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Frances O’Hara was born on 3 January 1949 in Belfast as the eldest daughter of Seamus and Phoebe O’Hara. Her paternal aunt, Ann O’Hara, was a dancer with Patricia Mulholland’s Irish Ballet, and it was through this connection that Frances was initially auditioned and accepted into the Irish dancing classes. The weekly lessons took place in Patricia Mulholland’s house in Nevington Street, a short walk from Frances’ home in north Belfast. Her brothers and sisters all followed her to Patricia Mulholland’s classes, but it was Frances who had the grace and enthusiasm to continue dancing through her teens and early twenties. She became part of the Irish Ballet and danced in a range of roles in ballets such as The Children of Lir, Phil the Fluter’s Ball and Cúchulainn. In 1967, she travelled with the company to the Isle of Man to participate in the Viking Festival. She made lifelong friendships through Irish dancing, and also maintained a close relationship with Patricia Mulholland. It was Frances and her friend and fellow dancer Sheelagh Gilligan who organised a celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Irish Ballet in 1976.

In 1987, Frances married Robert Clark Buchanan and emigrated to the Cayman Islands, where she worked as an attorney in a private law practice. She later worked in Geneva, Switzerland for the philanthropic Oak Foundation. She and her husband retired to Ireland in 2013 to the village of Castlerock near Coleraine, where she became an active committee member of the Castlerock Community Association. She died in Coleraine on 27 May 2020.

Brian Bunting was born in Belfast in 1946. He attended St Mary’s Christian Brothers Primary School and later the Grammar School in Barrack Street, Belfast. At the age of 7, his parents sent him to the Patricia Mulholland School of Irish Dancing. In 1954, he was part of the junior support cast in Cúchulainn, the first major Irish Ballet produced by Patricia Mulholland, with Norman Maternaghan (Maen) in the lead role. Over the subsequent years Brian also danced in the later Irish Ballets produced by Patricia Mulholland, including The Dream of Angus Óg, The Oul’ Lammas Fair, The Mother of Oisín, The Children of Lir, Phil the Fluter’s Ball, Celtic Anthology, and the Variety Market. In 1958, Brian won the inaugural Junior Northern Ireland Championships (Boys). He was part of the team of Patricia Mulholland dancers that performed at festivals in the Royal Albert Hall, London and Cork (1962), Royan in France (1964), and the Isle of Man and Leeds (1967). Brian joined the Northern Ireland Civil Service in 1963. Owing to work and family commitments, he left the dancing school and stopped Irish dancing in 1968. He retired from the NICS in 2005.

Rosemary Butcher was a British choreographer and dancer known for her minimalist style.

Róisín Cahalan was born and raised in Limerick. She trained at the Nolan School of Irish Dance for ten years and later at Scoil Rince Dal gCais under the direction of Anthony Costello. She is a five-time Munster Champion and has placed in the top three at the All-Irelands and British Nationals. Her highest placing at the World Championships was second.

After retiring from competition, Róisín attended the University of Limerick, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business and a postgraduate degree in computer studies. Upon completion of her academic studies, she became a computer programmer in Dublin. Róisín put her career on hold when she joined the Riverdance Liffey Company in August 1996. She moved to the Lagan Company in January 1998 and returned to the Liffey Company in August 1998.

Grace O’Malley was born in 1934 as the elder of two children of Charles Vincent O’Malley and Dr Sarah (Judy) née Walsh. Her father was a dentist and ran a successful dental practice in the heart of Limerick city at No. 4 Pery Square, while her mother worked as a doctor and ophthalmologist. Grace was educated at Mount Anville in Dublin and later entered University College Dublin, where her studies for a degree in French and Italian were interrupted by tuberculosis in 1956. Following her recovery, Grace worked in public relations in Shannon. In 1958 she met and married her husband, George Cantillon, and had four children with him. Grace’s lifelong interest in family history culminated in an MA in Art History at University of Limerick in 2004 and the publication of The Round House O’Malleys: The Power of One Woman! in 2014.

For a full biography of Roger Casement, please refer to the Dictionary of Irish Biography, https://www.dib.ie/biography/casement-sir-roger-david-a1532.

Austin Clarke was one of the leading poets of the post-Yeats generation best known for his exceptional style which combined the English language with the rhythm of traditional Irish-language poetry. His published poetic works include The Vengeance of Fionn (1917), Night and Morning (1938) and Ancient Lights (1955). Clarke also wrote plays, novels and two volumes of memoirs.

Barbara Clarke was born in Dublin in 1938. She started dancing at the age of four at the Burchill School of Dancing on St Stephen’s Green, Dublin, where she studied both ballet and tap. Her first stage appearance was in the Burchill School of Dancing Recital at the Gaiety Theatre in 1943 at the age of five. From the very beginning, she showed exceptional talent and enthusiasm, and steadily built up her skills by undertaking dance and teaching qualifications. As she progressed, she began to help Miss Burchill with the younger classes and continued to participate in the school’s regular recitals at the Gaiety Theatre. As there was no full-time work for dancers in Ireland in the 1960s and 1970s, Barbara trained as secretary at Alexandra College, Dublin, and worked in that capacity for a firm of stockbrokers in the city. She dedicated her spare time to dance, both as a performer and a choreographer, and gained countrywide publicity through her appearances in RTÉ’s popular programme, Shall We Dance?. She continued her involvement in the art form until 1992, when a stroke called a halt to her active dancing career.