Our next meeting will be at 7:00 pm next Wednesday, 11th November in the observatory library.

The speaker will be: Fearghal Mac Bhloscaidh, Senior Lecturer in History at St. Mary’s University, Belfast and has written about the revolutionary period in Ireland.

Originally from East Tyrone, he makes frequent contributions to historical television documentaries and news programmes and was previously a Research Fellow at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

He will be speaking about his new book, ‘Red Triangle’ which is a major social history and the backstory to Britain’s partition of Ireland in 1921. It captures the wave of labour militancy that swept across the north during the struggle for Irish independence. From Belfast and Ulster’s linen triangle, this movement radiated outwards as socialist trade unionists forged an unlikely alliance between Catholics and Protestants, challenging sectarian divisions and imperial authority. The mass strikes offered a tantalising glimpse of a democratic future for Ulster before the movement was crushed by loyalist violence.