We held our second annual reception tonight at Chief O'Neills bar and restaurant in Chicago with over 80 people attending including alumni, the college president, faculty members and friends. It was a great evening where we caught up on key events happening at UCC (it is going from strength to strength and I found out it even has ties to my wifes alma mater, Notre Dame) and also to celebrate the musical recordings of Chief O'Neill. He was the Chief of Police in Chicago many many years ago but also spent a considerable part of his life recording traditional Irish music played in and around Chicago. Mel Mercer, head of the school of music in UCC and leader of a project to digitize the original wax recordings, two of his very accomplished students and some local musicians played (and even Irish danced) beautifully for us - it reminded Biz and I that we miss Ireland alot.
Unfortunately it was not all good news on the night - severe rain in Ireland on Thursday and Friday has caused flooding in many parts of the country, but particularly in Cork, and many of the university buildings were flooded causing much damage and closing much of the campus down for the coming week and possibly longer. Photos can be seen on http://www.rte.ie/
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