I’m delighted to see my neigbour and friend Hugh Oram has put himself online with a excellent, very attractive new website. I find myself quite jealous of the nice clear presentation and lovely pictures there!
For those of you that haven’t discovered him yet, Hugh sometimes stands in and writes the well-known daily Irish Times column, once the stomping ground of that genius and legendary, hard-drinking grouch, Flann O’Brien (O’Brien of course wrote the famous column under his punning Gaelic pen-name, Myles na gCopaleen) Hugh is an experienced public speaker and broadcaster and is also renowed as the author of scores of books, including works of local history across various Dublin districts, many of which have benefited from his extraordinary erudition, including Dundrum, Ballsbridge and Sandymount. I often use Hugh’s books as references and source material for my own various talks and tours, they’re an absolute treasure-trove of local knowledge and insight. Many of my Dublin-based readers may well be living in an area covered by one of Hugh’s books. Hmmm… If one was interested in local history, or one were looking a for a small, delightful present for Christmas, this wouldn’t be a bad place to start! Highly recommended!
Arran Q Henderson 
Lovely book and my Dad gets a mention as a former resident of Waterloo Road, which is nice 🙂
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Quite right too Katy, John was a really super journalist. I have such strong happy memories of going around to your dad’s place, half a dozen times at least, usually to play chess. He was extremely kind to me also, with advice about writing and publishing and so on. Pretty touch chess opponent too! Hugh’s books are excellent, as you know, such a terrific local historian. 🙂
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Dear Mr. Henderson ,In 2006 ,at the suggestion of a friend Ray Bateson I started giving Tours at Donnybrook Graveyard .Hugh Oram wrote an excellent review of the first Tour which was printed in The Irish Times .The Tours continued until 2019 and have not yet resumed on account of Covid 19 .All going well it’s hoped to revive them in the summer .A film relating to the Tour “Donnybrook’s Hidden Treasure ” was made by Glenda Cimino and a team of enthusiastic amateurs .It can be viewed on Youtube and I think Hugh Oram would find it interesting .I would be pleased if you would kindly tell him about it .Glenda from Atlanta ,Georgia is a Donnybrook resident an interesting person in her own right .
With very Best wishes ,David Neary.
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Hi David,
thank you for your very interesting message. And apologies by the way, that I only saw it today.
I’m very fond of Hugh and if I see or speak to him next, I shall certainly tell him about your film, but in truth, it may be a long time! – I only very rarely see or speak to him very rarely these days. We used to be neighbors but I’ve since moved, and now also have two very young children, who consume all of my time!
I’m delighted to hear however, that you were recently doing tours of Donnybrook Graveyard.
I was lucky enough to be inside there about 7 or 8 years ago (maybe longer now!) when life was simpler, and when I worked for an afternoon, as a volunteer, doing a clean-up of the graves and plots there.
It is an absolutely fascinating place. I do hope you are able to resume your tours there at some point. If you ever do, will you drop us a line at dublindecoded@gmal.com with a very clear subject header like “Donnybrook Graves Tours” please? We would love to cover that here, and/or, we may also be able to put some guests your way. Your film sounds fascinating. You can by the way, also write to me at the same address if you wish, and i will find and send you Hugh’s contract details in reply. You may wish to tell him about the film yourself.
with all very best wishes-
Arran
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