ways that are difficult to imagine today. Rural electrification had only recently arrived, most families grew their own vegetables, cut their own turf and shared whatever they had. If someone caught trout in the River Feale, neighbours would soon find fish hanging on their doors. If a family suffered a bereavement, everyone knew instinctively what needed to be done. It was a […]
Continue reading
Wishing Well – Peter Campion: Following the Feeling
Peter Campion did not grow up in a family immersed in theatre. There were no regular trips to plays or concerts, no obvious path that might have led a young boy from Offaly towards a successful acting career. Yet something happened whenever he watched people perform. It was not admiration so much as a deep physical response that he struggled to understand. Listen to the radio show here (July 21) “I remember seeing people perform and having a very rough reaction to seeing it happen,” he says. “It made me feel kind of sick. I couldn’t really understand how big the emotions were when I’d see people on stage.” Looking back, he can see that those moments planted a seed, even if he had no idea at the time where it might lead. Films such as Into the West and The Butcher Boy stirred something profound, long before he recognised acting as something he could pursue himself. Campion spent his early childhood in Birr before his family moved to Dublin. He attended boarding school, a period he remembers fondly, and it was only in secondary school that acting began to emerge as something more than a passing fascination. By the […]
Continue reading
Filling the Gaps: How David Delaney and Michelle Robertson are Building a Community Around Recovery
Addiction is often spoken about in terms of crisis. The crisis of the individual, the crisis of the family, the crisis of the health service. Yet between those moments of crisis lies an uncomfortable reality. People leave treatment and wonder what comes next. Families struggle to understand what recovery really means. Communities want to help but often do not know how. It is in those spaces, between existing services rather than instead of them, that David Delaney and Michelle Robertson have built the ARC Project. Listen to the radio show on (July 20th) ARC stands for Addiction Recovery Community, but the name only hints at what the organisation has become. Founded less than two years ago, it grew not from a strategic plan or funding initiative but from listening. “The ARC Project was founded just coming up on two years ago,” says Delaney. “It came in response to a community creativity project in Portlaoise where we attempted to break the stigma around addiction and highlight the benefits of recovery through a creative arts programme. As a result, we were getting a lot of questions around where people should go and what they should do.” Those conversations revealed something important. While […]
Continue reading