Century of circus memorabilia to be available online

Tony McCarthy the grandson of John McCarthy at an exhibition in Cappamore with artist John Collins, Cappamore, and Therese Fossett, of Fossett's Circus, Portlaoise | PICTURE: Dave Gaynor

placeholder image — Tony McCarthy the grandson of John McCarthy at an exhibition in Cappamore with artist John Collins, Cappamore, and Therese Fossett, of Fossett's Circus, Portlaoise | PICTURE: Dave Gaynor

Step right up for exhibition from Cappamore man!

MORE than a century of circus memorabilia is to be made available online, thanks to a grant from councillors.

Members of Limerick City and County Council have agreed to donate almost €1,000 to Tony McCarthy, whose late grandfather John McCarthy put together a rich archive documenting circus visits to the county.

From the late 1800s, John’s father, William McCarthy began to allow visiting circuses set up shop for free on the field behind his bar in Cappamore.

It became known as McCarthy’s Circus Field, and the family have collected memorabilia since.

Following John McCarthy’s death in 1966, his grandson inherited the archive of circus memorabilia from the shows which visited his field.

In recent years, these items have been put on display.

But now with this new project, it’s hoped that the old posters, tickets, and programmes will be available to a wider audience, with Tony McCarthy set to digitalise the memorabilia.

A total of €969.09 has been allocated by councillors to allow him to do just this on the circus bar website, at www.johnmccarthyscircusbar.ie

Physical exhibitions have been previously held in Limerick, as part of the 2018 St Patrick’s festival, in the Parkway Shopping Centre and back in 2019 in John’s home place of Cappamore.

Elsewhere, a Polish arts festival is on the way to Limerick’s Hunt Museum.

Councillors have approved spend of €1,000 for an exhibition.

It will explore Polish wycinaki, which are paper cut outs.

These will be focused on a style which blends Slavic and Celtic symbols.

Those taking part will create art which will then be put on show at the Hunt Museum.

It’s hoped the festival will revive endangered folk traditions, fostering creativity, cultural exchange and appreciation of heritage from both Poland and Ireland.

Money has also been allocated for a commission which will see Dance Limerick team up with the South East Dance Agency, based in the city of Brighton, on England’s south coast.

This is one of three elements of the Light Moves festival, which has been given €45,000 of Arts Council funding, and €4,500 from Limerick City and County Council.

Dance Limerick is based at John’s Square in the city centre.