Tony Birtill Memorial - Tuesday 20th October

Tony Birtill was born in Walton, Liverpool in 1954 — a Scouser of Irish heritage who became one of the foremost authorities on the history of the Irish diaspora in the city. A fluent Irish speaker, enthusiastic teacher of the language and committed historian, his life was closely intertwined with the Irish community in Liverpool throughout his adult life.

He was a mainstay of that community and an active member of Cairde Na hÉireann, Conradh na Gaeilge, the Liverpool Easter 1916 Commemoration Committee and the Liverpool Great Hunger Commemoration Committee. His landmark book A Hidden History: The Irish Language in Liverpool revealed — among much else — that the word ‘scouse’ itself carries traces of the Irish language brought here by Famine migrants. He was also a long-standing trustee of Liverpool Irish Festival, teaching Irish language classes at the Liverpool Irish Centre every Thursday night until his death on 21 October 2021. This annual memorial, held in the week that marks the anniversary of his passing, is our way of ensuring that his contribution to Irish life in Liverpool is never forgotten.

Free, just turn up.