Derry University Group

@derry-group.bsky.social

Championing an independent cross-border university for the North West - the last-remaining North Ireland Civil Rights campaign. Garrett Hargan's investigative history of the 60-year fight, A Scandal in Plain Sight, is available from colmcillepress.com.

Happy World Book Day! We have ten copies of our new quiz book to give away. Answer this question - via DM with your address* - and share this post, to put your name in the hat. –– Who asked Mrs Gallagher for a telephone so she could tell her husband she landed safely?

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Well done Mike Kane MP for raising the two Royal Irish Academy reports on the need for an independent North West university at the Commons Select Committee this morning. UU clearly very rattled - but their attempts to rubbish the island's top academics and Derry civic society aren't fooling anyone.

B'fhéidir gur dhúirt muid cheana é, ach is iontach an rud é dúiseacht i dtír inar féidir leat a bheith bródúil as d’Uachtarán. May have said it before, but it's great to wake up in a country where you can be proud of your President. *Clúdach iontach ar imeachtaí an lae inné ar @nuachttg4.bsky.social

RTÉ News@news.rte.ie · 9mo ago

The Irish language has been a central part of President Connolly's political life and of her election campaign for the presidency

UU’s trip to the US cost more than Stormont’s. Its spending - all centred on trying to make its white elephant Belfast campus viable - is out of control. @RIAdawson has twice now demanded a Scrutiny Commission. It’s time to act, Minister Archibald. www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/educati...

Ulster University urged to justify its ‘staggering’ £61k trip to US

Ulster University spent more than £61,000 on a trip to Washington, DC for St Patrick’s Day, prompting questions as to whether the institution has a “limitless” marketing budget.

belfasttelegraph.co.uk

Good to hear. Fees in Derry are still too dear - twice those in Donegal. The goal must be to harmonise fees North and South - and to implement The Royal Irish Academy's plan for an independent cross-border university, centred in Derry, and full oversight for Ulster University.

Tuition fees increase in Northern Ireland is ruled out

Northern Ireland's five universities and university colleges had called for tuition fees to rise by more than £1,000 a year.

bbc.co.uk

Thursday May 1 at the Guildhall, the City of Derry Jazz Festival kicks off with the launch of broadcaster Colum Arbuckle's musical memoir. MC is @markypblue.bsky.social with Guest Speaker @lilianseenoibarr.bsky.social. Starts at 5pm - and the former Toejam man is bringing his guitar!

Radio, Romance & Rock'n'Roll | Colmcille Press

In the captivating autobiography Colum recounts his extraordinary experiences, starting, as a very young boy, at The White Horse Inn outside Derry, where his father was the last tenant barman in the old coach house.In the early days of rock‘n’roll he learned to play the guitar and soon became a professional musician, touring with the Gay McIntyre band, in the company of his best friend Gerry Anderson, who shared a small bed sit with him in Manchester, when the band was resident there for a year. Colum then went on to play with Ireland’s first Showband, The Clipper Carlton, Derry band The Woodchoppers and then across the Atlantic with the Emeralds who pioneered the Irish showband scene in America.Returning home, he formed the rock band Toejam with Gerry Anderson and Jim Whiteside. With their hard aggressive style accompanying Gerry’s soaring high pitched vocals, they very quickly became a musical force which attracted many fans both North and South of the border. They played live on radio and TV programmes and in Dublin a fledging U2 played support to them, Colum started Derry’s first recording studio which became an instant success with local bands and soloists. When BBC Northern Ireland heard about this, he was invited to present a programme using some of the material he had collected on BBC Radio Foyle, which had just started broadcasting in the Northwest. This was the start of his radio career which has lasted over forty years and continues to this day. He presented many programmes on BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Radio Ulster and when he progressed to the role of producer his long list of achievements includes a two-hour documentary for BBC Radio 2 on the history of Irish Showbands.In the book there are many stories of intimate behind-the-scenes moments of radio broadcasting for BBC Northern Ireland.

colmcillepress.com

Important intervention from top Derry academic. Three quick goals: Stormont to adopt Royal Irish Academy plan for a cross-border university in NW Ireland. Set up independent scrutiny commission for HE in NI. Set up new North-South body to align education systems on the island (and with EU models).

Colin Harvey@cjharvey1.bsky.social · last yr.

The North/NI must map out its own way forward for higher education. A strategy designed to meet our regional needs and ambitions. The disastrous unfolding implosion of the British university system provides all the required lessons on what to avoid.